Minuteman Tim Donnelly testing waters for a 2014 CA. governor bid

November 28, 2012

Minuteman Tim Donnelly testing waters for a 2014 governor bid

A conservative state legislator who is a former member of the anti-illegal immigration Minutemen Project is considering a run for California governor.

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks, shared his plans to open an exploratory committee for a 2014 run in an interview with PolitiChicks.tv, a web video posted to a conservative website.

Donnelly, whose conservative stances and sometimes combative tactics have made him a lightening rod for controversy in the state Legislature, said he decided to consider a run "because there's just, there's nobody out there fighting for us."

"I believe that we as Californians can do heck of a lot better than Jerry Brown or anyone who wants to step into his footsteps, I don't care whether its Kamala Harris or Tony Villaraigosa or Gavin Newsom," he said of the possible Democratic contenders in 2014. "They're all going to push for the same ideas and I think California can do a lot better.'

Donnelly, who was first elected to the Assembly in 2010, attempted to qualify a statewide referendum of a law that allows some undocumented immigrants to attend colleges at lower in-state rates, but failed to collect enough voter signatures to get the measure on the ballot.


He achieved perhaps his greatest notoriety last year when he was detained at Ontario Airport for having a loaded handgun in his carry-on luggage. Donnelly, who said he had forgotten the gun was in his bag, pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor gun charges, paid a $2,215 fine and was placed on three years probation.

In the interview, Donnelly also offered a critique of the GOP's 2010 gubernatorial nominee, former EBay executive Meg Whitman, in the interview.

"What I think people rejected with Meg Whitman was she had a 50-page plan and she wasn't listening," he said. "And I think one of the best ways I can build support is travel the state, go from town to town, talk to business leaders, talk to community leaders, talk to individuals at their doorstep, at a rally, what have you, but do a lot of listening and find out what are the greatest concerns. And a lot of time people have solutions that politicians never thought of that will actually work."

Capitol Alert: Minuteman Tim Donnelly testing waters for a 2014 governor bid

March 12, 2014


Tim Donnelly's campaign manager quits campaign

Jennifer Kerns, Tim Donnelly's campaign manager in his run for governor, is splitting with the campaign, a source said.

Donnelly, a Twin Peaks assemblyman, had made Kerns a significant part of his campaign, In January he posted an online video celebrating her promotion to campaign manager.

"They say beside every good leader is a great woman," Donnelly tells the camera after opening clips of Kerns running and Donnelly drinking coffee with his wife, Rowena. "I've got two."

Donnelly, reached Wednesday afternoon, said he was unaware of Kerns leaving.

"That's news to me," he said.

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalert...-campaign.html

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UPDATED

March 12, 2014

Tim Donnelly's campaign manager quits campaign

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Jennifer Kerns, Tim Donnelly's campaign manager, quit Donnelly's gubernatorial campaign Wednesday.

The announcement comes just days before the California Republican Party's convention in Burlingame and is a setback to the Twin Peaks assemblyman's bid. Donnelly, reached Wednesday afternoon, said he was unaware of the departure.

"That's news to me," he said.

Kerns said in a prepared statement that she is "proud to have taken a candidate from the launch of a campaign as an unknown, underdog candidate to frontrunner status in the polls, as well as having cleared the field of our closest GOP competitor."

She said a filmmaker who produced campaign video ads for Donnelly has also left "making this now two top strategic advisers who have left."

Donnelly had made Kerns a significant part of his campaign, In January he posted an online video celebrating her promotion to campaign manager.

"They say beside every good leader is a great woman," Donnelly tells the camera after opening clips of Kerns running and Donnelly drinking coffee with his wife, Rowena.

"I've got two."

Editor's note: This post was updated at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday to include the statement from Kerns.

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalert...-campaign.html

Donnelly faces state campaign-finance investigation

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The state's political ethics watchdog has opened an investigation into the finances of a political action committee founded by gubernatorial candidate Tim Donnelly, a state Assemblyman from San Bernardino. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times / November 5, 2013)

By Seema Mehta
April 18, 2014, 8:00 p.m.

The state’s political ethics watchdog has opened an investigation into the finances of a political action committee founded by gubernatorial candidate Tim Donnelly, according to a report published Friday evening by the Sacramento Bee.‎

The California Patriots PAC, designed to promote conservative candidates, has not filed financial disclosure statements since October 2012, according to the Fair Political Practices Commission. Donnelly disputes this, telling the Bee that the reports were filed and new copies were sent to the FPPC on Thursday.

Donnelly, a state Assemblyman from San Bernardino County, is the front-runner among Republicans to take on Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown in the fall, but has raised little money for a statewide contest.

He has raised more than $500,000 for his gubernatorial bid, mainly from small-dollar donors, but the most recent financial disclosure report filed at the end of March said that he had $10,765 in the bank and $148,000 in unpaid bills.

http://www.latimes.com/local/politic...#ixzz2zYBJJ3Fn

Alameda County GOP calls Tim Donnelly's comments about Kashkari racist

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GOP gubernatorial candidate Tim Donnelly. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

SEEMA MEHTA contact the reporter

PoliticsRacismTim Donnelly


Alameda Co GOP denounces as racist Donnelly's statements linking rival Kashkari w/ fundamentalist Islamic law
Alameda Co GOP: "Donnelly and his supporters have used bigotry, racism and outright ignorance to try to win"

The Alameda County Republican Party on Tuesday denounced as racist GOP gubernatorial candidate Tim Donnelly’s statements linking rival Neel Kashkari with fundamentalist Islamic law.

“I'm sorry to report that Tim Donnelly and his supporters have used bigotry, racism and outright ignorance to try to win the Primary,” said an unsigned post on the group’s Facebook page. “They are trading [in] innuendo and false reporting that Neel Kashkari … endorses Sharia Finance. I am so disgusted by this turn of events by other Republicans.”

The group was reacting to Donnelly’s comments Monday and Tuesday saying Kashkari supports sharia law, the Islam-based code that governs personal and business behavior that has been in the news because celebrities and activists this week protested its imposition in Brunei. An arm of the tiny nation’s government owns the Beverly Hills Hotel, leading demonstrators to protest there because of sharia’s harsh punishments for homosexuality and adultery.

Donnelly said Kashkari condones the strictures ofsharia law because Kashkari in 2008 participated in a U.S. Treasury conference about Islamic finance.

Kashkari, a former Treasury official, called Donnelly's assertion “absurd,” and said the 2008 conference at which he delivered remarks as an assistant Treasury secretary was about expanding free-market principles in Islamic nations. Financial restrictions under Islamic rule include not allowing the charging of interest, and not investing in companies that produce forbidden goods.

Donnelly on Tuesday stood by his remarks, sending a tweet that highlighted news coverage of what he deemed Kashkari’s “submission” to sharia law.

http://www.latimes.com/local/politic...506-story.html

Orly Taitz Allegedly Manufactures Tea Party Backing of Her CA Attorney General Run

Now Orly Taitz is even alienating the tea party crowd. A Tea Party Nation columnist claims the Rancho Santa Margarita lawyer/dentist/real estate saleslady/Queen of the Birfers/dried-up Russian bride is fraudulently claiming he and the Tea Party Nation have endorsed Taitz's candidacy for California ... More >>

May 15, 2014

Pete Wilson blasts Tim Donnelly, saying he would damage GOP

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Former Gov. Pete Wilson urged California Republicans on Thursday not to support Tim Donnelly, the party's frontrunner in the gubernatorial race, saying his theatrics and personal controversies would drag down other Republicans on the ballot in the fall.

"Keeping public focus on the real and important issues facing California will require a candidate who does not have to defend Tim Donnelly'sbizarre votes and statements or his irresponsible personal behavior," Wilson said in a letter first published on the conservative blogFlashReport.org. "With Tim Donnelly on the ballot, it would be a losing campaign, risking injury to our party and our state, and to other Republican candidates who deserve to win."

Wilson, who has endorsed Donnelly's main Republican opponent, Neel Kashkari, is the latest prominent Republican to publicly rebuke Donnelly. Many members of the GOP's political and professional classes fear Donnelly, a tea partyfavorite, could damage the party's effort to attract independent voters and minorities if he finishes first among Republicans in the June 3 primary election and advances to a runoff against Gov. Jerry Brown in the fall.

Last week, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, said "Donnelly is no longer a viable option for California voters," and the Lincoln Club of Orange County this week approved a vote of no confidence in Donnelly.

Wilson said in an interview Thursday that he was disturbed by Donnelly's past criminal cases. Donnelly has blamed a larceny case in Michigan in 1985 on a drunken "prank," while the assemblyman more recently pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors after carrying a loaded gun into Ontario International Airport in 2012.

Donnelly, a former member of anti-illegal immigration Minuteman Project, has also sparked controversy for his recent attempt to tie Kashkari to Islamic law.

"Most recently the thing that I found offensive, offensive notwithstanding its stupidity," Wilson said, "was attempting to, by implication, assert that Neel Kashkari is someone who has supported Shariah law."

In a meeting with the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board on Wednesday, Donnelly said elite Republicans are out of touch because "they're too busy golfing or drinking together," the newspaper reported.

"When the GOP is taking about the threat (I pose), they're right," Donnelly said, according to the newspaper. "I'm a threat to the country-club Republicans. I'm a danger because I might bring a little more country into the club."

Wilson, a former U.S. senator, assemblyman and San Diego mayor, chaired Meg Whitman's failed gubernatorial campaign in 2010. His early endorsement of Whitman in that race was significant in the GOP primary, including for his declaration she would be "tough as nails" on illegal immigration.

But Wilson has been viewed as less of a public asset to Republican candidates in general elections. Many Latino voters still have a visceral reaction to Proposition 187, the 1994 initiative, later overturned by the courts, Wilson championed to restrict public services to undocumented immigrants.

Donnelly leads Kashkari by a wide margin in public opinion polls. The two Republicans will meet Thursday night in Anaheim for their only scheduled debate ahead of the primary election. Donnelly's campaign RV was parked outside the hotel and supporters were parking in the parking lot hours ahead of the highly-anticipated head-to-head.

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalert...amage-gop.html

June 2, 2014

VIDEO: Tim Donnelly dismisses latest poll

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Public opinion polls have been favorable to Tim Donnelly for much of the year, and he ballyhooed them to assert his frontrunner status in the Republican race for governor.

Along with endorsements from local Republican groups, the polls served the tea party-backed candidate's efforts to counter attacks from establishment Republicans such as former Gov.Pete Wilson, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, and strategist Karl Rove.

On Sunday, however, a USC/Los Angeles Times poll showed Donnelly's GOP rival, Neel Kashkari, ahead of Donnelly by a narrow margin, 18 percent to 13 percent among likely voters.

Donnelly was dismissive.

"The only poll that is going to matter is tomorrow, and we're close enough that I'm not worried about any other polls," Donnelly told reporters at the Capitol on Monday. "And at people's doorsteps, I've discovered that this whole thing is up for grabs, and it's going to be whoever turns out their votes, that's who's going to win."

Kashkari, in a spate of radio interviews Monday, said the poll is evidence his recent spending on mailers and TV ads is paying off.
Before he started advertising, Kashkari said on KGO 810 radio in San Francisco, "most voters had not been paying attention to the race," and all he needed was "to introduce myself to voters."



PHOTO: Tim Donnelly campaigns at the Punjabi American Festival in Yuba City on May 25, 2014. The Sacramento Bee/David Siders

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalert...test-poll.html

Governor Open Primaries, June 3, 2014 Detailed Results
15.1% Reporting

D Winner J. Brown (i)
55.4%
1,095,898

R N. Kashkari
17.5%
346,409

R T. Donnelly
14.8%
292,980