Coffee and Conversation with Curt Hagman

Coffee and Conversation with Curt Hagman

Saturday, November 21st

Stop by to have an informal discussion with Assemblyman Hagman about state issues that matter most to you. Suggestions for legislation are also welcome!

10:30am - 11:30am Starbucks - Rowland Heights 19759 E. Colima Rd.Rowland Heights, CA 91748 (NW Corner of Fairway and Colima)

11:45am - 12:45pm Starbucks - Walnut 505 Grand Ave.Walnut, CA 91789 (NW Corner of Valley and Grand)

1:00pm - 2:00pm Starbucks - Diamond Bar 1194 Grand Ave. Diamond Bar, CA 91765 (NW Corner of Diamond Bar Blvd and Grand)

Please call Hagman's District Office at (909) 627-7021 should you have any questions.

Some thoughts on the last few days

Several days ago we ran a post that has received a lot of attention. I wanted to share some thoughts in regards to it. But first, some background.

I posted the original story believing it to be true. Why would I have any doubt? It was from Lee McGroarty's campaign website. Besides I don't have the time to verify every page on his website, that is his campaign's job.

I was made aware there might be a problem when someone posted the following comment claiming to be Lee. "My name is Lee McGroarty. The posting that states that Gayle Pacheco endorsed Lee McGroarty is a complete fabrication. I want to make it very clear that Gayle Pacheco has neither endorsed nor gave any indication that she was supporting our campaign. In fact, she has not. I have personally contacted Gayle Pacheco and expressed my personal apologies."

I replied that I would take the word "endorse" from the story but stand by the post because all of the information was on his website. Gayle Pacheco soon posted a comment stating the quote was a "complete fabrication by the McGroarty campaign."

Later the McGroarty campaign released a statement calling us "a blog purportedly supported by Congressman Gary Miller," and then admitting fault.

So, they admit fault after Lee originally accused me of fabricating the story, but first make a false claim that this blog is "supported" by a U.S. Congressman. I couldn't have been more surprised. I simply ignored the outrageous allegation but some friends thought silence might imply Miller is "supporting" this blog, so now I will respond. I am sure the McGroarty campaign will never believe me, but lets look at some information.

• We have published every press release on McGroarty's website since we began blogging in late September. Yes, that is only one, the Mouzoon release.
• We published a story announcing the only endorsement by a public official of McGroarty that has been verified, Michael Calta.
• In both cases we were the only site, blog, news or otherwise, that covered these stories. I did a google search today to confirm this. Lee never accused us of being "supported" by Miller when we published them. Nor did the Miller campaign accuse us of being supported by McGroarty.
• I posted three endorsement stories, including the Pacheco post, on Tuesday. Why would I post these if we were being "supported" by Miller?
• I obviously didn't know one them was fake until Lee told us. So, I posted the stories announcing this support as a way to hurt McGroarty? How is that logical?

We have had many comments on this story. One suggested that we should stop publishing news from the McGroarty campaign. At this point, I don't plan on doing that. Yes, campaign releases are puff pieces but this blog is about politics in a small area that only has one Congressional district. Plus, the district has a contested primary. Honestly, we need the news. However, I welcome comments on this issue. Lee can make all of the allegations he wants but we plan on continuing to publish stories from both Republican candidates.

I will continue to leave up the two posts regarding Mr. Ronquillo and Ms. Cunningham. The McGroarty campaign, nor the two individuals mentioned, have notified us that these quotes were made up. The campaign's release mentioned that,"Some people on this page did not provide endorsements." We know that Lee has School Board Memeber Michael Calta's support, so it is possible that others on the list have as well. We don't know who has endorsed him and who hasn't. Until we do, the stories remain.

I will close my thoughts with quotes from two comments I received. Both are from Lee McGroarty. The first one appears to be from the Mouzoon press release. The second one claims to be from the Daily Bulletin. These quotes seem contrary to what we have seen from Lee and his campaign this week.

"My campaign believes the American people deserve better from their candidates. These types of drive-by allegations must end and I will commit to never engaging in unsubstantiated allegations toward my opponents. It would be refreshing if other candidates could offer the same respect."

"I'm going to run an honorable campaign," McGroarty said. "I will not lie, and I will not post lies, however I will run a ruthless campaign, I will go after him and I will go after his jugular."

P.S. Congressman Miller or his staff, if you are reading this, I would love to interview him. Just leave a comment with how to contact him and I will do it.

Happy Birthday to my Marine Corps!

I wanted to say happy 234th birthday to my beloved Marine Corps. Semper Fi.

From the Halls of Montezuma,
To the shores of Tripoli;
We fight our country's battles
In the air, on land, and sea;
First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title
Of United States Marine.

Our flag's unfurled to every breeze
From dawn to setting sun;
We have fought in every clime and place
Where we could take a gun;
In the snow of far-off Northern lands
And in sunny tropic scenes;
You will find us always on the job
The United States Marines.

Here's health to you and to our Corps
Which we are proud to serve;
In many a strife we've fought for life
And never lost our nerve;
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven’s scenes;
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.

Statement from McGroarty Campaign

A comment stating it is an official campaign statement was recently made. A similar post is currently on his campaign site. Statement is below.

This mess, that McGroarty is trying to blame this blog for, started because we posted a quote from his web site. We didn't know that the it was a quote made up by his campaign until Lee, followed by Gayle Pacheco, commented on our site. But some how it was our fault?


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Official statement from the McGroarty for Congress Campaign:

On behalf of the McGroarty for Congress campaign, it has come to our attention through a blog purportedly supported by Congressman Gary Miller that a testimonials wishlist was published on our website recently. Some people on this page did not provide endorsements for the campaign and therefore the campaign had no intention of ever posting this page. Due to a technical error the information was accidentally made public, during which time the campaign staff was under the impression that this was a deleted page. The page was a draft created before the campaign kickoff and was never meant to be visible to the public. Through some webdesign changes, the page was mistakenly published and taken down immediately by our webdesigner without the campaign being notified. The webdesigner who made this public is no longer a part of the campaign team as swift administrative action was taken to correct this mistake. At no time was this meant to be published and Lee McGroarty is personally contacting each person affected by this error.

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You Can't Write This Stuff (but Lee McGroarty Can)

I've been reading the comments of my fellow blogger and my gut reaction was to just laugh and think "this clown wants to be a Congressman?"

From what Gayle Pacheco said it sounds like he just enjoys making up quotes.

Ronald Reagan said that we need to trust, but verify, or should we just take McGroarty's word that the Gipper endorsed him from beyond the grave?

McGroarty campaign website runs false support list?

This morning I found this page on the McGroarty campaign site http://www.mcgroartyforcongress.com/testimonials.html.

This page is no longer active on the website which is why I have the screen shot. Also google saved a cache copy of the page.

It listed several "testimonials." This included quotes apparently from Joe Alagna, Monte Finch, Andy Ronquillo, Tina Revane, Gayle Pacheco, Michael Calta and Justine Cunningham.

We have been posting on news from both McGroarty and Miller, so I posted several stories on this support. Obviously it is news for a challenger to receive support from current and former elected officials and from those who have sought office.

The Gayle Pacheco story included the quote the website stated was hers. It said

I had the pleasure of meeting with Lee less than a month ago. The first thing I
saw was his passion for America and his family. He is not a politician but an
average citizen that decided the status-quo was not good enough. He needs all
our support because our current Congressman has not fulfilled his obligations as
our representative in Washington. Lee will bring new solutions to very difficult
and challenging problems. I am behind him 100% and we need the People to step up
and get him elected.
- Gayle Pacheco, President, Four Corners Chapter of
California Women's Leadership Association (CWLA)

Several hours later we received the following comment from Lee. "My name is Lee McGroarty. The posting that states that Gayle Pacheco endorsed Lee McGroarty is a complete fabrication. I want to make it very clear that Gayle Pacheco has neither endorsed nor gave any indication that she was supporting our campaign. In fact, she has not. I have personally contacted Gayle Pacheco and expressed my personal apologies."

I changed the story to take out the word "endorse," but left the majority of the story because the quote was from his website. Pacheco's quote even stated, "I am behind him 100% and we need the people to step up and get him elected."

30 minutes later Gayle Pacheco posted the following comment, "This is Gayle Pacheco. I emphatically deny ever writing this piece. I never saw this until today. I have not endorsed Lee McGroarty for Congress. I met with Mr. McGroarty several months ago I told him I would not support his running against Congressman Gary Miller. This is a complete fabrication by the McGroarty campaign. In addition, I just spoke with Congressman Gary Miller personally and assured him that he has, as he always has, my complete loyalty and support."

I updated the story yet again. Then 45 minutes later Mrs Pacheco commented again. "Thank you for posting my comments. As I told Congressman Gary Miller this morning, he has my complete support. Congressman Gary Miller has done a tremendous job, not only for his District and California, but for our entire country. He has been, and continues to be, a great representative. We are privileged to have him serve us in Congress!"

So, what happened? Did the McGroarty campaign make up all of the quotes and support? Michael Calta has confirmed in the past his support of McGroarty. As to the other quotes, we will see. But this has to be embarrassing for the McGroarty campaign.

Update 2: McGroarty for Congress website touts support from Gayle Pacheco

Earlier today we ran the following story and update
#####
The McGroarty campaign website is touting the support of Gayle Pacheco, wife of former Assemblyman Robert Pacheco.

I had the pleasure of meeting with Lee less than a month ago. The first thing I saw was his passion for America and his family. He is not a politician but an average citizen that decided the status-quo was not good enough. He needs all our support because our current Congressman has not fulfilled his obligations as our representative in Washington. Lee will bring new solutions to very difficult and challenging problems. I am behind him 100% and we need the People to step up and get him elected.

- Gayle Pacheco, President, Four Corners Chapter of California Women's Leadership Association (CWLA)

Update: Mr. McGroarty commented that we were falsely reporting that Mrs. Pacheco has endorsed him. I have changed the story and title to take out the word "endorse". However, the quote we have is from his website so we are leaving the majority of the post.

####

Now we discover that the quote was made up. We received the following comment from Mrs. Pacheco.

"This is Gayle Pacheco. I emphatically deny ever writing this piece. I never saw this until today. I have not endorsed Lee McGroarty for Congress. I met with Mr. McGroarty several months ago I told him I would not support his running against Congressman Gary Miller. This is a complete fabrication by the McGroarty campaign. In addition, I just spoke with Congressman Gary Miller personally and assured him that he has, as he always has, my complete loyalty and support. "

I will blog more about this later today.

McGroarty website announces support of Chino Valley Teachers Union President

Lee McGroarty campain website now lists the support of Justine Cunningham, President of the Associated Chino Teachers (A.C.T.) Union. An interesting endorsement. It will hurt him in the primary election but, if he wins, help him in the general election.

As the president of the Chino Valley Teachers Union, I am usually meeting with Democratic leaders, not Republicans. Lee reached out to me and we met for almost an hour. I told Lee "I have learned more in the last 45 minutes than I have speaking with any politician." I meant it. I also asked him "Why are you meeting with me, since our union usually sides with Democratic issues." Lee answered, "My mother and father were union people all their lives. The unions and the Repubican Party have very little in common. I want to change that. I want to open a dialog between the unions and me. Let's see if we can find common ground." Never once have I had our current Congressman meet with me. I was very impressed with his candor and sincerity. This country needs new leadership on both sides of the aisle. I hope Lee comes out on top because he convinced me that he is for real.

- Justine Cunningham, President of the Chino Valley Teachers Union

Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ronquillo Supports McGroarty

Lee McGroarty's campaign has announced the support of Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Andy Ronquillo.

At first, I did not want to meet with Lee but his aide kept at me and said you have to meet him. As the president of the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce, I have the pleasure of meeting with many politicians. The thought of upending a 5-term incumbent Congressman, particularly in the Republican Primary, seemed too big of a battle. Plus, I like Gary Miller. I agreed to meet for 10 minutes which turned into 2 hours. Lee was a breath of fresh air and his facts and passion were dead-on. Lee asked me at the end of our meeting "If you were in my shoes, what would you do to win." I told him the truth "Do exactly what you did today...you've enlightened me. You do that to enough people and you will win."

This is a good endorsement for McGroarty but a surprising move by Ronquillo. Usually Chamber of Commerce staff, who serve at the pleasure of the Board of Directors, don't make political endorsements. Why? Because Ronquillo needs to be able to work with Congressman Gary Miller and his staff. For example, the Chamber is hosting an event with Congressman Miller next week.

It should be noted that Miller has the highest lifetime U.S. Chamber of Commerce rating in the California delegation.

Note: Miller is a six term Congressman not five term as noted in the quote.

Gary Miller debates Health Care bill on KNBC

Congressman Gary Miller recently appeared on KNBC to debate the Health Care bill with Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff.

Congressman Miller voted against H.R. 3962 yesterday. Miller voted for the Stupak amendment, which bans federal funds from funding abortion.