OC Blog

Rudat Watch: If At First You Don't Succeed...

The City of Orange held its annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the Orange circle this weekend. I haven't been in a couple of years, but it's a festive, well-attended event.

As readers may or may not know, unsuccessful Orange Council candidate Carol Rudat has never stopped running for council since her failed and controversial bid 2006 bid. And she was there at the Christmas tree lighting, handing out candy canes to attendees with her realtor business card (with 949 area code) attached.

Looks Like Dave Rudat's Set To Become Los Alamitos' Interim City Manager

I saw this item on the agenda of yesterday's Los Alamitos City Council meeting:

13. Closed Session

B. Public Employee Appointment

Title:    Interim and Permanent City Manager
Authority:    Government Code Section 54957

I took that to mean the council was discussing a final offer to Dave Rudat to become city manager. Rudat was most recently Interim Deputy CEO for the County of Orange, and was the long-time Orange City Manager before the council fired him in 2005. His wife Carol ran a memorable campaign for Orange Council last year.

Dave Rudat Set To Be The New Los Alamitos City Manager

I heard earlier this afternoon that Los Alamitos had settled on hiring former Orange City Manager Dave Rudat and was negotiating the terms with him.

As readers recall, Dave Rudat is the husband of Carol Rudat and her unsettlingly ferocious ambition to be an Orange Councilwoman. The 25-year Newport Beach residents they registered to vote at a one-bedroom bungalow in Old Towne Orange (their son Brandon is listed as the owner) in which they didn't live, and Carol's carpet-bagging almost led to Judge James Gray ending her candidacy. You can read the whole weird saga in our vast Carol Rudat archive.

Orange Council Mailbox: Carol Rudat Back On The Campaign Trail

I didn't think we'd have to start the Orange Council Mailbox feature again so soon.

The general expectation has been Carol Rudat will run again for Orange City Council in 2008. Readers will recall Rudat shattered city campaign records by spending more than $200,000 on a council race crashed and burned due to the fact she didn't live in Orange. Even before her election day loss, she was overheard at the Diederich's on the Orange Circle plotting her revenge campaign in 2008.

Carol Rudat has been making the rounds of events, in addition to delivering some (from what I'm told) blistering public comments at a recent Orange City Council meeting.

A friend of mine received this mailer from Carol Rudat a week or two ago:

Orange Council Mailbox: Final Bilodeau & Rudat Mailers

What I anticipate will be the final mailers for Ornage City Council candidates Denis Bilodeau and Carol Rudat arrived at Casa de Jubal today. As is customary, they are positive pieces.

Here's the pro-Bilodeau piece from the Republican Party of Orange County (I think this is the third mailer the OC GOP has done for Denis):

And here's the other from the Carol Rudat campaign:

Orange Council Mailbox: Secretary of State Chief Fraud Investigator Flat Wrong On Rudat Case

At the beginning of last week, I received two negative mailers against Denis Bilodeau from Carol Rudat, but received nothing from her campaign after that. I'm a permanent absentee voter, so perhaps her campaign mailed only to Election Day voters after that point.

Yesterday, I received this strange mailer from the Rudat campaign:

Not surprisingly, this mail piece is deceiving. Judge Gray didn't rule that Carol Rudat "lives in Orange." What he said on October 5 was this:

"The two issues are whether or not she's an elector, that is 18 years of age or older and a resident 15 days before the election. That is still premature, although the evidence shows that she is a resident, at least as of this time, for more than 15 days before. So that has been satisfied."

Not quite the same as saying, "Carol Rudat lives in Orange."

What I found more surprising was the letter to the OC Registrar of Voters from one Mark Loren, the chief investigator of the Secretary of State's Election Fraud Investigation Unit. In the letter, Loren states:

"In following the suit in the media, I note that on 10/05/06, Judge James gray ruled that the evidence submitted by Rudat's attorneys proved she lived in Orange before registering in April 2006 was sufficient to prove her residency."

Mr. Loren is just flat-out wrong. In fact, the opposite is true: Gray pointedly refused to make any ruling on whether she lived in Orange prior to mid-August:

"This court is not addressing the issue of the 1st of April but only if she was in effect appropriately registered as a voter as of the time she took out her papers. And the court makes no comment whatsoever with regard to any time prior thereto."

I find it disconcerting that the Secretary of State's Chief Investigator declines to investigate based on "following the suit in the media" -- especially since I haven't run across any media story reporting what Loren claims in his letter -- a claim that is demonstrably wrong.

It's also disconcerting that the Secretary of State's chief election fraud investigator failed go beyond media reports in order to ascertain the facts of the case for himself by (here's the transcript of what Judge Gray actually ruled if Mr. Loren is curious).

This goes beyond the Carol Rudat case. If this is indicative of the level of diligence and scrutiny applied by the Secretary of State's office to complaints of election fraud, it is far less than reassuring.

Time To Abolish Contribution Limits

Whether she wins or loses, Carol Rudat's candidacy serves at least one useful purpose: illustrating the perversity and perniciousness of campaign contribution limits.

The standard "reformer" argument is that contribution limits somehow limit to influence of special interests on elected officials. I think only the most hard-core devotee of this 1970s experiment still clings to that illusion.

As long as our government is pervasive and powerful, "special interests" will seek to influence its decisions. No constitutional campaign finance reform can be devised that will prevent that from happening.

The only real effect of contribution limits is to magnify the already big advantage enjoyed by incumbents and self-funding candidates.

Carol Rudat Watch: Rules, Shmules

If you live or work in the beautiful City of Orange, you'll may noticed these new campaign sings that began appearing last week:

These were the work of the Carol Rudat campaign, although you wouldn't know it by the signs, since they omit anything identifying who paid for them -- a violation of campaign law. Not that following campaign law is a major priority for Carol "The ends justifies the means" Rudat.

Carol Rudat's disregard for campaign finance law is ironic given that in the Non-Partisan Candidate Evaluation Council slate I received today, Carol Rudat promises she "will vote for tougher campaign finance laws."

That's not the only promise Rudat has thrown into the shredder.

On August 15, Carol Rudat signed the "Code of Fair Campaign Practices" pledge. Rudat promised, among other things, that she "shall not use or permit the use of character defamation, whispering campaigns, libel, slander, or scurrilous attacks on any candidate or his or her personal or family life."

In fact, you can see Rudat's husband Dave -- the interim Orange County Deputy CEO now on leave to help his wife's carpetbagger campaign --putting up one of the above-mentioned illegal, pledge-breaking signs.

There's a higher resolution version here.

Since Dave is putting up an illegal campaign sign, one has to wonder if he asked the property owner's permission to put up the sign.

Orange Council Mailbox: Carol Rudat Is Orange's Cassie DeYoung

Last Wednesday, Carol Rudat loaned her council campaign $35,000. The next day, she loaned it another $35,000. That brings her to $156,000 thus far in her carpetbagging campaign for Orange City Council -- and I believe making Rudat's the most expensive council campaign in Orange history. She's Orange's version of Cassie DeYoung -- in both her willingess to break the bank, as well as the truth, in the service of personal ambition.

Today, I received this mailer from the Carol Rudat campaign:

Carol's husband Dave was Orange City manager for 10 years, and the Orange Fire Chief before that. I've no doubt he tapped that relationship to cop these two endorsement for the mailer. I'm so heartened that Andy Romero and Merrill Duncan would cheapen their status and prestige as retired police chiefs by endorsing a person who's entire campaign has been about getting away with breaking the law.

Carol Rudat Watch: Walking Mad

One of my sources told me Carol Rudat was precinct walking late this afternoon in the neighborhoods around the Diocese of Orange headquarters at Marywood. She's obviously one angry person. On hand, she was bad mouthing former Sen. John R. Lewis over the two decade old Reagan signature episode (John is Rudat opponent Denis Bilodeau's consultant). Rudat was also putting down mayoral candidate Mike Alvarez, one of who's volunteer meetings she attended in the spring.

In her home-stretch quest for votes, Rudat even told one voter this afternoon that she might just appoint that voter to a city commission if elected.

Whatever it takes to win appears to be the Carol Rudat motto.

Orange Council Mailbox: Rudat Fires Back At Bilodeau

Last week, Denis Bilodeau mailed out a pretty devastating mailer against Carol Rudat making it crystal clear she is a carpetbagger who lied in her candidate statement about where she's been living.

This weekend, Rudat fired back with this hit on Denis:

I asked Denis what the deal with these expenses is. According to him, the cable reimbursement was a cost savings experiment by the Orange County Water District to cut out the cost of sending materials to OCWD trustees via courier, and e-mail them to trustees instead. Some older trustees aren't wired, so to speak, and so all trustees were hooked up to the Internet to make it a general policy covering all of them.  However, since some of the older trustees aren't exactly e-mail savvy, the experiment was abandoned after a couple of months.

As for the Washington, D.C. trip, Denis was testifying before Congress and he paid his own air fare. At the Yosemite event, according to Denis, he was the invited speaker.

Even Carol Rudat's "Orange Supporters Live In Newport Beach

This mailer from Carol Rudat arrived at Casa de Jubal on Saturday:

I'm waiting for Carol Rudat to send out a mailer with her grandfather's baptismal photograph.

There's a real "thou doth protest too much" theme to Carol Rudat's campaign: "I am to from Orange. I I am, I am, I am!"

Rudat's trying to compensate for the fact that she hasn't lived in Orange for a quarter-century (and has only lived here part-time since August) by printing her parent's wedding picture accompanied by gauzy tributes to the "values that guide me" -- which only makes her look even more phony and hypocritical in light of her blatant carpetbagging and lying about her "residency."

Even the back of the mailer where she lists "City of Orange Families Endorse Carol Rudat" is a fraud: half of the people on the list don't even live in the city.

But given Carol Rudat's elastic definition of what constitutes being an Orange resident, should we really be surprised by this additional deception?

District Attorney Investigating Carol Rudat

I've been hearing for some time that District Attorney investigators are investigating the whether Carol Rudat fraudulently registered to vote in Orange -- which would also make her candidacy fraudulent. Carol Rudat's temporary attorney at the October 2 hearing stated as much.

And apparently it is true. And they are closing in on her.

More to come...

Orange Council Mailbox: Bilodeau Smacks Rudat Over Lawsuits

Denis Bilodeau put a torpedo in the water today, aimed directly at carpetbagger Carol Rudat and smacking her on her habit of suing and being sued (see images below).

Carol Rudat has been involved in 25 lawsuits since 1995. That takes some doing. You can see for yourself here.

Carol Rudat Watch: Residency, Shmesidency

Orange Park Acres (where I grew up) had an Orange council candidate forum last night at Rancho Santiago College. An attendee wrote down carpetbagger Carol Rudat's answers to some key questions (which I confirmed with another person also in attendance):

Q: "The 1st line in your ballot statement, says you've lived in Orange almost your entire adult life.  Yet, you have been registered to vote in Anaheim and Newport beach for the last 30 years.  Please explain where you live?

Carol Rudat: "Living here, doesn't mean being here.  I may live elsewhere, however, my mother lives in Orange and my husband used to work here in Orange, and to me...thats good enough."

Astounding. Carol Rudat can rationalize anything. Her ballot statement about living in Orange almost her entire adult life is a bald faced lie, and when confronted with it she just waves it off.

Carol Rudat P.O. Box: Rudat Mails Again

Lots o' mail landed at Casa Cunningham today.

Among the pile was the second mail piece from carpetbagger Orange council candidate Carol Rudat today:

I spoke with a friend who attended the Old Towne Preservation Association candidate forum last night. It was apparently a rollicking affair with a robust format. My friend said Carol Rudat devoted her 4 minute opening statement largely to attacking the competence of county government (an odd tack considering her husband is the Interim CEO of the county) and railing at how bad things are in the City of Orange (equally odd considering her husband was Orange City Manager for 10 years, until May 0f 2005).

Rudat did propose her own policy initiative last night: if elected, she'll work to create a city department to deal with the homeless problem in Orange -- another odd tack since homelessness isn't a problem in Orange.

But then again, why should I expect an out-of-towner to know that?

Carol Rudat Hearing Post-Mortem

Carol Rudat had her day in court last week, and I thought a post-mortem is in order. Rather than try to provide a lengthy blow-by-blow account (Mrs. Rudat was on the stand for nearly on hour), I'll post the transcript later this week. In the meantime, I'll blog my analysis of why I think Judge James Gray ruled as he did.

Watching Carol Rudat testify was like watching someone try not to commit perjury. As Judge Gray put it, her testimony was "evasive and cloudy, and intentionally so."

For example, during his cross-examination attorney Phil Greer asked Rudat several times if she lived at the Center Street bungalow on April 1, 2006 (the day she registered to vote in Orange). Rudat refused to give a simple, "Yes." Instead, she'd respond, "That was my intention" or "As I understand it."

"Evasive, Cloudy" Carol Rudat's Votes Will be Counted

A little while ago, Judge James Gray undid his tentative ruling not to count any votes Orange Council candidate will receive, leaving it to the voters of Orange to send this carpetbagger packing.

I have to go to the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Commission meeting, so I won't be able to write comprehensive post until later.

Justice Tentatively Served In Carol Rudat Case

I went to this morning's hearing on whether carpetbagging Orange Council candidate Carol Rudat would be removed from the ballot. It was an all attorneys show, as neither Carol nor Dave Rudat were there.

I arrived a few minutes late, as Judge James Gray was wrapping up his explanation as to why he was denying the writ to have Carol Rudat removed from the ballot. Basically, Judge Gray felt it was too late to remove her name from the ballot, because doing so would impact too many other elections and that consideration outweighed others.

Neighbor Signs Statement Attesting Carol Rudat's A Carpetbagger

Here is the supplemental filing by attorney Phil Greer, acting for Orange resident Walter Pfaff, supporting the request to have Orange council candidate Carol Rudat barred from the ballot because she doesn't live in Orange. It was filed this afternoon and includes an statement from the owner of the neighboring property that -- contrary to the Rudats' claim -- no one was living in their Orange bungalow until late July.

Judge James Gray also required Carol Rudat to file a response by 3:30 p.m. today proving she has been domiciled at the Orange bungalow since April -- when she registered to vote there. The hearing is tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.

Carol Rudat Has Two Days To Prove She Lives In Orange

I just came back from the court hearing on Mr. Walter Pfaff's filing (represented by attorney Phil Greer) to have Carol Rudat kicked off the ballot. Judge James Gray presided over the hearing, and after hearing from the various parties, refused to grant the writ of mandate, etc. -- but neither did he deny it.

What Gray did was give Carol Rudat's attorney until 3:30 p.m. tomorrow to submit proof Carol Rudat is domiciled at her Center Street bungalow in Orange. If I understand it correctly, Carol Rudat essentially has until tomorrow afternoon to prove that she has been domiciled in Orange since April.

Gray will then make his decision at a 9:00 a.m. hearing on Thursday, October 5.

Carol Rudat wasn't there, although her husband Dave was. Mrs. Rudat was represented by an attorney named Shore (I believe that is how he spelled it) who said he was not her regular attorney (who was unavailable). Since the lawsuit also named the City of Orange and the County of Orange, City Attorney Dave DeBerry was there, as was a representative of the County Counsel's office who's name I didn't catch.

Mr. Shore spoke first. Rudat's domicile, rather than her residency, is what's at issue. The difference, as I understand it, is that domicile is where you plan to stay, whereas residency is where you happen to live at the moment. Shore contended the complainants were conflating "domicile" and "residency" and accused them of trying to read Rudat's mind regarding where she wanted to make her domicile.

Apparently, a utility bill was submitted in an attempt to prove the Rudat's are domiciled in Orange, but the bill is addressed to a P.O. Box in Orange -- which proves nothing.

Shore also said that complaints had been filed with the Secretary of State and the District Attorney, and that those -- not civil court -- were the proper venues because if the allegations were true they would be a criminal matter.

Shore further contended this complaint mixed a campaign with a legal matter -- which he believed dangerous -- and said the court shouldn't intervene.

Orange City Attorney Dave DeBerry asked that orange be dismissed from the suit since they don't determine residency or print ballots. Phil Greer agreed to that, saying the city was named in the interest of caution.

The County of Orange objected to the City of Orange's request, but Judge Gray dismissed the city from the suit anyway.

Next it was the county counsel's turn. She wanted the writ denied. Her argument was basically that the election train has left the station and it's too late to do anything about it. She told Judge Gray the election was only 36 days away, the sample ballots had been printed last night and would soon be going out, etc.

Judge Gray for his part expressed his reluctance for the court to get involved in an election at this stage of the game. Which is why he said he was setting the hearing for Thursday morning. Mr. Shore demurred that since he wasn't the Rudat's regular attorney, but Judge Gray told him sorry, you're it and you need to have a response filed by 3:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Orange Council Mailbox: Rudat In The Mail First

Even as she is being taken to court to have her name stricken from the ballot, carpetbagging Orange council candidate is in the mail with a piece that is a combination of chutzpah, spin and preventive medicine.

You can see the mailer here.

The headline is classic spin:

"Her Roots Are In Orange..."

...even if her residency isn't!

Then there's the picture of her 1971 Villa Park High School student ID on the mailer's cover. Somehow, I don't think the Superior Court will accept that as proof of residency.

And how about the gauzy recounting of the values her father imparted to her?:

...honesty in all dealings, do the right thing when people are not watching...

Such as registering to vote in a house you don't live in so you can run for city council in a city you don't live in.

Finally the preventive medicine:

People ask me "why run for City Council and put yourself up for personal attacks?".

A good question. The mailer omits the answer Carol Rudat gave at the Orange Chamber of Commerce candidate's forum: that she's dreamed of running for Orange City Council ever since she was 12 years old. Instead, it's standard candidate pablum.

To any Orange voter familiar with Carol Rudat carpetbagging, this mail piece will evoke disbelief at her nerve. By getting in the mail first -- and presumably tapping the Rudats' considerable wealth to be in it often -- the Rudat campaign is banking on they can garner enough votes before too many Orange residents become aware of she is a carpetbagger.

I don't underestimate Rudat's candidacy. She has a very good consultant in Scott Taylor, who has built an impressive track record in Orange -- he ran Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn Cavecche and Councilman Jon Dumitru's winning campaigns. In fact, this mailer is thematically and stylistically much like the mail Taylor did for Dumitru two years ago -- heavily evoking the candidate as a deeply enmeshed in the fabric of the community.

Except in Jon Dumitru's case it was true (Jon is endorsing Mayor Mark Murphy and Denis Bilodeau for council).

Lawsuit Filed To Keep Carol Rudat Off The Ballot

A short whole ago, a lawsuit was filed by Orange resident Walter Pfaff to have carpetbagging Orange council candidate Carol Rudat removed from the ballot.

Acting for Pfaff was Phil Greer -- who has rapidly become the attorney-of-choice in OC campaign litigation -- who filed a writ of mandate and a complaint for injunctive and declarative relief. Basically, he's asking the court to keep Carol Rudat's name off the ballot or not count any votes she receives. The writ names Rudat, the City of of Orange and the County of Orange (the latter two because they are in charge of the election).

There will be a hearing tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. at OC Superior Court in Santa Ana, Department C9.

I'll keep you updated as I receive more information.

UPDATE (12:41 p.m.): Martin Wisckol posted this on Total Buzz:

Also, I understand that complaints that she registered to vote in Orange before she moved there have been forwarded to both the Secretary of State and the district attorney.

UPDATE (5:51 p.m.): I called the District Attorney's office earlier to follow up on Martin's post, and asked if anyone had filed a complaint against Carol Rudat. The person I spoke with promised to look into it and find out. I received a call back later this afternoon, and was told they hadn't been able to locate a complaint if indeed one had been filed, but would keep looking into it for me.

Carol Rudat Unplugged

Not too long after Martin Wisckol posted Carol Rudat's e-mail to him on Total Buzz, she got on the horn with him -- apparently upset Martin had posted the e-mail.

Thus, a new post yesterday afternoon from Martin explaining the "on-the-record/off-the-record" ground rules and how he applies them. Martin is an exceedingly fair and honorable journalist, and if a candidate or campaign operative cannot work well with Martin, I doubt they'll be able work with any reporter.

In any case, Martin leaves us hanging as to whether he'll post the content of Carol Rudat's phone -- which he made crystal clear to her was on the record -- except to say:

Part of this explanation is for the benefit of Carol Rudat, since I couldn't make space enough in our phone conversation a few minutes ago to say this. Quickly sizing up the nature of her call, I interrupted her to make sure she understood that the conversation was "on the record." She told me it was not. I told her it was, for the time being. She said it was not and continued (without my agreeing it was "off the record"). At the moment, I don't see any benefit beyond pure entertainment value in repeating anything else she said -- except that I did manage to ask twice if she would talk about the residency issue and that she declined, saying only that she lived in Orange.

Of course, sometimes entertainment value is adequate cause for reporting what I hear....

Declining to talk about the residency issue, eh?  Not that I blame her. Anything she says can and will be used against her on that matter.

Carol Rudat Tries To Change The Subject

Martin Wisckol over at Total Buzz had left messages and an e-mail with Newport Beach resident and Orange City Council candidate Carol Rudat, in hopes of speaking with her about her residency issues. Here's the e-mail reply he received from Rudat:

Martin, this is a private e-mail address and not for use other than my business.

I understand you already wrote your article, is that correct? Today is the 29th. I was out working all day yesterday and the day before until late and have not been able to check e-mails until now. I picked up your phone message yesterday, all after your 27th KOCE TV event.

It is unfortunate my opposition, the gentlemen, have nothing good to say about themselves and can only promote negativism against their strongest contender, me. Is the reporting staff doing back ground checks on the public information available for those who work in public office areas whether volunteer or paid? Don't you think this should be something investigated?

A specific campaign manager who was indicted for mail fraud but did not go to prison due to a small technicality (but his partner did, the event occurred in the mid 1980's election). The mailer falsely represented President Regan as sending the letter and had the White House as the return address, this is how they were caught, returned mail. These type of events/issues clearly shows the ethics of the campaign manager. I heard a saying once, 'people hire those who have the same ethics as themselves'. This was a statement made when discussing attorneys who are retained by clients. This campaign manager also managed the campaign for two current county supervisors.

My and a few others Campaign signs are constantly taken down but not any for one of these gentlemen, (only one has signs out and the other gentlemen does not as of yet). They even called the city and presented themselves as property owners complaining about signs being on their property and wanted them removed. The city went onto private property and removed the signs. Most if not all the business property owners have property managers and most owners do not live in this state let alone the county of orange. Do you think the business owners would have made the call if they have professional property managers?

Continued games of the 'boys club'.

You can call me but you cannot e-mail me. Again, this is a private e-mail address.
Carol Rudat

Mrs. Rudat hit all the golden oldies, huh? Even the "it's because I'm a woman!" riff.

You can read Martin's entire post here.