The Real Travis Allen That You Haven’t Seen — UNTIL NOW!

Dear CRP Delegate,

There’s been a lot of negative campaigning going on (via “spoofed” emails and not to mention a certain blogger) attacking one of the candidates for CRP chair. A “Sherman’s March to the Sea” operation. A scorched earth tactic so to speak.

And while the source of the negative e-mail campaign has not been revealed, the Allen campaign certainly has not refuted, nor condemned it. The blogger is being paid for his work and is well known.

So, in the interest of “leveling the playing field”, a sharing of some of Travis’ “baggage” and “dirty laundry” is contained herein. You may draw your own conclusions and opinions after reading. It is all based on publicly available records.

A Brief summary as of February 12, 2019

Travis’s Fundraising Prowess revealed

Candidate Races

2012 Assembly:   $9250.00 in debt remaining

2018 Assembly:   $61,096.10 in debt remaining

2018 Gubernatorial:     $25,954.37 in debt remaining

Total candidate debt remaining from two Assembly races and one failed gubernatorial race:   

$96,300.47.

Why can’t the big-time fundraiser retire this debt?
If he can’t raise $96k, including $9,250.00 from SIX years ago, how will he raise the millions it takes to run the CRP?

Gas Tax PAC

Over $500k raised. Spent $100k more than that. End of June, over $100k in debt.

End of 2018 debt reduced to $700, under highly dubious circumstances.

In a nutshell, $50k was “reduced” with no explanation and no indication that the vendor forgave the debt AND another $50k just “disappeared” from the filing.

This is grounds for an FPPC enforcement action. Not good for someone who wants to be CRP Chair.

Take Back California PAC

NO year-end report filed as of 02/12/2019, paper or e-filed. EXTREMELYsuspect.

WHAT IS TRAVIS HIDING THAT HE’S WILLING TO BREAK THE LAW FOR??

While the above debt is not unusual, or illegal, the unexplained “reduction and/or disappearance” of over $100k is AS WELL AS FAILING TO FILE A REQUIRED REPORT.

A call to the FPPC confirmed the above, however a complaint would need to be filed. Stay tuned.

End of Summary

Now for the details

2012 Assembly

Won, but finished the campaign $136,703.62 in debt. Current status, still not cleared with $9250.00 of debt as of December 31, 2018. SIX years later and still not paid off.

2018 Assembly

Dropped out to run for governor. Not even on the primary ballot as he ran for Governor as well.$68,923.16 in debt as of June 30, 2018. As of December 31, 2018, debt remaining is $61,096.10.

2018 Governor’s Race

Lost in the Primary. $28,454.37 in debt as of June 30, 2018. As of December 31, 2018, the campaign still has $25,954.37 in debt waiting to be retired.

That’s $96,300.47 of outstanding liabilities from just three candidate committees AND ONE OF THEM IS SIX YEARS OLD! Now normally when you win a race, donors flock to you and any debt is easily retired within the next cycle however it usually takes fresh donors who have not previously contributed the maximum. When you lose or drop out it’s even harder. Not an easy task either way it would seem in Travis’ case based on the debt he still carries. Could it be they see through his chest-thumping, King Kong act? Will you? Obviously, Travis is not the PT Barnum of fundraising he claims to be. It gets even better though. Read on.

Repeal the Gas Tax PAC

Repeal the Gas Tax PAC (FPPC ID 1396427) that FAILED TO TURN IN A SINGLE SIGNATURE, yet raised and spent almost $500k, spent another $100k it didn’t have and ended the campaign in June 2018 with $101,733.44 of debt. As of December 31, 2018, debt has allegedly been reduced to $700.00, which is a loan from Travis.

All is not as it would appear though. An interesting item to note (and after a careful review of its December 31, 2018 filing) is that the debt shown as being retired between July and December is only $51,439.66 and that was a “reversal” of the charges, with no explanation we might add. There’s also a discrepancy (outright deletion) of $50,293.78 in the debt balance (prior accrued expenses) that has no explanation. It’s just “gone” from the report. His treasurer uses a well-regarded, hosted compliance solution to file and the transactions would have had to be intentionally deleted or they would have carried over. This was a deliberate act intended to make people think his debt was paid off. How was the first $50k “reduced” without showing it as an in-kind contribution? Where did the other $50k+ in debt go? The creditor could have forgiven it but that should be disclosed. It cannot just be “reduced” or “removed” with no explanation. BTW, his treasurer at one time was one of the top four offenders on the FPPC’s “bad boy” list. Seems old habits may never die. It remains to be seen.

So, total debt owed is approximately $96,300.47 plus another $51,439.66 in unsubstantiated “reduced” debt, plus that aforementioned $50,293.78, whereabouts unknown, from the Gas Tax Repeal Committee.

That’s $198,033.91 of debt for an incoming CRP Chair.

Can you say WOW?

There’s also an open FPPC investigation involving his 2018 Assembly committee, Gas Tax Repeal PAC and gubernatorial committee. Details are sketchy, as it’s ongoing, but initial publicity alleges misdirection of funds involving his Assembly campaign and PAC to benefit his gubernatorial campaign. Imagine a future Sac Bee headline if true:

California Republican Party Chair Guilty of Money Laundering.

If true, very serious indeed however it can take years for the FPPC to resolve these matters, so it would haunt him his entire tenure as Chair. Interestingly enough, the complaint was filed by Aaron Park, author of the Right On Daily blog and the driving force behind a non-stop barrage of negative campaigning against the leading candidate for State Party Chair. Thy enemy one day is thy ally the next. Politics certainly does make for strange bedfellows doesn’t it?

Take Back California PAC

Oh, and let’s not forget Travis’ Take Back California PAC, FPPC ID 1406792. The one he’s using to raise money for his Chair race. Another questionable practice that exposes his alleged donors to unnecessary public scrutiny.

The year-end filing shows, wait for it ….. NOTHING, as his treasurer has yet to file either a paper or electronic report, 13 days after it was due!!

A highly unusual situation but one with several possible explanations, none that help Travis. We’re betting amendments get filed real quick, and with lots of “spin”, after this email gets out.

• Door #1: One explanation is that he hasn’t raised what he claims to have raised (no surprise here) so the $25k threshold requiring online filing has not been met. Fair enough, but where’s the paper filing? All committees have to file year-end reports, at least on paper. All filings are also public record and a copy of the paper filing can easily be obtained via email from the SOS. In an email to them on February 12, the SOS indicated they had not received it yet. A full 12 days after the deadline. Highly suspect!

• Door #2: Another explanation is that he’s crossed the $25k threshold but is nowhere near his outlandish fundraising claims and doesn’t want to reveal the real numbers as it would destroy his credibility. This could be a calculated move on his part and he would eventually file AFTER the CRP election on February 24^th. A delay such as this would cost his committee about $500. A small price to pay to be State Party Chair???

• Door #3: The third explanation is that his treasurer just hasn’t filed. Not a likely scenario based on their history with the FPPC.

So, something doesn’t add up. Either Travis is embellishing the facts (ya think?), his treasurer hasn’t filed for whatever reason or he’s instructed her not to file until the 25th. Our money’s on Door #2.

Can you say”integrity”, or lack thereof?

So that’s four committees he’s either a candidate or controlling principal of with $96,300.47 in combined debt yet to be retired (plus $51,439.66 that was just “reversed” with no explanation and another $50,293.78 whereabouts unknown), an open campaign finance violation case (and maybe more on the way) and an active PAC he is the principal of (which brings up a whole other issue to be addressed further along in this conversation). And he wants to be Chair of the CRP? Is this what they call “leading by example”?

Do you see a pattern here?

Travis likes to run up a tab with no means to pay it, he’s not as good at raising money as he says he is and he’ll say anything to get elected.

The CRP has been there and done that with Chairman Brulte’s immediate predecessor, Tom Del Beccaro. He lost the trust of Board (and the caucuses and major donors) when he spent TWO MILLION DOLLARS on a redistricting lawsuit WITHOUT BOARD APPROVAL AND NO MEANS TO PAY FOR IT!

He spent the CRP into oblivion. It’s the reason he served only one term. Does the CRP really want to go back to those days, i.e. invoices from vendors shoved off in a corner and ignored, unable to pay bills? Over a million dollars in debt in just two years. If you thought it was bad then, think of how much worse it would get for the Party financially if Travis is elected?

Reality check for all you grassroots Travis supporters out there: The CRP doesn’t run on bravado and goodwill. It takes cold, hard cash and plenty of it and Travis has not shown a propensity to raise that kind of money. His million dollar a month plan from grassroots supporters doesn’t even BEGIN to pay the bills over a two-year period. And besides, he’s promised to spend all of that on voter registration (a noble effort btw as we certainly need it) but where would the rest come from?

If you don’t already know, the CRP is a $30-$35 MILLION per-election cycle operation. The largest State Party operation in the country. That’s just under $1.5 MILLION a month on average for operations and candidate support over a two-year period. Not chump change by any means so where will it all come from without the support of the Legislative caucuses and major donors which he does not have? They do not trust him, again much the same as it was with Tom Del Beccaro.

Are the so-called grassroots donors willing or even capable of making up that difference? Past history says no.

Take all of the aforementioned campaign debt and compliance issues and we now start to have serious legal, ethics and conflict of interest situations, if Travis is elected as CRP Chair.

For example: As Chair of the State Party, he will become the de-facto fundraiser-in-chief for the CRP. There’s no disputing that. The Chair is the face of the party and the one who gains the trust of the major donors and the legislative caucuses and “brings home the bacon”. The Chair’s title, and subsequently their ability to raise money, carries more clout than any other within the Party and the CRP CANNOTsurvive financially without that core financial support.

So, here’s the ethics question: With all that debt (and creditors do want to get paid after all) from his prior campaigns and PACs, how does Travis raise money to retire that debt while at the same time raising money from those same or new donors in the name of the party? The CRP can accept unlimited contributions from all legally permitted sources, it’s just a matter of which account it goes into so any funds he would raise should go to the party and yet there’s that nagging debt hanging over his head and the urge for him to solicit CRP donors to help in retiring that debt. The proper direction to take would be to suspend fundraising/debt retirement on his part for his past and current committees until he’s no longer Chair. But are his creditors willing to wait at least another two years for any sort of payment? We’re talking at least $100k here. Maybe as much as $200k. Creates quite the ethical dilemma don’t you think?

It’s called a conflict of interest.

Here’s another example. Let’s say all this prior debt is paid off. How does someone who has a PAC, Take Back California, juggle both as Chair of the Party? This would be another huge ethics issue and with the ego we’ve seen, Travis isn’t going to give it up. Again, it goes back to who will he be raising money for? The PAC or the Party? Can’t do both with a straight face when you’re the Chair. Like it or not, as chair, the party “owns” your fundraising efforts. There can be only one destination for money raised.

And we won’t even go into his plans to run for governor again. Oh what the hell, why not?

So, let’s say he runs again. He says he’s not, but……. he is Travis. The campaign would have to start in 2020 however CRP bylaws do not allow an officer to run for statewide office and still serve as such. Hence, he’d have to step down as chair to begin his campaign. How will “cut-and-run” tactics such as that sit with his supporters? Not to mention the rest of the delegation and Republican voters throughout California.

Here today, gone tomorrow.

The choice is yours on Sunday, February 24.

This document was not authorized by any candidate, was prepared using publicly available information and no candidate was aware of it prior to distribution.

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