CRA Funny Times – What A Difference 2 Years Makes
Here’s another pearl from a recent Sidhu mailer, purportedly penned by some guy named Karl Heft, who revels in the title of Vice President of the CRA (California Republican Assembly):
“…Harry is a candidate we can trust to uphold our conservative Republican values.”
Um, gee, Karl, what values would those be? Carpetbaggery? Perjury? Perpetual public office hunting? Clearly the CRA endorsement, for what its worth, can be obtained by anybody. And just to enjoy the hypocrisy of the bestowers and the receiver, read on.
It’s indeed illuminating to recall what the folks at the CRA had to say about Hide and Seek Sidhu less than two years ago, when the perennial candidate was running for State Senate – yet another job he wasn’t qualified to hold.
Please stop exploiting me.
What can you buy for the man who has everything? How about a little credibility. Unfortunately the CRA has none to give out.
“Pull my finger!”
Hi Guys – I know Karl Heft well. I am also an officer in the CRA, the Sgt at Arms (hence my screen name)
We have to, by our by-laws follow our endorsements, so it is common practice for officers to sign campaign mailers etc.
As to the CRA itself – there was a major seed change in leadership yesterday in our board meeting.
I’d expect some fundamental changes in the way the CRA has done business to occur.
Just my .02 – I don’t know Sidhu, I do know Karl Heft, and Mr. Heft is an honest and credible player… I am sure I could get you in contact with him if you wanted.
Aaron,
Please have Mr. Heft explain what has factually changed about Sidhu in the last 24 months. Its not good enought to just say he now has the endorsement. Clearly the CRA felt Sidhu was a bad actor just a short time ago. Absent some story as to what Sidhu did to change his life, the CRA has no credibility here.
“I am sure I could get you in contact with him if you wanted.”
I’m sure we could, too.
But to hear what? How carpetbagging and perjury are CRA values? Really?
Nobody forced that guy to have his name used on a Sidhu mailer. He did that all by himself.
Hollis / Joe – you guys can have your issues with Sidhu all you want.
I have reason to believe that once we are done cleaning up some of the mess in the CRA that the endorsements will come out differently.
The bottom line – I have signed letters and campaign statements for candidates that I did not support – however, they got endorsed by CRA.
It is in our bylaws that officers are bound by the endorsement.
If the process was flawed by questionable units – we will not know for a while… but I can tell you with certainty that there was a leadership change and there is going to be scrutiny of a lot of units around the state.
Again – I am defending Karl Heft, a friend and an honest man. I am not defending Harry Sidhu or the CRA endorsement… I hope that part is clear.
I am from the North State and did not participate in the convention that endorsed Sidhu.
You signed letters for people you did not endorse…Yes, but did you ever sign endorsement letters for someone who has perjured themselves or who blatantly carpetbags?
We are constantly being reminded that the “CRA is the conscience of the Republican Party.” Well, Ronald Reagan must be rolling over in his grave after you guys lacked the intestinal fortitude to stand up and resign rather than sign an endorsement letter for that Liar Harry Siduh.
Typical.
Rather than protect the integrity of the CRA organization, its leaders, being more interested in maintaining their positions, signed letters for Carpetbagging Siduh.
Any wonder why the electorate wants to throw the bums out?
Aaron,
I hope you are right. The tenets of the CRA appeal to me, however some of the goofy endorsements defy logic. I realize there is a process that the officers must follow but I think the membership which pushes the endorsements and also elects the officers needs strong leadership.
I could be wrong though since after paying my dues my membership with state and local CRA seems to be in limbo or lost on a desk.
I’m not trying to be argumentative, but specific words were attributed to Mr. Heft. The bylaws may prevent officers from using their names to endorse other candidates, but I don’t see how specific words can be put into somebody’s mouth.
It just goes to show how dubious that endorsement was.
Aaron, I was told that Sidhu’s wife was one of the people who voted for him. Can you find out about that? I’d sure like to know.
Be who you are, Joe, that affable, argumentative SOB we have grown to love.
Greg – have the admins of this site connect you to me. I’ll see what the score is with your dues check. When you email me – let me know what unit you tried to join… as we have a few units we are looking in to.
Joe – contact me as well. It is not unheard of for candidates to have their families in a unit.
In fact, in the north state, there is a unit that was literally chartered by Doug LaMalfa and his family in Butte County. Naturally, I am going to scrutinize that unit and any other that look like frauds.
I just got appointed to the Charter Review Committee for the first time and I am hell-bent on finding these units, finding out who controls them and what was done.
In the meantime – any evidence anyone can give me about specific CRA units and specific incidences – PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE contact me with it so it can be checked out.
I am about cleaning up the CRA. Period.
(and defending the good name of my friend Karl Heft)
Lesson Learned – it is really easy to attack people when you hide anonymously. Try introducing yourself to me and then we can talk.
I will tell you that Carpetbagging is a non-issue, voters don’t give a damn.
My Congressman lives in Elk Grove – 40 miles outside the district at the closest. He is going to get re-elected.
Assemblyman Jim Nielsen did not live in the 2nd AD when he got elected. He got sued and the judge threw the book at the plantiff – making the plantiff pay Nielsen’s expenses for abuse of process.
Talk to you guys more, soon.
I really hope you do look into Harry Sidhu and all of the talk out there about his little scandals. He obviously is up to something and it needs to be exposed.
IMHO, the perjury and carpetbagging has been fully exposed as Sidhu himself has for the fraud that I believe he is.
I would like to see what happened behind the CRA walls regarding his endorsement.
It’s exposed very well on FFFF and in Fullerton but what about constituents in Placentia and La Habra? Is all they see are Mayor Pro Tem Harry signs everywhere, thinking it’s their own Mayor Pro Tem running.
Harry is just a bunch of lies….
“I will tell you that Carpetbagging is a non-issue, voters don’t give a damn.”
I don’t think that’s true – at least around here. I believe it made a difference in the Norby/Ackerman election.
How about falsifying voting registration and committing perjury in so doing. That’s what Sidhu did to enable his carpetbagging. Surely the CRA looks askance at that – maybe not. If so they should revoke that endorsement immediately – if they care about their reputation.
Aaron, please do look into the Mrs. Sidhu thing. Like I said, I heard that she voted as a CRA member for her own husband. I find that very, very hard to believe. Anybody know one way or another?
Aaron,
My post is not about you, never was. If you don’t like what I write, then great. But don’t kid yourself or anyone else on this blog that being anonymous is a bad thing, unless you really do want to attack them personally. Which is exactly why you don’t like not knowing who is on the other end.
My post was about those who sit at the heads of these organizations, knowing full well what is going on and yet, rather than stand up for the integrity of the organization when its on the wrong path and resign the position but stay in the organization.
People like Siduh have gotten away with what they have for years before this blog was created, simply because political organizations that republicans look to for guidance have abrogated that responsibility in favor of keeping their high ranking positions..
I applaud you for what you have done to straighten things out in the CRA and for the fact that you have pissed in the punch bowl over at MauveCounty. So keep up the good work.
The bottom line is, we are actually on the same Right side of the fence, just different prospective
You are never really “anonymous” in cyberspace…
Well, you can be almost perfectly anonymous, but it’s harder than most people think.
What is a “militant homosexual” anyway. Are we talking about people in the US armed forces?
Commenting anonymously removes the temptation of talking about one’s self too much.
No it doesn’t. I do it no matter what I call myself today.
#19-#22 ROFLMAO!!!
NOW – “LL” you wrote: “My post was about those who sit at the heads of these organizations, knowing full well what is going on and yet, rather than stand up for the integrity of the organization when its on the wrong path and resign the position but stay in the organization.”
Amen – that is what I am doing and by the way, Mr. Heft is also one of the reformers. (BTW – It could well be that he does support Sidhu.)
That being said, I did confirm that Sidhu’s wife voted for him. This is allowed under the CRA By-Laws, just like Doug LaMalfa’s family chartering a unit in the North State.
The failure has been that the former Charter Review committee did not scrutinize applications as well as they should have.
That rests on the whole CRA – but we’re going to deal with that. The Board that approved these charters should have been asking questions, they did not – including this member until after it was too late in many cases.
All we can do is clean house and set up 2012 correctly.
As to Mauve County, we now know that the price of integrity is now at $65,000. Nice, huh? I could have sold out too as that kind of money would have fixed a lot…
I would appreciate your support as we take on a lot of messes in the CRA.
You always had it, my support.
And still do. Keep cleaning house.
You said, “As to Mauve County, we now know that the price of integrity is now at $65,000. Nice, huh? I could have sold out too as that kind of money would have fixed a lot… ”
Are you referring to the Whitman ads or is someone at RC pimping for Sidhu for pay?
CR – I have gotten a rude education in the last 6 months.
The major GOP bloggers are bought and paid for largely. Even the ones that try to split the middle play favorites.
As to Red County – don’t know if Sidhu is paying them – I’d assume the rally gerbil has a financial interest as he does nothing for free – but the $65K is what Meg for Emporer has given greenfaucet.com.
Hell – I sell ads on my blog for $300-$600 a month. Either Meg bought Red County – or I have to fix my price sheet.
There is a changing of the guard in the CRA…
The California Republican Assembly Elects a New President Celeste Greig is the 5th Woman to Lead CRA in Organization’s 75-Year History
At an historic meeting of the CRA Board of Directors, Celeste Greig was unanimously elected President of the California Republican Assembly, on Saturday, March 27, 2010, becoming only the fifth woman to lead the volunteer organization in its 75-year history.
This was an historic meeting for CRA due to an opening created for the first time ever when a sitting President became a candidate for public office.
Immediate Past President Ken Mettler’s position as President became open upon his filing as a candidate for the Republican nomination for the 32nd State Assembly, which is in the Kern County area where Mettler lives. Under CRA’s By-Laws, upon Mettler filing his candidacy papers, his seat was automatically vacated.
“I’m grateful for the vote of confidence from the CRA Board of Directors in electing me their President,” noted Celeste. “It is an honor to follow in the footsteps of previous leaders and Presidents who have led CRA for 75 years in what President Ronald Reagan called ‘the conscience of the Republican Party.’”
In a display of unity, after Celeste Greig was nominated for the position, all of the other Vice Presidents deferred to Ms. Greig, and Vice President Pete Weber, the currently longest serving Vice President, moved that nominations be closed. The Board unanimously elected Vice President Celeste Greig as its new President.
President Greig stated, “I intend to build upon the solid foundation Past President Ken Mettler has laid, and we wish him well in winning the nomination for State Assembly in June.”
A longtime Republican activist, Celeste Greig has served CRA in many offices over the years, including as a Unit President, a State Senate Director and a Vice President. In addition, she has served on the Board of Directors of the State Republican Party.
President Celeste Greig lives in Los Angeles with her husband Ted Greig.
Thanks Aaron! But will the change in leadership at the state level mean changes at the local level? I personally have not had a very good experience with the CRA, but I still think that there is hope. Most of my bad experience with the CRA is similar to that of other non-profit organizations that have a structure and very little support for membership. Likely because the people running the show have regular jobs and can’t devote much time to it. Or maybe I’m making excuses for something I know nothing about. Both are plausible but I think CRA is going to have to endure some significant growing and restructuring pains to overcome the years of hypocritical and completely dead-wrong leadership that I have seen. I hope they get it together quickly and return to their core values. Too much to hope for? Maybe.
Those CRA dudes got it right two years go. Assclown Sidhu is still a tool of the unions. Not sure about the militant homersexuals.
Maybe Sidhu just has a wide stance and the militants misunderstood?
Perpetual office seeker? I thought you guys supported Norby?