It’s a leadership gap. It is the same sort of cowardice that was on display during the Chad Mayes drama (combined with hubiris). A little known story is that 3 weeks before the end of the legislative session, there were allegedly 13 votes to oust Chad Mayes as leader. Then two things kicked in: #1 Some of the Anti-Chad Assemblymembers did not want to make it seem they were “forced” to act by all the GOP Activists and #2 since the end of the legislative session was “only” 3 weeks away, 3 Assembly Members told the leaders of the insurrection they would not vote to oust Chad Mayes until end of session.

This enabled Mays to go on a rampage retaliating against everyone that dared cross him – including the three people that withheld their votes to oust him. (You may also remember when Melissa Melendez got banished to the shoebox office)

We know that Bill Brough has a drinking problem and when he gets wasted he likes to force himself on and/or hit on women. He nearly got in an altercation while at his “Spring Training” event earlier this year. If I know about Brough’s drinking maladies, then the Assembly Leadership HAS to know and has to have known for a while.

While CAGOP Chair Jessica Patterson confirmed the existence of Assembly Workplace investigations publicly, I’ve known and am certain that the Assembly Leadership knew in 2017, now and previously all of Brough’s maladies with women. While Bill Brough was publicly lying about the existence of past and present investigations – I am certain Assembly Leadership knew.

Marie Waldron and Shannon Grove hailed as 2 of the three members of “New Republican Leadership – All Women”, have done nothing.

Bill Brough was unable to lie about the FPPC investigations for very long because I filed the complaint(s) myself. During the short time Brough was denying the campaign finance issues, I received several calls that the FPPC was contacting people related to him.

There are disturbing parallels between the Chad Mayes situation and the Bill Brough situation – specifically with the behavior of the Assembly Leadership. (Chad Mayes did not break any laws and was cavorting with willing participants, however, I believe that Bill Brough has sexually battered / harassed women and has broken the law with the use of his campaign money) Brough also attempted to bully the OCGOP who voted almost unanimously (maybe 3-4 opposed) to call on him to retire. Brough attempted to bully his victims too, both on Monday Night and previously.

Marie Waldron and Shannon Grove hailed as 2 of the three members of “New Republican Leadership – All Women”, have done nothing. Worse, they have reputedly been muzzling CAGOP Chair Jessica Patterson, even while she has been getting threatened and bullied by Brough himself.

What’s different (besides the severity of Bill’s illegal actions (again my opinion until proven in investigation))?

Chad Mayes as I have learned was an excellent Assembly Minority Leader in terms of how he was able to keep the caucus together and used to take care of members that went up on various bills. In fact, Bill Brough has a small wine refrigerator that Kristen Olsen bought for him as a thank you, and Mayes did similar stuff. Bill Brough has engendered no such loyalty from his colleagues, unless they are silent due to cowardice.

Why is the Assembly GOP leadership doing nothing? One reason is Pat Bates has been on a rampage behind the scenes, more because of her own embarrassment than loyalty to her protege Bill Brough. Another reason is the age old rule “The facts don’t matter, the only thing that does is what affects their next election”, meaning that if Bill Brough can be run out of office by outrage then so can they. There is another reason that is absurd on its’ face, but since we are in the bizarre ego-driven world of partisan electeds…

Marie Waldron and Shannon Grove hailed as 2 of the three members of “New Republican Leadership – All Women”, have done nothing. Your guess why is as good as mine. Meantime, the victims of Brough’s rampage can count a blogger as their #1 defender.

As I have been publicly expressing my outrage – I have been told by several insiders that the Assembly Leadership are talking about the specter of giving the activist community “another win”. It is basically the exact same dynamic as with Chad Mayes.

Did the Assembly GOP know that Bill Brough bought a cigar humidor and a Burbon Barrell with campaign money? Did they care?

Did the Assembly GOP know that Bill Brough was having 30-40 “Strategy Meetings” a year? Did they know he was tacking on personal trips to junkets he was financing with his campaign? Did they care?

When did they know about the Lisa Bartlett situation? The Lobbyist victim? The Female Staffer victim? the other three alleged cases that are in the Assembly workplace conduct group? Did they care about any of them? Do they care that Heather Baez and Jennifer Rodriguez were outed and bullied by Bill Brough?

When did they know about Bill Brough’s multiple alcohol-related incidents? Did they care?

Marie Waldron and Shannon Grove hailed as 2 of the three members of “New Republican Leadership – All Women”, have done nothing. Is Pat Bates really the one running the show still?

As a middle aged White Guy, I can’t check the special boxes these race and sex-obsessed candidate pickers look at first. Some in the GOP even go so far as to try to marginalize people like me.  However, despite not being female and being white as a ghost, I can call complete BS on the celebration of female leadership when Brough’s #1 defender is Pat Bates and the two Caucus leaders doing nothing are Christian Conservative Women.

Worse, it has been alleged repeatedly these “leaders” have been muzzling Jessica Patterson – hailed as the first female chair of the CAGOP ever. If I was the Chair of the GOP, I’d tell the consultants and these so-called leaders to go straight to hell and I’d call for Brough’s head.

Everybody in Sacramento knows about Brough’s behavior. All of you know he is a drunk. All of you know about his rage fits. All of you know about his issues with women. Yet what do I hear? OCGOP Chair Fred Whitaker was and is getting bullied and yelled at by “leadership” types and Bill Brough himself because he went with the will of his committee to adopt a resolution of disapproval calling on Brough to Retire. (which would allow the maniac another year in office) What else do I hear? Bill Brough called and yelled at Jessica Patterson simply because she told the truth about the existence of investigations – something Pat Bates, Marie Waldron and Shannon Grove have been remiss to do.

Three Months in to this, the wall of incumbent fealty is finally starting to crack. Mimi Walters, Diane Harkey and several local electeds have bravely stood up for other candidates against Bill Brough. The Orange County Lincoln Club did something nearly without precedent – they rescinded their endorsement of Bill Brough. California GOP Caucus Leadership? Crickets.

Who the hell defends women in the California Republican Caucus Leadership?

Again, Marie Waldron and Shannon Grove hailed as 2 of the three members of “New Republican Leadership – All Women”, have done nothing. 

I know one of Bill Brough’s victims personally – Jenniffer Rodriguez. She is one of the people Bill Brough outed in violation of the law. I know her integrity, I believe her. I don’t know Lisa Bartlett, the realtor or the victim whose graphic story I’ve written about. What has me enraged is the arrogance, political calculations, cowardice and callous disregard for these women by the so called leaders in the caucuses. I’ve continued hammering Bill Brough because I’ve watched these women I believe Bill Brough Harassed and/or sexually battered be re-injured several times by the actions of the so-called leaders.

Since Brough has determined he is right and everyone else is wrong, your intrepid blogger is committed to staying the course until he is destroyed. It may also mean that his protectors and enablers get caught in the over-spray. It is what it is.

There is another interesting tidbit. In one of the episodes where Bill Brough was intoxicated and propositioning a victim… another member of the legislature as described to me was present drinking with Brough at the bar. The description given to me fits Frank Bigelow. I am not alleging Bigelow did anything wrong as he is over 21 (he was intoxicated but has never been accused by anyone of any misconduct that I am aware of). That said, what did he see? Did he say anything to Bill about his behavior? The victim was a staffer for Eric Linder at the time and called Eric Linder’s Chief of Staff to get her out of the bar. She also called Travis Allen within hours of the incident. Who did Linder and Allen speak with? Did Bigelow talk to them? There are a lot of questions pending surrounding these situations. Republican Leadership had to have known as 4 members of the legislature knew about the incident. Yet they were and are silent hoping this will all blow over.

I can tell you with near certainty that Bill Brough has been allowed to dig in because of the systemic failure of the Assembly Caucus Leadership. It is my opinion that Brough is going to file for re-election because his psychotic belief that he is right and everyone else is wrong has been reinforced by cowardice and waffling in the face of his narcissistic rage. This similar dynamic created a monster in Chad Mayes and is on its’ way to replicating itself in Bill Brough.

Congratulations.