The Sacramento Bee story has been received by your intrepid blogger over a dozen times. The Sacramento Bee cited the Right on Daily Blog as a source. I normally use the Sacramento Bee as a punching bag because they are so biased, I guess taking on a Republican Assemblymember is what it takes to get a citation.
I’d also like to thank Norberto Santana of the Voice of OC for attribution as well.
Since Right On Daily broke the Bill Brough / Lisa Bartlett story six days ago, we have learned that Orange County GOP Chairman asked those in attendance that Monday evening to not discuss the accounts of the evening. This is key as I had alleged that Fred Whitaker (the feckless OC GOP Chair) was attempting to invoke the incumbent protection plan. Incumbents do not have a right to hold office, they should actually be held to a higher standard of conduct, yet because of the fealty of the establishment to those with titles it works the exact opposite.
The Sacramento Bee story had some interesting nuggets:
Brough denied all the allegations made against him.
“I have been on the end of many political attacks but I will not stand for personal attacks on me and my family,” he said in a statement. “I have done nothing wrong.”
Brough also cited a city memo filed a week after the alleged incident that determined the city “did not have sufficient facts or evidence to come to any conclusions” since no witnesses were present.
Bartlett’s allegation, first reported by a conservative blog called Right on Daily, prompted another woman to discuss a similar incident.
Maria Elena Banks, a Laguna Beach real estate agent who worked on campaigns for Bartlett and Brough, said Brough harassed her about five years ago before he was sworn into the state Assembly in 2014.
Bill Brough also denied there was a complaint filed with the Assembly Rules Committee – he bald faced lied about that. In fact, your intrepid blogger has learned that more than one woman filed complaints on Mr. Brough but the complaints with the Assembly went nowhere (except for one) because the victims did not want their names revealed to Mr. Brough. Remember, in America you are supposed to know who your accusers are so the only complaint investigated was the one we know about and it was dismissed on a technicality.
What else is Brough lying about?
Unfortunately, for a lot of women – coming out in public against an Incumbent (there is that word again) means the end of your employment. If you are a lobbyist, you get fired. A staffer? Kiss off any promotions and being hired on to another legislator’s staff. If you work for a “Third House” group you are also toast. This is what reinforces the bad behavior of so many in the State Legislature as they know they can get away with it. Former Senator Ted Gaines allowed Steve Davey (his former Chief of Staff who was canned for his repeated abuse of staff) to continue his destructive pattern for at least 4 years after the first complaint against him and did nothing.
This is why my informant declined to allow Right on Daily Blog to use her name.
The biggest issue I have with Bill Brough are not the ragers he and his former Chief of Staff used to have in his capitol office or his apartment (according to several sources with first hand knowledge), or repeatedly cheating on his wife (again according to multiple sources), it is the abuse of his office and leveraging of it to enable said lifestyle. My confidential informant was specific that Mr. Brough propositioned her and offered influence and/or leveraging his position on the elections committee in exchange for a liaison (or more than one). If 4 women (Bartlett, the Realtor, My Informant, the person that filed the Assembly Rules Complaint) or more are all alleging Brough made unwanted sexual advances with and without physical contact, several different times (remember Bartlett’s original complaint with the City of Dana Point and the Staffer’s original complaint with the Assembly years ago) – we now have a problem and a pattern over years.
Several people that work in the capitol have come forward to your intrepid blogger with more information and leads regarding the behavior of Bill Brough. We will detail those in a future post.
In almost all incidences of Brough’s behavior, alcohol is involved. This suggests a destructive pattern related to alcohol.
The Bee continued with a fairly detailed story ending with these comments from the feckless void known as Fred Whitaker:
Fred Whitaker, chairman of the Orange County GOP, said the county party will not tolerate harassment but is unaware of any ongoing investigations into Brough’s behavior.
“The Republican Party of Orange County has no tolerance for sexual misconduct,” Whitaker said in a statement. “We are not aware of any pending investigations. All claims of sexual misconduct should be reported to and investigated by law enforcement or state legislative ethics committees to allow for a fair and thorough investigation, so that victims can be heard and an accused can present a defense. If an investigation is initiated, any request for endorsement would be dependent on the results of the investigation. There is no request for endorsement pending at this time.”
Fred Whitaker lied to the Sacramento Bee by omission. He saddled up on a technicality to dodge the question. If he does not Resign in disgrace, the OCGOP should vacate the chair at the next meeting. Whitaker knows full well there is a problem and the committee voted to refer the matter back to the endorsement committee for an investigation – prompting Brough to withdraw his request. The honest answer would have been, “The OCGOP referred the endorsement matter back to the endorsement committee for a review of issues after Mrs. Bartlett’s remarks at the Monday Evening meeting and Mr. Brough withdrew his request for endorsement two days later. As such, there is no current investigation or request for an endorsement”.
Whitaker’s legally-parsed response is yet another example of the moral bankruptcy that is rampant within the ranks of political leaders at all levels. At least we now know where Fred Whitaker stands, avoid the issue at all costs and defend the incumbent.
To be continued…
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