I think Baugh blew it. He did not force anyone to leave. They did so of their own accord. The endorsement should stand.

What a joke on the GOP Central Committee! The vote was already taken and Janet Nguyen lost. You can't change the roll when most of the members already left and the roll closed, AFTER the count is completed.

Are we living in a freakin Communist country here to have the GOP in the OC behaving like a bunch of apparatchiks in the middle of the night? If you don't like the outcome, fix it. The media will love this drama.

To the Coup plotters on OC Central Committee:

If you're trying to do a midnight coup on your own Central Committee, learn from the Thai military. It's bloodless instead of shooting yourself in the foot for all the world to see.

Scott Baugh needs to resign. He is a traitor! The endorsement should have been approved. He was so sure this would pass and he needed to make it happen some how. Scott is a total disappointment itself.

Janet Supporter:

You lost. Live with it.

Glad to see that County Committees of all parties are somewhat dysfunctional.

Why do I pay $21 to go to the movies when I can just go to GOP Central Committee meetings for free and get great drama. That was a doosy tonight. In the end, Chairman Baugh did the right and fair thing by expunging and having a re-vote at the next meeting.

Kermit Marsh did tell us not to trust Scott Baugh but as Art said, Scott blew it big time and Scott will pay for it.

The reason Scott Baugh expunged the record was because he know he would have a huge lawsuit on his hands because of the illegal way the outcome of the vote was changed.

Nice job, Kermit. How many mistakes can you make in one night? You burned a lot of people tonight.

I find it incredibly stupid for Kermit Marsh to go out of his way to support Janet Nguyen and burn his friendship with Van Tran and Andy Quach.

It is one thing for Marsh to be the GOP's crooked parliamentarian if he's from Lake Forest or San Juan Capistrano, but to do it when the guy is up for re-election this year in Westminster is rookie mistake.

"The reason Scott Baugh expunged the record was because he know he would have a huge lawsuit on his hands because of the illegal way the outcome of the vote was changed."

Yea, Tim Whitacre would probably be behind it too and it'd cost the party another $40k in an election year. Tim just needs to pack his bags and move back east where he can damage the party all he wants.

The "Monday Night OC Puppet Show", co-starring Scott Baugh, Kermit Marsh and produced by Janet Nguyen was a total disaster. All ticket holders will be re-invited to watch next puppet show in February at no charge. Announcement for the next OC GOP Central Committee Meeting?

Great job, Tim! You're an upstanding guy. You have a lot of silent supporters. Justice prevailed tonight, despite attempts from some losers to hijack the vote.

What life would be like the future Judge Marsh’s court:

“Members of the jury if you return a guilty verdict the defender goes to jail,” said Judge Marsh.

Later that day the jury returns...

“NOT GUILTY,” said the jury foreman.

“Thank you. The jury’s decision is not guilty. Members of the jury you are free to go,” said Judge Marsh.

Jury leaves….Judge Marsh meets the prosecutor in his chamber.

“Will the defender please rise…..I was mistaken early when I told the jury that not guilty means that you are free. I was wrong. I know that the past practice of our courts is to allow people found not guilty to go free but the prosecutor has raised to new two objections. I realized that a mistake was made and as judge and I must be allowed to correct that mistake.”

“I sentenced you to life in prison,” said Judge Marsh.

You would think that someone that wants to be a judge would have a basic understanding of aye and nay....or a sense of fairness.

Who cares what Pedroza thinks? That idiot wasn't even there to see what happened.

The bottom line is that Janet did not get endorsed and the main opposition came from folks in the 1st District.

This whole black eye on the party is going to cost us votes and support in Central Orange County. Tran and Trung Nguyen are right to make sure we have a united front in that area or we will never take back the 47th Congressional Seat.

If they could work with Janet, they would have. It is my understanding that Tran served as a mentor to Janet. After getting to know her well, she isn't someone he could ever support again. Her old boss Ken Maddox feels the same way.

Same for (Tran supported) Republican Garden Grove Councilwoman Dina Nguyen. Just check out this week's OC Weekly.

To know Janet is to oppose Janet. It was good to see that many of our Central Committee members already know this.

Taken from Blue Powder Report, I think this is a better description of what went down. Jubal is kind of soft on Baugh and Marsh and I don't blame him since they are buddies.

OC Central Committee Roundup
One word....wow. This is a tip for anyone who complains about having to pay $21 to go out to the movies these days only to get served up bad movies. You can go to OC GOP Central Committee meetings and get great drama for free! The storyline of the night was if Janet Nguyen should receive the party's early endorsement. She did not get it, but the way it all went down will go down in OC GOP history as one of the weirdest meetings of all time. It all started because a member of the committee, Tim Whitacre, pulled Janet's name from the early endorsement list. Any Central Committee member has this right. Marcia Gilchrist made a motion to reinstate the early endorsement. Three members spoke in favor of this motion and three spoke against it. Then they took the first vote with Parliamentarian Kermit Marsh instructing members that abstentions would count basically the same as NO votes. The count was announced as 32 to 17, not enough. Then Chairman Baugh and Mr. Marsh announced that they were voting "aye". This made the so called total 34 to 17. Just enough for approval. Not so fast said Tim Whitacre. He had a different total of 34 to 23, not enough for endorsement. I think Mary Young and Kermit Marsh need a remedial math class or something because after conferring with Tim, they did announce that Tim's total was the one to go with. Huh? Talk about needing checks and balances in this party. How hard is it to count votes? This is amazing. So Janet doesn't get the endorsement like she thought she would, but people seemed satisfied that fairness had prevailed.

After this we had CRP Chairman Ron Nehring speak about the state of the GOP Presidential race and get in a few gratuitous slams against the potential Dem nominees.

Then we had more formalities like giving awards to volunteers of the year and month and legislator of the year, which went to our Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.

So we get to committee reports at the end of the meeting. Most members had left for the night thinking that all important business was finished. Then Parliamentarian Kermit Marsh dropped a bomb on everyone that he is over-ruling himself from earlier in the night that abstentions would count in the vote totals and re-rules that in fact they don't count towards the final tally and announces that Janet Nguyen hereby receives the endorsement by 34 to 12 or something. WHAT? You're over-ruling yourself? Says who? Everyone was looking incredulous and Janet supporters were grinning ear to ear like the cat that just swallowed the canary. Someone restore some order here. Enter Assemblyman DeVore. He strongly objected to the vote and had a few stern words for Mr. Marsh. He then moved for reconsideration of the vote. Now remember, a lot of members had already high tailed it out of there. I had Trung supporters come back into the room that were having drinks at the bar ask me what just happened. I said your guy just got railroaded just like last year with the whole Sheriff endorsement fiasco. Someone stop the insanity. Thankfully Chairman Baugh rose to make a motion that the endorsement vote be expunged and a re vote held at the next meeting in February. That was adopted by voice vote. Whewww. Did you get all that? You had to be there. Matt Cunningham from Red County was there and had his video camera rolling so we should have some juicy tape of how everything happened pretty soon.

Chuck is the man! Whitacre gave a compelling perfomance. In their own way, they both did the right thing.

Shame on some members of the OC Central Committee. They all know who they are. Based on the conduct of the leadership, this night will live in local OC Republican infamy.

36 Yes

10 No

Looks pretty clear to me who won. I don't need to take it to the appeals court to figure that out.

Tim Whitacre just wants to get Democrats elected in Central County. What has he done within the last few years other than cause headaches and financial problems for the OC GOP?

anon.6:28, Tim Whitacre has made a strong name last night and he became the true winner of this fiasco. Good job Tim and continue to do good work. We are proud of you! Your future looks very bright.

The OCGOP has caused headaches and financial problems for the OC GOP. Tim Whitacre is the only one with enough courage to stick his neck out and do what is right. If Democrats benefit, then it isn't his fault -- it is the OCGOP's fault for perpetuating the need for people like him. Sucks for him -- being unpopular and all. But, think about where the Party would be without people who speak their conscience. Maybe instead of blaming him, we should start blaming our leaders who keep supporting candidates who need a corrupt, illegal process to earn an endorsement.

Jennifer Roark:

Did you see Tim speak last night? He was a fumbling buffoon.

It looks like this guy is more interested in cozying up to Democrat Mayor Muguel Pulido than helping the Republican Party.

The Trannies are really spamming away tonight with the comments!

Come one guys -- ease up. It's obviously one or two people writing most of these comments. It looks stupid.

Tim Whitacre is nothing but a charlatan and an attention grabber.

He only got 9 others to vote with him.

Anon:

Accept your lost and stop making wild accusations. The Central Committee obviously did not want to endorse Janet Nguyen early because of multiple GOP candidates. Before blaimg anyone, look at her -- yourself -- first. Live down your lost and regroup!

The vote wasn't 36:10, it was 36:20-something.

It is likely that the noes will never vote for a Janet endorsement. The abstentions might. They just aren't ready to yet. Some of them might've wanted to vote no but were alternatives for members who might not agree.

But the fact that they aren't ready yet should be representative of the problems with Janet.

Everyone should really look to Janet's former friends and allies to see what is going on here. If one or two didn't like Janet, then maybe those people have a problem. If all of them don't like Janet, maybe Janet is the problem. The OC Weekly article barely scratched the surface of Janet's problems.

The OCGOP will look back on this meeting as the time that the grassroots members of the Central Committee took control back from the country club Republicans.

These folks can't even vote to censure a federally indicted Sheriff. Sounds like the sheep were ready to rubber stamp another blight on our party but the grassroots GOP members stopped them. Thank goodness.

And how many times can Ackerman screw over Van Tran? First Dick cost us a State Senate seat, now his division of our party in Central Orange County can potentially cost us a shot at the 47CD. Great leadership.

"Maybe instead of blaming him, we should start blaming our leaders who keep supporting candidates who need a corrupt, illegal process to earn an endorsement."

Who here knows of Mr. Whitacre's true past? I don't think anyone. The man backstabs, lies, cheats, and uses his "Semper Fi" military background for his own personal gain -- keeping the Democrats in office locally. You know why there's only one Republican councilman in Santa Ana? Because Tim Whitacre won't allow anyone else the chance to succeed in that town. He criticzes Art Pedroza of using his "poison pen" to character assassinate someone, but Tim does the name thing with his cell phone and bluetooth headset. He'll call everyone on his contact list and character assassinate people who don't listen to him.

Tim Whitacre is all about Tim Whitacre and nothing else. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just being suckered into his charming persona and iffy speaking skills.

How typical of Janet. She loses the vote so she forces a recount and changes the rules so she can win.

She loses the vote for an early endorsement so she forces a recount and changes the rules so she can win.

"She loses the vote so she forces a recount and changes the rules so she can win."

I dunno, man. I think that assumption can be made for both camps.

Give the do-overs on both Carona and Janet and that Schroeder wasn't at last night's meeting, I'm wondering if it wasn't actually Probolsky who orchestrated both of these.

Two months ago someone in this blog made a comment about the different roles played by both the group of grassroots Republicans (staffers, volunteers, etc.) and the group of Country Club Reeps (donors, party insiders, etc). The assertion made was that it doesn't matter what the grassroots crowd thinks, it's the insiders who run the show.

It was refreshing to see last night's fiasco. It didn't take much of an insider to quickly figure out that most of the NAYs and ABSTAINs were coming from the group of grassroots Republicans and that most of the AYEs were coming from the Country Club crowd.

As an incument Republican it is embarrassing for Janet that the vote came down to 36-22. It is even more embarrassing for Janet that after her consultants tried to game the system, she still couldn't pull it off. It says a lot about the passion of the opposition.

Another important footnote to the fiasco last night was that EVERY member of the 69th AD (HER DISTRICT) voted NAY. EVERY member.

Last night brought a smile to my face. In the midst of the crapola our party has been through lately, apparently there is still hope left against cronyism.

I just don't get how the person who is supposed to know all the rules and bylaws (Parliamentarian) could be such a sham.

EVERY meeting and vote EVER taken in the Central Committee has always had "Abstain" votes count toward the total. How did Kermit really think he could just change this at the last moment AFTER counting the votes?

I don't see how he could possibly retain that seat after such a phenomenal blunder and attempt at corruption and cronyism. His position is supposed to be of COMPLETE neutrality.

Unbelievably disappointing Mr. Marsh. Way to go Assemblyman DeVore, and also to you Mr. Baugh for doing the right thing in the end. Looking forward to February...

Last night was a great lesson for all OC republicans and it showed important roles played by the grass root people. I am proud to be a member of the best core conservative grass root group in the state. I will extend my prudent effort to watch California becomes a republican majority state with respectable republican leaders.

Tim Whitacre, last year, undermined the endorsed Republicans we ran for the Santa Ana City Council. He supported Democrat Miguel Pulido and his hack Democrat puppets. One GOP candidate, Evangeline Gawronski, lost by only 600 votes! Timmy cost his party big time. And for what? His Pulido puppets lost!

Tim also backstabbed the young man running for the 69th Assembly District, just as he backstabbed Otto Bade a few years ago.

Face the facts folks, Tim Whitacre helps the Democrats, not the Republicans.

Why wouldn't the OC GOP endorse an incumbent Supervisor? It is just retarded to oppose Janet Nguyen.

And the dirt coming out on Trung pretty much assures that he is done.

Tim is just a disgusting turncoat. And all of you who have bought into his B.S. have been suckered by this guy.

Since the recall of Nativo, can anyone tell me of even one Republican that Tim has helped to elect?

The funny thing is that Tim betrayed his party last year while kissing up to Pulido for a Council seat...that ultimately went to Vince Sarmiento. Yep. Timmy got punked!

Pedroza is simply beside himself that nobody cares what he has to say, especially when he's known for lying about everybody he doesn't like - which is pretty much everybody who doesn't agree with him.

Jubal, I don't know why you let him spread his vile BS on your site, but to allow him to malign someone we all know to be a consistent voice for ethics in goverment, is beyond me. Tim Whitacre is an upstanding man who has helped more real Republicans than most people I know. And besides, what does his envy of Tim have to do with the topic of this posting?

And besides, what does his envy of Tim have to do with the topic of this posting?

Don't you get it. Everything bad in Art's world is Tim's fault. He doesn't need a reason to work him into something like this.

Actually, I'm surprised Art hasn't found a way of working in Carlos Bustamante and Miguel Pulido into this topic. Please Art, tell us how they are responsible.

Art Pedroza needs attention. How ever, our Rep. Blog does not have nurses to take care of his medical symptoms. Doc. say go see Janet.

For the last few posters,

You have attacked Art's credibility, which is fair game. You've called Tim Whitacre an upstanding gentleman and that too is fair game. However, none of you have failed to answer his question: Since the Nativo Recall, can anyone name how many republicans Tim has helped get elected into office?

The same question is back to FAIR QUESTION. How many Republicans did Art help to elect before he dropped GOP credential? NONE.

AND Tim doen't have garbage disposal mouth. Art must learn more about inter-personal relationships before enrolling in the political sci.101 class.

Anon 7:37, I'm enjoying this nice bit of baseball we're playing. I pitch a question to you, you hit one back to me. Well, since you were so kind as to answer your own question, perhaps you can go 2-0 and answer Art's original question: How many republicans did Tim help elect since the Nativo Recall?

Or do you already know the answer but are too cautious and daunted to warrant a reply?

Anon 7:37, I forgot to add this in my previous post. To fully answer your question back to me, I am reminded of specific dates. To my knowledge, Art dropped his GOP credentials in February of '07, about the same time that Janet was proclaimed the winner of the Supes. race. Although she didn't take her seat until about April of last year, she was on top and thus elected in February, before he dropped. So technically, Art helped get Janet -- a Republican -- elected.

You can debate that if you want, but Art walked precincts for her and she is the sitting supervisor, so it's fair to say that Art did get a Republican elected.

There was nothing grass roots about the result. Van Tran's district director, Dave Everett made the objection to Kermit's final and correct decision. Troung Diep then got ordered by his boss to back him up.

Then a Sacramento legislator chimed in to force the issue.

Paid staff and a Sacramento legislator.

That's about as non-grass-roots as it gets.

Sorry Charlies, but you can go put on your own golf cleats.

Anon,

I guess you saw your boss, Janet, got beaten in her own dirty little game on Monday night. Haven't you learn anything after the debacle?

Do you mean, "Haven't you learned anything?"

PS: My only boss is a Jewish Carpenter.

You can debate that if you want, but Art walked precincts for her and she is the sitting supervisor, so it's fair to say that Art did get a Republican elected.

That's like saying my lawn mower is causing global warming.

"That's like saying my lawn mower is causing global warming."

Then get a new lawn mower. :-p

Also, thank you again for avoiding to answer the original question. Avoidance must be a trait that people learn in those anti-ethics classes they're starting to teach in college. Those who have something to hide are often the best at doing this.

I think we can agree that Art Pedroza is a divisive figure who does not positively contribute to anything. His postings are full of rants, personal attacks, false allegations. Why even bother to deal with that? He's hurting Janet Nguyen for what he's doing. It's a bad reflection her and she's not smart enough to figure it out. Ironically, they do share many similar character traits.

I don't know Art Pedroza or Tim Whitacre, but I saw that video and he said he probably supported Janet. The Republican Party should support our incumbents, including Janet Nguyen. We should unite to win more seats - good job to Janet for working across the aisles and making sure that Republicans win in unlikely places. Bad job to Trung for being an Al Gore.

"I think we can agree that Art Pedroza is a divisive figure..."

I thinkw e can all agree that Mr. Whitacre is a very divisive figure as well. I know people int he GOP who simpl adore him like the second coming, and others who think he's the GOP anti-christ in Central County. However, despite your posted name as "Your Answer," you have still failed to actually answer Art's original question. To be honest, this has now become my question since nobody can seem to answer without turning the response back to something off-topic.

Since the Nativo Recall, how many republicans has Tim Whitacre helped get elected? If you respond with names and dates, I'll call you and buy you dinner.