Perched in the hills of Glendora, behind appointed gates, sits the spacious home of Michael and Sandy Valentine-Matthews. Tonight, the Valentine-Matthews family is hosting an “elegant evening” with Assemblyman Anthony Adams. For a mere $3900, you can be a “platinum sponsor” of this event, which will feature none other than the Terminator himself, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Governor Schwarzenegger is taking time out from his aggressive schedule of promoting his May Special Election Ballot Propositions to say “thank you” to those daring Republican legislators who threw their voluntary “no new taxes” pledges out the proverbial window and acceded to the Governor’s request to balance the state’s out-of-control spending with income and sales tax increases (and more) – hitting the average family with between $1,000 and $1,500 in new taxes for the next couple of years, and even longer of the public passes Proposition 1A. Last month Schwarzenegger headlines a Sacramento fundraiser for tax-increasing, pledge breaking State Senator Dave Cogdill.
Fundraising events for legislators aren’t all that newsworthy. They literally happen all of the time. The reason why this evening’s event at 2525 East Wildwood Canyon Drive in Glendora is notable is less for what is happening inside of it, but rather what is taking place outside of it. Supporters of an effort to qualify a recall of Anthony Adams are gathering at 5:30pm today outside of the event to serve Adams with an official notice of recall, signed by over fifty constituents.
You see, ever since Adams vote in late February for the largest tax increase in the history of any state, ever, the anger and consternation over that vote has been swirling and growing in Adams’ district. In addition, conservative activists and leaders around the state have been putting together the framework for providing statewide assistance if local constituents of Adams move forward with an anticipate drive to qualify a recall election.
Enter KFI’s John and Ken, and Orange County’s Atlas PAC. John and Ken have been relentless in focusing the attention of their listeners (nearly a million unique listeners a week, so sayeth Arbitron) on the big budget/big taxes/open primary deal hatched by legislators in February, and warning their listeners of the dangers of passing Propositions 1A-1F next month. For a couple of months, the John and Ken show has been a central “gathering spot” for frustrated taxpayers, who don’t think it is right that Californians should have the highest tax burden out of all of the 50 states. Recently, the talk radio hosts sponsored, along with Americans for Prosperity and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a tax revolt rally in Fullerton that attracted a reported 15,000 attendees. Plans are in place for a serious of tax revolt rallies around the state around tax day (April 15) that will draw many times more than that.
The Atlas PAC out of Orange County, a group predominated by young executives who have been seeking to influence politics by donating individuals or through their PAC over $100,000 to conservative candidates and causes, decided that they would, in response to the local reaction among Adams’ constituents, form an official committee to qualify a recall against the pledge-breaking legislator. They opened a website, RecallAdams.org, and have been working at raising funds.
While all of the fundraising that has taken place in support of qualifying has not been made public, yet, we can track one side of that effort that has been VERY public. Listeners of the John and Ken Show, prompted by daily encouragement from the hosts and frequent appearances by Lee Lowrey, the head of the Atlas PAC, and two pledges of “matching funds” from Congressman Tom McClintock and former California Republican Party Chairman Mike Schroeder (made during their own appearances on the show) have resulted, amazingly, in well over $60,000 in donations thus far – after only a week (most of which John and Ken were actually on vacation).
To add to the viability of a recall effort, I am told that the very first signature on the recall petition is that of former longtime area state legislator Dick Mountjoy, who represented a large portion of the Adams district for decades (I personally wouldn’t be surprised if many residents assumed that Mountjoy still represented them in Sacramento). I have spoken to Mountjoy who made it very clear to me – not only does he support a recall, but he will run as a candidate in a recall election to replace Adams should it qualify. The overwhelmingly majority of the signatures on that recall petition, by the way, apparently hail from the high-desert part of the district, far from Mountjoy’s “end” of the district in the East San Gabriel Valley. Undoubtedly this represents a statement by recall advocates that local support to remove Adams isn’t just from an isolated part of the district.
Of course, qualifying a recall is no small task – it will take well over 30,000 valid signatures of registered voters in Adams’ district to place a recall on the ballot (though if promised additional John and Ken sponsored rallies in Adams’ district end up as big as the Fullerton event…) The theory would be that if a recall does qualify, it would be an uphill battle for Adams to survive that kind of late-summer special election, I certainly wouldn’t count out Adams, who I know to be a hard worker and dogmatic campaigner.
Which brings us back to tonight’s event. I’ve been told by many that the event has raised over $100,000 for Adams – funds he will need in what would promise to be a very expensive campaign on his part. Now that is an impressive turnout, and when reports are available, we’ll detail who donated for this event.
We’ll have plenty of time here on the FlashReport to have a public debate over the pros and cons of a recall election, that is for sure. In the meantime, if your current proclivity is to fend it off, then contact Adams’ fundraising consultant here and send a check. If you think the recall is a good idea, then go to RecallAdams.org and make a contribution, and maybe head to that address above at 5:30pm today where recall supporters will be gathering to “greet” event attendees, and to serve Adams with his legal notice of recall.
I guess the question that will be interesting see answered is how Adams responds to this effort to serve him with official papers. The Anthony that I know would probably like to stroll out to the amassed crowd, give a speech in defense of his vote, then take the petition and march back to the Governor and other supporters. But it could be that he chooses to stymie service of the petition, which isn’t really too practical. It likely just means that recall advocates would serve him elsewhere, perhaps in the Capitol. And Adams would likely get an "avoiding the petition" story or two to boot…
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