Fallout from Monday's GOP debate - Amador asks for investigation

There has been a lot of buzz since Monday's GOP debate about candidate Robert Beadles' assertions that the January 4 raid on his home and business (RBI, a construction safety company) was politically motivated. Beadles also alluded during the debate that one of the other candidates has hired illegal aliens and cheated on taxes, though that wasn't reported in the papers.

Today's Stockton Record has an article "Probe of raid urged" which reports that another candidate, former US Marshal Tony Amador, sent a letter to California Attorney General Jerry Brown asking him to investigate the allegation by Beadles that the raid was politically motivated in an attempt to intimidate Beadles and discourage or dissuade him from running for office. I'd post a link here to the Record article, but they've gone to a "pay wall" format this week so you wouldn't be able to read it unless you have a subscription.

On Beadles' official campaign website, he has a copy of what basically is a press release sent out the morning of the raid from his competitor's office (Farwest Safety) notifying Brad Goehring, Jerry McNerny, the Contractors State License Board and every newspaper in the area of the raid. Also on Beadles' website is a signed statement by one of his employees recounting a phone call he received from an employee of Farwest Safety while the raid was in progress. The timing of the phone call and the press release are suspicious, as if Farwest Safety knew in advance that Beadles' business was going to be searched.

A few weeks ago, Contra Costa Times political editor Lisa Vorderbrueggen uncovered information that a campaign consultant for Brad Goehring had been anonymously bashing three of the other candidates, including Beadles and Amador, on a conservative political blog. When he was confronted, the consultant David Creager admitted it and said he didn't realize it was a conflict of interest. You can read the entire article here.

In a statement to The Record, another consultant for Goehring, Carl Fogliani, said that the Goehring campaign had nothing to do with the search of RBI and called the accusation "delusional." Sheriff Steve Moore, whose office headed up the investigation of the complaint against Beadles, has endorsed Goehring as a candidate but claimed he had no idea that Beadles was also a candidate until a briefing on the raid on January 4.

Keep an eye on this story, it might have "legs." There is nothing new about political opponents trashing each other's reputations.... we all witnessed the vicious campaign against Lathrop Mayor Kristy Sayles in 2008. This campaign seems even more vicious if the accusations by Beadles against Goehring turn out to be true and even more disturbing if it involves the sheriff's department.