Did Jon Fleischman bring down Mike Duvall?
I came across a blog that is blaming none other than Flash Report blogger and California Republican Party Vice Chairman Jon Fleischman for the downfall of disgraced Assemblyman Mike Duvall. If true, this is amazing. Fleischman also worked for disgraced former Sheriff Mike Carona, as his P.R. flack. That he might be connected to the two most pervy Orange County Republicans of all time is quite amazing.
Here are a few excerpts from the post in question:
The question remains how did the videotape of Yorba Linda Assemblyman Mike Duvall’s chat with Corona Assemblyman Jeff Miller end up on a local television neewscast and in the hands of the OC Weekly? I can hear Tip O’Neil in the background saying “All politics are local.” I have a corollary, “All politics are also personal.”
If you do not live in California and are not a Republican you probably have never heard of Jon Fleischman. Fleischman is the Vice Chairman of the California Repblican Party, but being a busy guy he also runs his own political consulting business and a blogs called the Flash Report. What’s missing is the beef that developed between Fleischman and Mike Duvall after Fliechman’s wife was fired by Duvall for malfeasance. Couple this with the close association of Brandon Powers, Jeff Miller’s Chief of Staff, to Fleischman as a blogger at the FlashReport and the odd request by Powers for a copy of the tape from that day and what you have is a recipe that results in a dish best served cold.
Fleischman’s ex-wife used to be Carona’s Campaign Treasurer. He habitually gets his wives jobs in politics. So that part of the story could well be true.
Indeed this story sounds entirely plausible. In fact the Orange County Register is sniffing around this story as well. Here are a few excerpts from a recent Total Buzz post:
Miller’s office also confirmed to the Orange County Register on Wednesday that it had obtained a tape of the July 8 Assembly Appropriations Committee hearing where Duvall made his comments long before the story broke. And today, Miller was removed from the Legislative Ethics Committee that is investigating the Duvall matter because he was part of the conversation being investigated.
Miller, however, “absolutely” denies the he had anything to do with leaking the tape. His chief of staff, Brandon Powers, said he didn’t know off hand why their office requested the tape, but said they routinely get copies of every hearing Miller is involved in.
Powers, however, used to write for Fleischman’s blog, the Flash Report, and Fleischman, despite his position as a vice chairman of the California Republican Party, admits he is not friendly with Duvall.
On Tuesday night, shortly after the KCAL-TV and OC Weekly reports broke, the Flash Report sent out an e-mail alerting readers to the scandal. For a blog that’s often updated late in the morning, it was uncharacteristically on the ball, almost as though Fleischman knew the stories were coming.
The downfall of Duvall has turned into a disaster for the CA GOP. Now it looks like Assemblyman Jeff Miller is going down too. Unintended consequences?
If Fleischman was involved to this extent, I suspect the long knives will be coming his way soon.
UPDATE:
The Liberal OC blog has picked up this story as well. Here are a few excerpts from their post:
In a nutshell it looks like the California GOP Vice-Chair Jon Fleischman is up to his eyeballs in the “Open Mike” Duvall sex talk scandal. Back in 2007 Fleischman’s wife Maureen worked for Mike Duvall on his Assembly staff. Sources tell us she was let go for having an attitude problem. We are hearing it was something along the lines of a “do you know who I am” attitude that was the problem. At any rate, she no longer worked for Duvall and hence the cause of Fleischman’s dislike for Duvall that he expressed to the Register’s Brian Joseph yesterday.
From what we have been able to piece together, Assemblyman Jeff Miller was aware of Fleischman’s disdain for Duvall and figured he could use the information he had about his conversation with Duvall in the now infamous Assembly Appropriations Committee room to get Mike Schroeder to back off on the recall effort against him. Looks like that plan didn’t work too well for Miller so the story ended up leaking to R. Scott Moxley of the OC Weekly and Dave Lopez from KCAL.
Click here to hear Fleischman talk about the Duvall sex scandal on a radio interview today.
UPDATE:
This just in from the Sacramento Bee:
Miller’s chief of staff, Brandon Powers, has written in the past for the Flash Report, and Fleischman’s wife once worked as an aide to Duvall. Those connections prompted a rash of Capitol rumors that the video recording had been leaked by Miller or his staff, perhaps to Fleischman, prompting denials by the Corona assemblyman.
John and Ken targeted Miller for recall months ago — maybe they’ll take it up again now that it looks like their support for Darth Schroeder’s recall of Adams is succeeding. Miller sitting on his fat ass in that video is pretty good ammunition for an opponent.
I wish whomever brought down the lecherous bastard would step up and take credit. That person should be held up as a hero.
The phrase “whistleblower” comes to mind. Someone exposes the corruption that is pervasive in the capitol and the roaches in the building run for cover – and try to hunt down the whistleblower like they are evil.
#2,
Except that Fleischman is a roach too…
The roaches are cannibalizing each other now.
Bottom line is Duvall brought down Duvall, and OC’s image as a place for political demagogues and hypocrites continues. Beware politicians who espouse family values – they are often phony(Remember John Schmitz?)
#4,
Sure, but it looks bad for a party official to be engaged in such activities, allegedly.
Chances are Fleischman knew Duvall was a pig a long time ago – but that didn’t stop him from getting his wife a job in his office.
It only became an issue when Duvall allegedly fired Fleischman’s wife. Then it was game on.
The whole lot of them are diseased…
The latter part of the entry referring to the Miller attempt to curry favor and protect himself against a recall is a reach.
There isnt a credible recall effort against Miller and the GOP establishment, including Mike, werent behind nor would they endorse a recall effort against him.
Brandon Powers is a deceitful liar! It won’t surprise me if he’s catalyst of this.
The story going around Orange is that the Mayor of Orange, Carolyn Cavecche, leaked the tape. Her daughter Kendra was working in Mike Duvall’s Sacramento office as a staffer. Kendra certainly knew of its existence. Duvall had indicated he would run for the 3rd District OC Supervisor seat in 2012, which Carolyn Cavecche also has her eye on. She mysteriously left the country just before the news broke. Another potential opponent eliminated.
none of u have the foggiest idea what u r talking about. this is all conspiracy theory fit for the very “nutterts” u criticize. pot, meet kettle.
It is quite difficult for me to think of the name of one person elected to County, State or Federal office that did not turn out to be a major disappointment. Perhaps others can, but it seems to me that the vast majority do not perform as expected and significant numbers let the power of their office go to their heads and that often leads to an attitude that the rules are made for others or worse – out and out corruption. I find it hard to respect most any of those office holders or those who become candidates for those offices. Power does seem to corrupt, and often the corruptable seek power in the form of a public office to have as a trophy and/or to enjoy the “perks” that such positions bring them. Am I too cynical, or am I just a realist?
Powers is slimey “full of Sh*t” operative.