OC Blog

Yet Another IE for Otto Bade

Yesterday, Californians United dropped another $14K independent expenditure for GOP write-in Otto Bade's Trojan Horse candidacy -- $14,021 for a mailer, to be precise.

That brings the Democratic IE group to $72,944.88 in expenditures for Bade. That's as much, in less than a week, as Bade raised in a year for his 2004 Assembly campaign.

They also spent $30,750 on "TV production and placement" in support of Lou Correa.

Daucher Catches Up

Stately Leyes Manor received FOUR pieces of Daucher mail today (Thursday), no doubt from a slight clog in the post office. This makes up for NO mail from Daucher on Wednesday. She was also featured on a large-format Republican slate ("Orange County Republican Leadership somethin-or-other...").

ZERO Correa mail today... no, wait, an "I.E." for Otto Bade - which, of course, is a diaphanously-veiled Correa effort. And four or five other pieces (No on 87, Maybe on 99, Up on Down, Cherry on Top, etc. ...).

Central county mailboxes are pretty full by now, so sensory overload is setting in. If the message hasn't sunk in by now, then it probably won't. All the more reason to suspect that the Bogus Bade campaign may be too little, too late....

One Of The Otto Bade Mailers

Here's one of the Otto Bade mailers -- I don't know if it is the first or the second one:

Another IE For Otto Bade -- That's $60,000 So Far

Yesterday, Californians United dropped $28,425.61 in independent expenditures for GOP Trojan Horse write-in Otto Bade: $25,970.55 for a mailer, and $2,455.06 for phone banking.

That brings Californians United IEs for Otto Bade to a total of $58,923.88. By way of contrast, Otto Bade recieved a total of $73,523.00 for all of 2004 when he ran for Assmbly that year.

For a list of Californians United contributors, click here.

By coincidence, I just heard a Lou Correa for state Senate radio ad on KFI even as I wrote this post.

Another IE for Otto From Lou Correa Backers

Californians United sent out another IE for Otto Bade today, according to Martin Wisckol at Total Buzz.

The expenditure was reported this evening about 5:20 p.m.: $14,673.66. That's enough to hit approximately 30,000 GOP households, again.

I hope Otto is being amply rewarded by the Democrats, because he's finished politically as a Republican. Maybe he can regsiter as a Democrat, and even things out for Tan Nguyen's swtich from Democrat to Republican.

Dave Shawver Endorses Lou Correa For Senate

Mike Lawson over at TheLiberalOC posts about a Republicans for Lou Correa letter that went out:

The Lou Correa camp sent out a “Republicans for Lou” letter this weekend.  The letter is a counter to the Dems for Daucher letter that Andrew and Claudio already blogged about.

And similarly, Lou’s letter is signed by a bunch of Who-dats? of the Republican party: David Shawver, Tran Tu, Al Ethans, George Georgieff, Mark Kusiak, Jess Saenz, and Hoa Truong.

You can read Mike's entire post here.

Interesting that Dave Shawver, the hapless Stanton councilman the government unions recuited to run against John Moorlach for 2nd District Supervisor is among this benighted group.

The Democrats Are Behind The Otto Bade Write-In. Gee, What A Surprise.

Martin Wisckol posts over at Total Buzz that the Democrats paid for an IE mailer hitting Lynn Daucher and promoting Otto Bade:

It's getting a little clearer who's behind Republican Otto Bade's last-minute write-in campaign for the 34th state Senate District race between Republican Lynn Daucher and Democrat Lou Correa. Not much of a surprise -- it's Correa's backers. I wrote about Otto the Spoiler in today's Buzz column (second item), but now campaign mail has been sent out on his behalf and we know who's paying for it.

A PAC called "Californians United" paid for a mailer that hit Saturday that attacked "liberal" Republicans (including a slam on Daucher) and touted Bade as a "conservative Republican." Californians United has also done independent expenditures on Correa's behalf.

You can read Martin's entire post here.

According to the Secretary of State website, the mailer cost $15,824.16. If you figure the mailer probably cost the Dems 50 cents per peice, that's about 30,000 Republicans -- 28% of GOP registration in the 34th SD.

Lynn Daucher & The Governator

The ubiquitous Anthony Kuo sent me this picture of 34th Senate District candidate Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher with Governor Schwarzenegger at her fundraiser the other day, which drew more than 400 attendees. I thought I'd share it with our readers:

Same Old Otto Bade

Otto Bade never returned my call, but Art Pedroza did manage to speak with him yesterday about why he's running a write-in campaign in the 34th.

I agree with Art's analysis: Bade's no threat unless Democratic interests spend money on IEs to tell voters about him -- the goal being to siphon away enough GOP voters from Lynn Daucher in order to ensure her defeat.

Otto has a checkered past: a manslaughter indictment (he was acquitted, but the person he killed is still dead), bankruptcies, mutliple divorces, illegitimate children, etc. Not really a guy who's big on keeping commitments or levelling with you.

So I wasn't surprised when Otto told Art this whopper:

Did Matthias recruit Bade? I asked Bade, but he claimed not to know Matthias.

Bruce Matthias worked for Bade's Assembly campaign for several months. Bade still owes Bruce so money, so I'm not shocked that he claimed not to know Matthias. What's another bad debt? Just throw it on the pile.

UPDATE: Mike Lawson at TheLiberalOC adds another possible theory as to Otto's motive.

Otto Bade Has Qualified As A Write-In Campaign In 34th SD

Yesterday, Otto Bade, the GOP's 2004 nominee for the 69th Assembly District, turned in 40 signatures to qualify as a write-in candidate for the 34th Senate District. Today was the deadline for doing so.

I just spoke with the OC Registrar of Voters office, and the signatures are valid. The next step is for the Secretary of State to certify him as a write-in candidate, which will probably happen in tomorrow or the day after.

It's becoming like Night of the Living Dead Republicans in central Orange County with unkillable GOP zombie candidates roaming the electoral landscape. First, Tan Nguyen and now Otto "Yes, I've Had A Checkered Past" Bade. Who's next? Jeff Chavez? Bob Dornan?

I haven't spoken to Otto yet, so I don't know what rational he's giving for his write-in candidacy. The real reason is likely political payback against Sen. Dick Ackerman and Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher. When Otto ran for Assembly two years ago, Ackerman didn't lend him the political and financial support he believed he was entitled to as the GOP nominee. My understanding is Ackerman, correctly, believed Bade checkered past (which is being charitable) rendered him a DOA nominee and he didn't want to waste limited resources on Bade's campaign. Daucher had endorsed Bade, but withdrew the endorsement when she found out about Bade's myriad legal problems.

Clearly, Otto is trying to torpedo Daucher. The question is, is he doing so in conjunction with interested Democratic parties.

More on that later...

UPDATE: I called Otto Bade to get some comment, but there was no answer. I'll let you know if Otto returns my call.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Martin Wisckol over at Total Buzz has reaction from the Daucher campaign.