The Parks political “consulting” goes back to at least the 2010 election cycle per the public record. From the period of 2010 to 2013, they gradually moved from a regional force to have a statewide influence.
Below I will walk thru some info from the Secretary of State concerning brother George.
Note: Additional activity of the Parks can be found from the Secretary of State’s Office if you look up Headquarters Partnership. Most activity is under consultants. Reported activity pre-dates June, 2010. Any campaigns with less than $50,000 don’t have to file electronically so you need to resort to paper copies for more details. Also, Placer County GOP was paying rent to Headquarters Partnership (HQP) for many years. Aaron was nice enough to post this press release about HQP.
NorCal Tea Party Patriots Concerned about Ethics in Placer County Republican Central Committee
For Immediate Release March 7, 2011
AUBURN, CA – The Executive Board of NorCal Tea Party Patriots is concerned about ethical questions surrounding the Placer County Republican Central Committee. Specifically its relationship with a private company called Headquarters Partnership.
Red flags were raised when it came to light that members of the PCRCC executive board were also principals in HQP. On its face this appears to be a conflict of interest. The situation is further complicated by the fact that PCRCC members have been thwarted in their efforts to look into HQP’s operation. HQP was ostensibly set up as a leasing agent to handle payments on the PCRCC headquarters. It has since been turned into something more.
Rumors have flown about HQP’s involvement in political campaigns and other activities that have nothing to do with its original mandate. In the current atmosphere it’s possible for these activities to continue without oversight since the majority of the PCRCC votes down such requests. This has left the PCRCC much less effective in Placer County and can have a negative impact on elections in 2012.
George’s Political Consulting
George Park’s first client per the SOS website was Sam Aanestad in 2010. Dr. Sam, as he was often called, was a State Senator that was term limited out, so he decided to run for Lieutenant Governor. As you can see from the screen print below, George did well for a six month, part-time job.
George and Aaron began their political consultant work for “Dr. Sam” by delivering an endorsement from Placer County Republican Central Committee in January 2010. Blog Post
Then in February, they got Tom Hudson to send a letter on behalf of CRA to try to block Abel Maldonado from becoming the next Lt Governor. If Maldonado became LT. Governor, it would undercut Aanestad’s chances for winning the Republican Primary because Abel would go into the race as the incumbent. Blog Post
Maldonado did win in June despite the heroic work of George and Aaron on behalf of their client.
Rumor has it that the good Senator fell short of their monetary arrangement and that is the explanation for the late payment in May 2011. Reportedly the Park brothers are still waiting for the balance of their fees from this campaign. I can’t confirm this but such things often happen in political campaigns.
Aaron and George were able to provide a one stop shop for candidates. In addition to the regular stuff provided by consultants, they could provide a headquarters, endorsements from the County Party and Placer RA, and access volunteers from both organizations. Plus Aaron was developing his skills in other areas.
In 2012, George Park had two other clients. Assembly Candidate Andy Pugno and Les Baugh for Senate. The checks were made to George but in reality you got both brothers.
Linda Park was recruited to run against Assemblywoman Beth Gaines and Les Baugh was recruited to run against Senator Ted Gaines.
On June 3, 2012, Aaron wrote:
Les Baugh – the client of mine … is a pastor of a Church in Anderson, CA and believes that there are only two pledges he should ever make in his life – to God and his wife.
Blog Post
There is no record that Aaron was retained by Mr. Baugh. The only payments went to George. I know Aaron worked for Andy Pugno during the 2012 election cycle but again there is no record of payments to Aaron. In fact, whichever name was on the check, you got both brothers.
2014 electronic records don’t seem to show any activity for the Park Brothers.
Park Brothers Transition to Statewide Operation
Beginning about 2010, the Park’s hold on Placer County began to be challenged by both the Tea Party and other political players such as Karen England. This period was both a challenge for the Parks and an opportunity. The challenge was to defeat Karen and the opportunity was that George and Aaron had the chance to sweep most of their competition—consultants, many aligned with Karen—out of the CRA. To do this, the Parks had to move from a regional power (Placer County) to a statewide operation.
By mid-2011, not only was Karen England ejected from CRA, but almost every political consultant in the state that was involved in CRA was purged also. At the July 2011 Board meeting, they wiped the CRA map of all England’s paper clubs and simultaneously began trying creative ways of making new CRA units that would be under their sway. In effect, the Parks cleared the decks of the competition and then had CRA mostly to themselves. Only Steve Frank survived and by 2013, he and Celeste were gone too. The projection of their newly acquired power was an evolving process that they experimented with over the next two years.
The Park brother’s first attempt at flexing their new political muscle post Karen England was establishing the Republican Assembly of the Greater Santa Clarita Valley. This chapter was created after the July 2011 Board meeting was ended. This “chartering” was added into the minutes as if it occurred as part of the meeting. After all, rules should not get in the way of progress.
…a New CRA Unit was Chartered, the Greater Santa Clarita Valley Republican Assembly.
As of the writing of this email – plans are in the works for several new CRA units – please look out for updates on the movement to re-build the CRA with new activist-driven units. Blog Post
• Oh, the new Santa Clarita club (RAGSCV) they chartered in the hallway became the “great Satan” by 2013 and needed to be de-chartered. If you can’t control it, kill it.
During that discussion Sgt. At Arms Aaron Park (who was in favor of the de-chartering of the newer RAGSCV unit) stood up and told the entire board that he had lied to the board about the newer unit that was being considered for de-chartering. That after the April 2011 CRA convention, that he and two other Board members (who are no longer on the CRA board) decided to promote and create the new unit on top of the older unit as punishment for the SCVRA’s support of another candidate for CRA President during the 2011 convention. Vice President Steve Macias posted this on his blog post:
After over an hour of lively debate before the board, Sergeant-at-Arms Aaron Park stepped forward to lend clarity to his role in the chartering of the RAGSCV. Aaron explained that the charter was intentionally pushed through against the bylaws for “political revenge.” Aaron elaborated that the new group was part of a plot to retaliate against the SCVRA’s refusal to support President Celeste Greig. “Bob Hauter, Steve Frank, and I lied,” confessed Park. “We perpetrated a lie, we lied to the board of directors. We knew what we were doing.”
(http://www.stevemacias.com/end-of-cra-drama/) (This URL is no longer correct)
From the CRA Vice-President Craig Alexander, email to CRA Board, Sunday, June 30, 2013 12:58 AM
• Antelope Valley was slated to be dismantled in April of 2013 but as you will read in the next installment, they became the special friend of our Membership Secretary by December of that same year.
• Nevada RA must go now because they chose to support Tom McClintock. Barry Pruit used to be supported by the Park brothers as was Tom McClintock.
• Re-constituting Ventura RA was their greatest success of 2013 and by 2015 Ventura needed to be put down as a fraudulent unit. If you recall, Aaron and George handpicked most of the core members. Re-chartering this club in 2013 was a way to hurt Celeste Grieg and Steve Frank while delivering votes for John Briscoe. However, when the club voted against the Parks in the 2014 local endorsing convention, then they were an obstacle.
If you wondered why their relationships with various chapters ran so hot and cold, I think you can begin to see why. Look at the Santa Clarita units, Ventura, Antelope Valley, Pasadena, Nevada, and a host of others. When you were on their side everything was great. If you stood in the way of their money making ventures then they would turn on you on a dime. Always to oppose them was fraud. This is their playbook. When they confronted other consultants, this worked; and very effectively.
Often, the Parks were just as guilty as the other consultants that they attacked but since they were not known as consultants within CRA, they would frame the issue as grassroots volunteers versus the professional political class. They managed to remain concealed as the men behind the curtain and masqueraded as something that they were not. They often framed their confrontations as David versus Goliath. They were common men just like us or so we were expected to believe.
Most of the people they attack now were once their friends and fellow travelers on the Conservative trail. Tom McClintock, Ted Gaines, Steve Frank, Barry Pruett, Bill Cardoza, Tim Thiesen, Alice Khosravy, Celeste Grieg, Carl Brickey, etc. Once you get in their way then they throw you under the bus.
Just remember, Aaron said “perception is more important than truth.” The only political consultants in CRA that won’t admit what they are, happen to be named Aaron and George. They hide behind the label, “activist” but clearly there is more than meets the eye.
I think my last few installments are enough to prove that the brothers are up to their necks in consulting and special projects, and they are not just grassroots activists as they pretend to be. The Parks may start from a conservative bent but they eventually are all about power and money, their principles are negotiable.
Tomorrow we begin to examine financial dealings involving the Parks and CRA.
