A rebuttal to the “state of the campaign by Joann Weiss”

The Joanna Weiss for Congress campaign has finally decided to contact us with a “State of the Race” memo for CA-47.

The memo has a lot of claims, favorable to the Weiss campaign, and things the campaign wishes was true.

The memo suggests that Weiss is the only Democrat who can keep this seat blue.  This isn’t true; State Senator Dave Min has been endorsed by the CDP and DPOC and OC Congressional members including Congresswoman Katie Porter, major labor unions, major education unions, and is the only Democratic candidate with a record of passing legislation.

The memo notes that “allied organizations” have announced $1.5 million in independent expenditures to help Weiss and attack Min.  Some of these organizations are funded through Conservative Donors.  AIPAC and United Democracy Project, two pro-Israel PACs with significant funding from Republicans, have run TV ads against Min.  Weiss’s own TV ads say she won’t take a dime from “special interests” but has no problem promoting this investment funded by Republicans.

My sources in the OC GOP have made it clear, Scott Baugh wants to face Weiss in the general because some of this IE money disappears. They say if she emerges for the general, her warchest is going to be almost empty and she has little record to run on.

My favorite line from the memo is this: “Top surrogates of the Dave Min campaign have distanced themselves from Min’s dishonest and defamatory attack ads.”  Rep. Katie Porter asked to be removed from one of Min’s ads but has not packed away an inch from her support of Min.  I’d like to know who the other “surrogates” are as the memo doesn’t say.  Min’s camp tells me no one has backed away. And ads referencing the Daily Beast story that suggests Weiss’s campaign benefits from her husband’s earnings aren’t dishonest or defamatory; the Weiss campaign never denied the line of questions from the popular news site, falsely accused the Min camp of leaking the story which the publication went out of its way to say wasn’t true, and accused the site and reporter of misogyny.  The Memo states: “Min launched a defamatory ad with provably false allegations in an attempt to distract from his legal troubles.”  Min has no legal troubles.  The DUI case is over. And the Weiss campaign explanation of her husband’s role defending the Orange Archdiocese.  Here are Min’s endorsements.

The memo states Weiss has ”amassed an impressive warchest, becoming the top Democratic fundraiser, with the most cash on hand.” The difference between the Weiss and Min campaign funds is less than $10,000.  And the statement doesn’t say that Weiss has loaned her campaign about $230,000 funded from an home equity loan (which means she’s not selling the House in San Juna Capistrano as she rents a nearly $8,000 a month apartment in Corona Del Mar).  An error of omission?  Or a deliberate lie?

The memo highlights a recent poll that shows that “Voters are deeply concerned by her Democratic primary opponent Dave Min’s recent arrest and taking of corporate PAC money. Polling confirms that Min’s recent arrest for drunk driving at nearly twice the legal limit and his lies about taking corporate PAC money make him deeply vulnerable in a general election.”  Let’s stop there.  The LA Times editorial board endorsed Min over Weiss citing how he handled the May 2023 DUI.

From the editorial: There is one trouble spot in Min’s history, which Weiss is already using in her campaign: He was arrested last May on suspicion of drunk driving in Sacramento and later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. Min was pulled over after he stopped at a red light to check cross-traffic, but then proceeded through the intersection while the light was still red and with his headlights off.

It wasn’t a trivial incident, but to his credit, Min never treated it that way. He immediately made a straightforward public statement about his arrest and apologized. He didn’t try to make excuses or pretend that the arrest was unfair, overblown or an attack on liberalism. He has completed court-ordered community service and says that although he never had a problem with alcohol, he immediately stopped drinking. Too many political events — that’s where he was drinking before the arrest — are alcohol-infused, he said. He also, of his own accord, entered into therapy. More politicians who err badly should follow his example.

Min inspires confidence that he won’t repeat the mistake — and that he would be an excellent member of Congress.

The LA Times also doesn’t see much difference in the two candidates: “The platforms of Min and Weiss are similar — both intend to protect a woman’s right to abortion at the federal level and say they are ready to battle climate change, work toward immigration reform and push sensible gun regulation. The difference is in their leadership skills, legislative experience and ability to achieve results and communicate a sense of cooperation.

The Poll the Weiss campaign refers to offers five positive questions about Weiss, no positive questions about Min and three negative questions about Min.  The Poll is rigged and dishonest.

Now let’s discuss this line in the memo: “…his lies about taking corporate PAC money.”  Min has not taken corporate PAC money in his campaign for Congress in 2018 or in 2024.  And the Weiss campaign knows this because they use tiny point size type to point out Min took corporate PAC money is his successful run for State Senate.  Campaigns are expensive.  If PAC money from Disney makes a candidate beholden to Disney, doesn’t PAC money from organizations like AIPAC or EMILY’s List or business make the candidate beholden to them?  If the Weiss campaign is so concerned about candidates who take corporate PAC money, perhaps they should ask State Rep. Cottie Petre-Norris to unendorse their campaign, otherwise is hypocritical from them to use an action Min did as a State Senate candidate to his Congressional campaigns.   Here’s Cottie’s 2024 campaign filings:  https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1456502&view=received  Go count the number of corporate PACs she’s getting money from.

The last point of the memo is my favorite and the Weiss campaign is highlighting the suggestion of the OC Register’s Sal Rodriguez to embrace Weiss over Min.  Here’s the memo language: The Orange County Register has identified Weiss as the only successful path forward for Democrats, recognizing her impressive endorsements in the past few weeks and praising her “better judgment” than her primary opponent. The paper also stated that “Dave Min should step out of the race” (OC Register, 10/17/23). The Orange County Register also stated: “[W]e don’t believe anyone with a drunken driving conviction and is currently on probation should be rewarded with a seat in Congress….but now Democrats have a reasonable alternative [in Weiss]” (OC Register, 7/7/24).

 They must be unaware of Rodriguez’s past “stand-up comedy” routines as a college student where in a 2012 performance Rodriguez used language described as racist, homophobic, sexist and misogynistic.  He said he believed in equal pay for equal work but that women seldom do equal work.  Rodriguez called a person of color a “sand n****r.” He called a woman a “c**t.” And referred to the audience as “faggoty pussies.”  He has never apologized for these remarks and actually defended his routine in a college newspaper story after the incident.

But go ahead Weiss campaign, embrace the support of someone who doesn’t deserve to hold a position telling Orange County voters how to vote.

And as far as “State of the Campaign” memos go, do better.  This one was easy to take apart.

3 Comments

  1. Democratic activists are turning away from Weiss in droves because she embraced a dirty campaign strategy going back to last summer. Embracing the support of pro-Trump United Democracy Project was the nail in the coffin for her campaign.

    Look who shows up for her canvasses. Bitter former rival Katrina Foley and her County-paid office staff, Joanna and her mom and dad, and Cottie, who has nothing to lose and nothing to gain because her campaigns have been largely funded by business interests and is running for re-election in a D+12 district.

  2. Below was just released by The American Prospect about the MAGA Republican-backed dark money PAC from AIPAC that’s interfering with the CA47 Democratic primary. The American Prospect is a journalism magazine founded by Robert Kuttner, Paul Starr, and Robert Reich, which promotes informed discussion on complex issues from a progressive perspective.

    https://prospect.org/politics/2024-02-13-aipac-democratic-primary-orange-county/

    And so…

    Occam’s razor says that the simplest explanation is the most likely. What makes more sense, A or B?

    A) Republican billionaires are funding dark money PACs to attack Dave Min and boost his Democratic rival because they like Joanna Weiss better than Dave for the general, and want to see her win in November?

    Or B) The Republican billionaires are manipulating the Democratic primary result so that they can ensure the weaker Democratic candidate will make it into the general election — who has never run for office, has NO legislative record, has no name recognition because she lives 20 miles outside of the district, and is self-funding from questionable sources — so that they can ensure Republican Scott Baugh will win a House seat in November and help the Republicans hold onto the House majority?

    You decide.

  3. Powerful article Mari. This: “As first reported by Prospect alum Alex Sammon in Slate, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures, much of United Democracy Project’s $44.2 million in funding has come from Republican donors. Jan Koum, WhatsApp co-founder and Nikki Haley super PAC supporter, gave $5 million to UDP; Jonathan Jacobson, who has contributed to the Republican Senate campaign arm, gave UDP $2.5 million; David Zalik, a donor to Republican candidates in Georgia in the past, gave UDP $2 million. Other Republican supporters of UDP include Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus ($1 million), hedge fund manager Paul Singer ($1 million), New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft ($500,000), Michael Leffell ($500,000), and Edward Levy Jr. ($350,000). That’s about 29 percent of all UDP funding in this cycle coming from Republican donors.”

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