This post first appeared in the Politics Report.
Last week, we wrote about the “Official Republican Voter Guide” Assemblymember Carl DeMaio was distributing. It claimed to be the “official Central Committee Slate” and the “REAL San Diego County Voter Guide for Republicans” which you could find at RepublicanVoterGuideCA.com.
Of course it was not the official Republican voter guide. DeMaio himself had helped ensure that the local Republican Party did not endorse candidates this cycle and did not put out it’s own official voter guide.
The local Republican Party refused to do anything about it.
But not the California Republican Party. In a blistering letter sent Friday, and touted by Rep. Darrell Issa and other foes of DeMaio, Ashlee N. Titus, the general counsel of the California Republican Party demanded he cease and desist from distributing the guide as it was.
“This letter constitutes a demand that you, your slate mailer organization Reform California Voter Guide (ID 1469001), and your website RepublicanVoterGuideCA.com immediately cease and desist from a coordinated, brazen, and unlawful campaign to deceive California voters into believing your privately controlled slate mailer is an official publication of the Republican Party. It is not. Your conduct constitutes a knowing and willful trademark infringement under federal and state law, a direct violation of California’s Truth in Endorsements Law, an unlawful solicitation of contributions in the name of a political party, a violation of the mandatory slate mailer disclosure statute, and an act of voter deception. The CRP demands that it stop immediately.”
It is unsparing and worth a read: “Make no mistake about the gravity of this matter. You are not an unsophisticated political novice. You are a sitting California State Assemblymember, the Chairman of Reform California, a former San Diego City Councilman, and a candidate the CRP itself has endorsed. You know full well that the CRP and its county central committees are the only bodies authorized under California law to issue official Republican Party endorsements, and you know exactly what you are doing when you brand a paid slate mailer with the words ‘OFFICIAL,’ ‘Republican Central Committee Slate,’ and the Republican Party’s elephant emblem. Your conduct is not a mistake. It is a calculated deception of California’s Republican voters, and it will not be tolerated.”
Friday, the top of DeMaio’s website read “Carl DeMaio’s Reform California Voter Guide for Republicans” instead of “Official Republican Voter Guide.”
Titus said litigation was likely to ensue and she demanded DeMaio and treasurer April Boling preserve documents.
How We Got Here
Loyal Politics Report subscribers will remember the Republican Party of San Diego County’s inability or unwillingness to settle on key endorsements this cycle. The Central Committee did not put out an official Republican Party voter guide.
It seemed to work out just fine for Assemblymember DeMaio, whose Reform California voter guide was set to fill the vacuum. But his rivals, Sen. Brian Jones, Rep. Darrell Issa and the former chair of the Republican Party, before DeMaio ousted him, Corey Gustafson, put together their own Big Beautiful Voter Guide.
Now they’re attacking each other.
“We have now confirmed that the FAKE Republican Voter Guide mailer has hit every neighborhood in North and East San Diego County – along with blatantly dishonest mailers attacking our endorsed Republican candidates in target races. You most likely received at least one of these deceptive mailers or you soon will!” DeMaio warned his followers.
He pointed them to the “REAL San Diego County Voter Guide for Republicans” at RepublicanVoterGuideCA.com.
The two big Republican battles this June are in the county supervisor race, where San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones is running against Vista Mayor John Franklin for the chance to face Democrat Kyle Krahel in North County. The other is the race to replace Sen. Brian Jones, where Republican Kristie Bruce-Lane is running against San Marcos Republican City Councilmember Ed Musgrove.
DeMaio supports Jones and Kristie Bruce-Lane, as does his voter guide.
It certainly looks official, what with the “official” label.
But then there’s the thumbnail rendering that comes up when someone texts you the link to the REAL guide DeMaio puts out.
And that definitely looks like it’s from the Central Committee. What with the “Central Committee” tag on it, for example. But the Central Committee, again, did not take a position on these two key races.
Issa sent a response. “Carl DeMaio is actively lying to Republican voters. He has abandoned any commitment to the truth in his attacks against fellow Republicans.”
He’s touting the San Diego Republican Leadership Endorsement Guide at sdrepublicans.com, which is also not affiliated at all officially with the Republican Party. That guide supports Franklin and Musgrove.
“Carl is wasting valuable time, energy, and resources on destructive intraparty fights that only hurt our movement,” Issa wrote. The party of course could settle a lot of this but the local GOP has dissolved away into a forum simply for infighting leaving a vacuum this kind of fight.