Did you see Friday's OC Register? --South County trustee named to national post (OC Register)…SOCCCD…Trustee Thomas A. Fuentes was recently reappointed by House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio to a new two-year term on the National Advisory Board of the United States Election Assistance Commission.
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The United States Elections Assistance Commission (EAC), located in Washington, D.C., oversees the expenditure of Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds across the nation. The EAC is an independent bipartisan commission created by the Help America Vote Act.... ¶ It is charged with administering payments to states and developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and accrediting voting system laboratories and certifying voting equipment. It is also charged with developing and maintaining a national mail voter registration form.
In fact, Fuentes' original appointment to the EAC (May, 2006) was a great disappointment for him, for, in truth, it was and is very minor. So what happened? Is this any way to treat the Big Cheese of OC right-wing politics, the local Napoleon of Neanderthals?
Well, here's the problem. In the waning days of his leadership of the local GOP, Fuentes had angered the Bush administration, for he hates moderate Republican (aka “RINO”) Arnold Schwarzenegger. As Gustavo Arellano explains,
[In 2003,] While the rest of the state GOP rallied around replacing Governor Gray Davis with Arnold Schwarzenegger, you [Tom] ordered local GOP staffers to remove 5,000 "Join Arnold" signs from county party headquarters. A week before the recall election, Schwarzenegger held a thousands-strong rally at the Orange County Fairgrounds. He did not invite you onstage.
Gosh, Tom, you must have been mortified.
Gustavo thinks that Fuentes is somewhat of a tragic figure:
As you led the Orange County Republican Party to dominate a region in a way unseen in local government since the days of Tammany Hall, you also ensured your political doom. Petty fights, bizarre grudges, besmirchments: if you had avoided all of that, you'd still be the pontificus maximus of the county GOP. Instead you'll spend the rest of your political days doodling on agendas through another stultifying SOCCCD board meeting and dreaming of the Balboa Bay Club.
[In 2003,] While the rest of the state GOP rallied around replacing Governor Gray Davis with Arnold Schwarzenegger, you [Tom] ordered local GOP staffers to remove 5,000 "Join Arnold" signs from county party headquarters. A week before the recall election, Schwarzenegger held a thousands-strong rally at the Orange County Fairgrounds. He did not invite you onstage.
Gosh, Tom, you must have been mortified.
Gustavo thinks that Fuentes is somewhat of a tragic figure:
As you led the Orange County Republican Party to dominate a region in a way unseen in local government since the days of Tammany Hall, you also ensured your political doom. Petty fights, bizarre grudges, besmirchments: if you had avoided all of that, you'd still be the pontificus maximus of the county GOP. Instead you'll spend the rest of your political days doodling on agendas through another stultifying SOCCCD board meeting and dreaming of the Balboa Bay Club.
P.S.:
Mortimer tells us he's jealous, but he says "hey" anyway. (Photo by Melissa.)
1 comment:
Mortimer seems concerned.
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