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: