It’s Kevin Jeffries’ Pay Off Time. by Edward Faunce

Monday, December 26, 2005
2:55 PM

Kevin Jeffries has passed his “Training Day” initiation rite by showing that he would support private developers opposition to Murrieta City residents. Now, the private developer donors are lining up to show their appreciation to Murrieta’s "Benedict Arnold."

Below is reproduced a December 14, 2006 letter from Dan Stephenson which explains why he, his friends and business associates are funding Jeffries’s State Assembly candidacy. Oh, Dan goes through the usual eyewash saying:

“We need State Assemblymen who represent our Community, and Kevin Jeffries is this type of individual.” (See letter below)

But what did Jeffries do for Murrieta that ordinary Murrietans should support his run for the Assembly? Dan explains:

“[H]e did something that no one else has ever done - he got the Republican Party to endorse our local campaign on the 'No On Recall' in Murrieta. That was a gutsy stance for a politician to take, but it's the kind of individual we as a community need.” (See letter below)

But Jeffries got called on the carpet during the anti-recall campaign, because there were many republican Murrietans who supported and worked long hours in favor of the recall.

In the April 2, 2005 Californian, Wyatt Haup wrote an Article entitled “County GOP flip-flops on recall issue." Jeffries was quoted saying to the newspaper inquiry:

“The [recall] issue is up for discussion at a meeting of the group's executive board Tuesday." Jeffries also said the e-mail was delivered to constituents while he was in Sacramento, suggesting he would have tried to steer a different course. "We are going to examine, as to any public position we want to take or public statement we want to make,” said Jeffries.

However, according to Dan Stephenson, it was Jeffries who took the "gutsy stance" and arranged for the County GOP opposition. Perhaps Jeffries lied, to the Californian, about his role in getting the County Republican organization to back the anti-recall movement.

But Dan wants Jeffries elected to the State Assembly because of his "community service." Well, Mr. Dan Stephenson, you have a warped idea of community service. You see, Dan, the Murrieta City Council is a non-partisan office. The reason why no one, in Jeffries’s position, has ever officially involved the County Republican Party in a Murrieta City Council election, is that it is against the rules!

But, the rules don’t apply to Stephenson and his business friends, they’ve got the money - $600,000 just for the recall. Nor do the rules apply to politicians like Jeffries, he needs the Stephenson group’s monies.

Donors, like the Stephenson group, and politicians, like Jeffries, are both on the same page. Stephenson-group type donors are looking for politicians that can be bought and political wannabees, like Jeffries, are looking for well-heeled donors to sponsor them.

Perfect, a match made in political heaven! Jeffries is for sale and the Stephenson group bought the right of first refusal.

But what about the real Murrietans? You know, the ones who are working hard to pay for their homes, probably commuting hours to a job, raising a family, struggling with the traffic, worried about the crowded schools, hoping that their City is being managed with their best interests as the raison d'etre for Council decisions? Well, Jeffries has already demonstrated that he does not represent their interests. Jeffries represents the Stephenson group who are ready, willing and able to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars to insure that they have our elected officials on their donation payroll.

The Murrieta Recall of 2005 was a watershed event. No longer can it be denied that Murrieta was being run by a biased and conflicted City Council. No longer can it be denied that the Murrieta City Chamber of Commerce is merely a front organization for non-Murrieta businesses seeking to pad their bottom lines. No longer can the County Republican Party claim to “represent” ordinary Murrietans.

No Murrietan, whether republican, democrat, independent, green, peace and freedom, libertarian, etc., has any reason to vote for Jeffries. He’s already sold Murrieta out once. He will do it again if Stephenson’s group so commands.

Come next November, Jeffries should receive NO VOTES from Murrietans. Come next November, every person supported by the Stephenson Group and the complicit Murrieta Chamber should receive NO VOTES for City Council membership.

The recall helped Murrietans identify those City Council candidates who should be avoided at all costs. It’s a litmus test now! Any Murrietan desiring to serve on the City Council should avoid the usual support requests to the Stephenson Group, the Chamber, and all the lifer politicians who ignored the residents.

One Anonymous poster to this Blog counseled "Give it up, the Stephenson Group, the Chamber and the GOP are fully in control. The recall of van Haaster was just a fluke."

Maybe, but the residents' recall battle-cry was "The ballot box is mightier than the bank account." We will have to prove that fact again in November '06. Our collective eyes are opened. That’s my take on what the Recall did for us.

Edward Faunce

Here is the December 14, 2005 Stephenson letter:

Is Jeff Stone dropping the ball?

I think it about time to evaluate the job that Jeff Stone, County Supervisor is doing. Aside from the fact that the 15 freeway between Murrieta and South Corona has been turned into an extension of the 91 freeway parking lot, what other things have gone awry on Jeff's watch?

How about inadequate handling of traffic conditions in Riverside County, or more importantly, in Murrieta? I've included an example in this post:

After hearing about the Antelope overpass on comments to this blog, I went over to see for myself what is going on with the traffic and pedestrian situation there. These photos were taken at 11:00 a.m. on a weekday



There is not much space seperating pedestrians from cement trucks here. The new High School is on the East side of this overpass, meaning there will be students walking back and forth over this bridge, especially with strip malls going in on both sides of Antelope on the immediate West side of this overpass.



On the West side of the overpass, there is still a LOT of building going on. This is the narrow walkway set aside for pedestrians by the developer. At least pedestrians are a bit safer behind the concrete barricade, but you've probably noticed that the barricade is not very long and that in the background, pedestrian and traffic will be sharing the same space.



I just included this because I could easily picture a kid or adult getting squashed this way.

Party Politics

Murrieta Politics

National Politics

UPSIDE-DOWN

The inflation of housing prices has been a major cash cow for many of those with the same business ethics as Dan Stephenson. Remember the brain fever? People who stood in lines for hours just to sign?

The old work-around was called the 'balloon payment' and this little financial loophole led to much indebted misery in the past. It is not unreasonable that the new loophole, the 'interest-only' loan, will have much the same effect to the new homeowners who are beginning to understand how short two or five years can be.

To believe that real-estate can only continue up, up, up; is this naive? People who come up short on their mortgages sometimes use credit cards to keep up until things improve, but even if they can somehow manage to make it, then they will get the property tax bill on $350-500,000, combined with CFD special assessments. This is the straw that will break the camel's back, providing that extra little push to send homeowners into bankruptcy.

So a smart-minded conservative would do well to hoard their credit, because there will soon be plenty of short-sells to go around.

Flip Flopping

During the '04 election, John Kerry was consistently accused by the Republican buzzword machine of flip-flopping on issues.

Though I do not support Kerry or Bush, the phrase just struck me as strange somehow. It implies that he is changing his mind all the time, I guess. But how did they manage to indicate that he "flip-flopped" due to partisanship?

Let's say My Pet Goat decides to launch some nuclear warheads at... say, North Korea. If a sudden peace agreement were negotiated in time to stop a global nuclear conflict, would he be "flip-flopping" if he decided to call off the attack?

I just mention this as a reminder to expect similar pointless, groundless assertions that will likely be used by the Repubs during the upcoming '06 congressional election. Ray Haynes, Dennis Hollingsworth and all those young and old Republicans out there would rather drink Draino than lose their control over congress. I expect it'll get fairly dirty.

The Murrieta Chamber of Commerce, a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

Here is another submission from Ed Faunce concerning our illustrious C of C. I would post more of my own commentary, but I've been real busy lately. No one has contacted me with a counter to Mr. Faunce's argument, but don't think that Ed Faunce is taking over this blog. It is still an unbiased forum. (Though I do give preferential treatment to submitters who write well).

The Murrieta Chamber of Commerce,
a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Submitted by Ed Faunce

During the recall process, there were several organizations which spearheaded the recall opposition. We have already looked at the Southwest County Taxpayers for Responsible Government (SWCTRG) and discovered that it was really a shill organization for non-Murrieta real estate developers. We also saw that the guiding force behind SWCTRG is Dan Stephenson, President of Rancon Realty of Murrieta.

But there was another organization which played a large role in the recall, the Murrieta Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber joined hands with the SWCTRG in opposing the recall. And no doubt many Murrietans were fooled into voting against the recall thinking that the Chamber has only Murrieta and its resident’s best interests at heart.

But, as it turns out, the Murrieta Chamber of Commerce is no more a Murrieta City organization than Dan Stephenson’s Southwest County Taxpayers etc. is a local organization of ordinary taxpayers seeking only to support “responsible government.”

The Murrieta Chamber is composed primarily of Temecula businesses. Surprise! It is also obvious that Dan Stephenson exerts inordinate control over the Chamber, in fact his wife is the Chamber’s president-elect for next year and, of course, the Chamber just toadied up a “citizen of the year” award for Dan.

So, who are the guiding lights of the Murrieta Chamber? According to the Chamber’s website they are:

The Board of Directors, Executive Board:

1. Chairman of the Board, O.B. Johnson
Westmar Commercial Brokerage, Temecula

2. Chair-Elect, Nancy Stephenson
NLS Insurance Services, (Married to Dan Stephenson)

3. First Vice Chair, Scott Crane
Southwest Healthcare Services, Las Vegas

4. Treasurer, Ron Holliday
LPL Financial, Temecula

5. Secretary , Shane Lesovsky
Temecula Valley Communications, Murrieta

6. Past Chairman of the Board, Tim Freese
Mission Oaks National Bank, Temecula
(Note Freese spoke frequently against the recall as the Chamber’s President)
Board Members:

1. Vickie Ashmore
Wells Fargo Bank (formerly)
(Now) Mission Oaks National Bank, Temecula

2. Alex Braicovich
Waste Management, Director of Governmental Affairs
Headquartered in Houston, Tx

3. John Campbell
Coyote Rentals & Equipment, Wildomar

4. Pat Kemball
The SCGA Golf Course, Murrieta

5. Timothy C. Kuzelka
Law Offices of Timothy C Kuzelka, Temecula

6. Rick Schoenfeld
KIA World of Temecula, Temecula

7. Joan Sparkman
Temecula Valley Bank, Temecula

8. Jack van Haaster, Murrieta
(Now he’s on the Board!)

9. Roger Ziemer
Southern California Gas Company, Anaheim

10. Lori Moss
City Manager, City of Murrieta
(So why is our City Manager on the Board of an organization who took a partisan position in the election of the City Council which is her employer??)

The Chamber also lists a “Chairman's Circle” which it describes as: “. . . a select group of businesses and community leaders who believe in the important mission of the chamber as an invaluable business resource and marketing conduit as well as an agent of economic development and business advocacy.”

The Chairman’s Circle consists of the following businesses:

1. Temecula Valley Bank (Temecula)
2. The City of Murrieta (Murrieta)
3. Southwest Healthcare System (Murrieta)
4. Guidant (Temecula)
5. Waste Management (Houston)
6. Paradise Chevrolet Cadillac (Temecula)
7. Rancho Ford Lincoln Mercury (Temecula)
8. Community Little Book (Temecula)
9. Quality Nissan of Temecula (Temecula)
10. K4 Incorporated (Vista)
11. The Californian (Temecula)
12. The Valley Business Journal (Temecula)
13. 103.3 KTMQ - Classic Rock (Temecula)
14. Smooth Jazz KMYT 94.5 (Temecula)
15. Froggy 92.9 (Santa Rosa)

If you take the time to look up the Chambers of Commerce, for other Riverside County cities, it is readily seen that local businesses really do make up the bulk of the chamber membership. But Murrieta is unlike any other Chamber in that it is really a Temecula Business run Chamber masquerading as Murrieta’s godfather.

Murrieta’s Chamber of Commerce does not represent businesses which are local to this City. Maybe that’s why the M. Chamber allowed Old Town businesses to languish during the year-long disruption due to delayed construction. The M Chamber only got involved with the Old Town businesses after Councilman Gibbs essentially ordered them to do so.

According to the Chamber’s website, it is “. . . an active professional organization, committed to the economic stability, growth and development of the Valley.”

As it says, the Chamber is dedicated to the development of the Valley. Well they have certainly succeeded in developing Murrieta - making it the fastest growing city in California.

The Murrieta Chamber is akin to the proverbial “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Just like the Dan Stephenson PAC’s attempt to hide its nature behind a bogus name, the Murrieta Chamber should be more appropriately called “Another Temecula Chamber of Commerce in absentia for our little sister Murrieta.”

Now we understand more clearly why City development decisions do not favor ordinary Murrietans.

* The developers provide the money,
* The bogus Murrieta Chamber provides the cover
* The City, by its Chamber membership, provides legitimacy.

And behind the scene - guiding the entire process - is Murrieta’s number one developer rich guy - Dan Stephenson.

A good first start in reducing the Chamber’s unwarranted City influence, would be for the City of Murrieta to cancel its membership in the bogus Murrieta Chamber and also immediately cancel the $60K gift to the Chamber. After all, the Chamber does not need the money if their friends can raise $600K to control local city elections.

Furthermore, now that the M Chamber has participated in a partisan challenge to Murrietans’ attempt to elect their own City Council representatives, the City SHOULD IMMEDIATELY CANCEL ITS MEMBERSHIP IN THE CHAMBER. The City Manager, Lori Moss, should resign from the M Chamber Board of Directors.

This cannot be emphasized too strongly. The recall opposition was funded by SWCTRG but rode on the back of the County Republican Committee. City Council elections are suppose to be non-partisan. Therefore, once the M Chamber joined the partisan effort to control Murrietans’ council choices, the City should have cancelled at that time. Thousands of Murrietans were deeply offended by the actions of the Chamber. The City, by retaining membership, has given its blessings to such odious behavior.

But if the City is going to fund the partisan M Chamber, maybe the City should fund a Murrieta Chamber of residents and give it $60K so that ordinary Murrietans would have an organized voice to counter the barrage from the developers and Temecula business that want Murrieta developed for their special interests?

Ed Faunce