OC Blog

NRCC Absentee Mailers For John Campbell

The National Republican Campaign Committee has done an independetn expenditure for John Campbell's congressional candidacy in the form of an absentee voter campaign. At least two absentee voter applications and one follow up piece were mailed to an approximately 100,000 voter universe.

This piece went out at the end of October:

And this piece went out during the first week of November:

And the follow up piece:

In light of how much of the December 6 votes will be cast by absentee -- some estiamtes as many as 70% -- the NRCC IE adds another magnitude of power to the tsunami that will hit the Gilchrist and Young campaigns that day.

 

Gilchrist Campaign Hemorrhaging Staff

If true, Pete St. John over at California Campaigns has a great post up.  I share most, if not all, of his retrospective thoughts.

If the Fifteen Minute Man's loss hadn't already seemed a foregone conclusion, it should certainly seem like one now.  While lacking good experience, the Gilchrist team that was in place knew the guy, had gotten to know the area, and had organized an effort that held presumptive Congressman Campbell to less than 50.  They did quite a good job in a field against a large, hardened team of professionals.

The Successor Project Endorses John Campbell For Congress

I received this press release today from The Successor Project:

Statement by Jim Lacy on TSP's Endorsement of John Campbell

November 15, 2005

"We formed The Successor Project earlier this year to research the candidates and find a worthy successor to Chris Cox.  Chris entered office with a significant background in Government: he was a lawyer, former White House Deputy Counsel, and staunch Reaganite.  As a Member of Congress, he helped lead the House into a new era of Republican dominance and forged new paths in the fields of homeland security, technology, taxation, and growth.  He was an outstanding Congressman for his District.

“In our opinion, there is only one candidate for Congress in the special election that even comes close to Chris Cox's credentials and potential. That person is State Senator John Campbell. Senator Campbell has worked for lower taxes and less business regulation while serving in the State Legislature and has a background as a local businessman. His experience will allow him to ‘hit-the-ground running’ when he joins Congress.

“We appreciate candidate Jim Gilchrist's raising the immigration issue and we appreciate his willingness to participate in the TSP interview process.  We wish Senator Campbell had participated in the process and believe he could only have helped himself. Had Campbell participated in our interview and other similar activities, he may’ve been able to obtain the necessary number of votes to win election outright on the first ballot.

“Gilchrist performed well in the TSP interview. Nevertheless, Mr. Gilchrist has made a number of troubling statements and taken several policy positions in interviews and on radio that are of deep concern.  Among them, are statements he has made that appear sympathetic to the estate tax; a comment on the Hugh Hewitt program in defense of his bankruptcy, saying that 140 members of Congress have gone bankrupt (which is untrue); and other statements about a published report that Gilchrist voted for socialist Peter Camejo of the Green Party in the Gubernatorial Election.

“TSP never intended to endorse a candidate for Congress.  We saw our role as conducting research and bringing the candidates’ positions out so people could decide for themselves who the successor to Chris Cox should be.  However, given the concern about Gilchrist's fitness for Congress, TSP's Board wishes to leave absolutely no doubt about our intentions. Therefore, The Successor Project is announcing its endorsement of John Campbell to be the successor to Chris Cox and urges district residents to vote for John Campbell in the December runoff election."

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Gilchrist Will Be MIA At Tonight's Candidate Forum

The drama may have gone out of the 48th CD special election, but not the theatrics.

Tonight, UCI, the City of Irvine and the League of Women Vipers are hosting one tonight in the Irvine Council Chambers. It will broadcast on Irvine cable, on KUCI-FM, and webcast on the City of Irvine website.  It's one of out-gunned Jim Gilchrist's last opportunity to communicate with voters for free before the Dec. run-off.

John Campbell will be there tonight. Oddly, after months of his campaign howling for John Campbell to debate him candidate forums, Gilchrist announced yesterday he will boycott this debate because of the League's left-wing politics.

Now, I agree with Gilchrist's assessment of the League's politics -- they're practically an adjunct of the Democratic Party. But I suspect this boycott has more to do with his bankruptcy and weird and contradictory statements about candidates and policies he supports. After all, this is the first candidate forum to take place since all that stuff hit the fan. Citing the League's politics strikes me as a rather flimsy excuse, especially since the forum is being moderated by Rick Reiff, a rock-ribbed conservative.

The strange denouement of the Gilchrist campaign continues.

48th CD Special Election Candidate Forum Tomorrow

UC Irvine, the City of Irvine and The League of Women Vipers will be hosting a 48th CD special eclection candidate forum tomorrow evening. The details:

When:    Tuesday, November 15 at 6:30 p.m.

Where:    Irvine City Hall, Council Chambers
                1 Civic Center Plaza

The forum will be moderated by the inimitable Rick Reiff, executive editor of the Orange County Business Journal.

It will be broadcast live on ICTV Channel 30, via webcast on the City of Irvine website, and on the radio on KUCI 88.9 F.M.

Here is the flyer with some more details.

Jim Gilchrist Agrees To Debate John Campbell On Hugh Hewitt Show

Uberblogger and media polymath Hugh Hewitt interviewed 48th CD hopeful Jim Gilchrist on his radio program yesterday.

It wasn't pretty.

Glichrist compounded the damage by agreeing to return to Hugh's show to debate John Campbell.

You can read the listen to the audio and read the ranscript of the interview at the indispensable RadioBlogger, who also links to this new website, TheTruthAboutGilchrist.com. You can also listen to the audio here.

Hugh takes aim in these two posts, as well.

The man should never have run for Congress. Instead of being the citizen-leader of a movement that is helping push illegal immigration back onto the political front-burner, he's becoming a caricature -- which limits his effectiveness as an anti-illegal immigration activist.

UPDATE: Gilchrist true believer Allan Bartlett reacts to the interview on his Powder Blue Report blog.

Jim Gilchrist's Bankruptcy

The subject of Jim Gilchrist's bankruptcy has been floating out there throughout the 48th CD special election. Does he have one, or doesn't he?

He does, and you peruse it here and here and here and here and here. Back in June, when Gilchrist  first threw his hat in the ring, I asked what anyone really knew about him and wondered if he was really prepared for the rough and tumble of a congressional campaign. I think the unprofessional and unfocused nature of his campaign, the weird political statements and unconvincing explanations of those statements, and now this example of personal financial recklessness should convince any remaining doubters that Gilchrist is finished as a candidate.

Transcript Of Gilchrist-for-Camejo Audio

Not everyone is able to listen to the audio I posted of Jim Gilchrist stating he voted for Green Party candidate Peter Camejo for Governor, so here's a transcript of the relevant part:

John Earl:  Alright, well let me ask you, first, I am looking at your website alight and I am reading the quotes from your website and there is a quote here from…somewhere from Martin Luther King?

Jim Gilchrist:  Yes, about…uh…repaving the street.  Actually it’s…um…I can’t quote it verbatim. It’s about turning pessimism into…uh…uh…a positive thing.

Earl:  Yea, it says “We can transform bleak and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of joy and bring new light into the dark caverns of pessimism.”  Alright, do you really think that Martin Luther King would be supporting you today in demanding the deportation of 7 to 10 million undocumented or as you call them illegal immigrants?  Would he be behind you?

Gilchrist:  Umm…you know, I don’t know that’s a good question.  Umm…and that wasn’t…umm…that wasn’t the reason for using his quotes.  It’s more because…um…because I admire his stoicism, his tenacity in accomplishing something peacefully…umm…uh…through the first amendment.  And…

Earl: How does what he did back up what you’re doing?  Or…cause that’s why you are putting the quote there really is to back up what you’re doing.

Gilchrist:  Right…yea…umm…assemble and speak under the first amendment and do it repeatedly.  Do no harm.  You…if you’re…if you’re pushed out of…uh…uh…a neighborhood or beaten up and pushed out of there you come back again.  You still…and you become…become the victim, come back again and speak and…and…and dissemble and if they beat you up again or wash you down with fire hoses…whatever they did to the Blacks in Selma back in the 60’s.

Earl:  Ok and you’re gonna keep…

Gilchrist:  It’s…it’s a…they use it as…uh…uh…oh what’s the phrase…the term…to…to um…um…to utilize… uh…stoicism in what you’re doing.  You don’t take bats and clubs to get your way.  You just keep assembling, keep pushing the idea, keep reminding those who represent you politically and those who live in you’re neighborhood, keep…uh…preaching that same…uh…mantra and just keep going.  And…and…and it was very successful for him.

Earl:  Who are the…

Gilchrist: Go ahead.

Earl:  Who are the victims in this case that you equate with the victims that Martin Luther King was organizing and standing up for?  I mean who is getting…getting beaten down with the water hoses? Who is getting lynched?

Gilchrist:  It’s…well, anyone who assembles under the first amendment regarding the…uh…immigration law enforcement is getting…literally getting beaten, they’re physically attacked. Umm…this is not good.      

Earl:  That happened to you’re…you’re people.

Gilchrist: Yes, yes.

Earl:  You have been physically attacked by police?

Gilchrist: No, no it’s been…uh…protected by the police so that we would have our first amendment.  Umm…been attacked by…uh…Duane Roberts from Garden Grove a member of the Green Party…uh…who by the way I supp…voted for one of his candidates…uh…two years ago.

Earl:  Who was that?

Gilchrist: Uh…Camio

Earl: Camejo.

Gilchrist: Yes, Camejo. Peter Camejo. Yea, umm…I like Peter. I don’t like all of his…his…uh…positions, but…uh…the one about putting more of a tax burden on the ultra wealthy and relieving the lower and middle class of that tax burden, the working bees…uh…the worker bees…uh…I like that and I remember he was on television.

Jim Gilchrist Voted For Peter Camejo for Governor

Jim Gilchrist, self-styled Reagan Republican, voted for Green party candidate Peter Camejo for Governor because he liked Camejo plan to tax "the ultra-wealthy." You can hear this startling admission from Gilchrist in this soundclip.

You can also hear a number of other odd, un-conservative statements by Gilchrist at OC Organizer -- such as his entertaining the possibility of a hybrid amnesty. It may be a left-wing website, but they didn't make Gilchrist say these things.

The Gilchrist candidacy just becomes more bizarre as his handlers try to sell the man as something he isn't, which is unfortunate for the popular upswelling against illegal immigration to the extent that Gilchrist becomes the public face of their movement.

Arrhh, Matey! Gilchrist Dubloon-Raiser On The High Seas

Jim Gilchrist is holding a $1,000 per-person fundraiser on the 1812 American Privateer Lynx this Thursday.

It will be a sunset cruise from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Using still-valid letters of marque and reprisal from the War of 1812, Gilchrist donors will have the opportunity to challenge and board LA-to-Ensenada cruise ships and search the holds for stowaway illegal immigrants.