Congratulations Republican Partisan Officeholders: Welcome to Irrelevance Part 2

 Beth Gaines, Dave Gilliard, Jim Nielsen  Comments Off on Congratulations Republican Partisan Officeholders: Welcome to Irrelevance Part 2
Nov 092012
 

When the Sacramento Bee endorsed Beth Gaines they wrote the following:

As it is, Gaines is free to continue in her bubble world, benefiting from huge campaign money from contributors outside her district and rarely answering questions from the media without a handler at her elbow. Voters in the 6th District have little choice to re-elect her, but should demand better choices the next time.

The Bee was referring to the almost $750,000 in independent expenditures put in to Beth Gaines by wealthy liberals and groups aligned with the do-nothing establishment.
I wrote in the previous post about how some of us dared to stand up against her majesty and now her majesty is trying to get even with all of us one by one – while she has been rendered irrelevant. (She already was, but her staff failed to tell her as she hasn’t figured it out on her own)
Beth Gaines. This is what Republican Leadership foists upon us. A bogus resume, a business created a few days before filing so she can use a ballot designation she has not earned. (Beth Gaines has never written an insurance policy nor held an insurance license, ever)
But – here she is, with the Dave Gilliard endorsement mill churned out behind her: Howard Jarvis, the NFIB, Gun Owners of CA – all endorsing someone who can’t finish a sentence without the aid of staff because of her last name.
The idea was not new – Patricia McKeon, wife of embattled Congressman Buck McKeon ran against former Tom McClintock staffer Scott Wilk with pretty much the same dynamic. The difference is that Gaines was an incumbent that all the donors ponied up to and the Wilk v McKeon race was for a vacant seat.
McKeon got blown out.
But, once again – the last name attracted tons of donors and endorsements despite a candidate with no apparent credentials for office.
This is the Republican Party of the Consultants and Donors.
Having been a member of the State Republican Party for years – I can tell you that the collapse has been a team effort.
Moderate Republicans see Conservatives as the enemy. For years, I have seen brutal primaries where the Mod loses to the Conservative, then the Moderates go home – or worse in some cases they actively help the Democrat. Then they stand on the mountain proclaiming that the Conservatives are to blame.
Then, you have the Jim Nielsen Republican – this is the favorite type of leadership. They sell the used car to the voters in their district then go to the Capitol and sell our butts down the river. Jim Nielsen can think for himself just enough to not need constant maintenance like a Beth Gaines does.
Meantime, consultants like Dave Gilliard leech off of the system to get themselves rich with no conscience or attempts to restrain the actions of their clients.
But, the seductive illusion of control carries the day.
Dave Gilliard had a really bad night on Tuesday. It appears that no client of his with a hotly contested race won.
(But, he got even with a couple of Republican Central Committees… I already wrote about that)

Cheryl Bly-Chester Costs Jim Nielsen a Placer GOP Endorsement

 Cheryl Bly-Chester, Dan Logue, Jim Nielsen  Comments Off on Cheryl Bly-Chester Costs Jim Nielsen a Placer GOP Endorsement
Oct 112012
 

Cheryl Bly-Chester is an idiot – she cost Jim Nielsen a Placer GOP endorsement.

She, Jon Green, and Mike Holmes are the leaders of the “Moderate Movement” on the Placer GOP Central Committee. They were part of the 8 votes in favor of Nielsen when the Placer GOP endorsed Dan Logue 16-8.

Dan Logue withdrew, citing health reasons on Monday. The state CRP by-laws state that we need 7 days notice to do an endorsement at the Cent Com level. An endorsement of Jim Nielsen by the Placer GOP should have been automatic.

Murriel Oles was asked if Jim Nielsen asked for a Placer GOP endorsement and was also asked if Dan Logue had endorsed Jim Nielsen. She answered no to both questions.

Cheryl decided that she would not take no for an answer and led an effort to overrule Chairman Jeff Atteberry who ruled a motion to endorse as out of order because of there not being adequate notice.

Cheryl Bly-Chester is noted for nit-picking every issue, making baseless accusations and extending the length of meetings as she does 30-50% of the talking that is done at a given Cent Com meeting she attends.

At the meeting last night, Cheryl was attempting to shut the meeting down over how Romney signs were purchased and “why are we getting so many cash contributions”, as people were rolling their eyes. Then she went after Jeff Atteberry.

Once Jeff Atteberry was overruled, the potential endorsement of Jim Nielsen was D.O.A. – because Cheryl is such a divisive person her tactics sealed Jim Nielsen’s doom.

When I endorsed Beth Gaines – it was an attempt to make peace.

Jim Nielsen could get my endorsement as well if he called me. However, whether Jim Nielsen cares about Aaron Park’s endorsement or not – Cheryl Bly-Chester is hurting his cause and Jim Nielsen would do well to distance himself from her.

Jim Nielsen Expose’ Part 7 – Residency / Identity Problem

 Jim Nielsen  Comments Off on Jim Nielsen Expose’ Part 7 – Residency / Identity Problem
Oct 042012
 

In those Court Documents – Jim Nielsen listed his home address as 425 West Southward, Woodland. It was outside the district he was running for in 1990 and that he had infested since 1978. (although it was inside from 1978-1982)

The pattern of Jim Nielsen living outside the district he is representing is nothing new. When he ran for AD-02 in 2008 – the issue of his Woodland House being outside the district was a cause of much controversy.

Even though the Tehama DA continues to stonewall – as did then California AG Jerry Brown (who has an affinity for Nielsen dating back to 1978 when he was Governor), the issue persists.

The “Double-Wide” in Gerber thing is laughable in its’ absurdity. In my opinion, the aid of the Tehama County DA has been extremely valuable to Jim Nielsen as people like Don Bird, Barry Claussen et. al. have been hammered by them with restraining orders, fines and the like.

I am less concerned about where Jim Nielsen lives and more concerned about his pattern of corruption and his flat out lies. His campaign crew are quick to assail anyone that accurately cites his record – or worse, with a straight face they cite Nielsen being on both sides of the issue he is being criticized on!

Like many in elective office back then – Jim Nielsen also 1000% blurred the line between taxpayer work and campaign work by staff. In comparison to the kickbacks, conflicts of interest and the major major bad votes – this is merely an “optional extra” for the train wreck that has been Jim Nielsen in office.

Jim Nielsen has written a ton of editorials – they are insightful as to who this “Conservative Rancher” is. He praised Ted Kennedy’s stance on Immigration reform while (Kennedy was the man responsible for destroying the Bracero Program for example), he criticized “extremists” like Rush Limbaugh in another.

As related in a previous post – Jim Nielsen undeniably was involved in Charles Munger’s effort to decimate the Republican Party Platform. Charles Munger has now cranked a wad of money in to Jim Nielsen’s campaign.

Jim Nielsen is campaigning as a “Conservative”

Jim Nielsen claims to be a water advocate – yet he supported a Peripheral Canal when it was George Deukmejian’s idea (who has endorsed Nielsen) and voted for Arnold’s Water Bond that clearly includes $250 Million for Dam Removal.

Jim Nielsen was endorsed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer’s Association – I believe because of the connection between those that run HJTA and the Republican Establishment. They simply refused to pick one member of the “club” over another. The HJTA also endorsed Nielsen’s opponent.

However, there is a problem – Jim Nielsen voted for SCA 2 in 1990. This would have allowed local Governments to raise property taxes with a simple majority.

Nielsen’s pattern is still manifest in current years – he voted to put Prop 14 on the ballot. This has eliminated partisan primaries and in large parts of the state, there are no Republicans on the ballot.

Prop 14 was Abel Maldonado’s payoff for voting for the largest tax increase in state history. So, you could argue that Jim Nielsen enabled the largest tax increase in state history by voting yes on Maldonado’s deal…

When criticized for doing this – Jim Nielsen states that he opposed Prop 14 once it as on the ballot.  But, then, there are the legislative chiefs of staff that have told me that Jim Nielsen called their bosses to get them to go up on putting prop 1A on the ballot – that was basically the same thing as the current Prop 30, a massive tax increase of historic proportions.

Jim Nielsen and staff call their critics liars.

It seems, however, that Jim Nielsen is the one lying. Jim Nielsen is not who he tries to tell everyone he is – this is a terminal identity problem.

Jim Nielsen Expose’ Part 6 – Million Dollar Deals + $216K of Taxpayer Money in to His Business

 Jim Nielsen  Comments Off on Jim Nielsen Expose’ Part 6 – Million Dollar Deals + $216K of Taxpayer Money in to His Business
Oct 032012
 

Jim Nielsen and Brenda Wahl had a matrimonial partnership.

They set up several companies together – Wahl Marketing and Transportation, Inc., Alternative Power, Inc. (API) and Industrial Resource Recovery (IRR). In each of these – Wahl/Nielsen had a controlling interest (50% or more)

According to court records related to a lawsuit filed in 1990, Wahl claims to have started looking in 1980 at plans to build a co-generation plant in Northern California. In 1986, Wahl had managed to become the exclusive agent to haul rice hulls that were to be burned in such a plant. In December of 1986 she got an option to sell the power generated by such a plant to PG&E.

In early 1987 API and a huge energy conglomerate Oxford Energy entered in to a partnership. API would sell its’ knowledge and contracts to Oxford Energy.

The deal was worth about $1 Million in 1987 dollars plus rolling payments of $100k-$1million for 15 years depending on the profit from the plant.

Court records from the related lawsuit were sketchy as to what Oxford got for their money from API. Wahl was listed as an employee of Oxford for 2 1/2 years from March 1987-November 1989. The payment is listed for ‘Development Expenses’.

Here’s the problem – Jim Nielsen lobbied for and helped write a state grant program of $500,000 for Rice-Waste Burning Technologies. According to a local press report at the time, Jim Nielsen actually wrote the language that earmarked the money.

Then Nielsen voted yes on the Senate Floor.

The money  ($500K) was given to the Rice Research Board which turned around and dropped $216,000 in to the API-Oxford plant in Williams, CA.

Jim Nielsen claimed publicly that he had no conflict of interest because he did not know where the money would end up. This sounds similar to Doug LaMalfa and the $5 million in Rice Farm Subsidies he has received, and now that he is headed to Congress he can vote to increase them.

Court Documents also show letters suggesting that Jim Nielsen knew 100% what he was doing and that his lobbying to benefit himself went beyond the floor of the Senate.

The Plant started getting in trouble because its’ waste was producing dangerous levels of Silica. The waste was dumped in the local dump and was hauled by, you guessed it, Wahl Marketing and Transportation Co.

Wahl and Nielsen’s marriage had failed in 1988-1989 and Nielsen was now married to wife #3. Wahl was having a dispute with Oxford energy over payments for hauling the ash. According to the records – Wahl blew the whistle about the toxic silica despite threats from Oxford Energy.

It appears that Jim Nielsen once again intervened similar to the pesticide situation.

A third partner in the API deal sued Jim Nielsen. Because the trucking firm hauling the ash was owned by Nielsen and Wahl – this partner Bert Williamson alleged that Nielsen double-dealed and diverted profits from API in to the trucking firm to get out of sharing them.

I am not sure what happened with the lawsuit. However, the attorney representing Jim Nielsen withdrew because Nielsen was being a difficult client and submitted an affidavit in court showing that Jim Nielsen owed $13,000 in legal fees.

to be continued…

Source Data