The Walk Piece

I was given this walk piece the other day, and WOW!  It’s quite the gift.  The follow post is going to be a bit long, to cover all of the necessary topics, but it’s well worth the read.  This guy should NEVER be elected to anything if he can make this many mistakes on a simple walk piece.  Without further ado, here are both sides of the item in question:

There are 3 things that strike me as the most important problems, and they will be addressed in order of seriousness.  The first is a dumb mistake, the second is an even bigger dumb mistake, and the third involves possible illegal use of campaign funds.

Election Day

You will notice that on the back side of this walk piece, Dave writes “ELECTION DAY NOVEMBER 9, 2010.”  This is interesting, because election day is November 2, 2010.  Dave doesn’t even know what day election day is?  That’s incredible.  Feel free to vote for David Larson on November 9th, just as long as you vote for anyone else on November 2nd.

The Democratic Party

As I’ve discussed in length in previous posts, Dave seems to have a party problem.  He claims to be a Democrat, and says he has been for some time now.  Except there’s the proof that he wasn’t until just a few months ago; and there’s all the things that don’t add up about his story.  But this walk piece has something that further muddies the waters.  On the front of Dave’s walk piece, he writes that if elected he will, “help register more Democrat voters.”  Now at first glance your average person will see nothing wrong with this.  But for Democratic activists, the wording of that sentence is a huge red flag.  This man is no real Democrat.

The issue at hand is the use of the word “Democrat” as an adjective.  Democrat is a noun, and only a noun.  The adjective is always “Democratic.”  The use of the word “Democrat” is a slur used by opponents of the Democratic party.  Here’s a 2006 New Yorker article about the issue, and also the Wikipedia page about it.  To be sure, many voters won’t see the problem here.  But this is a sore subject for many Democratic Activists (see what I did there?  DEMOCRATIC not Democrat).

The use of Democrat as an adjective is intended to belittle the party and it’s members.  Turn on your TV and watch Fox News or conservative commentators and guests on CNN or MSNBC.  Every one of them will refer to the Democratic Party as the Democrat Party.  No real Democrat would use this terminology.  And therein lies the problem.  This is just one more piece of evidence that Dave is not what he claims to be.  We have a real problem here.

Proper Use of Political Funds

The third and final subject of this post is perhaps the most worrisome.  On this walk piece Dave has combined his City Council Campaign and his campaign for the Placer County Democratic Party Central Committee.  The walk piece does not state how it was paid for, but that’s an important thing to find out.  If Dave paid for this walk piece solely out of his City Council campaign funds, then there might be an FPPC violation.

According to the California Fair Political Practices Commission, a candidate must established a separate controlled account for each office that he runs for:

§ 18521.  Establishment of Separate Controlled Committee for Each Campaign

Account.

(a) A candidate who is required to file a statement of organization for a controlled

committee pursuant to Government Code section 84101 shall establish a separate controlled

committee and campaign bank account for each specific office identified in statements filed by

the candidate pursuant to Government Code section 85200 and 2 Cal. Code Regs. section 18520.  link

Furthermore, it would seem to be a violation of campaign finance law to pay for one campaign from the account of another.  Paying for this walk piece solely from funds for his city council race would qualify as such an action.  For more information please visit the FPPC website.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on campaign finance law; however, I can read and interpret it just as anyone else can, and I have some experience regarding the subject.  There are a few pieces of missing information to this story, and the outcome is clearly dependent on that information: How did Dave pay for this walk piece?  And, did he have a separate account for his Central Committee campaign?  If anyone who is an expert on campaign finance law would like to address this issue, please do.   Comment here or email me at notodavidlarson@gmail.com.

Dave Responds Regarding His Party Registration

Dave has gratiously visited my little blog here and has attempted to clarify the questions about his voter registration.  This is his comment from my previous post:

To Whom It May Concern,

Your comments were brought to my attention. In the future, please feel welcome to contact me with your questions at info@larson4roseville.com.

For the record, I am a registered Democrat and have been for several years. I did not realize my status was DTS untill I decided to run for Roseville City Council. Once I discovered this error, I corrected my voter registration to Democrat. This upcoming Roseville election is nonpartisan and at large.

Best Wishes,

David Larson

My initial response was as follows:

Hi Dave! Thanks for responding. Anyone with access to a voter file can look up registrations and registration dates. How could you “accidently” be registered as a DTS? At some point you would have marked the “Democrat” box on a voter registration form to change you status. Clearly this didn’t happen until very recently (a few months ago). I’m sorry but anyone who knows about this sort of thing will see right through your excuse there. It’s just plain not true.

However after further reflection I feel the need to clarify some things.

First, I find it hard to believe that someone could accidently be registered with the wrong party.  If Dave was originally a Decline to State voter, and decided to re-register as a Democrat, he would need to fill out a registration form, select the “Democrat” box and then mail in the form.  At this point you would think that someone interested in changing their party would then check to make sure the change had been made properly.  But perhaps Dave did not do this.

There is, however, another problem.  If, as Dave claims, he thought he was a registered Democrat “for several years” he still would have had ample opportunity to realize his error long before this year.  In California when a Democratic or Republican voter goes to vote during a primary election they are given the primary ballot for the party with which they are registered.  When a Decline to State voter shows up to to vote in a primary election, that voter will be asked by the poll workers which party’s primary they would like to participate in.  When Dave went to vote during any primary election over the last “several years” he should have realized his error.

Also I’d like to point out what he said above in his comment: “For the record, I am a registered Democrat and have been for several years. I did not realize my status was DTS untill I decided to run for Roseville City Council.” That cannot be true. If he was a registered DTS, he was a registered DTS.  Period.  He was NOT “a registered Democrat… for several years.” That is demonstrably false.

Look, I’m perfectly willing to accept a reasonable explanation here.  But Dave has not yet provided one.  His previous statements and his comment on my previous post just do not add up.  All I’m asking for here is a little honesty.  It’s the least we can expect from someone who wants our votes.

Dave’s Family

So, the other day I was thinking to myself, and I said, “Self, is David Larson married?  Does he have kids?  What’s his deal?”  Because I realized that while I know all about Dave’s political life, I know virtually nothing about his personal life.  And really, since this man is asking us to vote for him, don’t we have a right to know a little about him?

So I headed on over to his campaign website to read up on him, because it wouldn’t be fair of me to criticize without knowing the facts right?  (Don’t ever say I didn’t give the guy a fair shot!)  After reading his entire website (took about 3 minutes… there isn’t much going on there), I have come to one conclusion: Dave is married.  To whom?  No idea.  Kids?  No idea.  What’s going on here?

First we had the whole political party mess, and now we have Dave being very quiet about his “spouse” and family.  What’s next?  Can we get some straight talk from this guy about any issue at all?

Will the Real David Larson Please Stand Up?

David Larson is an interesting character.  Until a few months ago, Dave was registered as a Decline to State voter.  Then he decided to run for Roseville City Council and suddenly he’s a Democrat!  What could have brought on this sudden change?  Perhaps Dave thought he could garner all the Democratic support by switching parties and claiming to be the only viable Democrat in the race?  Seems like a decent plan, if you excuse the callous political nature of the move.

But then there’s Dave’s Facebook fan page.  On his fan page there is no mention of his party affiliation.  So while Dave is making the rounds to all the local Democratic clubs, he’s apparently trying to hide his party affiliation from the average voter.  Everyone knows Roseville is majority Republican, so perhaps he’s trying to tell the Democrats one thing and the Republican voters in Roseville something else?

Or maybe Dave’s original “Decline to State” status is how he really feels?  It’s all very confusing, but if Dave can just switch parties for his own political benefit, should we be voting for such a man?

All in all it seems pretty fishy.  I prefer a candidate with a strong moral fiber.  Someone who knows what he or she believes, and stands up for it.  Perhaps Dave can speak up and shed some light on his decision to switch parties just as he began his candidacy.  Dave, are you a Democrat?  If so, why were you registered as a Decline to State up until this year?  Or, if you are not a real Democrat, why are you claiming to be one?  For all we know, Dave’s a Republican posing as a Decline to State posing as a Democrat!

Will the real David Larson please stand up?