Trevor O’Neill’s Dishonest Mailer Misses the Mark in Anaheim Mayor’s Race

Mayor Pro Tem and candidate for Anaheim Mayor Trevor O’Neill has targeted Democratic candidate Ashleigh Aitken with his latest mailer.  It’s loaded with cherry-picked “facts” and there’s even a swipe at The Voice of OC.

The mailer targets Ashleigh Aitken’s relationship with Melahat Rafiei. Both women served on the Orange County Fair Board and Aitken hired Rafiei to manage her mayoral campaign before the FBI investigation into the Anaheim Cabal which O’Neill has significantly greater ties into that Mob than either Aitken or Rafiei.

Let’s take apart a few things here with the mailer’s copy:

  • Without Rafiei’s help and cooperation, the Cabal remains in power and Harry Sidhu is running for re-election.  Todd Ament would be spending time at his mansion in Big Bear and not a jail cell sometime in the near future.  Harry instead wonders when he’ll be formally charged with federal crimes.
  • Published reports continue to insist Rafiei was arrested.  She was never charged, no mugshots, no fingerprinting and no Miranda rights being read.  The FBI felt she was evasive in answering questions, but that’s not a conviction (and for Irvine friends, there’s no cabal in Irvine and no formal FBI investigation as much as some candidates would like there to be).  Yes, the initial reporting and the FBI report said “Consultant #1” was arrested and the citations to the articles are accurate even if the reporting is not.  At some point, the FBI should correct the record and journalists who write about the case should make sure the claims are accurate.  Show me a document with charges attached to it please.  I’ll save you some time; there isn’t one.  Because Rafiei wasn’t arrested. And she never bribed anyone.
  • Rafiei no longer has a consulting business.  She’s focused on her son and her family. Until Ament and Sidhu actually go to jail, she’s lost the most here as Democrats tend to overreact before any investigation is complete and demand resignations.  Clients who once begged for Rafiei’s help fled.  Should we have all waited for the investigation to be completed before we asked for resignations?  Just ask Al Franken about it.
  • It’s unclear if Aitken and Rafiei are still friends; and when chips are down, that’s when a person finds out who your friends are.  Aitken placed her political future ahead of any friendship she and Rafiei had.  If the boat’s leaking, you need friends to help bail, Aitken dropped the pail and swam for a life preserver.  We all will have a day when we need our friends — I’m sorry Aitken wasn’t that kind of friend for Rafiei.
  • For disclosure, I have contributed to Aitken’s campaign and to Lorri Galloway’s campaign even though I do not vote in Anaheim.

But I’m burying the lead on O’Neill’s mailer.

See that red bar with yellow text at the bottom of the second image in this post.  “Beware stories from The Voice of OC” because Ashleigh’s father is the chairman of the VOC Board?  It’s a swipe at perhaps the county’s most trusted source of independent non-partisan news.

Questioning the editorial independence of Norberto Santana and the other journalists who write for the site is dumb.  Wylie Aitken doesn’t dictate coverage; his work is more focused on making sure the site stays in business.

To imply that Aitken could influence Santana is just plain stupid.  Santana is always about getting the story right.  And if Wylie Aitken demanded some editorial control? That’s the day Santana is seen leaving the newsroom with all of his stuff after resigning because Norberto’s ethics and integrity are just that important.  Imagine if O’Neill had anything close to the same qualities?  He doesn’t.

What this mailer really should do is flip the switch. Voters should start asking O’Neill about his role in the Cabal.  What did he know and when did he know it?  Because making Rafiei the bad guy of the Anaheim Cabal story isn’t believable.

9 Comments

  1. It’s really the dems who lost big. Pushing Rafiei out rather than sticking with her will cost more in dems winning in OC. It doesn’t hurt republicans, it hurts dems — specifically women dems — running in OC. I still can’t figure out why the dems eat their own so much. Why are they so mad at her for cooperating with the feds to take down the corrupt republican cabal of Anaheim?

  2. Thank you. It’s long past time that
    SOMEBODY told this story accurately. And Ms Rafiei most definitely deserves to have the FBI se the record straight — she was never arrested, and without her the shenanigans in Anaheim would still be going strong.

    She should also get apologies from a LOT of people, including the CADem leadership for not even bothering to ask if any of the nonsense was true. They had a long history of her work to indicate that she wasn’t in the wrong, nor did she do anything illegal. She deserves — has earned — better.

  3. Hi Donna.

    Can you explain why ALL the pictures from Al Jabbars fundraiser at the crummy restaurant have you and Vern cropped out?

    Is he ashamed of being associated with you guys? I can’t believe Mrs. Moreno let you in her home but, then again this the same woman who invited Julio Perez to her daughters Quincenera.

  4. Actually, Vern and Greg’s Psychicatric nurse Fred Sigala posted pictures that features Hari Laal, Ada Bricineo, Dave Min rubbing elbows withe TEAL Cabal: Vern, Donna, Mike and Jeanie Robbins, Wes Jones and a super smart Mark (“Jordan’s a Jew Fag”) Richard Daniels).

    How can they defend the tweets, the “Rickey Retardo” comments (ethical Lapse Nobert or just plain hypocrisy….you decide).

    Someone should ask Hari why he has a FIVE TIME DUIanaging his campaign and sucking down Tito’s and soda at your event…..

    OH YEAH IT WAS FREE.

    THESE SCOUNDRELS WOULD GO IF THEY SERVED ALPO.

  5. I am told Donna posted a bunch of self depracating posts on social media COMPLETELY ignoring the fact SHE was the one that said those horrible things. On top of it she’s blaming others.

    Total projection. It’s the equivalent of sending an EVITE to her self “pity party”.

    This people need help.

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