Hate Breeds Hate

Who Is Randy Voepel? Colorado Suspect’s Grandfather Is MAGA Republican

F is for Failure To Pay Income Tax

Let’s face it, no one likes paying taxes. Especially when our taxes go up and up and we have little to show for it. But it’s the law. You can’t just refuse to pay your taxes.

Well, Randy Voepel seems to think otherwise.

As mayor of Santee, Randy once bragged of the F grade his city received from the American Lung Association, claiming the F somehow stood for Freedom. Yes, you heard me right: in the battle against lung cancer, Voepel has come out on the side of… cancer. Our brave hero can now add the fight FOR lung cancer to his battles against the homeless and against ordinary Chinese citizens.

Well, it turns out Voepel received another F, this time from the IRS. According to documents in the public record, the IRS put a lien on Voepel’s property for an unpaid tax assessment of $2,197.24.

What Is A Tax Lien?

This article explains it pretty well:

“IRS tax liens on homes are generally triggered whenever the IRS perceives it will be difficult to collect the full amount you owe within the statute of limitations for the payment of IRS debt, which is 10 years.”

So the IRS went after Randy’s house because he didn’t pay his taxes.  Now, why the IRS determined it would be “difficult to collect the full amount” is not clear. Tax liens are not common. There must be more to this story.

Why Should You Care?

Look, we’ve all struggled financially at times. But I think we should hold our elected representatives to a higher standard of professional ethics and personal responsibility. We should elect politicians who pay their debts.

If Voepel had the money, he should have paid the IRS. And if he was unable to pay a debt of $2,197.24, what does that say about his ability to keep his own financial house in order, let alone the state of California?

Now to be fair, the mayor may have a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this.  We’d love to give him the opportunity to clarify.

Care to explain, Randy? Or shall we move on to the next document we found? Stay tuned.

 

Never Been Indicted

“So why should you endorse me? So what, I’ve been mayor for fifteen years. Number one, I’m unindicted, okay? I haven’t been indicted in fifteen years. So that’s nice.”

-Randy Voepel

That is nice, Randy. Voepel is also proud to brag of his many endorsements. So let’s take a look at some of Randy’s friends who’ve endorsed him and see if they’ve been as lucky as Randy in escaping indictments.

We’ll start with Randy’s buddy, Matt Clay.  On Voepel’s own website,  Clay had this to say about Randy:

“As Mayor of Santee, Randy has been a consistent and dedicated advocate for public safety. He has made a commitment to ensure public safety is a top priority in the budget. As a result of his efforts, Santee is one of the safest cities in the region. As California continues to navigate numerous public safety issues, we know Randy will be a strong voice for policies that protect the public.”  – Matt Clay

So, who is Matt Clay? Well, funny you should ask. According to a San Diego Union-Tribune article, Matt Clay is the former president of the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association of San Diego County. Why former? According to the article, he “stepped down amid an investigation into his spending of union funds.” Here’s more from the article:

The president, Matt Clay, initially agreed to step down as president as of Oct. 29 and remain on the association board through December. As an audit into association expenses continued, Clay agreed to resign from both positions immediately last month, according to the group’s newsletter.

The association collects $2.2 million in annual revenue, most of it from union dues, and has assets totaling $7 million, according to its publicly available tax filings. Clay reported spending 43 hours a week as union president while receiving about $88,000 a year for his position as deputy sheriff.

A series of documents obtained by U-T Watchdog regarding Clay’s departure say that funds were spent “outside the standing rules,” but do not say what the funds were spent on, or how much was misspent.

It’s also worth noting that in a speech to the CRA, Randy bragged that Santee contractors “are not union which means we don’t have those problems.” But as it turns out, Voepel wasn’t able to bypass all unions. Which unions does Santee still do business with? The Fire fighters and Deputy Sheriffs. The same Deputy Sheriffs’ Association whose president was forced to resign for suspected misappropriation of funds. But okay, I guess he hasn’t been indicted yet either.

It’s worth mentioning here the mayor’s strong arm tactics of using these same Deputies to intimidate patrons of medical marijuana dispensaries. From an article in The San Diego Union-Tribune:

Sheriff’s deputies sometimes hang out in front of the stores when not on call in an attempt to dissuade customers

Dissuade? I call that harassment and intimidation. Not sure what the mayor’s opposition to medical marijuana is, as it’s been shown to be an effective treatment for everything from nausea caused by radiation treatments for cancer patients to chronic pain and neurological disorders. But I guess Randy just isn’t comfortable with these shops since they are “out of character for this town.”

But let’s get back to Randy’s endorsements. Next up, Jeff Stone. On Randy’s blog, he  brags of his endorsement by Jeff Stone.

“Senator Stone has been a strong representative for his district and is an accomplished elected official,” said Voepel. “I am honored to have his endorsement and look forward to working with him in the legislature.”

But hey, who is this Jeff Stone? I’ve never heard of him. Oh, this article from The Press Enterprise sums up Mr. Stone’s career nicely:

For the third time since 2006, a state agency has fined Jeff Stone’s campaign thousands of dollars for breaking California’s campaign finance rules.

But I want to quote the article a bit more at length, just so you understand who Randy’s friends are:

REPEAT OFFENDER

State senator and longtime Inland politician Jeff Stone has “a history of violating the (Political Reform) Act,” according to the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

December 2015: Stone’s campaign and his treasurer are fined $5,500 for violations connected to luxury box fundraisers at two sporting events hosted by developer Dan Stephenson.

May 2011: The commission fines Stone $16,000 for failing to report roughly $84,000 in campaign donations to his 2010 Senate campaign.

October 2006: Stone is fined $2,000 for a record-keeping violation stemming from his 2000 bid for Assembly.

For the third time since 2006, a state agency has fined Jeff Stone’s campaign thousands of dollars for breaking California’s campaign finance rules.

I can see why Randy is proud to have his endorsement.

Business As Usual

This is why Americans are tired of career politicians and why anti-establishment candidates are so popular this election cycle. Cronyism. Corruption. Special Interests.

With friends like these…

Voepel Still Fighting The Cold War

Mayor Randy Voepel once received an email from someone claiming to live in China and to be a collector of  autographs of U.S. Mayors, asking him for his autograph. The email request may or may not have been legitimate, but the mayor’s response just illustrates how the man is unfit for public office.

Here’s the original email:

Dear Mayor:

As a great city/county of the United States, your city/county must be playing an important role to make the U.S. a prosperous county.

Your city/county has charitable conventions compared to other states, which I have seen in many TV programs. You city/county is attractive economically and democratically, these can’t not be achieved without your governance, which I am very interested in.

I’d like to have a signed photo of yours and the seal of your city/county, so I can keep them as souvenirs, can you help me?

Wish you the best

Sincerely yours

Deng zhi yong

And here’s the mayor’s reply:

Dear Mr. Yong,

I respectfully decline to cooperate in any way with what I consider to be an enemy of the United States. The People’s Republic of China is a repressive and evil communist regime that runs a Police State. I fought in Vietnam to stop communism and will fight communism until the day I die. Please accept me as a very determined enemy, as I assume you to be to me.

Best Capitalist regards,

Randy Voepel Mayor, The freedom and human rights City of Santee

The obvious problem of course is the mayor’s inability to separate the “repressive and evil communist regime” of China from its 1.4 billion ordinary citizens. An autograph collector from China should not be a “determined enemy” of Mayor Voepel or of America. This type of dangerous, racist thinking only escalates international conflict.

Voepel’s attempt to clarify his original response is even worse:

There is more to this reaction of mine than what you might know. I have a running battle with the Chi-Coms, that has been going on since my first week in office as the Mayor, twelve years ago. The Chinese Consulate sent me a very intimidating letter in 2001 asking me to officially denounce a Chinese meditation group called the Falun Gong / Falun Daffa.

I wrote a very scathing reply about protecting human rights and not persecuting sub groups. Of course that reply went viral in the media at the time.

Do some research on this, the Chinese Communist Government puts these people into work camps and many just disappear. I personally oppose EVERYTHING the Communist Chinese do or stand for. They are evil and would be very happy (along with Iran, North Korea, al-Qaeda and a long list of others) to see the USA collapse. I am a warrior at heart and will not hesitate to strongly defend our Country against Communism. I will always react strongly to anything that comes out of China.

Whenever the United States goes to war, it is always people like me (the warrior types) that are called on. As long as the people of Santee elect me (78 percent of the vote last time) as their Mayor, I will defend this City against all threats, even silly email requests supposedly from Communist China.

As far as Chinese goods go, I try to the best of my ability to buy USA and allied products, although that is difficult to do as we all know. As far as being a laughing stock on blogs and web sites, I don’t care one whit what happens on the web, what is important is taking the right stand to protect what America STANDS FOR.

Come on down to the and see what my buddies and shipmates think about the communists.

Respectfully (with the exception of Communist Chinese),

Randy Voepel Mayor, the freedom loving City of Santee

This fits with Voepel’s recent statements with regards to his plans for the State Assembly, which he is running for in California’s 71st district.  He takes the same adversarial approach to Democrats in the State Assembly as he does to ordinary citizens of China:

I did two combat tours in Vietnam. I’ve been trained by the Viet Cong… Any time I can outmaneuver the enemy, I will… I’m going to nail and identify the weakest Democrat seat in California. Then we will marshal every Republican Insurgent to get rid of that Democrat… Now, when I walk up the hall to talk to a Democrat after I’ve killed one of their seats, how much respect do you think I’m gonna get?

It’s this type of attitude that has caused the gridlock we’ve seen at all levels of government. Partisanship and governmental infighting do not bring about solutions.  This is why Congress has an 11% approval rating.

Let’s elect someone to the State Assembly who is willing to reach across the aisle and pass legislation for the good of all Californians. Demonizing the opposition party does not bring us any closer to meaningful solutions to the problems that face our district and our state.

 

See the original article here:

http://patch.com/california/santee/cold-war-still-simmers-in-santee

Transparent Insurgent

 I Want To Be A Republican Insurgent

I am a straight shooter. But when it comes to politics, I’m gonna grab you by the throat and other places and you won’t even know. In politics, the best hit, the best hit, and I’m talking sniper politics hit… the best hit is when they get killed and they don’t even know who did it. So in politics, I’m an insurgent.

This was Mayor Randy Voepel, trying to explain the contradictions in his rambling speech to the CRA. The woman who posed the question was confused and it’s not hard to see why, if you listen to the full speech (below). Here are a few “highlights.”

If you elect me and send me to the State Assembly, I’ve got a game plan that is not secret. I’ll tell you why. You have to keep things secret when you can’t execute. Okay? When you gotta sneak up on somebody and ambush ’em, that means you can’t really execute. Me, if anybody knows me, and a lot of people in this room do, I come straight down the snot locker at you. I don’t mess around. If you elect me and put me into Sacramento, I will be a minority Republican. Okay? I’ll be a rookie. It will take me a month to find my parking spot. I know that.

So when I go, I’m gonna hit the ground running, but I’m gonna keep my mouth shut for a year.

If only he could have kept his mouth shut for the last sixteen years as mayor of Santee.

But wait a second, did I hear that right? His plan is to do nothing for the first year of his term? That seems like a waste of taxpayer money. But okay, what will he do after the first year?

I’m gonna sit there for a year, observe. I’m gonna see where the power is. I’m gonna see where the different, the different connections are. And then, a year after that, I’ll start moving and shaking.

Hold on. Randy.  You do realize that the term for State Assembly is only two years long, don’t you? And from what you’ve just said, you don’t plan to do anything for two years. That’s the whole term. No wonder you want the job. I’d love to draw a salary to do nothing but search for my parking space.

And what’s number one to the CRA? I don’t know.

Glad you’ve done your research. But I guess you’ve got two years to figure out what the CRA wants, since you plan to do nothing else during that time.

 

What I’m going to do, a year and a half into the term, if you elect me, and endorse me, I’m going to nail and identify the weakest Democrat seat. And then we will marshal every Republican insurgent to get rid of that Democrat.

Guess what, Randy? If your plan is to do nothing for a year and half to two years, I’ve got a pretty good idea what the weakest seat in the State Assembly will be, and it won’t be a Democrat.

We will do everything you people believe in daily in Sacramento.

Yup. Just as soon as he figures out what that is.

We’ll do it smart and we’ll do it a little bit sneaky. I’m telling ya straight up.

Now do you see why the woman who asked the question was confused?  The mayor told us earlier in his talk that, “You have to keep things secret when you can’t execute.” So by the mayor’s own logic, he can’t execute on this brilliant plan of his. Maybe this is just sleep deprivation, since he claims to sleep only four hours per night.

So Why Run?

I’m so anti-government, I don’t even like my own government.

So, Mayor Voepel, if you don’t like government, why are you running for State Assembly? Someone asked the mayor why he’s running. The answer may shock you. Or just confuse you.

Why do this silly thing and go to Sacramento, leave my wife that I really do love? Oh and by the way, I had to make a deal with her. When I go to Sacramento, I can’t have a girlfriend.

Wow, the sacrifices of a public servant. I’m glad  he was able to come to some agreement with his wife, however difficult that may be for him. But go on, Randy. Why are you running for State Assembly?

Here’s the reason I’m doing it. I’ve been in the insurance business for thirty eight years, I’ve made a very good living. I will be retiring out of the insurance business because in 2016 I will be sixty six years old. How long can you sell insurance? …It’s a grind and I’m done with the grind. I will sell my book of business for a gazillion dollars I think. I will also be done with mayor. I’ve been mayor in 2016 for sixteen years.

Sure. Done with insurance. Done being mayor. Maybe it’s time to retire?

So what am I gonna do at age sixty six when I cash in all my chips? Why not cause trouble in Sacramento? That’s it. That’s my motivation. I want to be a Republic insurgent.

That’s it? Seriously? Look, maybe Randy is just making a joke here. But the people of District 71 deserve a serious answer. We have a lot of problems in our district that need to be addressed. We have high taxes. We have high unemployment. We’re still suffering from a drought.

I want someone in State Assembly who will represent the interests of me and my neighbors. Not play war games. Randy, if you want to retire, go to Scottsdale and play golf. Leave politics to those who take it seriously.

Audio

You can listen to the full recording here:

Randy’s War On The Homeless

“I did two tours in Vietnam. And I’m getting attacked here by the Viet Cong, stealing my copper. And I don’t like it.” — Randy Voepel

Randy Voepel served two tours in Vietnam and we should thank him for his service. But someone needs to tell him: this is not Nam. Some guy stealing a four dollar bar of copper from a park is not the Viet Cong. Your political adversaries are not the Viet Cong. Likewise, Democrats in the State Assembly are not the Viet Cong.

Look, copper theft is a crime and it should be punished. But blaming the homeless?  Picking on the weakest, most vulnerable members of society? No, we should blame criminals for the the actions of criminals. Not anyone else.

Watch for yourself:

And now this clown is running for State Assembly in my district? I want someone to represent the interests of my family, my neighbors and myself. Someone who will take on the special interests who are corrupting the government and destroying the economy.

Now, I’m no bleeding heart liberal but I am a Christian. And this quote comes to mind:

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ — Matthew 25:40

In this economy, I have many friends who are one paycheck away from living on the street. We need a war on homelessness, not a war on the homeless.

Randy,  you should address the real issues affecting Californians in the 71st district and leave the homeless alone.