Joanne Neft and Emil John Vodonick. Now, I refer to Emil as the crooked attorney… the Auburn Journal and it’s soft-on-crime editor whitewashed Emil’s $53,000 financial misdeed as “forgetting to pay a fee for a client”. If only Sarah Palin’s daughter was so lucky… I digress as the “businessman”-turned-editor of the Auburn Journal (now there’s something worth focusing on) is also one of Charlie’s Angels as well.

Emil John Vodonick has been quite open in his disdain for both John Doolittle and now for Tom McClintock. He is reported to have told Nevada County GOP volunteers, “I hate McClintock’s guts”. I guess Vodonick has a kindred spirit in Neft.

The amazing thing is that noted liberal Republicans like the Holmes Brothers (Jim, Placer County Supervisor and Auburn Councilmember Mike) are on board with McClintock.

Let’s take a second look at the leader of Republicans for Brown:

Who is Joanne Neft?

Joanne Neft purports to be a lifelong Republican. She is purported to be a close associate of Liberal Republican Supervisor Robert Weygant. (Weygant is staying nice and quiet even though he is rumored to be supporting Montgomery for Supervisor)

Joanne Neft has never given a dime to the Placer County Republican Party in the entire time I have been involved with it. (She may have bought a ticket to one Lincoln Day dinner)

Neft wrote Liberal Democrat Jennifer Montgomery a $1500 check, as reported on Montgomery’s 6/30 form 460.

Neft wrote Charlie Brown a check for $1,627 in 2006.

Now Republican Joanne Neft is up to her old tricks. After supporting and lending her name to the attempted recall of two Republican members of Sierra College’s Board of Trustees – she is a “leader” in the Save Sierra College effort to elect Liberal Democrat activists + “Emil the Lawyer” to that board.

In 2002, Neft was part of the Placer County Republican Congress slate of Liberal Republicans that formed to attempt the takeover of the Central Committee. They were also active in supporting John Doolittle’s primary opponent, Bill Kirby. This was pre-Abramoff – Doolittle won with 78% of the vote.

Neft is involved with the Sierra Club and like organizations.

In 2002, Neft authored the John Doolittle coloring book – that may have been a violation of Campaign Finance Laws, but nevertheless was replete with attacks against John for supporting Hunters, Gun Rights, Development and Tax Cuts.

In 2006, Neft was part of Now-Democrat former Congressman Pete McCloskey’s effort to weaken John Doolittle in the primary called “Revolt of the Elders”. Again, their mailer was replete with Environmentalist attacks.

Neft has never endorsed or supported Bruce Kranz, she supported Liberal Democrat Rex Bloomfield.

Neft has never endorsed or supported Ted Gaines in the time I have been active.

Neft is a fraud, Vodonick is a fraud. The only thing that could round out Charlie’s Angels properly is a Communist.

The Crooked Attorney
The Disgruntled General
The Surrender / Gay Rights Activist
The Congresswoman who buys stock, then votes to subsidize that company
The Drug Dealer
The RINO’s
The Luddites
... who’s next?

“Sure I could have joined the NRA or given up my ACLU membership. It may have appealed to some people here but that’s not who I am.” – Charlie Brown from a Blue America interview before getting endorsed again for 2008 election cycle.

Auburn Journal Editor Deric Rothe has decided to continue using his newspaper to promote the candidacy of Charlie Brown.

As you may remember – Rothe and the Journal were a broken record against John Doolittle. Recently, the AJ was the ONLY local media outlet to run a since-debunked story that Tood Stenhouse shopped around the whole region about no drilling going on off of the Coast of Florida. (ICYMI – yesterday on this Blog, a story was posted citing people in Florida complaining about seeing Chinese Oil rigs off of their coast)

Now the Auburn Journal has decided to tell us how they think the debates should go down.

The Journal writes one of the most disingenuous lines ever seen in a newspaper, “Instead of trying to fix the format for their own benefits, the candidates should instead do the honorable thing and treat each other, and the voters, with respect.”

Rothe must have relapsed – or he is demonstrating his clear bias in support of Brown. Rothe knows damn good and well that the short-controlled format that Rothe suggests is exactly what the Brown team is going for.

Does Rothe know what team Brown does – that Charlie can not be exposed to lengthy answers to questions? Two minute answers as Rothe suggests are nothing more than glorified soundbytes.

Why has Charlie Brown decided to hide behind Deric Rothe? Rothe’s track record is abysmal, his past notwithstanding.

Why is Brown seeking to avoid an open debate with questions between candidates? What is Brown trying to hide from? Is Brown unsure of all the carefully worded positions on his website?

Notes to Deric Rothe:

You wrote “both McClintock and Brown are Patriotic Americans” – why didn’t you follow up asking for Brown to confirm or deny his anti-war activism? Why didn’t you follow up regarding hyperbolic attacks against Tom McClintock over the Veteran’s issue. Your sentence was an all too simple whitewashing of a critical issue in this campaign.

You wrote: “untrue accusations such as Brown supports the Man Boy Love Association or that McClintock doesn’t know where Placer County is located are an insult to voters’ intelligence” – again, you have whitewashed Brown’s membership in the ACLU which he reaffirmed to a very liberal group called Blue America.

Brown’s crowd has sought to tar and feather the CRA – using the behavior of some of its’ members to project onto McClintock. Since the ACLU fights against Megan’s Law, Jessica’s Law and defends pedophiles in court – an ACLU membership just does not look good at all.

Rothe finishes his screed by saying that Abortion and Gay Marriage are not important issues. Rothe not only shows his abject bias – but he also demonstrates that foundational core concepts of society are not important to him. Those would be the sanctity of life and the societal foundation of marriage.

Rothe says he hopes that the Congressional election will rise above the muck and mire – both Rothe has chosen a side and slung mud of his own.

Click here to read about the Sordid past of Auburn Journal Editor Deric Rothe – his Felony Conviction for drug trafficking

Remember Steven Kubby?

He was extradited from Canada to the USA when he ran to avoid prosecution for Narcotics production. (at least Rothe stuck around)

Before and after Rothe had his civil rights restored from his prior Drug Trafficking conviction – the Auburn Journal took up the cause of Stephen Kubby.

In 2003, Kubby’s felony conviction was reinstated as reported by the Auburn Journal

There was a follow-up story trumpeting Kubby’s plight as he applied for refugee status in Canada

And another in 2006 when his ‘stay’ in Canada was about to run out

And this is basically a commentary printed in the AJ taking Kubby’s side

And this year a follow-up story was run:

By Gus Thomson

Journal Staff Writer

A Mendocino County court has dismissed the remnants of a 1999 Placer County prosecution of medical marijuana proponent Steve Kubby.

The ruling – which sees Kubby’s misdemeanor convictions for possession of a magic mushroom stem and peyote buttons expunged under California law – came last week.

Full erasure of the conviction would take a governor’s pardon, but Kubby said Tuesday that the court decision to dismiss the case leaves him “fully vindicated and in possession, once again, of my inalienable, inseparable, non-transferable rights.”

Mendocino County Chief Probation Officer Wesley Forman issued a statement said that he had no objection to the dismissal by Judge David Nelson because Kubby had complied with the terms of his probation.

Kubby’s legal challenges started after a January 1999 raid on his Olympic Valley home in Placer County. The raid netted 265 marijuana plants from an indoor grow.

Kubby was a chief proponent of medicinal marijuana law Prop. 215 when it was passed by voters in 1996 and ran for governor as a Libertarian two years ago. He was also a candidate for Libertarian Party presidential nominee this year.

Kubby’s chief defense at the trial was that he and his wife had a doctor’s recommendation for medi-cal use of marijuana and that his use kept a rare form of adrenal cancer at bay.

In one of the most contentious trials in Placer County legal history, a mistrial was declared after a jury leaning 11-1 for acquittal on possession-of-marijuana-for-sale charges remained deadlocked after five days of deliberations and four months of testimony.

Kubby would eventually serve 20 days of a 120-day jail term in Placer County on the jury’s peyote and mescaline possession convictions, both misdemeanors.

Kubby, 61, now lives in Mendocino County. He said that he has fond memories of much of his life in the county but that he wouldn’t return as long as the district attorney who prosecuted the case – Brad Fenocchio – was still in office.

The Journal’s Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com. A more detailed story will appear in a future edition of the Journal.

Blogger’s Notes – I can hardly wait to see the full story. What I have read thus far looks pretty biased in favor of the pothead. While Rothe didn’t write any of the stories, he has a responsibility to make sure his paper isn’t used to pimp an agenda.

Even worse – a reporter by the name of Ryan McCarthy wrote some of the stories. McCarthy was a known pot user himself. Given how Rothe and the journal have reported on crime over the years – why should anyone be surprised?

The Editor’s culpability for the Auburn Journal’s horrid record on reporting crime

Source Documents

Well chronicled on these blogs has been Deric Rothe’s single-minded rampage against anything Republican in Placer County. Another pattern emerged as well with regard to the Auburn Journal’s spotty record on reporting crime.

It included trying and convicting John Doolittle, even though the now 4 1/2 year old investigation has yielded nothing. The Auburn Journal refused to report about the fact that all of Doolittle’s staff whose Subpoenas were front-page news months ago have now been withdrawn.

It also includes the white-washing of Emil John Vodonick. When Mike Spence broke the story about how Vodonick is one step away from losing has law license – the Auburn Journal received an advance copy of the story from Spence.

They called Vodonick and allowed him a pre-emptive comment. Vodonick characterized the severe penalty for misappropriating $53,000 of client’s money as a “failure to pay client’s fees”. To a layperson, that is felony embezzlement. Why didn’t the AJ care to go into any detail about the judgement against Vodonick in So Cal either?

Blogger’s Note: Vodonick is a registered Republican, but a professed Tom McClintock / John Doolittle hater. Maybe he is related to Joanne Neft?

Before these latest examples of bias, I started to wonder why the Auburn Journal was particularly obsessed with Bruce Kranz. Kranz is former law enforcement, and the Journal was trying to tar and feather Bruce with Michelle Ollar-Burris. Ollar-Burris was investigated and no charges were filed, so now the County is suing her.

What did Kranz have to do with it? She was one of dozens of appointments he made to various boards and committees. God forbid I ever hire an employee who gets investigated. The Auburn Journal will post on it Five times a week!

When Rothe posted an editorial trashing three strikes, it hit me. Rothe is completely disinterested in Crime unless unless reporting on it damages Republicans. Otherwise, Rothe could care less about Crime at all.

WHY?

I think Deric Rothe’s antipathy toward reporting crime has a personal Genesis.

Case Number 86436 8/18/1988 xref 1446198 Rothe Deric Evan – Count C001 HS 11351 severity: Felony, Count C002 PC 182(1) severity: Felony.

On 10/18/1988 Rothe pled guilty to count c001 Charge violation of HS 11351 a Felony. HS 11351 is used to try and convict drug dealers… usually those dealing in Cocaine or their derivatives. (It is also used for Heroin as well)

On 1/17/1989 Rothe was sentenced to 2 years in State Prison for drug trafficking.

On 1/28/1990 Rothe was released from Duel Correctional Facility on Parole after serving 360 days in State Prison.

On October 17th, 2003 – Rothe was granted a Certificate of Rehabilitation. This could mean that Rothe had his civil rights restored at that time. I have been unable to determine if Rothe was pardoned as the certificate recommends to the Governor that the named person on the Certificate be Pardoned.

Given the fact that Rothe has a strike (unless he was fully pardoned), no wonder why he opposes three strikes.

The infuriating thing for this blogger is that Rothe who looks to have been pardoned is using his paper to try and convict John Doolittle and Bruce Kranz.

At the same time, they wink at Kevin Ramirez’ shenanigans, ignore potential violations of Grand Jury law by Bill Martin and whitewash Emil Vodonick’s pilfering of $53,000 from a client. Roger Yohe running Western Placer into the ground, nope, a hero’s goodbye for that Ramirez associate, too.

But wait – there’s more… to be continued…

Source Documents

Blogger’s note – can’t wait to see the 6/30 report.

A quick browse of Montgomery’s campaign finances shows a ton of donors from the Bay Area. We also see several known Placer Democrats doing their part will small donations – the way it is supposed to work, right?

Rob Haswell – former candidate for the 4th AD is running the campaign and the Placer Dems have decided that Bruce Kranz is their best shot for a take-down.

On Page 12 of the report the first “Donor of Interest” appears – Paul McCloskey, Jr. – When he was in Congress, people called him Pete McCloskey. As a RINO Congressman, his greatest contribution to America was the endangered species act – whose tenants have been used by the Sierra Club for years to sue to stop development and forest management.

McCloskey’s recent contribution to local politics was leading a group who recruited primary opponents to Richard Pombo and John Doolittle to soften them up for their Dem Opponents in 2006. After taking Pombo down, McCloskey re-registered Dem and has been out campaigning with Charlie Brown, nice.

Peter V. Cornell – A millionaire businessman from Los Altos who dumped some $31,000 into the campaign. Others with the same last name from the same zip code have contributed loads of money as well. Their names showed up as Clinton donors on related searches.

Auburn Area Democratic Club – no surprise there.

Placer County Dem Central Committee – $3500 no surprise there.

Tahoe Truckee Democratic Club – see the above.

VOICE (San Francisco Address) – searches reveal a Gay Rights / networking website. It’s features include “queermail”. Maybe we should ask Montgomery about Prop 8, I think it is a great question as Montgomery and her husband of nearly 20 years have different last names as well. Knowing how Montgomery views marriage would be a good window into how she is going to make decisions as a supervisor (morays).

And, finally, the Coup ‘d Etat – William A Newsom… father of Gavin Newsom. Gavin is literally the catalyst for why Prop 8 is on the ballot.

The donors confirm that Montgomery’s past writings were no fluke. The extreme left has unified behind her campaign. It is time for the rest of the county, including those withholding their support to choose sides.

There could not be a starker contrast.

P.S. Today – a week later than other media outlets, the AJ published Bruce Kranz’ response to the barrage of letters against him over the 4 lane highway in King’s Beach. The AJ of course made sure Montgomery got equal space even though they spiked letters in support of Bruce.

And he is a hard-core Montgomery / Charlie Brown supporter.

Look at Rothe’s blog:

Please note that the slew of comments on this post on Rothe’s blog have been deleted.

Also note that Rothe fails to mention what the first two strikes against this guy are.

The post does note that Strike three against this guy involves three offenses that he was convicted of. That’s correct – the third strike is in fact three more convictions for the price of one.

Is it possible that Rothe has a personal issue against law enforcement of crime?

You have to wonder… one thing is obvious, Rothe does hate anything Republican.

In a retort to Deric Rothe – Bruce Kranz forwarded several emails he received from supporters of the 4 lane highway alternative for Kings Beach. He also forwarded a letter to the editor that the AJ didn’t print (imagine that).

Sierra Sun – July 10, 2008
Readers Write: Sensible Move

I want to give Mr. Bruce Kranz and the TRPA a big thank you. Thanks for making a sensible decision based on the needs of a peaceful community and not caving in to private interests. I don’t know how anyone can claim that the majority of the community wants three lanes, since no one bothered to ask me and my neighbors how we feel. If these people had the courtesy to ask, I would have laughed. And I think the “majority” of residents in Kings Beach would not choose a plan that endangers their children. I also don’t think they would support a plan that congests the Tahoe Basin. Traffic jams are why I don’t make it out of Tahoe often. Some of us don’t want to see Tahoe turn into a mini-Bay Area.
Ken Feely
Kings Beach

Dear Supervisor Kranz,

Thank you for taking the time to study the documents and the tremendous list of pros and cons for the Kings Beach plan. I studied the project late in the game, and although I wanted to go along with those who had been devoting time and energy to the process, I found the traffic issue a tremendous concern. I understand that many Kings Beach residents are not concerned as the opinion is that only a few days in peak season will cause a problem. I find the traffic on those peak days already a problem, and have had to turn back on several occasions to wait until the traffic flow improves. I cannot imagine the wait on those high peak days, and I anticipate a good long wait throughout the summer worsening annually. It feels irresponsible to knowingly create a situation that will negatively impact traffic flow now and in the future.

As for safety, I foresee people taking risks as they pass to skirt traffic making an unstable situation at best. I have seen several of the letters sent to you by angry residents who have worked hard on this plan, and I understand their disappointment. However, I am relieved that the Hybrid plan is not a done deal. I also worry about the challenge of evacuation in case of fire as Hwy 237 would be difficult to access. The roundabouts also create a concern as many of the large boats will be unable to navigate the turn to the boat ramp and will have to seek alternate ramps out of Kings Beach.

Thank you for standing for your constituents. I attended the meeting in Kings Beach last week and felt that most of the speakers were part of a well organized group whose goal was to speak as a vocal majority. In the crowd, there were many who opposed the plan but were reluctant to speak against those who were obviously working together to present a unified front. I was one who did not have the nerve to stand and speak. Thanks again for looking
carefully at the plan and deciding on its merits rather than allowing your vote to be swayed by a vocal group.

Regards,
Elyse Pasha

Guest columnist: Hit piece by Montgomery staffer contained inaccuracies

By Bruce Kranz, District 5 Supervisor

On June 14, the Auburn Journal printed a column written by my opponent’s campaign staff that did not tell the whole truth about my record as county supervisor.

The author was a paid consultant to my opponent, Jennifer Montgomery. Yet Rob Haswell failed to identify himself as such in the column. Instead, Montgomery’s campaign penned a political hit piece that masqueraded as the opinion of an objective observer.

Mr. Haswell’s deceitful approach should concern voters who care about the integrity of public officials and their campaigns.

Not surprisingly, Ms. Montgomery’s staffer paints an intentionally inaccurate picture as to how Michelle Ollar Burris came to be a planning commissioner and how I came to remove her.

By way of background, I did appoint Ms. Burris to the planning commission. She knew a lot about land use, had training in real estate and was willing to devote long hours to county government with minimal compensation.

Before the questions as to whether Ms. Burris may have illegally split lots as a private citizen came to light, she proved to be inquisitive regarding complaints about the performance of the planning department staff. Like me, she was sensitive to delays and the poor treatment of ordinary citizens seeking to do something with their private property. She clearly rattled some staff and pushed staff to pay more attention to private property rights.

Yet, it is possible she may also have violated the law as a private citizen — not in her capacity as a planning commissioner.

In late 2006, an anonymous group filed a complaint with the Placer County grand jury stating that Ms. Burris had illegally subdivided property by failing to follow the procedures laid out in county law. For two years no responsible authority took the allegations against Ms. Burris seriously. In fact, the Placer County Counsel, Placer County District Attorney, and the Placer County grand jury took no action.

As late as May 27, 2007, Planning Director Michael Johnson, saw “No red flags” in Michelle’s land transactions.

After a Sacramento Bee reporter wrote a story alleging wrong-doing by Ms. Burris, I became gravely concerned that there might be some truth to the allegations. Thus, I supported an extensive investigation that began on May 30, 2007. Before the investigation was completed, I realized that the controversy around Ms. Burris was distracting county government. I then led the effort to replace a resisting Ms. Burris with another planning commissioner.

During Ms. Burris’ tenure, I never acquired any intimate knowledge of Ms. Burris’s personal business, let alone the particulars of her land transactions, nor over time, did County Counsel, the District Attorney and the grand jury.

It would take an expert, Richard Crabtree, nearly six months (May to November 2007) to understand her seven years of property transactions that began five years before I took office.

As of this writing no criminal charges have been filed against Ms. Burris. A civil lawsuit has been filed to determine if she violated any laws and owes the county any money for alleged wrong doings. In their effort to paint as unflattering a picture as possible, Ms. Montgomery’s campaign did not tell voters that I removed Ms. Burris from the planning commission or that I supported the civil suit to determine if she had violated the law and might owe the county money.

Please take the time to look at my entire record on this subject and others. Hopefully, you weren’t fooled by a political hit piece masquerading as an independent source of information.

Dear Placer County Republican Central Committee Members,

I thought you’d like to see how your local newspaper, the Auburn Journal and its Senior Editor/General Manager Deric Rothe, allows the paper to pimp for the opposition. The article that prompted these e-mails can be seen at the end of this correspondence.

Bruce Kranz

We blogged on this article in a Red County Placer Exclusive – called Rampage Watch. I am cross-posting this on all three blogs I write for to give Bruce’s response maximum exposure.

Deric Rothe is on a rampage against anything Republican – his paper seems to have performed a partial birth abortion of objectivity. It started with Doolittle and is now translating to anyone that Doolittle assisted to get into office.

Kranz lit into Deric Rothe for his obvious bias…

Deric,

Your response is remarkable in what it doesn’t say:

1) You didn’t defend your actions or respond to my comment that you have become a part of the Montgomery campaign;

2) You apparently refuse to accept any responsibility for your complete lack of vetting an article by a paid Montgomery surrogate;

3) You didn’t even offer to correct your gross lack of journalistic fairness by placing an apology in the newspaper for allowing a paid political consultant of the Montgomery campaign to attack her opponent.

Of course you’re willing to allow me to respond (this sells papers), which I will do once I get the chronology of events in order. Unfortunately, you’ve allowed the damage to be done.

Deric – I struggled long and hard before confronting you on these issues, recognizing that you guys buy ink by the barrel. But, in light the way you constantly undermine me, I thought I had to respond.

I guess your comments to me the first time we talked several years ago remain. I can remember them like they were yesterday. They go something like this: “The reason I dislike you is because you are a friend of John Doolittle’s and you support the Auburn Dam.” It’s a shame there can’t be honest disagreement about issues.

Charlie Brown believes we need to move past Partisan Politics – Will Charlie Brown publicly call on the Auburn Journal to apologize and post a retraction?

Will Republicans like Ted Gaines whose Assembly district includes Auburn do it? Will Ken Campbell – former Placer GOP Chairman stand up and call Rothe and call the AJ out? I am sure Kirk Uhler and Tom McClintock are supporting Bruce – but if there was ever a call for unity behind a beseiged Republican, this is the time.

The Democrat Party has poured their limited Placer Resources into Jennifer Montgomery – now is the time for all Republicans to come together and tell the Auburn Journal and their friends from MoveOn.Org, the Sierra Club and the BANANA coalition no.

Kranz initial e-mail to Rothe is posted below:

Deric,

Do you think this is fair? If so, there is not much I can say. Obviously, you know that Rob Haswell is Montgomery’s paid consultant on the campaign, in addition to being the Region 1 Director of the Democratic Party. Of course, you didn’t mention that! I really question the wisdom of a Senior Editor/General Manager for allowing the good name of the Auburn Journal to be used by one campaign to smear their opponent without even checking the facts.

The Journal should have at least been paid for the excellent campaign piece. The honest thing for you to do is admit you have now become a part of the Montgomery campaign!!

Frankly, I expect more from the Auburn Journal, but I guess that’s too much to expect.

I assume you will allow me to at least respond to these allegations?

Kranz’ response to the AJ hatchet job will be posted as soon as I receive a copy of it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you now know the inspiration for Rampage watch 2008. I think the Auburn Journal is going to make a great voter guide for 2008…

Blogger’s Note – BANANA = Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything.