State Sen. Jim Beall trounced Nora Campos in last week’s election, but the San Jose assemblywoman still has five more months to live off donors raise funds for her campaign thanks to the state’s jungle primary system, where the top two vote-getters automatically advance. That means Fly has five more months to inspect Nora’s skeleton closet, which is just so crowded! For example, take the “Business of the Year” award she recently gave to Voler Strategic Advisers, the fledgling company that employs her baby brother, ex-San Jose Councilman Xavier Campos. As if that wasn’t shameless enough, one of Nora’s mailers notes that her campaign actually shares the same address as Voler. In an abbreviated call Tuesday, Voler CEO Perla Rodriguez admitted that Nora rents space from her office but couldn’t be sure how much the campaign pays in monthly rent, when it moved in and how big the office is. One thing Rodriguez did know is that Nora’s lease agreement had no requirement for the elected official to give Voler a biz-of-the-year award. “Absolutely not,” Rodriguez said, touting her company’s track record and “many professional accolades” while refusing to name any of her firm’s clients. Nora’s campaign records show that she has never paid or owed any money to Voler for the office space, which could be a violation of the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) rules. A FPPC spokesman said he couldn’t comment on specific campaigns, but free office space in most instances should be recorded as an in-kind contribution. Of course, not on Nora’s forms. So where is Nora’s money going? Maybe to her. At the end of last year she reportedly loaned her campaign $35,000, which is a lot of money to cough up on a campaign almost certain to end in defeat. Fly sure would love to see copies of those checks.
UPDATE: Voler CEO Perla Rodriguez hung up on a phone interview Tuesday afternoon after saying she preferred to answer questions via email. Fly sent a follow-up email and Rodriguez responded, saying that Nora Campos’ campaign only uses the office as a mailing address and does not take up any space. Yes, it’s strange that Rodriguez wouldn’t have known that a day prior. She also wrote that the Campos campaign pays $0 a month in rent and again refused to list any of the firm’s clients.
Why does Beall campaign have an office address in Los Angeles, the office of State Senator deLeon lawyer and lawyer for members of the Club for Growth, Koch brothers group?
I don’t know much about J. Beall. I’m not for or against him. But it’s über-pathetic when someone displays such impotent frustration by that juvenile nitpicking. As if that would convince intelligent readers to join their Beall hate-fest. For example:
… the Club for Growth, Koch brothers group…
Look up “innuendo” some time. And non sequitur. And while you’re at it: ad hominem.
Here’s another one that describes how I feel when Beall wins: schadenfreude. heh
I guess rental space in silicon valley isn’t that hard to find after all.
Kathleen, look at this!
So Fly wants to open discussion on campaign account exoenditures? Okie dokie. Any discussion on the two hundred bucks Jim Beall spent in a Sacramento coffee shop for his campaign? Biscotti and espresso cam be bought at a much lower rate in San Jose.
Green Gas Beall lies again. Beall gets several hundred dollars from SHELL OIL for travel expenses for his campaign staff to go to NEW YORK for Hillary. WHERE IS THE MONEY, MR. BEALL?
OH, NO!! Jim Beall got a few hundred bucks from BIG OIL! That proves his votes are bought and paid for. And he spent TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in a coffee shop! In SACRAMENTO! The nerve of that guy…
Worst of all, Beall is less than six degrees of separation from the evil KOCH BROS!! How can he look in the mirror??
But back here on Planet Earth, readers are interested in actual dirt. So if those ho-hum examples are the best that Beall’s oppponents can come up with, he’s in line for…
The Mother Teresa Award For Saintly Behavior In A Politician.
Growing apoplectic over a few $hundred, they demand:
“WHERE IS THE MONEY, MR. BEALL?”
Hey, if a politician can be bought for a couple hundred dollars, the United Arab Emirates are way overpaying Hillary for future favors.
Now, back on-topic: the only result of the Campos “Business Award” is that from now on it will be completely worthless. Even worse, whoever gets it next year will surely regret it, because the Campos/Voler shenanigans demonstrate that it has nothing whatever to do with being a good business. If it was a ‘business’ at all, it had just one customer.
CalWatchdog had this to say:
The Voler (‘business’) was actually started less than a year ago, according to San Jose Inside, which first reported the story. It has less than 300 likes on Facebook and only 37 Twitter followers.
In May, Voler held a fundraising event for Campos… (…Voler’s only customer.)
Apparently Voler is now a defunct ‘business’, having served its purpose: supporting Campos, and in return getting its sticky fingers into the taxpayers’ wallets.
So who will get the 2017 Business Of The Year award? And will they want it?
I wouldn’t take that particular ‘award’ for anything. Whoever gets it next time will rightly be suspected of the same kind of unethical backscratching as this Voler/Campos story demonstrates.
Contrary to popular belief, there is such a thing as bad publicity. So whoever gets next year’s Business Of The Year free advertising Award had better be ready to answer some interesting questions. Like, who was the runner-up? And, how much taxpayer loot did it take to win this award? So they’d better keep in mind that the internet never forgets…
Now, that story had some real dirt! It was worth every cent my SJ Inside subscription costs. Good job, Fly!
Actually retired santa clara pd guy, and we all remember how you thought a free suv for a councilman was ok, BEALL in his entire time in state office received 10 grand from oil and coal. I thought he was a green guy. No one ever said Beall was bought. Just a phony.
So how does this work exactly? Crooked Campos loans herself $35,000 but has no record of the donations (checks, withdrawls) so no one can track whether she really loaned the money to the campaign yet she can have her campaign pay her back the full amount from donor funds? I guess that is the reason she entered the race late with no real chance of winning, she figured with primary and the automatic top two in general election that she could easily pocket an additional $50,000 or more. Remember Sore Balls Neil lost his top guy job and probably took a huge pay cut so the Crooked Campos Clan needed a infusion of cash. WIthout their corrupt Godfather Shirakawa who used to be the funnel of illegal funds to their camp they had to go out on their own. Keep at ’em Josh and SJI request the records and checks don’t let them get away with fleecing the public and lining their pockets without doing any real work.
The whole sham of a business is just a way to buy a job for useless Baby Brother X
I am sure this guy is convinced Trump is a prophet and the Campos group was born in Nigeria.