If you’re a Fullerton voter, take a read and take notes because it’s both a complicated and simple story.
The Democratic Party of Orange County recently endorsed Kitty Jaramillo for Fullerton City Council District 4 and Vanesa Estrela for Fullerton School District Elementary’s Board. During the endorsement process for Estrela in July, the DPOC’s North County Chair –“Trini” Castaneda — abstained from supporting Ms. Estrela which sources in the party found odd.
Later, during the same meeting, Castaneda lashed out at Kris Brown and objected to Brown’s endorsement of Estrela. His remarks were described as “ageist” and “discriminatory.” Sources called it a “WTF” moment.
We did some digging and our sources tell us that Castaneda appears to have been working for candidates not been endorsed by DPOC, including those running against Jaramillo and Estrella. In particular, a beneficiary of Castaneda’s efforts is Jamie Valencia, who was appointed to a city commission by Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung. The pair are assisting with Valencia’s endorsements. Castaneda denies any involvement in Valencia’s campaign.
Jung also personally filed a Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) complaint against Jaramillo that the body rejected because the compliant was found to be baseless.
Castaneda resigned from the Buena Park City Council on May 23, citing personal health reasons, but retained his DPOC position as North Vice Chair. Sources tell TheLiberalOC that Castaneda is working closely with Jung’s re-election campaign. He denies this. If Castaneda is public in support of Valencia, it would be grounds for removal just as when then-North Vice Chair Greg Diamond was removed from that post for supporting candidates against the DPOC and organized labor unions, and later from the Central Committee entirely for endorsing Republican Todd Spitzer for DA.
So why would Democrats in Fullerton work against the local party’s endorsed candidates?
According to the Fullerton Observer, here’s some good old-fashioned evidence. They were concerned about local groups seeking to influence votes in the Fall election. That’s a common story everywhere, but it this case, there are payments to Jung’s campaign that started in 2022 and has to do with Tony Bushala fronting a group called Fullerton Taxpayers for Reform (FTR) and contributing significant funds to …Democrats like Jung, and what people are calling a “fake Democrat” in Valencia.
And anytime you hear Bushala is writing checks to Democrats, you have to ask why.
Fullerton Taxpayers for Reform has major funding by Bushala (ID 1346685) has collected $43,500 from September to November 2022 with $7,500 from George Bushala Sr. and Jr., Dyland Bushala, Tony Bushala ($5,000) and Fredel Bushala. Another $4,500 from the Apartment Association on OC, $3,000 from Former Friends for Fullerton’s Future blogger Chris Thompson, and $1,000 from Al Bushala. The Group did not file a Form 460 for July through December 2022 so it’s not known what the funds were spent on.
In addition, members of this group have made individual contributions totaling $23,000 under their own names to Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung, Nick Dunlap, Oscar Valadez, Arnel Dino, and John Ybarra. The group’s 496 IE report shows a $1,849 payment spent on mailers opposing Fullerton Council member Ahmad Zahra and a similar expenditure on mailers supporting Valadez. An additional $6.013 spent on two mailers opposing Shana Charles.
The detailed contributions in 2022 are a head-scratcher. Did the campaign contributions have something to do with “no” votes on the UP trail?
Fred Jung (in District 1):
- $4900 – George Bushala, Tony Bushala, Commonwealth Fuel, Irvine Company, Jake Sejin Oh, and Luxurros Inc./J’s Korean Cuisine
- $4500 – Hyun Lee
- $4000 – Jennifer HyekyoungKim, Ayeong Cho
- $3000 – Galaxy Oil
- $2500 888 Cigar Lounge, Newport Partners, Hyung-Joon Sim (Innoarc)
- $1500 – Sigma Petroleum Inc. (Anthem Oil)
- $1000 Oscar Valadez, 10/40 Window Inc., LE03 Awin Management, Townsend Public Affairs, Shelly Eum
- 8 other contributions of $500 or less
The Jung campaign made a $500 contribution to the 5th district campaign of Oscar Valadez and refunded $7000 to 10 contributors. Jung’s 2021 filing listed a $10,856 loan to himself and contributions from:
- $5000 – William Iguchi
- $3000 – George Bushala
- $2500 – Gilbert Vargas, Edward Long, Mediwaste Disposal LLC
- $2000 – Fullerton Police Officers Association PAC, OC Employees Association, Sharon Quirk-Silva
- $1500 – UA Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 582
In November 9, 2022, George and Tony Bushala each gave $4900 to the Fred Jung campaign. What makes it odd is that Jung is up for re-election this year. Bushala’s PAC also supported Jung’s 2020 campaign with $12.6K worth of “independent” phone banking, postcard mailers and robocalls supporting Jung. Additionally, $45.7K was spent in mailers, phone banking, robocalls, lawn signs and Facebook ads that opposed Jung’s opponent in District 1.
Bruce Whitaker is a termed-out District 4 council member who also benefitted from FTR PAC’s generosity in 2020 with a little more than $6,000 spent on mailers and phone banking. FTR spent a little more than $21,000 against Whitaker’s opponent (down from more than $67,000 in 2012).
Oscar Valadez (District 5)
Valadez lost his race for District 5 in 2022 and hauled in $40,799 for that election. He listed a $12,700 loan to himself and a $4233 IE expenditure opposing Council member Zahra. The next largest contributions came from:
- $4900 – George Bushala
- $2500 – Fredel Bushala
- $2000 – Apartment Assocations of OC PAC, Mario Valdez, Gilbert Vargas, Edward Long
- $1500 – Soco Manor LLC (Bushala)
- $1000 – Luxurros Inc.
- $800 – Fred Jung
Nick Dunlap (District 2)
District 2 councilmember Nick Dunlap had no contributions to his 2022 campaign which had an ending cash balance of $1,449. His previous filing in 2021 listed $9,162 and $2,800 in loans to himself.
In 2021, he received contributions from:
- $2000 – George Bushala
- $1000 – Tony Bushala, Bijesh Patel of Alliance Funding Group, Care Ambulance Inc., CREPAC, and California Apartment Association PAC.
- $750 from Manufactured Housing PAC.
- Several smaller contributions of $500 or less.
His 2020 campaign listed contributions from:
- $5000 – CREPAC
- $4000 – John Saunders, owner of Rancho La Paz Mobile Home Park, Lincoln Club of OC PAC
- $3000 – Tony Bushala
- $2500 – Rick Roshan, president of Pacific Coast Management
- $2000 – John Tomlinson
- $1000 – Police Association PAC, Intracorp SW (Amplify Apt Developer), Dunlap Real Estate Investments Inc.
So, the big question here is what sort of influence is Bushala trying to buy here? And how are these funds being used? What is the end game.
Editor’s Note: I have lots of art for this story but WordPress is not letting me load it now. I’ll get to it once I do some troubleshooting.