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    links for 2009-09-26

    September 26, 2009 /
    • Steve Poizner reiterates call for Meg Whitman to drop out of race
      GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner repeated his campaign's call Saturday for rival Meg Whitman to drop out of the race after The Bee reported this week that it could not find evidence that Whitman registered to vote until 2002.

      State Insurance Commissioner Poizner told The Bee in an interview at the California Republican Party convention in Indian Wells that Whitman's voting record made her "unelectable." On Thursday, the day the Bee story was published, Poizner communications director Jarrod Agen first called on Whitman to "step aside."

      (tags: steve_poizner Meg_Whitman)
    • Updated: Joel Angeles, Chief of Staff for California Assemblywoman Audra Strickland Found NOT Guilty of All Charges
    • Karl Rove in San Francisco: "Behind enemy lines" – Carly Fiorina Has Chance Against Boxer
      We got three minutes with B.Brain afterwards — oh, and not a minute longer — and prodded him for his thoughts about California's guv race. Said he hasn't really been following too closely. Rove said Meg Whitman's lack of experience won't necessarily be a disadvantage in that she is an outside-the-system candidate, and said Steve Poizner has a lot of grassroots support. Said Carly Fiorina has a chance against incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer who is a "hyperpartisan." Indeed, takes one to know one.
      (tags: carly_fiorina barack_obama)
    • Meg Whitman: A True Calling or Just a Passing Phase?
      Certainly not every citizen has a perfect record of voting in national, state and local elections. Nor do some people who have sought election to office. Schwarzenegger did not vote in the 1996 and 2000 presidential primary or general elections. Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and a prospective Republican candidate for Senate in California next year, skipped the presidential primaries in 2000 and 2004 and the primary and general elections in 2006.

      Failure to vote from time to time is understandable and has rarely been seen as disqualifying for those seeking public office. But Whitman's record appears to go beyond occasional absences. Setting aside the question of whether she was registered before 2002, her slender record is striking for its apparent disinterest in the political process.

      Given the state of the state, the California governor's race will be among the most important in the country next year.
      ++++++++
      Should Meg Whitman proceed in the GOP primary?

      (tags: Meg_Whitman)
    • Fight Unemployment in California; Support Carly Fiorina
      With the junior Senator from California, elected at the tail-end of a recession, having watched unemployment climb by 33% in the Golden State during her tenure in the United States Senate*, we in California need a representative in Washington who knows how to create jobs. Unemployment out here is now at a post-World Wart II high.

      Mrs. Boxer seems indifferent to the employment situation in the Golden State; just this week she voted to table an amendment which could have created or saved (to borrow an expression from the President she supports) as many as 80,000 jobs.

      To bring California back, we would do well to send someone to Washington who is not a creature of government. With a background in business, Carly Fiorina knows what it takes to get companies to move to (or stay in) the Golden State, creating jobs, fostering innovation and expanding opportunity.

      (tags: carly_fiorina)
    • CA Legislative Aide Joel Angeles has ongoing friendship with political couple – Audra and Tony Strickland
      It was the beginning of what has been an enduring three-way friendship and political relationship.

      Angeles has been a political consultant and adviser to both Stricklands and, since December 1998, has been employed by the California Assembly as chief of staff to Tony and then to Audra after she was elected to succeed her husband in 2004.

      “Our kids call Joel ‘Uncle Joel,’ ” Tony Strickland said in an interview last year. “Joel is Audra’s political mentor. He is our common friend.”

      Angeles was found not guilty Friday of misdemeanor charges involving three demonstrators outside a June 2008 political fundraiser for Tony Strickland.

      (tags: joel_angeles audra_strickland tony_strickland)
    • Political aide Joel Angeles acquitted in scuffle at fundraiser
      A Ventura County jury today acquitted the chief of staff of a state assemblywoman on charges of assaulting protesters outside of a political fundraiser last year in Thousand Oaks.

      Jose "Joel" Angeles, the top aide to Assemblywoman Audra Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks), was found not guilty of misdemeanor criminal charges stemming from a scuffle in which a 69-year-old Episcopal priest complained that he was body-slammed by Angeles, causing injuries that required shoulder surgery.

      Angeles testified during the trial that it was he who was roughed up during the scuffle, and that he had not hit or shoved anyone.

      The incident occurred when mostly Democratic protesters gathered outside of a fundraiser at the Hyatt Westlake Plaza Hotel for Strickland's Republican husband, state Sen. Tony Strickland.

      (tags: joel_angeles audra_strickland tony_strickland)
    • California GOP Convention Dispatches: Day 2
      Tom Campbell was billed as the featured speaker at Friday night's dinner at the GOP convention in Indian Wells. But Campbell, introduced by party chair Ron Nehring as "the nicest guy in California politics" — paging Leo Durocher — was left to cool his heels as three other speakers (including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger) preceded him.

      The odd part was who the party had speak before him. Bill Mundell, chairman of ZBB Energy, gave a quirky, rambling speech calling for "an economic revolution" centered around selling off public assets, including the DMV. Mundell rambled on for 30 minutes, leaving the audience checking their Blackberrys and giving each other looks of despair and disbelief.

      (tags: California_Republican_Party)
    • California GOP Convention Dispatches: Day 1
      Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is wasting no time pouncing on a Sacramento Bee article reporting that fellow GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman apparently never registered to vote until 2002. And didn't bother to vote after that. As Republicans gather at their statewide convention in Indian Wells this weekend, Poizner sent out a press release saying Whitman feared "the California press corps, which is the only thing she avoids more than debates and voting."

      Is a little Whitman piling on happening? As Poizner tries to ride "not voting-gate" — Governor Schwarzenegger is dismissing the former eBay CEO's promise to delay implementing AB 32 regulations if she becomes governor.

      (tags: California_Republican_Party)
    • Day By Day by Chris Muir September 26, 2009 – Sing It!
      (tags: Day_By_Day Barack_Obama)
  • Audra Strickland,  Joel Angeles,  Tony Strickland

    Updated: Joel Angeles, Chief of Staff for California Assemblywoman Audra Strickland Found NOT Guilty of All Charges

    September 26, 2009 /
    +++++Update+++++

    Here is an updated news story from the trial.

    Joel Angeles, chief of staff for Assemblywoman Audra Strickland, R-Moorpark, was acquitted Friday of misdemeanor charges that he roughed up three demonstrators outside a June 2008 fundraiser for Strickland’s husband, state Sen. Tony Strickland.

    “I’m very happy,” Angeles, 45, of Sacramento, said after the jury’s verdicts were announced in Ventura County Superior Court. “I just wanted to get a fair shot from the jury, and I believe I did. They weighed the evidence and listened to everything fairly, and I’m just appreciative that they did great work.”

    Angeles said he felt “a big relief” to have the case behind him.

    Audra Strickland, who was in court for the verdicts, said she was “very, very pleased. I knew all along that my chief of staff was innocent, and I’m very pleased that a jury of his peers agreed.”

    Read it all and pay particular attention to the LACK of CREDIBILITY of prosecution witnesses which persuaded the jury to acquitt.

    Joel Angeles, California Assemblywoman Audra Strickland’s Chief of Staff during protests of June 17, 2008. Photo By Flap

    This politically motivated criminal prosecution for battery against Jose “Joel” Angeles who is Assemblywoman Audra Strickland’s, R-Moorpark, Chief of Staff ended with a Ventura County Jury acquitting Angeles of all charges today.

    Flap first wrote about the case almost a year ago.

    Flap was there and wrote this post after the altercation/protests and the fundraising event for Assemblywoman Audra Strickland’s husband, Tony.

    The entire Flap was and continues to be a “He Said, They Said” argument. Flap did not see the supposed “smack down”  but did interview one of the female alleged victims. She did have  scratches on her right arm which she said she received by being pushed  into an adjoining hedge.

    But, the hedge had sharp prongs, the sidewalk was filled with people  and Flap was easily pushed into it and scratched his own arm.

    Ventura County Sheriff officers interviewed all parties and since none of the parties would pursue prosecution or a citizen’s arrest, no arrests were made.

    As I wrote previously:

    Democratic Party activists of Ventura County tried to sink the candidacy of now, newly elected GOP California State Senator Tony Strickland by creating a row out in front of his fundraising event with Mitt Romney. But, it didn’t work and Strickland was elected by a narrow margin in a closely contested race.

    But, this case has dragged on by the outrageous claims of the 69 year old President of the Camarillo Democratic Club and the dogged prosecution by partisan Demcorat Attorney General Jerry Brown’s office.

    This case is going nowhere (unless an outright acquittal or dismissal) and does anyone bet that there will be some sort of plea deal on the courthouse steps?

    If not, the question will be: Why is Jerry Brown, the Democrat Attorney General who will run for Governor in 2010 wasting taxpayers dollars on a politcal prosecution?

    This case was BS and should never have been tried except for the fact that Jerry Brown, the California Attorney General and his minions in the AG’s office are Democratic Party hacks who abuse the law for their own political agendas. Remember when Jerry Brown took the absurd position in the California Proposition 8 case and was virtually laughed out of the California Supreme Court as the moron he is?

    The Ventura County Democrats set this whole FLAP up and tried to defeat California State Senator Tony Strickland with a scandal. Their machinations did not work in the election and they could not fool a Ventura County jury.

    What a waste of taxpayer money.

    This FLAP will rise again when Jerry Brown comes to Ventura County as a candidate for Governor.

    Joel Angeles, Chief of Staff of California Assemblywoman Audra Strickland, R- Moorpark talking with a Ventura County Sheriff Officer during protest rally on June 17, 2008. Photo By Flap

    Previous:

    Ventura County Political Fight of Joel Angeles Headed to Court

    Ventura County District Attorney Refers Audra Strickland Aide Case to California Attorney General

    Audra Strickland Watch: Three Protesters File Criminal Complaints Against Chief of Staff Joel Angeles

    Audra Strickland Watch: Chief of Staff Joel Angeles Placed on Leave

    Hannah-Beth Jackson Watch: Blows More Smoke Over Tobacco Company Protest

    Tony Strickland Watch: Taking it to the Streets – Politics That Is

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