Letter to the Editor: Questionable and Scary Election Practices

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Recently, one candidate running for re-election (seeking the District 5 City Council seat) was caught using the City of Newport Beach’s official logo in his online campaign materials. Only after this inappropriate conduct was brought to the attention of the Newport Beach City attorney did this rogue candidate remove the official City logo from his online campaign materials.

Ironically the candidate had the following quote appear over the City’s proprietary seal: “solid character will reflect in consistent behavior, while poor character will seek to hide behind deceptive words and actions.”

This same candidate was spotted by Island residents pulling up and removing an opponent’s political sign near the Balboa Island Bridge. This misconduct is usually outsourced to high-school students who are paid by the hour and frankly don’t know any better. Truth be told, it’s actually a serious offense to remove political signs — unless of course you are hired by the City to clean up the many signs found in medians and other green-spaces around our villages during election season.

And most recently (despite prior warnings from the FPPC and the City) admonishing this candidate not to use City resources when campaigning for office, a recent public records request shows this candidate seeking to engage in the “dark-arts” practice known as “ballot harvesting.”

For those not familiar with the topic, while it may be October (Harvest Season), harvesting ballots is considered a big “no no,” especially by candidates running for election.

This practice is generally frowned upon and viewed as highly questionable because it involves outreach to voters who for whatever reason are unable to get to the polls, are undecided about how they intend to vote, or simply have not made it to the ballot box yet. Offering voters assistance in completing and returning their ballots carries with it a host of obvious risks and concerns which only further erodes our faith in the democratic process.

Again, this would normally be something farmed out to the young and uninformed. But come to find a sitting council member seeking re-election, attempting to engage in this practice, using his official City e-mail address no less, well that is just down-right scary, even during Halloween!!

For those unsure what to make of these rather questionable practices during election season, I will say: If you can’t trust a sitting council member to play by the rules, then he really should not be re-elected on that basis alone; never mind his poor record on airport noise (general aviation expansion), short-term lodging, boardwalk closures, the homeless, dueling merchant associations in his backyard, and a cozy relationship with developers whose sights seem set on redeveloping Marine Ave. and building McMansions in our quaint villages.

For further information and associated documents of these infractions, go to Press Releases at www.noah2020.com.

That is why I will be voting for Noah this Fall.

Jim Moloney / Balboa Island

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1 COMMENT

  1. There is always two sides to a story. As one of the social media managers, I am responding out of respect for Jeff who he had no knowledge of this incident.

    While attending a meeting and I innocently took a faded image of Jeff’s binder (with the City logo) on the table and layered a quote over to share on social media. It was a quote as stated in the letter to address the scary turn that these City Council campaigns have taken. Jeff has consistently asked our team to focus on sharing unpaid truthful testimonials from residents and highlight his accomplishments.

    It was innocently posted with no scary campaign tactics in mind as this letter suggests. In fact, Jeff was unaware of the post until he received a call notifying him of the campaign violation. Of course, he immediately asked to have it taking down. I take full responsibility.

    This whole incident is obviously blown out of proportion and just is another desperate attempt from Noah Blom’s supporters to tarnish Jeff’s reputation along with the countless lies on campaigns flyers and websites developed specifically to attack Jeff’s efforts. It amazes me how the opponents and Team Newport spend so much money trying to destroy Jeff’s reputation under different aliases and Pacs, using deceiving tactics and PR to paint a wholesome picture of their candidate. We all know who’s funding their campaign. These out of the town developers and special interest groups are looking forward to winning a seat on the council. To the 1000s of Newport Beach residents and supporters who know Jeff and all that he has done over the 4 years through the Airport committee, their vote for Jeff remains strong.