I hope you are well. I am writing you to ask for your help. As you may know, I am struggling right now with a lawsuit filed by the Liberal OC bloggers. I have tried and tried to settle with them, but they have not shown an interest in doing so.
I have decided to take a step in the right direction to end hostilities by establishing a new rule at my blog that no one can personally attack of the Liberal OC bloggers. I have also decided not to fight their lawsuit but instead hope that they will drop it altogether.
This all comes at a dark time for me as my family is trying to save our home from foreclosure. I walked away from a six figure job in 2008 when my employer asked me to lie about worker’s comp cases. We got in a real hole afterwards and are only now starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
You can read more about my efforts to make peace in the blogosphere at this link: http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2010/06/it-is-time-to-end-the-orange-county-blog-war-even-if-i-pay-the-price-for-it/
Alex, it would really help me if you were to contact the Liberal OC bloggers and ask them to drop their lawsuit. You can contact the Liberal OC’s editor, Dan Chmielewski, at dchm@cox.net. You can contact their lawyer, Todd Gallinger, at tgallinger@gallingerlaw.com.
Please also encourage your friends to do the same.
Thanks in advance for your assistance!
Take care,
If you got this message, it wasn’t even a personal appeal. It was an Outlook/personalized direct mail pitch. Don’t you feel special?
In his post, which he references in the e-mail and the pity e-mail Art leaves out a lot of details regarding the lawsuit and does not inform the people about his actions that led up to the lawsuit. Attached here is excerpts from the lawsuit against that pertain to my section of the suit. Since his loss in 2008 to Carlos Bustamante, Art Pedroza has chosen to engage in behavior the could eventually get him sued. It was not like he wasn’t warned. There were comments on blogs, there were even warnings from some of his fellow bloggers who are now former friends. He was warned by former friends not to purchase the domain names, he was warned of the potential consequences.
There is a comment in his post that is striking, he states, “If you are not with me, you are against me.” This seems to have been the standard he has taken, as he has chosen to drag as many people as possible into his sick delusion that they are all in league with Janet Nguyen to get him. When he sought his “venganza” over the domain names, he not only went after Dan Chmielewski and Ryan Trabuco, he also bought my domain name, proudly proclaiming in an e-mail to “own my ass.” He and his cohorts also bought domain names pertaining to the person or businesses of Chris Prevatt, Dennis DeSnoo, Tom Daly, Tom Bonikowski, Andrew Do, Janet Nguyen and Miguel Pulido, and demanded $1,000-$5,000 per domain name for some of these domains (but not all). Everyone I just mentioned had nothing to do with the transaction of www.artpedroza.com. Despite numerous attempts by myself to find an explanation as to why Art chose to involve me in his “blog war”, he has so far refused to answer.
Now Art was a good friend, as good as they came, or so I thought. But those words, “If you are not with me you are against me” come back to my mind. This sick, delusional way of thinking somehow convinced him that I was plotting against him when I started Sunny D.
Now I plan to go further and give a more in depth synopsis on just how our friendship was thrown down the tubes and how this man chose to drag me and my family into his little “blog war” on everyone. I made a choice not to trouble you all with our side of the story, figuring you all had other things to worry about, unlike Art who feels you all need to drop what you are doing and worry about him.Â
In March of 2009, I decided to return to blogging, instead striking out on my own with a blog. I did talk to Art about it and he seemed ok with it at first. Then reports began to come in that he was saying some slanderous things about me, such as that I was an alcoholic, that I cheated on my wife. When I confronted Art, he denied it vehemently. About a week later he invited me to cross post with OJ, which I turned down. It was then he began to allow anonymous commenters begin to make negative comments about me on OJ as well as making taunting remarks that Sunny D had no readership. One comment referenced a libelous statement that I am an alcoholic and I called him to complain. We got into a heated discussion in which he warned me not to go after him or Sean Mill because Sean was collecting dirt on all of us and would make us sorry we were ever born.
Within days, some horrible comments began to appear on a Twitter site called Count Chocula Bot, with the intention of appearing to be Phil Bacerra. But I believe it was Art, Sean Mill and Paul Lucas based on a text from Art because there was personal information about some of my past financial difficulties that only Art Pedroza knew about. So either Art was the culprit, or that he had been blabbing to others behind the Twitter account about things I entrusted with him as a friend. That is why I find it so ironic that he pleads with us to delete posts about his personal information and wants it quiet and confidential. When I confronted him over the phone, he kept whining that he “may have said something, what difference does that make?” He refused to take any responsibility for his actions.
Over the course of those two months, these horrible comments continued. We do have them screen saved and will allow all those who are interested in actually reading them to email me HERE  and I will send them to you so you can see just what Art and his cohorts were capable of. They contained comments that I was not the father of my own children, that my wife had commited adultery, that I owed a $1,000 bar tab at a local bar. Eventually the comments stopped. But in that time, when I tried to reach out to my former friend, he responded by demanding I pay him back some money I had borrowed from him within three days or he would ruin my reputation with a “Who Is Claudio Gallegos†blog post. He even demanded that I call up friends and get the money somehow; I would tell Art to follow his own advice now in regards to a settlement on our lawsuit against him. The text is available for viewing. He backed down and eventually the attacks stopped.
The attacks began again after I joined The Liberal OC. It began with Sean Mill sending me an e-mail with the foreclosure deed attached taunting me as a reaction to joining The Liberal OC. I have to wonder if he got a hold of the document while at work at his title company? What followed was a weekend of harassment and threats via e-mail and text from Sean Mill, Art Pedroza and Paul Lucas. In one text message, Art threatens to have the power to destroy my reputation. Again, all texts and e-mails are available at request, you may e-mail me HERE . I made it clear to Art all I wanted to do was blog and be left alone, in which he responded that I “back stabbed” him by starting Sunny D and that was a declaration of war to him. Over the couple of months, there were personal attacks thrown at me from his blog, he used it has his personal mouthpiece in an imagined grudge against me. He allowed comments to be posted “anonymously†that attacked my wife and children, much like what he allowed against people like Tom Daly. Â
It all culminated on November 12, when, in reaction to his finding out that Dan Chmielewski now owned www.artpedroza.com, that he had bought my name, www.claudiogallegos.com and proudly proclaimed to “own my ass.” He used the website to link posts written to harm my reputation, such as one written by Sean Mill “outing” my past financial difficulties. Enough was enough. I had taken the high road long enough, tried my best to stay out of the “blog war” that was Art’s creation and I joined with Dan, Chris and Ryan Trabuco to take action against my former friend through our legal system.  
Now Art is begging for mercy and asking many of you to intercede on his behalf. Not once has he offered to meet with me face to face and explain his actions as to why he bought my name. Not once has he even attempted to apologize or take responsibility for his unprovoked harassing behavior against me. Even now he goes out of his way to not mention his actions against me. When I went through some financial difficulties as a result of this recession, I had to deal with a good chunk of that with Art, Sean and their cohorts breathing down my neck. Yet not once did I approach people begging for help and not once did I ask others to go to Sean and Art and beg for mercy. Not once did I approach State Senator Lou Correa or Assemblyman Jose Solorio and ask to arrange a “peace mediation meeting.†I took responsibility for myself.
This “blog war” was all the creation of Art and Sean whom I believe have serious anger issues and seem determined to drag everyone into their own unhappy existence. They have even threatened to turn this “war” physical. First was a threatening text from Sean Mill to Phil Bacerra claiming he was going to send Hoa Van Tran’s “campaign workers” to his house. The second was an e-mail from Mr. Mill claiming he wanted to kick mine and Chris Prevatt’s teeth in. The third is the famous challenge to fight Matt Cunningham at Chris Norby’s election party, where Sean threatened (to Art’s cheers) to “break Matt’s f*$king neck”.
Therefore to those believe we should “go easy” on Art, these are the facts, laid out before you. The Bible may say “do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” Many times Art has claimed to be Christian, so I am taking it that what he has done to me and so many others is what he wants done unto him. Therefore I am happy to oblige and show him the same mercy he shown so many others, none.
I find it sick that he is attempting to exploit his own family, in particular his youngest son, as a means to get people to go easy on him when he had no qualms about using the blog to launch personal attacks against the children of Beth Krom, Tim Whitacre, Dan Chmielewski, Tom Daly, Matt Cunningham and myself. He has shown no mercy when it came to destroying the careers and businesses of others, just ask Desiree Mouzoun, or allowing libelous accusations  about people’s marital fidelity . So now he wants mercy when he did not show any of us mercy and chose to wage a war because of some delusion we were against him. Sorry, his pity parties have gotten him out of trouble his entire life, now its time to face the music and see what is the ultimate result of his hateful world view of everyone being with him or against him.
“They have even threatened to turn this “war†physical. First was a threatening text from Sean Mill to Phil Bacerra claiming he was going to send Hoa Van Tran’s “campaign workers†to his house. The second was an e-mail from Mr. Mill claiming he wanted to kick mine and Chris Prevatt’s teeth in. The third is the famous challenge to fight Matt Cunningham at Chris Norby’s election party, where Sean threatened (to Art’s cheers) to “break Matt’s f*$king neckâ€.”
I have a good idea who orchestrated the four separate, viscious and costly acts of vandalism against my business property.
And going back to the screen capture regarding Art’s comments; Ceci Inglesias is a candidate for Congress and her address is a public record; I still don’t see how Claudio put her and her child at risk. Are PhoneBooks still to be found in Santa Ana?
But Claudio, is it true Art sent an email to you apologizing?
He did, which was quite an interesting turn of events, although it was little on details and he refused to provide specifics. It was in reaction to me sending the post to his e-mail along with man others.Below is the full e-mail chain:
Ok. Have a good weekend.
Art
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
——————————————————————————–
From: Claudio Gallegos
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2010 08:47:22 -0700 (PDT)
To:
Subject: Re: Art’s Blog War
You are dense. I will spare you the phone call, the ONE solution is the demand Todd has been sending you for months, simple as that. I will not back down just to get answers. All it tells me is that you are not remorseful at all and the apology was not a true one. Have a nice day, any further correspondence can be directed to MR. Gallinger.
Sincerely,
Claudio W. Gallegos
— On Fri, 7/2/10, apedroza@earthlink.net wrote:
From: apedroza@earthlink.net
Subject: Re: Art’s Blog War
To: “Mr. Claudio Gallegos”
Date: Friday, July 2, 2010, 8:12 AM
I guess I will call Gallinger and inquire.
Until this suit is dropped I am hesitant to give you the answers you seek.
Art
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
——————————————————————————–
From: Claudio Gallegos
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2010 08:07:58 -0700 (PDT)
To:
Subject: RE: Art’s Blog War
Spare me the faux nice person act, Art. It is your M.O. to suddenly use it when you get into trouble, thinking you can kill people with kindness and it will get you out of trouble. Not this time.
SO let me ask, what exactly are you sorry for? I want details. I want answers to all the questions I have been asking. It would have actually been nice to get it in person, but I guess you hiding behind your computer monitor is probably the best I am going to get. So tell me, what are you sorry for. Spit it out, list every transgression you have committed against me and my family and apologize for each one, at a time.
I don’t believe you have been wanting to contact me, or you would have already done so. It is not like you don’t know my contact information. You sure knew how to find me when it ame to bragging about “owning my ass.”
There is ONE solution to end this all, but you will need to discuss it with my attorney Todd Gallinger.
Sincerely,
Claudio Gallegos
— On Thu, 7/1/10, apedroza wrote:
From: apedroza
Subject: RE: Art’s Blog War
To: “‘Claudio Gallegos'”
Date: Thursday, July 1, 2010, 12:13 PM
I am glad you copied me. I have been wanting to reach out to you for awhile.
I am sorry Claudio. Believe that or don’t but it is true.
I have to get to an appointment right now but will get back to you later tonight.
I cannot undo what has come to pass. All I can do is try to restore things now and I am trying to do so, despite your misgivings.
Art Pedroza
How is putting Ms Inglesias address in a blog post any concern of Art Pedroza? Isn’t this the same guy who posted or allowed to be posted documents showing the addresses of Galloway and Sidhu? Is he even aware that these items are public information. Doesn’t he know that you can google Art Pedroza and find his soon to former home address on Spurgeon or Mr.Mills address on Starboard? Oh! I forgot. In Art Pedrozas world it’s do as I say, not as I do.
I did ask Ms Inglesias if anyone had attacked or her son and she said “no.” She also had no idea what NAMBLA was either and she has an eight year old boy. She knows now
Art’s online petition has 3 signatures in 8 hours; two are OJ bloggers.
The time, o, five or six years ago, Bushtime. Place, a busy intersection outside some central OC Repub operative/selected representative’s office. A group of students and activists have gone on a hunger strike to protest the war in Iraq. I have heard of this event through the impersonal medium of the internet. I am but a lonely progressive in the heart of OC nevertheless heartened to witness and register some opposition.
I drive up, park, walk over, awkwardly seek acquaintance, join the group. The hunger-strikers are mostly college kids. Some are sitting on the grass. We hold homemade signs and talk, wave to cars, watch as a well-fed citizen advances on foot, a video camera in one hand, an enormous, half-devoured sandwich in the other. Waving the massive meat stack about, lo, it is Art Pedroza and he is there, being himself.
Eating.
At a hunger strike for peace.
Take that $$##@#@ down, Lib OC.
Do NOT drop the suit. He has it coming and has slandered and trash talked people long enough. He is a sick man who needs help and this should be his wake up call. If you drop the suit he will not learn a lesson. You should include Bushala as well but do not feel sorry for Art. He did this to himself.
Flowerszzz — glad we agree on this matter. Since Art hasn’t turned over a single document required by Discovery, it’s impossible to know who else might be involved here. The suit inlcudes “John Does” (which Art interpreted as meaning anon OJ bloggers) which can be added to the suit if their actions contributed to his cybersquatting.
We believe the reason that he hasn’t turned over a single document if that he is protecting someone (a single person or several) who would be embarrassed if their involvement with this case is exposed. Once discovered, and on advice of my counsel, these individuals could be added to the suit.
When I think back to all of the lies, venom, and intentional cruelty spewed from that blog, I will be thrilled if Dan can get this done. I only wish that Dan could bring Sean Mill down also. Sean is so sick and twisted I believe that there is little that he wouldn’t do to lash out at his enemies, and there are plenty of them, real or imagined
Repulsed — Sean isn’t involved in this suit as far as we know, since Art refuses to turn over a single document in discovery. A sticking point is Art’s continued insistence that Ryan Trabuco turn over the domain name http://www.seanhmill.com which Ryan owns and has done nothing with, which is completely legal in the confines of copyright law (and is the path Art’s friend Tony Bushala has used to acquire domain names related to Tom Daly and Pam Kellar in Fullerton).
If Sean and Tony are such great friends of Art and have some disposable income, it’s puzzeling that they won’t help Art out financially here. Isn’t that something friends do? Perhaps they are worried that, unlike Claudio who pays his personal debts back, that they’ll never see their money again.
What’s clear here is that the suit did not create Art’s financial troubles, but they are adding to it. The emails from him from November through the Xmas holidays have all been collected and there is a long standing patern of personal taunts and insults, which is why we’re not falling for this pity party now.
Many readers know, I’ve dropped about 170 pounds since having gastric bypass surgery in November 2008. On Thanksgiving Day, as we were preparing a feast for family and friends, Art sent me an email boasting of the web hits OJ had compared with the LiberalOC. And then wished me luck in keeping down the 2 oz of turkey I could eat, if I could. Nice huh?
Letting him off the hook with a handshake ain’t going to happen. He needs to agree to the settlement offer from us as it stands now — no negotiation. He signs legal documents admitting to his offenses, pays $15,000 in legal fees (it goes up to $20K in mid July due to Art’s foot dragging), and publicly apologizes on the OJ blog. If he doesn’t, we move to court when a federal judge is not going to buy his arguments for why he hasn’t produced a single document for discovery. Then he faces sanctions which carry mandatory fines. If he can’t pay, the possibility of jail time exists. Imagine that for a moment.
That is one thing that has me perplexed. Myself, Phil Bacerra, Thomas Gordon and Mike Tardiff were all friends with Art. He cast us all aside for his new buddies Sean Mill, Tony Bushala and company. Where are these new friends now? Are they lifting a finger to help him out of this jam? What about the politicians he shills for now, Claudia Alvarez and Sal Tinajero and Shawn Nelson, what have they done to get Art out of this jam.
In the e-mail Art claims he will give me all the answers if I drop the lawsuit. Fat chance, I will stay in suspense. But I have a sneaky suspicion that the truth he offers to give will show his cybersquatting plot had more people involved than just him and even more involved than OJ Bloggers. Confessing all would give the JOhn Does in the lawsuit some names.
But why would Art fall on his sword for all these people. Guess what, a judgement comes down, he is the ONLY ONE on the hook for it. Sean Mill, Tony Bushala, Claudia Alvarez, Shawn Nelson, they all get to walk away and laugh at Art taking it in the proverbial a$$. They all get to keep the roofs over their head while he loses his. Let me ask, is this justice. He wants to talk about shared responsibility, he should look at some of his co-bloggers and the elected officials who gave him their blessing to engage in this behavior.
Posted on Art Pedroza’s OJ blog – “Mike Tardif’s daughter Says:
I love reading the dirty words my daddy uses on local blog threads. I always Come to his defense when he summons me to do so! Our relationship is so “specialâ€!â€
Art’s response to me after I demanded that he delete this disgusting comment –
“… you were asking for trouble.â€
Art Pedroza deserves all that is coming to him.
Just checking some new comments on OJ; fellas, it’s not about the money. If it was, we’re looking an an award that maxes out to $100,000 per domain. It’s about getting a judgement and getting reimbursed for what we spent.
And for Sean, who is our best reader, are you going to deny the text message sent to Phil or the challenge to Matt? The first , we have the text message and the second was in front of multiple witnesses.
Concerning Art’s conjecture that Hillary Clinton might appoint Santa Ana mayor Miguel Pulido to Ambassador of Mexico – Art posted:
“I’m all for that! Considering all the violence and crime in Mexico, … it is likely that at some point he will be kidnapped or whacked while serving in Mexico. Perfect! We will be rid of him in Santa Ana, and he will be taken care of by criminals in Mexico. It doesn’t get any better than that.â€
Isn’t it nice of Art to cheer for the murder of anyone, let alone an elected official?
The whole thing is unfortunate and you have every right to defend your businesses name Dan. For me, it’s just really unfortunate that any of it has to happen. We get so sidelined talking about the bloggers and not the actually issues. The drama, the posts explaining things, it gets old. Best of luck on your lawsuit and hopefully good things will come from this.
Thanks Heather. I don’t enjoy having to correct the record but I can’t let Art get away with pervertingthe narrative. I appreciate you understand this case has been about protecting our rights and reputations. I find it hard to believe some think we are in this for money whenour settlement offer is all about recovering only what we have already paid for.
Ooops, Claudio, and I’m sorry that Art chose to make your personal issues public, that was wrong, on so many levels. I’m glad I blog somewhere that I know I can trust the people I blog with, they are my friends and I would trust them with pretty much everything.
There is absolutely no excuse for what Art did.
just stopped by to visit–gees, is this a political blog or a deposition? I’m confused.
long story Marla; come to Drinking Liberally tonight and we’ll explain