Thread: GOP officer paid people to attend council meeting

GOP officer paid people to attend council meeting

The party secretary says the payments were just to defray costs of attending

CHULA VISTA — At least 50 people were paid to show up at the Chula Vista City Council and support a measure allowing mobile-home-park owners to raise rents for new tenants, according to one attendee and one operative who made the payments.

Supporters of the measure came to the chambers on July 12 and July 19 — causing many opponents to sit in overflow areas out of view of the council at one of the meetings.

One paid participant was Ray McMurty, 62, who told The Watchdog he received $40 in cash from Derrick Roach, the secretary for the Republican Party of San Diego County. McMurty lives in the Rancho Bonita mobile-home park and is on a fixed income.

Though many mobile-home residents opposed the changes, McMurty said he’s not affected because rent increases kick in only for new tenants and he doesn’t plan to move. He said the $40 went a long way in helping buy groceries for the week.

“All I did was wear a sticker that I support the proposition, so I don’t really see any problem with doing that,â€

[quote]Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group promoting government transparency, said compensating people to attend public meetings is “sleazy in the extreme, if not illegal.â€