Zuma Dogg feels that these are some of the things to consider regarding the Federal Grand Jury Investigation into LAUSD boardmembers, L.A. City Councilmember Jose Huizar and what we may expect to see next regarding this Federal matter.
And first of all, the L.A. Times story about Tokofsky and Huizar taking $30,000 as consultants when they were sitting on LAUSD school board AIN'T THE KINDA THING THAT TRIGGERS A FEDERAL INVESTIGATION.
So ZD and the circle of people he is vetting information with regarding this story are not sure exactly where it will end up going, or what the consultancy fees will end up leading to, but we all agree...IT AIN'T ABOUT THE $30,000 CONSULTANCY FEES!
So from here on in, I'll simply be sharing the tidbits I have been hearing, here and there, as the small circle of ZD insiders on this matter help paint out a possible picutre. BUT AGAIN, this is MY speculation, based on everything I have heard over the past three years as an LAUSD watcher; and more recently the stuff I have heard regarding the signature gathering of Sue Burnside & ASSociates during the LAUSD board race with Ben Austin.
I HOPE UTLA IS NOT INVOLVED (see PACE).
Like all the hardcore politically shadiness, dare I say corruption, it's a tangled web. And I am sleep deprived and don't have enough nutrients in my system, so it's harder to focus and concentrate, so I will tell this one piece at a time. Here it goes:
Hey Sue Burnside & ASSociates...way to run a political signature gathering business...
FIRST OF ALL, look at this list of Sue Burnside & Associate clients.
Gil Cedillo for U.S. Congress
Curren Price for Senate, IE
Eric Garcetti for LA City Council
Martin Heinrich, NM1, DCCC
Measure H, Beverly Hills Hilton
Harry Teague, NM CD2, DCCC
Pasadena School Bond
Atlas Project
Coalition to Protect California's Budget & Economy
LaMotte for LAUSD Board
DCCC
CA Democratic Party
Joe Baca for Congress
Hooley for Congress
Michael Furer for Assembly
Laura Richardson for Assembly
Chuck Calderon for Assembly
Ron Calderon Senate
Monica Garcia for School Board.
Jose Huizar for LA City Council
Bob Hertzberg for LA Mayor
DNC, OR, NM and CA
DCCC
New Mexico Dem Party, Kerry for Pres
America Votes
Move On: National vote by mail program
Moving America Forward
Coalition for a Better Colorado
Mike Machado for Senate
CA Alliance for Tom Umberg, 69 AD
Joe Baca Jr. for CA Assembly
Josie Gonzales for S.B. Supervisor
Graham Richard for Mayor, Ft Wayne IN
Martin Ludlow for LA City Council
Santa Monica Malibu School District Bond
Forward Oregon, Democratic Party
John Lauritzen for LA School Board (2003 & 2007)
New Mexico Democratic Party (2002 &'00)
Indiana Democratic Party, JLT
California Democratic Party
NRDC, grassroots organizing for AB 1058
Lois Capps, CA 23CD
Linda Sanchez, CA 39CD
LAUSD Prop. "K", School Bond
Llyod Levine for Assembly, 40thAD
Wendy Greuel for 2nd City Council (02,03)
Carson Unified Formation, No on D
No on D, A, E & S - Prohibition of Fireworks
Tom LaBonge for City Council (9/11/01 & 03)
Diane Watson, CA 32nd CD, Special
Marlene Canter for School Board
New Mexico Democratic Party, Gore
Gloria Negrete McLeod for Assembly, 61AD
League of Conservation Voters (CD 27 & 36)
Jack Scott for CA Senate (Primary & General)
Carol Liu for CA Assembly (2000 & 2002)
Handgun Control - Utah
Proposition 1A
Nell Soto for Senate, Special Election
Congressman Joe Baca, Special Election
Huntington Beach Union High School
Coalition for Kids, Hayes for School Board
DCCC, 1998 CA 9 Congressional Targets
Washington State Democratic Party
Tom Udall for Congress, New Mexico, ‘98
Yes on 5, CA Indians for Self- Reliance
San Diego School Bond MM
HRC-Protect Our Constitution, HI & CA Project
AFL-CIO, Gloria Romero for Assembly
Loretta Sanchez for Congress, 98 & 00
Montebello School Bond
Lois Capps, Special Election
Proposition L, L.A. County Library Tax
Proposition E, L.A. County Firefighters Tax
Angelenos for Better Classrooms (BB), LAUSD Bond
TASIN, Indian Rally at Federal Court
South Bay Voter Registration Program
Bob Hertzberg, 40th AD
Congresswoman Jane Harman, 36 CD (96,00,02)
Assembly Member, Senator Sheila Kuehl, 41AD
Assembly Member, Senator Debra Bowen, 53 AD
State Senator Ralph Dills, 26 SD
Proposition 1, Expand Police Stations
Hollywood Park Expansion, Inglewood
South Bay Voter Registration
Senator Roberti, NO on the RECALL
Proposition C, San Diego North County
No on RAND, Petition Drive, Santa Monica
Laura Chick, L.A. City Council, # 3
Southern California Voter Registration
No on 174, No on School Vouchers
S.O.S., Utility Workers of America, P.U.C.
Judy Abdo, Mayor of Santa Monica
West Hollywood, Yes on the Sheriff
John Emerson, 40th AD Special Election
Community Outreach/Grass Tops
LAUSD Bond Measure Q
Woodside Natural Gas
Education Station
Waste Management
JetBlue
LAUSD Internal Stakeholder
AARP
Direct Impact
NRDC Action Fund/ CLCV
Huntington Beach Union High School
L.A. City Redistricting Commission
Pasadena School Bond
L.A. County Bond - Measure R
TNT Fireworks
Land Use
Playa Vista
Beverly Hills Hilton
Westfield Malls
Woodside Natural Gas
Cascade Historical Ranch, San Mateo
Hilllwood/ Hofer Ranch, Ontario CA
LAUSD Community Outreach, New School
City Of Cathedral City
Huntington Beach Union High School
L.A. School District New Facilities
Pacific Design Center
Sunset Millennium, L.L.C.
So not exactly a chump change company.
But you know what? I would trust Zuma Dogg and his un-professional signautre gathering helpers more than Sue Burnside & Associates.
First of all, according to this Superior Court complaint filed on behalf of Ben Austin vs Burnside and Urteaga, Burnside hired (subcontracted) Robert Urteaga to supervise the signature gathering effort on behalf of Ben Austin, who hired the presitgious firm to complete and verify the 500 signatures needed to get on the ballot for LASUD school board member to replace outgoing member Marlene Kanter. Turns out they made a mistake in the gathering process and Mr. Austin did not qualify for the ballot.
Now suffice it to say, ZD and all his "helpers" on this story agree, Mr. Austin was not exactly the most UTLA-friendly candidate, and Zuma Dogg will go one step further and say it's my opinion hardcore UTLA backers and supporters not only feared ABB (Anybody But Ben), but would be VERY DESPERATE to do ANYTHING to prevent him from winning.
But first, let's look at who Sue Burnside hires and puts in charge of these high level operations: Rober Urteaga: The un-beloved Montebello elected official and subject of a re-call campaign for pay-for-play and a convicted felon for Grand Theft and check fraud. AND BURNSIDE HIRES HIM. Recall Robert Urteaga blog
STORY: 1/31/08 - SAN BERNARDINO - A political consultant faces 19 perjury charges involving bogus signatures on a 2005 voter initiative. San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos announced the charges against Joon Il Kim, 30, who is accused of signing affidavits on petitions declaring that he had witnessed each signature.
Kim was an independent political operative who contracted with Burnside & Associates, a Los Angeles political firm managing the petition drive for Pick Your Part Auto Recycling, based in Anaheim.
Wow...of all the people available in the city to help with this job, Burnside just CAN'T seem to find anyone but convicted felons (including for signature gathering itself) TO HELP GET SIGNATURES!!!
So that's the background cast of characters. Now look what happened:
a) Austin hires Burnside and somehow Urteaga ends up on the job. (After the fact, Burnside claims she knew nothing about it and was on vacation, on her honeymoon, completely outside of the range of ANY accountability...even though it's the middle of the biggest campaign season ever. THAT'S LIKE AN ACCOUNTANT TAKING A HONEYMOON THE FIRST TWO WEEKS IN APRIL!
b) Urteaga ACCIDENTALY makes a mistake and ends up gathering signatures from outside the district and candidate doesn't qualify to make it on the ballot.
c) According to the Superior Court Case, Austin was told the signautres were being verified and WERE verified (checked by the company) before they were turned in to the Clerk's office.
Ooops! Another "Burnside Bad!" They used the wrong program or something when they verified the signatures...that they got in the wrong area!
d) They turned the signatures in on the last day, so there would be no time for the clerks office to check them for mistakes in case they needed to go back out and get more.
DO YOU KNOW WHO TURNS IN SIGNATURES ON THE LAST DAY??? ZUMA DOGG DOES! Because he is out there getting them himself, or with a couple of voulenteer helpers -- and I blow the first two weeks not even getting them. SO ZUMA DOGG TURNS THEM IN ON THE LAST DAY FOR GOOD REASON. You mean to tell me the superstar signature gathering company of all time waits until the last minute to turn in the most important project they have going: THE LAUSD SCHOOL BOARD!!!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME???
YOU CAN'T BE THAT MUCH OF A FUCK UP ON PURPOSE IF YOU TRIED!!!
So knowing that UTLA was spending boatloads of cash to back Steve Zimmer, the long time UTLA teacher from Marshall High to BEAT Ben Austin in a desperate attempt to not lose the school board seat to someone endorsed by everyone UTLA HATES (like Villaraigosa and Eli Broad);
IS THE FBI INVESTIGATING UTLA FOR SIGNATURE GATHERING ISSUES THAT MAY RELATE TO THIS ISSUE?
Did someone at UTLA pull some strings (drop some cash) to have Urteaga (either with, or without Burnside's knowledge) run a "Bad News Bear" bamboozle pattern on Austin's signature gathering effort? (Drop the ball on purpose?)
I spoke with some people on this possibility, and even though he may be a pain in the but, and be a HUGE part of the problem in the whole LAUSD picutre, people think AJ Duffy is a good guy and decent competitior (and wouldn't be dumb enough) to get mixed up in anything like that. And the people I speak with (even his haters) feel it's pretty hard to imagine that he would pull something so shady as paying someone for something like that.
But, PACE...NOT SO FAST!
People were not as quick to jump to your defense. PACE stands for Political Action Committe for Education (or something like that) and is the UTLA political action committee. UTLA can't spend money on campaigns becasue they are a non-profit organization. So PACE does the spending for them.
Is it possible someone from inside PACE had Urteaga (contracted under Burnside) to fumble the signatures and make sure Ben didn't make it onto the ballot?
I AM NOT SAYING THIS IS THE CASE: When I started this story, I told you I am vetting out this story and trying to project where the hockey puck is going in this story and thinking aloud as to some of the scenarios that could have played out.
So did someone, maybe someone from PACE broker some kind of deal with Burnside and/or Associates to purposefully throw the signature gathering campaign for UTLA-challenger Ben Austin?
And the part that I can't tell you is...I AIN'T GOING DOWN THIS PATH FOR NO REASON ALL ON MY OWN!
In other words, looks like some lazy politicians (see client list) are going to have to go out and get their own signatures next time, cause I think we may find one of them is gonna be shut down. AND THAT'S WHEN IT ALL UNRAVELS. When it's in L.A Times you'll believe me. And the significance of THIS political firm is that client list. WOW, imagine if Feds could get to that and take a peek around. AW YEA!
Alright, that's enough for now.
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