Update: I just spoke to Matt Klemin on the phone. He availed himself of the opportunity to lace the 20 minute or so call with threats, expletives and mocking the fact that I have a throat infection and was hacking a bit on the call. The call accomplished nothing at all other than verifying other negative feedback I had gotten about him in the past. Sad.

Since we’ve been hammering the CAGOP as well as legislative leadership for terrible decisions that in the opinion of Right On Daily will lead to a loss of at least 6 more legislative seats (My over under is 8), it seemed that taking a look at the campaign finance reports was in order. Note – I found nothing to indicate illegal activity. What I did find are a list of people who have been getting paid a lot of money to lose with no accountability or consequence for it. All of these people were involved in the coronation of the current leadership of the CAGOP.

CAGOP State Report. CAGOP Federal Report Both are from 2019.

A couple things jump out at me – Tim Clark is on the CAGOP State Report for a whopping $30,000. Clark was a disaster for the Trump Campaign in 2016, including doing a horrible job with the RNC Delegation. Clark appointed a Nazi as a delegate to the RNC. Tim Clark was fired from his Trump Administration job after a series of idiotic social media posts. Yet, here he is back on CAGOP Payroll.

My theory is that Tim Clark is getting paid through the CAGOP for running John Moorlach’s SD-37 Campaign. Remember the “One Ask Program” more on that later in the post…

I did some looking at the Grow Elect Pac, the California Republican Leadership Fund and the California Trailblazers because I believed I’d find a lot of the same players spread out among them. I was not disappointed.

Political Finance Solutions – Rebecca Luby appears on two of the reports. It appears that she is a campaign finance person and has an employee who openly advertises an affiliation with the CAGOP spanning over ten years. Luby is married to Matt Klemin, he is coming up shortly. Luby is on the reports for $173,000 from the California Republican Leadership Fund and $13,000 from the CAGOP.

There are a few notations on the CAGOP Report of firms with zero social media or internet presence, which is rather odd for the political business.

Now – let’s speak to a couple of very interesting findings that may explain why there was so much resistance to dealing with William “Bill” Brough and explaining the CAGOP ignoring the OCGOP un-endorsement of Tyler Diep.

A CM political consulting is on the both the state and federal report – this is Chris Marsh, who lists himself as a District Director for Pat Bates. Bates may well be the last supporter William Bill Brough has left in his AD73 Race. Remember, Bates was permanent minority leader before Shannon Grove. What role did Marsh and Bates play in interfering with efforts to bring justice to Bill Brough’s victims? It has literally taken 8 months of hammering Bill Brough to get to the place we are at now and there was significant resistance despite the preponderance of facts against him.

Matthew Fleming is also on both the State and Federal Report – he penned an op-ed in the Orange County Register defending the corrupt Tyler Diep. I am not sure why Mr. Fleming did not see fit to put his financial relationship with the CAGOP in that Op-Ed. It is however, the opinion of this blogger that Fleming and others (such as Jeff Randle) are the reason the CAGOP has thumbed its’ nose at the OCGOP with regard to the corrupt Tyler Diep. Diep is a prototypical squish Republican. Diep also very publicly betrayed Travis Allen, the former Ad-72 Assemblymember who ran for CAGOP Chair against Jessica Patterson so there is some strong loyalty.

I saw a single reference of $15,000 to Renee Croche. She is of team Arnold fame, and has solid connections to Jessica Patterson, Jeff Randle and the usual suspects. Croche is said to be a talented fundraiser. (for liberal Republicans) Croche was paid in November of 2019, suggesting she was brought back on.

(I deleted a sentence here simply referencing a staffer that has been paid $125,000 from both the RLF and the CRP)

Golden State Strategy Group – Molly Parnell’s Firm is on both the California Trailblazers Report and the California Republican Party’s Report. IT appears the retainer was $15,000 a month until sometime around post Jessica Patterson election when it increased to $18,000. I remember seeing her at the officer election convention acting rather frenetic. I’d have been nervous too if my $15K-$18K paycheck was on the line. Parnell is a fundraiser for the CAGOP. Parnell’s total haul is over $250,000 based on what I found. Parnell is purely a fundraiser and by all accounts is effective at her job.

Matt Klemin is on the CAGOP Report for $152,500. He is the Senate Caucus strategist. It appears that like Tim Clark, Klemin is getting paid through the CAGOP with money raised under the “One-Ask” program where money raised is split 1/3 Senate 1/3 Assembly and 1/3 to party. It all goes to the party and is then parceled out. Under Klemin’s watch the Senate GOP Caucus has gone from 15-10. My estimate is another loss of 3-4 seats in 2020, not a bad gig for $11,500 a month. The Dems ought to pay part of his salary.

Between Klemin and Luby, that is something like $330,000 a year from the CAGOP, etc.

In case you’re wondering why we are told that it takes $2,500,000 a year to keep the CAGOP running is it adding up yet?

I know others like Jeff Randle and David Reade are also getting paid, but those arrangements are complex and will take some research to nail down.

So here’s the question – why are all these people getting paid so much money to lose? That’s it, nothing else matters. Yes, most all of the people mentioned are squishes, but the results are all that matter. A baker’s dozen seats lost in the last Decade why do any of these folks deserve a dime let alone hundreds of thousands of dollars? I am open to a discussion, but losing is losing and why are we doing the same stuff?

Now, here is the last name I want to bring up. Judith McCarthy. $46,870.32. This is Congressman Kevin McCarthy’s wife. Why should I be okay with this? How is this not some sort of conflict of interest? Remember, Kevin McCarthy endorsed Jessica Patterson for Chair of the CAGOP. How many of us knew his wife is on the payroll of the CAGOP when he rendered an endorsement for someone that could potentially fire his wife or change her pay? This may not break any rules but the optics are terrible and it sure makes the rank and file delegates feel like party officer elections are an inside job.

I think we could spend $1 Million a year or less on the party operation and do no worse than we have done… to be continued…