Former California Republican Party Chairman Mike Schroeder had to navigate his black Humvee through five different security checkpoints through an exclusive community in the hills of Glendora, on the west end of the 59th Assembly District represented by Anthony Adams, to get to an exclusive mansion where over a hundred guests would soon gather for a high-priced fundraising event benefitting Adams. While these multiple checkpoints, manned with a combination of private security, Glendora police, and California Highway Patrol, were erected to ensure that none of the protesters gathered at the bottom of the hill, irate about Adams’ recent vote for the largest tax increase in state history, would be able to get up to the event – Schroeder was given clearance at each checkpoint, and was let up to the house around 5pm, a little before most guests would arrive for the event. Schroeder, however, did not have a ticket to the event. On the contrary, Schroeder is one of the last people in the world that would write a check to help Adams stay in office. So why, you might ask, was Schroeder allowed up to the top of the hill, past all of the security measures? The answer is simple – he carried in his possession the Recall Petition, signed by 55 of Adams’ constituents, that had to legally be handed to Assemblyman Adams, in order to move the recall forward. By law, Schroeder could not be hampered in his mission of serving this legal document.
Adams met with Schroeder briefly, and Schroeder (dress all in black, of course) handed him the petition, saying, “ On behalf of taxpayers in the 59th Assembly District… Let the games begin!”
And with that, Adams took the petition, scanned it, folded it up and put it in his jacket pocket, and he and Schroeder quickly parted ways.
**There is more – click the link**
April 9th, 2009 at 12:00 am
The security was tighter than the green zone in Baghdad. At one point we spotted a buzzard circling the event. I thought how appropriate.
April 9th, 2009 at 12:00 am
This recall is an act of idiocy!
While Mr. Schroeder wastes tens of thousands of dollars fighting a Republican civil war, Sacramento Democrats could be laughing all the way to a 2/3 vote majority in the Legislature.
Instead of eating our own, Republicans should be fighting our REAL ENEMIES in Sacramento and Washington DC!
I’m a long time Conservative Republican who supported Ronald Reagan against Ford and Pat Robertson against Bush the Elder. Unfortunately, I fear that the California Republican Party is lurching towards total political irrelevance.
April 9th, 2009 at 12:00 am
We are already irrelevant. That is the point of recalling Adams. The last issue Reps can influnce in Sac are taxes. Adams said it himself, “I will probably ruin my career with this vote”. He was willing to fall on his sword for tax increases rather than stand on principle. We have no choice but to recall him.
The voters are watching to see what we do to Adams and others. I helped to get the signatures for the recall petition the other evening. We stood in front of Stater Bros market in Hesperia. Within 1 hour we had 50 signatures. People are very angry. One person had already paid his car registration. It had gone from $250 to $500. It was like shooting fish in barrel. This will be our way back to credibility with the people who matter. The voters of California.
April 9th, 2009 at 12:00 am
We taxpayers have nothing to lose and everything to gain from the Adams Recall. I hope that we can attract campaign volunteers from all over California. This is the front-line in the battle for fiscal responsibility in Sacramento!
April 9th, 2009 at 12:00 am
I wasn’t aware that the CRP had voted to support this Recall. Yet here is CRP Board Member Hudson endorsing it. This idiocy will cost the Republicans any chance it has of regaining political relevance. The Howard Ahmanson defection will be just the first of many if so-called “activists” like Laning and Hudson have their way. But I suppose these purists believe that Mr. Ahmanson was just a RINO too!
April 10th, 2009 at 12:00 am
You RINOS arethe reason we are in a pickle in California…RINOS voted for every budget put forward by the commissars and socialists in Sacramento…the days of being nice are over….retribution is the answer….live by principle not lying to voters and then raising taxes…
If any of you think Campbell, Poizner or the Ebay gal are the answer….your daff….they are RINOS….lots of money, lots of stale ideas, no idea on how to build a grass roots organization…
RINOS think “star power” trumps ORGANIZATION. You all sick!!!
April 10th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Mr. Jones, I find it amazing that there are so many Republican stalwarts, like yourself, who think that it is no big deal that a politician breaks their written pledge to the taxpayers. Most Republican lawmakers took that act of signing their name to a pledge very seriously, because they knew their integrity was on the line. Others, like Mr. Adams, obviously viewed it as a vehicle to getting elected, nothing more. Liars will never be “politically relevant”. Nor can they be trusted by the voters. We are not “eating our own”. Mr. Adams is not one of us. He is neither conservative, nor a true Republican.
April 10th, 2009 at 12:00 am
I am not here to defend Assemblyman Adams, but I will not be slient on the matter as a whole.
Yes, I was disappointed in Assemblyman Adams in his vote for the budget, which sealed his political fate, but that does not mean Assemblyman Adams is a BAD guy.
The matter should be handled at the next GOP Primary in June of 2010.
However, the recall election could cost $900K. Now, that is not being “fiscally responsible”, right my friends?
Mr. Schroeder has the gall to tell Assemblyman Adams “Let the Games Begin”, eh?
We only tell that to a Democrat not to a Republican!
Nice talk! Just Great! The last thing the GOP needs is cannibalizing among ourselves.
It aches my heart that the certain GOP activists goes astray by ripping the party apart.
Do we REALLY want that?
I let you all decide and answer that question, because I am tired of fighting among ourselves.
April 10th, 2009 at 12:00 am
It’s better that the $900,000 be spent on recalling Adams, then spent on the legislature’s socialist schemes.
April 10th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Mr. Rego: Listen to yourself:
“…Spent on the legislature’s social schemes”
Fine! Then, the GOP needs to start calling the Democrats bluff on the scare tactics and other bull we hear from the Socialists running Sacramento.
April 10th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Actually, much of the money on the pro-recall side is not money the party would otherwise get anyway, I suspect. People are angry, and this is how they are venting that anger. Small donations from non-activists. The sad thing is how much money the party and party regulars are spending (or will spend) on the anti-recall side to defend a politician who does not deserve defending.
No, Mr. Adams is not a bad guy. But, he is a bad politician, who broke his solemn oath and does not deserve to represent his constituents any longer. We Republicans can no longer afford “business as usual”.
April 10th, 2009 at 12:00 am
That’s why Adams should resign. Save us all the money and effort that will be spent.
April 19th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Regarding the recall of Anthony Adams…
Those who lament that the Republican party “will fade to irrelevance” if we continue to “eat[] our own” instead of “fighting our REAL ENEMIES” totally miss the point.
The Republican party has been relegated to the role of opposition by its proportion in state representation. Fortunately, California requires a super majority to pass tax increases. This fact keeps the Republican party from total irrelevance. Unfortunately, when people like Adams betray their oath to the people who put them in office and vote to raise taxes, they take away the limited clout of the Republican party. It is they who lead us to irrelevance.
To assert that Adams is otherwise a good conservative and should be forgiven this lapse is equivalent to stating that aside from his indiscretion at West Point, Benedict Arnold was an excellent patriot and general of the Revolution.
If you see the removal of Anthony Adams as diminishing the party, what is your view of the party? Do we not stand for anything?
Perhaps it is time to consider the Libertarian Party. At least they believe in principles. I hope they run someone to fill Adams post.