42nd Election Results Updated

The results for the Republican primary in the 42nd district have been updated (3:32pm today) on the Secretary of State's web site. The result is the same but the percentages have changed slightly. Phil Liberatore has gone up 0.4%, while the other three candidates have gone down 0.1% to 0.2%

Rep. Gary Miller 48.9%
Phil Liberatore 37.6%
Lee McGroarty 10.5%
David Su 3.0%

The morning after the election we posted the following results at 10:04am.

Gary Miller 49.0%
Phil Liberatore 37.2%
Lee McGroarty 10.7%
David Su 3.1%

Lee McGroarty comments on Election

42nd Congressional candidate Lee McGroarty left the following comment on our blog this morning. McGroaty finished third with 10.7% of the vote.

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Last evening, my campaign held a celebration party at our home. Lisa and I were so pleased with the turnout. It was a chance for us to say thank you for a truly wonderful year. We couldn't have been more touched by the outpouring of love and support for the efforts of my team, my family and most importantly, my supporters.

Did we win? Absolutely. I can truly hold my head up high knowing we fought a great fight. I believed Congressman Miller needed to be challenged and our goal was to offer a choice to the people of the district. My entering the race assured that. Though I wish I could have gone head-to-head against Miller, others also stood up and challenged. That is Democracy!

As a gesture of goodwill, I will be calling each of my opponents today. For now, I tip my hat to Congressman Miller for his victory. I also applaud Phil and David for their efforts. We all won. But more importantly, the People won. This is what elections are about. In the end, it was not about us -- the candidates. In the end, it was about the People electing leaders.

To continue reading click Read More below.

Lee McGroarty thanks his supporters

42nd Congressional candidate Lee McGroarty has posted the following statement on his web site.

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McGroarty Thanks His Supporters
by mcgroarty4congress on

My wife Lisa and I would like to thank all our supporters for their tireless efforts and devotion to our campaign. A year ago, I felt our economy would be in dire circumstances, the incumbents would be under attack, and the country would want to move back to common sense conservative values. I was right on all three fronts.

A year later, I am so proud of our campaign. We have fought hard and have taken on the Republican establishment and a 6 term Congressman. We set out to improve the Party and to let our Congressman know that We The People are watching and we will act when you let us down.

I would also like to thank the numerous Tea Parties that endorsed my candidacy: iCaucus, the Conservative Party (California), and the SOC912 group. Also, Kelly Good, founder of the Chino Hills Tea Party has not only been courageous but is an example of what is right with those who believe in the greatness of America.

Today is June 8th and I am confident we will win. Regardless of the outcome, I will hold my head high knowing I fought an honorable race and have served the People of the 42nd District well.

Best wishes to all and God Bless!

It is in God's hands now...and in yours. Please vote for Lee McGroarty. Thank you!
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Lee McGroarty responds to Marc Harris and not being able to speak at Tea Party Event

Yesterday we posted a story that 42nd Congressional candidate Lee McGroarty was not allowed to speak at a Tea Party event, while fellow candidate Phil Liberatore was. Later Marc Harris, the person several commenters stated was the person who didn't allow McGroarty to speak, responded to the issue. In his response Harris said there was, "suspicion now being raised that McGroarty has made a back-room deal with Miller to stay in the race in order to split the vote, and ensure Miller's re-election."

McGroarty responded in two comments.

To continue reading click Read More below.

Phil Liberatore loans himself another $150,000; Lee McGroarty raises $3,400

According to documents filed with the FEC today, 42nd Congressional candidate Phil Liberatore has loaned himself $150,000 bringing to $725,000 the total Liberatore has loaned his campaign.

42nd Congressional candidate Lee McGroarty reported on Sunday that he raised $3,400 from two donors.

Response from Marc Harris?

We have received the following response to our earlier post about 42nd Congressional candidate Lee McGroarty not being allowed to speak at a Tea Party event yesterday. We don't know for sure that this is in fact from Marc Harris. It was sent via email and was forwarded twice. The emails listed are from leadership in groups associated with Harris, so we have a strong belief that this is in fact from Harris.

I thought it was funny that Harris said, "Funny, you don't see Miller attacking McGroarty." I guess Harris hasn't been following the race long enough. The Lee McGroarty for Congress web site that Miller put up comes to mind.

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Thanks for this post, Miller team....This is only going to add more fuel to the suspicion now being raised that McGroarty has made a back-room deal with Miller to stay in the race in order to split the vote, and ensure Miller's re-election. (Do people do such things in politics???)

Otherwise, why would Miller's supporters here give a darn about this obscure incident, and slant it so far from the facts?

The FACTS are that: a) I was not the "host" of this event, it was put on by a local coordinator, and I have no authority to determine who speaks, b) I was NOT the one who denied McGroarty's request to speak, it was the local coordinator, c) it was on private property, and the owner participated in setting the agenda and speakers and, again, I have no authority to tell a private property owner what can go on on his property, d) I have NOT endorsed Liberatore: I support the Tea Party leaders and members; accordingly, I will act in a manner consistent with the results of numerous emails, phone calls, caucuses, and straw polls among local Tea Parties which show greater support for Liberatore.

To continue reading click Read More

Why did a Phil Liberatore supporter block Lee McGroarty from speaking?

Yesterday there was a Tea Party event in Anaheim. According to several comments we received, 42nd Congressional candidate Lee McGroarty attended the event but was not allowed to speak. However, 42nd Congressional candidate Phil Liberatore was. In fact, several people who have endorsed him spoke as well.

According to the comments we received, Marc Harris, who hosted the event and has endorsed Liberatore, is the person who denied McGroarty the chance to speak. Harris has appeared in mail sent by the Liberatore campaign. He is the Orange County Coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots.

Talk Show Host Claims David Su and Lee McGroarty under 5% in 42nd.

On Friday, we posted a story about how 42nd Congressional candidate Phil Liberatore and his supporters have been publicly stating that Liberatore is "winning" in polls or that the polls are "tight." We wondered why Liberatore wasn't posting the results in an effort to win over David Su and Lee McGroarty supporters who want to defeat Rep. Gary Miller.

Liberatore still hasn't released any polls but his supporters are trying to make it seem like Su and McGroarty have no shot.

Rick Amato, who hosts the Rick Amato Show in San Diego, has posted the following in regards to Phil Liberatore.

"UPDATE: The latest internal polling numbers show Liberatore and Miller neck and neck. There is a risk that unless one of the other candidates drop out (other candidates polling at less than 5% of the vote) sadly they could be responsible for sending Miller back to Washington."

Amato uses the word "candidates," so he is implying that McGroarty and Su are under 5%. But for all we know Liberatore could be at 6%.

If Liberatore was winning, or with in a few points, they would release the poll because gaining an extra point or two from Su and/or McGroarty would be all he needed.

FEC Complaint against Lee McGroarty dismissed

The FEC complaint filed against 42nd Congressional candidate Lee McGroarty has been dismissed by the FEC on a 6-0 vote. The memo presented to the Commission stated that McGroarty had corrected two of the violations. The other was a mistake on the part of godaddy.com.

The certification of dismissal is dated May 12 but I found it on the FEC web site today.

Lee McGroarty Comments on Daily Bulletin Editorial Support

We are going to take some credit for this. Earlier today a McGroarty supporter was upset the Daily Bulletin endorsed Rep. Gary Miller and called them liberal. I commented the following, "If I was on your campaign I would be using "favorite from among those challengers," and McGroarty "has tangled quite a bit with Miller in the campaign," in everything I could for the next five days."

Now the McGroarty has issued the following comment, which is a good move since he needs to show why voters should pick him instead of Phil Liberatore or David Su.

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Daily Bulletin Picks McGroarty as Favorite Among Miller Challengers

by mcgroarty4congress on
The Daily Bulletin has published an article supporting incumbents David Dreier and Gary Miller, but has called Lee McGroarty their favorite to challenge Miller.

From the article: "Miller has three Republican primary opponents who slam him for that TARP vote, some votes on housing issues (that we considered reasonable) and ethical questions that have dogged him. If we had to pick a favorite from among those challengers, it would be Chino businessman Lee McGroarty, who has tangled quite a bit with Miller in the campaign."

To read the article in it's entirety, go to http://www.dailybulletin.com/opinions/ci_15214689

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Daily Bulletin endorses Rep. Gary Miller, calls Lee McGroarty "favorite" of challengers

The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, on their editorial page, has endorsed Rep. Gary Miller.

They wrote,

"The challengers are running to the right of Miller, but we can't see much daylight to his right. Miller's positions are very conservative in most areas - illegal immigration, for example. He lands to our right on many issues, but we like that you always know where he stands and he doesn't shift with the political winds.

Miller is a developer, and some of his land dealings with cities in and around the Inland Valley have raised eyebrows and caught his opponents' attention. We have questioned some of them ourselves, but never found wrongdoing. He says he gets more scrutiny and runs up against more roadblocks - not fewer - than the average developer because he's a congressman.

We trust he will continue to work to reduce the debt we're leaving for our children and grandchildren - and that's enough for an endorsement in this Republican primary."

In regards to Lee McGroarty they wrote,

"If we had to pick a favorite from among those challengers, it would be Chino businessman Lee McGroarty, who has tangled quite a bit with Miller in the campaign."

The Miller Military Records: McGroarty played it right, Liberatore played it wrong

Yesterday 42nd Congressional candidate Phil Liberatore commented on the Harper's Magazine story on Rep. Gary Miller's military service. Liberatore issued his release several hours after the article was published. He also put up a statement on his Twitter page that said, "What disrespect! Miller lied about his military record."

Lee McGroarty waited until after a local newspaper story was posted to issue a press release. McGroarty was able to know the medical reason for the discharge and have the knowledge of more comments from Miller. McGroarty was able to look more thoughtful and not appear to be doing it for political expediency.

Liberatore, on the other hand, looks very political in his actions. So much so, that McGroarty said that Liberatore was "grandstanding." He also looks like he was so quick to put something out, hoping that the media would give him attention, that he has errors in his release.

First, Liberatore's release states, "according to the Harper’s article, Miller was discharged after just 49 days of enlistment in 1967." Problem is that the article doesn't say that.

The article states, "According to his military record, he spent about seven weeks in boot camp at Fort Ord, California between early-September and late-October 1967, at which point he was discharged."

Now Rep. Gary Miller has released his records so we can see how many days he served. According to Miller's Military Service Certificate, and a look at a 1967 calendar, he served 54 days.

So where did Phil Liberatore get 49 days from? Did Liberatore really put out a press release that distorts Miller's military service, while accusing Miller of doing the same thing?

To continue reading click Read More below

Lee McGroarty defends Rep. Gary Miller; says Phil Liberatore "grandstanding"

Yesterday we posted a story about an article on the web site of Harper's magazine that looked at the military service record of Rep. Gary Miller. Shortly after the article came out 42nd Congressional candidate Phil Liberatore commented on it.

42nd Congressional candidate, and Veteran, Lee McGroarty has now commented on the matter. A press release issued by the McGroarty campaign says,

"The Vietnam War era was a difficult time in our country. Many future politicians avoided military service during the late 1960's and early 70's but Congressman Miller did not. Miller voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army to serve our country. As an enlisted veteran who served his country honorably, Lee McGroarty commends Mr. Miller and his call to duty."

McGroarty went on to say,

"As a veteran, I am very protective of questioning any American who voluntarily serves our country. I am willing to defend Congressman Miller and his record if he was discharged due to a medical reason. The greatest honor bestowed upon an American is to serve his or her country honorably. However, it is the deepest betrayal to misrepresent his or her service. I have the utmost confidence that Congressman Miller will come clean on his record."

The release goes on to say,

"One of my opponents, who never served our country, is calling out Miller for his military service and is “grandstanding” on an issue he knows nothing about. I want to make one point very clear, this is a very uncomfortable issue for me and my campaign. I want to win on the real issues -- jobs and spending where I believe Miller is vulnerable. I am asking Miller to come clean on his military record. It is not a question of “if he served” but whether he served honorably. Congressman Miller, show us your DD 214 so this whole matter can be put to bed quickly and we can get back to the business of explaining our positions on the economy, etc. If you don’t, then I will defend the men and women who have served honorably and will call for your resignation. The ball is in your court. There are no excuses. You either served honorably or you did not.”

The San Gabriel Tribune is reporting that the reason for Miller's discharge was ulcers. Miller told the Tribune that the Army discharged him after discovering he had ulcers. He said, "They were never supposed to accept anyone with asthma or ulcers."

The entire McGroarty press release is below.

To continue reading click Read More below.

Memorial Day Statement from Lee McGroarty

A supporter of 42nd Congressional candidate Lee McGroarty suggested that we purposefully didn't post Lee McGroarty's Memorial Day message but did post messages from Rep. Gary Miller and David Su. Apparently they didn't read our blog yesterday which said that we were not posting stories or comments on Memorial Day. Miller and Su sent out their messages before Monday. McGroarty's website didn't post the message until 15:44 (3:44pm) on Memorial Day.

Also, the McGroarty campaign is the only campaign of the four Republicans in the 42nd primary that does not send us emails and releases. Unless we go to there web site, we don't see their "news."

Since an allegation was made we wanted to explain why there was a delay in posting this.

Now to Lee McGroarty's Memorial Day message.

To continue reading click Read More below.

A look at the 42nd Republican Race

A look at the campaigns of the four Republican candidates with a week and a half to go.

Rep. Gary Miller: Has been sending out several mail pieces a week, for several weeks. About half have targeted Phil Liberatore. He has also had television and radio ads. Has put up a Phil Liberatore for Congress website and Lee McGroarty for Congress which list some of the baggage each candidate has.

Phil Liberatore: Appears to have the best chance of defeating Miller. He has spent close to $500,000. He regularly appears on local radio shows. He comments daily on his Facebook and Twitter pages. He has been running ads on television and radio. He has mailed several campaign pieces. One of them, claiming the endorsement of the Chairman of the Los Angeles County Republican Party, caused him some negative media attention.

Lee McGroarty: His campaign has become very quiet. According to his campaign website the last news release was May 17. He has not posted an event on his event page since he listed a May 8 event. I have yet to hear McGroarty on any radio talk show. He has never commented on his McGroarty for Congress Facebook page. He has not commented on his Twitter page since May 17. However, his campaign may be about to become more active. Any regular reader to our blog knows that for the last few weeks McGroarty supporters were commenting that Liberatore was under FEC investigation for sending out mail with his corporate logo. Since, only those that filed an FEC complaint can have knowledge of it, we commented that McGroarty, or one of his supporters, had filed a complaint. Yesterday we posted a story that a complaint regarding this issue was filed against Liberatore several weeks ago. McGroarty cannot win without defeating Miller AND Liberatore so this might be the beginning of an offensive against Liberatore. But there are less than two weeks to election day so if it happens, we will see it soon. As of the most recent FEC filings, McGroarty has the most cash on hand of the three challengers to Miller.

David Su: He has been flying under the radar and will probably surprise some people on election day with his vote total. He has appeared on the John and Ken show, as well as in several Asian newspapers. He has been walking door to door and put up campaign signs throughout the district. He also comments on his campaign facebook page daily.

Lee McGroarty files FEC Forms, files one day late

42nd Congressional Candidate Lee McGroarty has filed his pre-primary FEC forms one day late. The forms were due by 11:59pm May 27. The FEC is showing the forms were submitted on May 28.

He raised $5,917, loaned himself $1,700 and spent $356.10. He has $10,331.67 cash on hand.

McGroarty is challenging Rep. Gary Miller, Phil Liberatore and David Su in the Republican primary in the 42nd Congressional district.

McGroarty spent the least of the four Republican candidates during this reporting period, with less than two weeks until the election.

42nd FEC Filing Update

Yesterday at 11:59 pm (EST) was the deadline (12 days before primary) for 42nd Congressional candidates to file their pre-primary fundraising and spending forms.

Rep. Gary Miller raised $23,854.95 and spent $128,491.16. This leaves him with $948,141.16 cash on hand.

Phil Liberatore raised $27,166, loaned himself $375,000 and spent $398,410.99. He has $7,325.49 cash on hand.

David Su raised $1,422 and spent $1,327. He has $46.33 cash on hand.

The FEC web site is currently not showing they have received forms from Lee McGroarty. There is a fine for filing forms late and no extensions are granted.

Updated: Vote in our 42nd Republican Primary Poll

Vote in our 42nd Republican primary poll located to the left. The question is, "Which candidate in the 42nd Congressional district has the best chance to defeat Rep. Gary Miller in the Republican primary?"

Updated: Currently (11:20 am) David Su leads with 58%, Lee McGroarty is second with 25% and Phil Liberatore rounds out the field with 16%.

Su is doing a good job getting his supporters to vote as his vote percentage has been consistent since we posted the poll.

Whittier Daily News has story on 42nd Race; Miller explains "Tax Fraud" signs

The Whittier Daily News has a story this morning on the 42nd race.

A large part of the article was spent on the "Don't Elect Tax Fraud Phil Liberatore" signs. I found Miller's explanation for why he put them up interesting. He told the Whittier Daily News,

"After a while you get tired of being poked by somebody," Miller said, explaining his negative campaigning. "Enough is enough ... you get tired of being bashed."

So Miller put up the signs because he felt Liberatore was bashing him? Interesting.

The article stated the "signs are based on allegations the candidate's clients have sued him for preparing fraudulent tax returns." The paper wrote, "Liberatore responds that he has never been accused of tax fraud by the IRS."

The paper spoke with two experts, Jack Pitney and Allen Hoffenblum, about the 42nd race (and Rep. Dreier's race). Pitney said it would be a "shocking development," for Miller (or Dreier) to lose. Hoffenblum said,"None of (the challengers) is going to have the money to significantly challenge these incumbents. The majority of voters won't even know who the challengers are." He went on to say, "If they vote for someone other than the incumbent, it shows dissatisfaction with the incumbent, not support for the challenger."

Lee McGroarty and David Su were also interviewed for this article. To read more please visit the Whittier Daily News.

Vote in our 42nd Poll

Vote for which Challenger in the 42nd has the best chance to beat Rep. Gary Miller.

As of 6:30am David Su is leading with 51%. Lee McGroarty is second with 26%. Phil Liberatore is currently in third with 21%.