Was Election a Takeover Attempt?

When Saddleback Republican Assembly members met on May 20, they chose a new board of directors for 2010-2011. Prior SRA elections involving contested seats have been between longtime members. Two weeks ago, several newcomers attempted to place themselves on the board.

The newcomers, despite vastly different backgrounds, are politically alike. None of them was active in Republican clubs prior to October 2009, and they have no history of involvement in the Republican Party.

The election was held during the May 20 meeting after the regular program. The top of the slate (for president, vice-president, etc.) was uncontested. Had it not been for the election of four Board Members at Large, the entire board could have been decided by a voice vote to accept the slate, which had been nominated by a committee prior to the meeting. Instead, nominations from the floor resulted in seven contestants for four seats. Two on the slate were longtime members, Jack Anderson and Phil Steinhauer. Two nominations from the floor were also longtime members, Neil Lonsinger and Dr. Frank Lieberman.

Before SRA members cast their written ballots, each of the seven Member at Large contestants spoke for two minutes. An SRA member asked them to list memberships in other political clubs or organizations. None of the newcomers mentioned their association with Leadership Alliance. The person asking the question knew of the organization and the ties among the newcomers to the founder and financier of Leadership Alliance, Farzaneh Akhavi, and Iranian-born woman who lives in Irvine.

A May 1 email written by a Christian activist had been distributed to several SRA members. The activist asked why political neophytes were being recommended over well-known Republican volunteers for the Orange County Republican Central Committee. He noted the newcomers had been listed in voter guides distributed among Christian conservatives, and he pointed out the Leadership Alliance connection of 20 or more of the candidates running for the GOP Central Committee. The subject line of the email was “Why is a Muslim running our Christian house”?

In addition to membership in Leadership Alliance, many of the newcomer candidates appear to lack a Republican ideology, and some of them have advocated forming a third party. The May 1 email alleges the stealth group’s agenda to splinter the OC GOP by taking over its Central Committee and promoting third-party candidates in the November election. Giving credibility to the email, the Leadership Alliance has since circulated an invitation to its “victory party” on election night, with no connection to the OC GOP victory party at the GOP headquarters.

To conclude the May 20 SRA election, the four longtime members (Anderson, Steinhauer, Lonsinger and Lieberman) were chosen to serve on the new board for 2010-2011.