Let’s be blunt, politics attracts scum. The lure of power, money, control, sex, narcotics, attention, etc. is simply too much for mentally unstable or just plain evil people to resist.

Some cynics in the Republican Party automatically dismiss every complaint against any person in public office. You do so to your own peril.

Still more prefer to avoid conflict at all costs preferring instead to try to avoid dealing with tough issues – thus enabling the worst to get even worse. I’ve seen a generation of it.

Yes – I used the term evil.

Evil thrives where there is apathy and weakness.

People like Bill Brough and Sean Doherty rely on weak, compromised leaders in order to ply their trade. They believe they will never get caught and if they get caught the Assembly (or Senate) Rules Committee will cover it up for them.

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time – you’ve seen me write time and again about the failures of government to protect the people they claim to be set up to protect.

You’ve seen me tear in to donors / lobbyists / consultants for continuing to fund and enable incompetent or/and sick and/or evil incumbents simply because they have the title. Even as I type this, it is alleged that Bill Brough is still finding donors willing to write him checks!!!

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time – you’ve seen me call out political leaders often by name for their refusal or failure to act. One of the greatest failures of my generation in California Republican Politics (I am referring to the group that are my age 48, through about 55) are the conflict avoiders, vacuous leaders, hypocrites, sell-outs and otherwise malignant narcissists that dominated the generation of California Republican Leaders that were spawned in the late 80’s thru mid 90’s. Their morally bankrupt leadership laid the foundation for the registration and election hemorrhage of the last 20 years. Similar to the cynics that reflexively dismiss #METOO issues, they will point to all sorts of straw men in order to avoid having to take ownership of their part in the failure.

The wisest decision I ever made in my life (4th on the list after accepting Christ, Getting Sober and Marrying my Wife) was determining in 2000 that I was never going to run for office ever. It allowed me freedom to view the political world without and agenda and prevented bad people from having leverage over what I write and do.

At that, people have attacked my wife to get to me. In 2014, on behalf of Bill Brough’s opponent Anna Bryson, the crazed Art Sanchez attacked my wife on the OC Politics Blog. In 2016, My wife and I were basically run out of a local church by family members of an assemblymember whose election I had worked against professionally. In 2018, my wife’s employer was called by a former high-ranking officer in the Riverside Sheriff’s Office and his wife in an attempt to get her fired over my work in the 2018 Riverside Sheriff’s Race. They also trolled my wife’s social media accounts, attacking some of her followers with comments using her photos to make creepy memes.

I don’t work in a government, lobbyist or related job and the above has happened. My wife does no political work at all. She does not go to events or conventions. Let this stick in your mind when you are reflexively dismissing the claims of a victim of political work-related abuse.

No one has leverage over me, yet they still try to retaliate and intimidate. Now imagine being a 20-something female on your first or second job within the confines of the political system.

Some cynics are attempting to dismiss the complaints against Bill Brough because of the elapsed time, even though they are all recent. While still others are attempting to dismiss Lisa Bartlett’s Issues as some sort of political stunt. There’s always an excuse.

I’ve interviewed dozens of victims of abuse in the political process. The credible ones are specific and include legitimate emotion (in particular shame and fear of retaliation). Most victims will have sought redress for the issues to no avail. Many are threatened by their abuser with destruction of their reputation and employ-ability in the small world of politics. Given how insular the world of politics is, those threats are much easier to carry out than most are willing to admit.

Most believe from first hand experience that the systems in place tend to whitewash complaints rather than deal with them. Between the ever-present fears of being destroyed and knowing the system is rigged, this is why people feel trapped.

One of the missions of the Right on Daily Blog is to give a voice to the victims of the political system. This is why I turned on Bill Brough despite my personal investment in his original election (remember what happened to my wife in 2014 when I was hammering his opponent?). This is why I am writing about Sean Doherty. This is one of the main reasons for my withering criticism of Republican Leaders who are making political calculations rather than exercising moral judgement. I am certain I will be writing about others yet unnamed in the future.