Lisa Bartlett Continues Her Loose Use Of The “Facts” In Recent Press Release
Posted by Greg Woodard on September 3, 2014
Lisa Bartlett’s September 2, 2014 press release follows in the footsteps of her first edition of the so-called “Ming’s Dings,” and not in a good way (again, I am a supporter of Robert Ming). As I wrote regarding the false facts in her “Mings Dings,” Bartlett erroneously stated the median home price in Laguna Niguel in an attempt to attack the city’s home loan to its City Manager, and also neglected to mention that her city’s (Dana Point) City Manager makes more in salary and benefits than Laguna Niguel’s City Manager.
Bartlett continues her assault on the facts by now claiming that her fundraising was at a 2-1 clip better than Ming from June 15th through August 29, 2014. Again, Bartlett has to make up and manipulate the facts to get to this erroneous conclusion. A review of Ming’s and Bartlett’s campaign disclosure forms for the period from June 15th through August 29, 2014 shows that Ming raised $28,325 during that time (Bartlett’s release shorted Ming $1,000 – yet another sloppy fact check failure), while Bartlett raised $37,304 (not including $400 in rainbow sandals her campaign received). Even the mathematically challenged can tell that a difference of approximately $9,000 does not equal the 2-1 “advantage” that Bartlett claims in her release. Moreover, if you add contributions that Bartlett received on September 1 and Ming received on September 2, the difference closes to only approximately $7,000.
How does she get to this mythical 2-1 number? It may be by adding in a $17,000 loan that she made to herself during the reporting period. I have not been active in politics as long as many readers on here have, but I think anyone would be hard-pressed to claim that a loan to yourself constitutes “fundraising.” Sadly, it appears as though Bartlett did not learn from her earlier lies, and has once again stretched the truth for a sound bite, rather than acknowledge that both candidates were actively fundraising and relatively close in actual raising of funds during the period.
I had hoped after her first false release, Bartlett would be more careful in her fact-checking. Unfortunately, it appears that Bartlett is so focused on smearing Ming, that she does not care about facts. I leave it to the readers to determine what that says about her character and her qualifications to lead our county.
This entry was posted on September 3, 2014 at 3:19 PM and is filed under 5th Supervisorial District, Orange County Board of Supervisors. Tagged: Lisa Bartlett, Orange County Board of Supervisors, Robert Ming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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KenCoop said
How is giving the city manager a loan from the city even remotely considered prudent? Is that benefit available to all employees in Laguna Niguel? Why not? The amount paid the city manager Dana Point isn’t relevant.
Greg Woodard said
Ken, you are making the point of my earlier post, but ignoring the problem from Bartlett’s false release. Bartlett did not want to discuss whether it was a good policy to give the City Manager a loan. She only wanted to smear Ming with false facts. The amount Bartlett’s city pays her City Manager is definitely relevant when she is implying that Laguna Niguel’s City Manager is overpaid, while her own City Manager is paid even higher. I would encourage you to read the earlier post that is linked in this article.
KenCoop said
Greg, one can debate the semantics of a campaign press release ad nauseum. Candidates run on platforms they establish because they believe it is representative of the people they want to represent. Ming has established himself as a fiscal conservative who is a jealous watchdog of the taxpayer and critic of public employee compensation. Yet he voted to give a generous and singular perk to one individual using taxpayer funds. That is in conflict with Ming’s philosophy and should be the more significant point in any discussion about the two individuals. IMO
When that benefit factors into the compensation calculation I doubt the Dana Point city manager’s compensation even comes close to Laguna Niguel’s.
Greg Woodard said
Ken, the loan is not compensation. The mortgage payments (at market interest rate) come out of his paycheck and he has to sell the house if he quits or is fired. Laguna Niguel has a balanced budget and little to no risk in making the loan as it likely will make money on the transaction. I’m not sure how that is in conflict with Robert’s philosophy. With that said, I generally agree with you that making these kinds of special deals with high-level employees are not a good idea. Many council members will respond that they are necessary to attract the top talent. I personally believe that, in general, public employee salaries and benefits are out of control and need to be reined in.
I would differ with you about the press release. I am not so naive as to believe that attack pieces will stop any time soon. However, you should be concerned when the attack ad is using false facts to make its point. We should at least hold candidates responsible for such negligent, if not purposeful, lies. Calling them semantics does not require the accountability of the public official that we should demand in both the candidate’s campaign, and time in office.
Lisa Bartlett, The Union-Backed Candidate In The Fifth District Supervisor Race « OC Political said
[…] September 2, Bartlett issued a press release, again using false facts to erroneously claim that she was fundraising at a 2-1 clip against Ming. […]