“Qui vole un oeuf, vole un boeuf”
This is the season of endorsements, and I hear Assemblyman DeVore is expecting to receive the endorsement of the Tea Party Express when it holds it’s big rally in Searchlight, NV this weekend. This endorsement is said to be the first of its kind for the November 2010 elections season. I’m not a member of any Tea Party group, but as a former member of ACT-UP Los Angeles I applaud and commend their activism and willingness to stand up for their beliefs. That said, their endorsement of Assemblyman DeVore will not and does not convince me to give my money, support or vote for him. Why you may ask, simple I’m just sick and tired of politicians that run for a new political office simultaneously while still in their duly elected post. So why pick on DeVore, because he’s the last straw – especially when his purportedly running on a platform of being a conservative and of bring change to D.C.
A recent article in the Orange County Register (March 24th article Should legislative staffers be allowed to volunteer for their bosses’ political campaigns? ) highlights what appears to be an all too frequent practice of some of our elected officials’ staff in Sacramento of pulling double duty. That is “by day” they work in one of the elected officials’ offices and “by night” they work on said elected officials’ campaign. I can only describe this as an ethically challenged mindset that is apparently endemic in our state capitol. The article details several officials, including Assemblyman DeVore, use of office staff as campaign staff. Albeit they claim that they do so only under the strictest adherence to the law, but is California with an estimated 12% (some say 18%) unemployment rate that devoid of qualified help that our State Senators and Assemblymen/women must “double-dip” with their staff. Assemblyman DeVore is not alone in what many voters’ would describe as questionable behavior, however the following as reported in the OC Register is what should cast doubt in any voters’ mind about whether Assemblyman DeVore is any better than Senator Boxer (whom he and two other Republicans are competing against for the Republican nomination).
Trevino left DeVore’s Assembly office the next month, but returned in March 2009 as a “senior consultant” earning $5,000 a month on a 60 percent schedule. At the same time, Trevino wrote on his Facebook page that he joined the DeVore for Senate campaign in March 2009.
According to campaign finance records, Trevino, who also runs a firm called Trevino Strategies and Media, Inc., was paid $1,500 by DeVore’s Senate campaign in 2009.
In August, Trevino sent out an e-mail explaining his relationship with DeVore.
It has become clear to me that I need to be explicit about my involvement with the Chuck DeVore for U.S. Senate campaign out here in California. You’ve heard a lot about him from me, and you will probably continue to — at minimum through June 2010, and hopefully through January 2017. Don’t worry, the time will fly.
Here’s the deal:
1) Yep, I work for the campaign: as a volunteer. Everything campaign-related that I do is 100% unpaid.
2) HOWEVER, I also put in 20 hours a week at DeVore’s Sacramento office. A few points on that:
a) It’s the minimum allowed by CA Assembly Rules.
b) It’s so I can get face time with Chuck. (Of course, I also serve invaluable office- and Assembly-related functions….)
c) It doesn’t pay the bills. (You former staffers know what I’m talking about.)
d) No campaign work whatsoever goes on there. It’s illegal, and Chuck is scrupulously conscientious about it.
So:
— Is Chuck DeVore and/or his campaign a client of Trevino Strategies and Media, Inc.? No.
— Do I work for the Chuck DeVore for U.S. Senate campaign? Yes, as a volunteer.
— Do I work for the Office of Assemblyman Chuck DeVore? Yes.
Bottom line is that I’m not making meaningful money off DeVore — especially not compared to what I’d make with a similar commitment to a TSM client. I do what I do because I sincerely believe in him and his chances.
The Freudian slip that is 2b in Mr. Trevino’s email shows me that Mr. Trevino and Assemblyman DeVore themselves have blurred the proverbial “Chinese Wall”. Mr. Trevino states that he works 20 hours a week in the Assemblyman’s Sacramento office and that this is so he can get “face time with Chuck”, he then adds in parenthesis that “Off course, I also serve invaluable office-and Assembly-related functions…” I would argue that Trevino’s invaluable office and Assembly-related functions should provide him with ample face time and for him to separate the two would lead me to believe that some of that face time in the Sacramento office may indeed be related to campaign business otherwise there would be no reason to construct 2b the way he did.
This is Sacramento and Congress’ dirty little secret and when we as endorsers and voters give a candidate a pass on this then we can expect to continue seeing business as usual in both our State house and in the halls of Congress.
If Assemblyman DeVore was truly the Conservative he portrays himself to be then, one he shouldn’t be seeking another elective office while holding a current elective office, especially in light of the fact there are at least two other people (Carly Fiorina and Tom Campbell) who have thrown their hat into the ring, and two he would quickly end the practice of office/campaign staff. I thought the Tea Party movement was all about bringing change to Congress and various State houses, but Assemblyman DeVore is no different than so many of those the electorate is disillusioned in and disappointed with these days.
The saying goes, be the change you want to see. Assemblyman DeVore, in this voter’s opinion, has fallen far short of this goal; and if “We the People” are ever going to get these career politicians to change we need to hold their feet to the fire on these key issues. For it’s these are core ethical principals that separate the career politician from the citizen legislators that our Country was founded upon. The French have a saying that describes such ethical lapses “qui vole un oeuf, vole un boeuf” which translates, “if one can steal an egg, one can steal a cow” I know is sounds better in French. People, politicians included, are far from perfect but there should be some things that are non-negotiable, one of them should be that no current office holder (expect perhaps in the case where no one steps up to volunteer) should leapfrog from elected office to elected office during their term, and if the candidate claims that they are there to bring change then they shouldn’t be engaged in the very behavior or activity that they are promising to change.
Now is the time to choose a candidate that can go to Washington and really be a change agent bringing back the business acumen and someone who actually can make a difference. You may have surmised that I’m not a DeVore supporter, you’d be correct. I’m a Carly Fiorina supporter and I make no bones about it.
But in the end -- Actions speak louder than words!
