Heard on the Tom/Toms
Stephen Frank, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views, 8/1/23 www.capoliticalreview.com
The Los Angeles Times Listens when the California Political News and Views Speaks
My favorite Democrat President Harry Truman once said, “I do not give them hell. I tell the truth and they think it is hell.”
The L.A. Times article by Seema Mehta, a very good journalist, left out so much of why the proposal to change the California Republican Party by-laws, by only a VERY small group of people, was protested—The goal was to change the way delegates to the RNC Presidential Convention in 2024 is distributed. You will note that no one showed up as a protestor in SUPPORT of this effort. To me this felt like the L.A. Times, once again, by omission, created a false narrative.
How did the Los Angeles Times respond to my HEARD ON THE TOM/TOMS column of yesterday noting the meeting seemed more like a cabal, not a legitimate political meeting? By not telling the whole story.
My newsletter is published at 3:02 am. At 3:23am I received a phone call from Ms. Mehta and then at 3:58 am a text message upset with my coverage..
The article, and those like it, are why I write my newsletter—to give readers the information NOT in news report, they need to know.
Actually, I felt the Times article was unfair since it did not report the important facts. Such as:
The Chair of the Rules Committee started the discussion with, “We will have a vigorous discussion”. Then they created a Rule to allow only two, six minute speeches in opposition. Vigorous?
It did not mention the Rules Committee had a secret meeting on July 22 (the CRP by-laws say that delegates are to get a 72 hour notice of all Committee meetings).
The article did not mention that Chair Jessica Patterson is an open anti-Trump person–see the March, 2020 interview she had with your colleague George Skelton.
Why is that important? Because under the CRP by-laws she got to appoint a majority of the Executive Committee members–so their decision was based on what she wanted.
It did not mention that this could have been voted on by all 1400 CRP delegates on October 1. Nor did you mention that everyone who protested wanted, among other things, this moved to the proper venue.
It was never mentioned that the Chair of the Rules Committee, Matt Jacobs, had NEVER attended a Rules Committee meeting himself before becoming Chair of it–appointed by Jessica–and that he has only been a CRP delegate since February–or that he gave Liz Cheney a standing ovation at the Reagan Library while she was denouncing the Republican Party and President Trump.
It did not mention that this process was started with a by-law change submitted by Patterson and National Committee members Dhillon and Steel.–But Steel and Dhillon took their names off of it when they realized they were being harmed by the backlash. In fact, you could have mentioned that Dhillon and Steel did not even show up for the meeting–though when they submitted the by-law change they knew the date of the Executive Committee to hear and vote on their proposal.
The Times article leaves the impression that this was to help President Trump. In my opinion the goal was to solidify the absolute control of the Party and procedures by a small group of people, telling the 1400 delegates they are no longer needed. The same group did this three years ago, using the same type of process to get the CRP endorsement for Kevin Faulconer for Governor in the Special Election. The uproar was so bad that the morning of the convention Faulconer had to announce he would not accept the endorsement, if given. Then after tens of thousands of dollars were spent and the convention, via ZOOM started, Chair Patterson had to announce they would end the process without a discussion or a vote, as if nothing happened.
The Times articles omitted the history of these attempts. I hope Ms. Mehta writes a follow up to her Saturday piece, with a full explanation of the meeting. But glad to know the Times is paying attention to the California Political News and Views.
(Periodically the California Political News and Views will publish tidbits of political news, to keep you in the loop of what the pooh bahs know. The phrase “tom/tom’s” comes from my mentor, Lorelei Kinder who never passed a rumor, just called to tell me what she heard on the “TomTom’s”. This column is named in her honor.)
