Updated 10/5/2010, 8:30 p.m., with details of “survey” questions, first 5 paragraphs written 10/4/2010, Los Alamitos) I got the call while working at home this morning.
I didn’t answer the first two times, but finally my curiousity drove me to pick up.
I already knew it was a “push poll,” paid for by Troy Edgar, Dean Zarkos, or the not-so-Los Alamitos Taxpayer’s Association. Edgar spent over $16,000 on push polling two years ago. . . and he wasn’t even running for office then! LATA spent $20,000, most of it apparently from George Briggeman.
The call confirmed my worst suspicions.
The push poll is a form of telemarketing-based propaganda and rumor mongering, masquerading as a poll. Push polls may rely on innuendo or knowledge gleaned from opposition research on an opponent. –Wikipedia (click here for full article).
With “permanent vote by mail” ballots being mailed this week, it appears that the push pollers are targeting those voters at this point.
I keyboarded notes as I was “polled,” and here are some of the surprising and disgusting lowlights:
“Hi, this is Jeff, calling from Central Research in Manhattan. We are conducting a short, scientific survey in Los Alamitos. And I’d like to get your opinions.” It will take about 8 minutes. Are you David Emerson?”
“Yes.”
“Are you definitely going to vote in the November election?”
“I expect to vote.”
“Thinking about the direction Los Alamitos is headed today, is it going in the right direction or has it seriously gotten on the wrong track?”
“Some of both.”
I was then asked to rate a list of “people and organizations active in politics in Los Alamitos,” including Dean Grose, George Briggeman, Gerri Graham-Mejia, The Orange County Firefighters Association, The Los Alamitos Taxpayers Association, Zarkos, Edgar, and Assemblyman Jim Silva.
After asking the most important issues in the Council race, and who I would vote for if the election were held today, we got to the meat of the survey:
“I’m going to read you a series of statements about various Los Alamitos City Council candidates. Please tell me if each statement makes you more likely or less likely to vote for that candidate:
“Brad Sheridan sued the City of Torrance for 2.8 million dollars.”
(me:) “Is that true?”
“I don’t know. These are statements you might hear.”
“Then I don’t know how I’d respond.” After some pushing for a more or less likely to vote for him, we finally moved on.
“Since being appointed, Dean Zarkos has kept his promise to never raise taxes.”
(For brevity’s sake, we’ll skip my answers and only give the “statements” I was “polled” on.)
Gerri Graham-Mejia opposed cutting the salary given to City Council members.
Troy Edgar is a decorated veteran having served as a submariner in the U.S.Navy.
Leadership from Troy Edgar and Dean Zarkos have helped Los Alamitos go from a $600,000 deficit to a $200,000 surplus.
Gerri Graham-Mejia tried to get the city to reimburse her for watching pay per view movies in her hotel room, only to be told by the city that wasn’t allowed.
Troy Edgar and Dean Zarkos voluntarily cut the pay they receive as City Council Members.
Gerri Graham Mejia’s current occupation is as a manicurists at a local salon.
“Now that you’ve been given more information, if the election were held today, who would you vote for?”
I think the way that last question was phrased gives away the intent–even though the questioner “didn’t know” if the information was true or not, at the end I was told that I had just been “given more information.”
Other callers were given other sample statements. My guess is the statements chosen were based on who they said they’d vote for initially.
But wait, there’s more. . . .
I’m not talking about free steak knives. . . more like knives to the heart of decency, fairness, our little town, and, yes, truth, trust, and transparency.
Some of the worst lies were aimed at Brad Sheridan, the Traffic Commission Chairman and now Council Candidate Zarkos and Edgar fired for standing up for the people’s six and a half million dollars in trash fee overcharges going to Consolidated Disposal. I wasn’t read them, but others were, including, amazingly, Brad Sheridan himself:
One case study: The lies
“Did you know Brad Sheridan was removed from the Traffic Commission for ethical violations, which isn’t surprising considering that he authored a paper in law school which advocated for the lowering of ethical standards for California lawyers.”
The truth:
- Brad was removed from the Traffic Commission for opposing, as a private citizen, the Council awarding the solid waste disposal contract to the second highest bidder, costing ratepayers $6,500,000 over the life of the 10 year contract, according to the city’s consultants best estimates. There were no ethical violations whatsoever–a complete fabrication that Dean Zarkos tried to throw at Sheridan but was restrained by the City Attorney that Zarkos and Edgar picked to replace the one who wrote the law requiring them to go to bid!
- Sheridan authored no such paper, however, in 1992, he checked citations for Jeremy Miller, a Professor of Sheridan’s on an article Miller wrote comparing federal and state standards for lawyers.
That shows the depths those currently in control of our City Council will go to in order to maintain control of our city.
Pretty much the depths they went to in 2008 to retake control of our City Council.
The trash contract’s already done. . . wonder why. My guess is locking in the 25 year Tenet Hospital expansion has something to do with it.
Which is why you need to be at the only public hearing on that expansion when the Planning Commission meets this coming Monday night, 10/11/10, Council Chambers, 7 p.m.
It’s also why the people need to support the three honest citizens who have been willing to stand up against the biggest, meanest, dirtiest political machine in our town’s 50 years!
Call 562-546-2052 or e-mail losal2010@gmail.com and offer to walk, donate, have a sign in your yard, or help wherever needed. Warren, Gerri, & Brad have no big money backers, so it’s the people vs. the special interests, & it appears that the special interests owe a $6,500,000 favor to the Current majority which include Edgar and Zarkos and formerly included Grose.
Who’s paying for these “surveys?”
Last night at Council one disgusted resident asked who had paid for the survey. He felt the caller had implied that it was the city, which City Manager Jeff Steward immediately denied.
In the 2008 election, the Los Alamitos Taxpayers Association reported on their 460 (income & expense form) spending $20,000 for “surveys,” and Troy Edgar, who wasn’t even running for office, reported an additional $16,650 for “surveys,” even though he wasn’t even running!
One things for sure, in all the various versions of the survey I’ve read or heard so far, only good things were said about Troy and Zarkos, and only bad things about Gerri and Brad. That’s a pretty good clue as to whose paying for this.
The sort of smears that were given, especially Gerri trying to sneak pay-per-view movies past the city (shade’s of Cat’s toothbrush!) sound like the sort of thing LATA/CPLA paid their attorney to dredge up. My guess it’s the LATA, but maybe they split it up between them again, although both Edgar and Zarkos denied knowing anything about the survey today, according to OC180News.com’s article, “Big City Dirty Tricks Come to Los Alamitos City Council Race–Voters Beware.”
In any case, I’d be willing to bet my tickets to see the Angels in the World Series this year that . . . oops. . . well, I’d be willing to bet my tickets to see the Dodgers in the post season. . . well, anyway, I’d say it’s a safe bet that a lot of the money to for this “polling” came from George Briggeman and maybe Consolidated Disposal or Republic Disposal.
Shoot, maybe even “Farquhar Partners, LLC” (Briggeman’s “business account” that he apparently hoped would hide the source of funds in 2008, click here for “Gotcha” to read that sad story).
Click here for the OC Register’s article on the “polling” and J.M. Ivler’s Council comment.
My conclusion
Remember, only you can stop this poisoning of our small town:
“We Get Better with Warren, Gerri, & Brad, but
Dean Zarkos, Dean Grose, & Troy Edgar = DDT that can poison our small town!” Indeed, they already have, between their “surveys” in 2008 & now and Dean’s e-mails & non-response.
But that’s just my opinion, & I have a limited perspective.
Related posts:
Here is the latest info from the National “Do Not Call Registry”:
https://www.donotcall.gov/
The law has been updated so that there is no expiration date for registering your phone number.
You need to call 1(888)382-1222 from the telephone or cell phone that you want to register. It will prompt you through the process. If you later receive one of these annoying calls you can file a complaint on the homepage listed above and have the offenders stopped/fined.
The unfortunate thing about this registry is that it does not block political groups, charities and telephone surveyors. I would suggest that if these groups call (such as Troy’s, Dean’s and the trash man’s) I would tell them that you are listed on the DNCR and hang up. If they call back, put them on notice that they are harrasing/annoying you and that you are going to file a complaint with the telephone company.
It is sad and low but typical that Troy, Dean Z. and the trash man think that this is an acceptable way to run for office. They say that they run with truth, trust and transperancy but this proves that integrity is not a part of their vocabulary. For those who are awake for this council election, their behavior will do nothing but help their opponents.
JHubert Thank you for getting this information. I was wondering how to handle this since I have blocked calling and do not answer the phone unless I recognize the caller. Alot of hang ups lately.
The meeting last night was a wakeup call for those awake on the importance of this election and the unethical behavior of Troy, Zarkos and the trashman.
I have copies of the 460′s. The money was spent by Edgar for the push polls in ’08. This was the first time in Los Al history that a push poll was used and it was a filthy/dirty introduction to Los Al Residents. I was one of the recipients of the poll and it totally smeared Driscoll and Parker.
This year, the poll (Smear) shows up again. Only this time our citizens are better educated and prepared. The poll (Smear) is directed at Mejia and Sheridan while Zarkos and Edgar come out smelling like a rose. When confronted with this, Zarkos and Edgar un-equivocally deny that they had any knowledge or dealings with this poll. Watch the tape. You will see both of them tell a lie to all of us. Who else would have ordered the poll? Who else would have benefitted? Chuck, Lisa and the others wouldn’t have paid for this, they would never shell out the money. The Trash Man and his many hidden LLC’s are very capable of covering the tab and hiding it. Troy would have known about this. He and the trashman are close and the trashman would have benefitted too. If Troy and Dean really wants to prove they weren’t a part of it, I challenge them to find the people who are responsible for it. Share your findings please.
I’m pretty sure it’s LATA/Sylvia again, most likely using Briggeman’s money again. Remember, in 2008 not only did Troy spend $16,750 on “polling,” but LATA spent $20,000, and most of it came, directly or indirectly, from Briggeman.
J Huubert,
Interestingly enough, the polling started the day after the first reporting for the current election closed. In other words, the expenditure can be hidden until just before the election, long after most “permanent absentee/vote-by-mail ballots have been cast.
Troy and Zarkos could come out and publicly condemn the push polling. They could ask their crony Chuck Sylvia if LATA is paying for it and disclose the truth, much as you suggested. They could also ask Briggeman, although I imagine he’s keeping it at arm’s distance.
Shoot, Dean Grose and Briggeman are good buddies. They drove around together harassing and photographing volunteers who were passing out flyers during the last election. And he and Sylvia/LATA worked hand in hand with Troy to oust Parker and Driscol. If Dean Grose cared about decency, he could find out who’s behind this. Even ask him to stop. And not to use the polling to put out flyers repeating the smears.
But I asked Dean Grose to do that 2 years ago, and he refused.
And, if Dean had any decency, he wouldn’t have forwarded an e-mail that’s only funny if a African American is in the White House. And he wouldn’t have tried to make another joke when a local African American businesswoman and community volunteer chided him for it.
And he wouldn’t be running for Council right now.
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