S O U N D   O F F

May 7, 2008

Please read the following note and article regards a campaign in California.

The sender says it pertains to 2nd District in California, and “all others delete.” I would disagree. Actions like “Nielsen’s” are running rampant throughout the US. Each day Good Neighbor receives emails from folks all across America, expressing their deep frustrations over actions of “bought off” politicians.

Yes, taking money to unduly influence policy is criminal. But, it’s become such a norm that even a colleague of a crooked politician averts his or her eyes.

Some “paid off” representatives, flaunt their unjust enrichments by parking them in “their space” in front of your capital, or wear them on the house or senate floor while defending the party who gifted them such a dandy little windfall.
You use your own hard earned time and money to fight for your rights and laboriously trace back the crooked politicians money trail.

While you deplete your resources, they quickly install policies favoring their new rich partner.

We’re working on a tally as to how much American Citizens spend every day - trying to keep the federal government from stealing their property.

Where did we make the turn from being protected by our governments, to having to protect ourselves from...our governments?

Are Jim Nielsen’s actions unusual? No.

Editor GNL

This is for those in California's 2nd Assembly District. All others, press DELETE.
Unfortunately, it shows some of the corruption within the states republican party. Barry C (CA)


Pioneer Press
Fort Jones, CA
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Page 1, Column 2

The Publisher grants permission for this article to be reproduced and
distributed freely

Nielsen's dubious past

Former senator Jim Nielsen has been embroiled in one ethical conflict
after another - has anything changed other than his wives?

By Daniel Webster

Former Senator Jim Nielsen, who was ousted from office 18 years ago,
has a history of being dogged by ethical conflict. His current issue
of whether he had legally established his residency in the district
to register to vote - so he could therefore run for state assembly -
is just another conflict he must address with the voters.
The voters in his last election in 1990 sent him packing. He then
went on to be appointed to the state prison board, until Governor
Schwarzenegger removed him recently.

He is now seeking to make a comeback and is currently running for
state assembly.

Former Chico News and Review Editor George Thurlow followed Nielsen's
political career and published a seminal piece on October 25, 1990,
days prior to his last election, when he lost by approximately 7,500
votes.

Current Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa is widely pushing Nielsen in his bid
to replace our termed out assemblyman. At least two of LaMalfa's
staff members are being paid by Nielsen's campaign.

To get a picture of who Jim Nielsen is, one only has to look at his past.
In 1984 and 1985 Nielsen was dealing with a messy divorce settlement
with his first wife, according to the News and Review. He funneled
$75,000 in campaign money to his second wife, Brenda Wahl, precluding
the money from being used for spousal support or child support. He
hired his second wife as a"campaign consultant" and "secretary,"
although it is illegal for a candidate to pay himself money from
campaign funds or reimburse himself for personal expenses.
Nielsen has since divorced Wahl. His current wife Marilyn is his third.
While in the senate, Nielsen failed to disclose for 12 years the
salary he was being paid by the Roy Riegels pesticide company,
according to Thurlow's article. All the while, Nielsen used his
senate stationary and staff to lobby against a ban on pesticides that
his employer, Riegels, sold.

In a separate debacle, Nielsen lobbied for and voted on a $500,000
state grant, of which the majority of the money went to a
cogeneration plant in Williams, the News and Review reported. It was
later learned that Nielsen and his wife Wahl had a financial interest
in the construction of the plant and he said he received as much as
$600,000 for his financial interest in the project.

After he was divorced from Wahl, he was sued by a former partner in
the plant for a conflict of interest and double dealing,
Nielsen routinely used his senate staff to conduct campaign work for
him, paying them bonuses while they were on state payroll, Thurlow
wrote.

Of course, Nielsen is currently under the gun for signing under
penalty of perjury that his current residence is in Gerber, when
those who where living in the home told the Pioneer Press that he
doesn't reside there.

History repeats itself, as previously in the 1980s, Nielsen claimed
that he lived in his senate district in Rohnert Park, yet he
misspelled Rohnert Park on his voter registration, used a Woodland
address on court documents and newspapers couldn't find neighbors who
had ever seen him in his condo in Rohnert Park.
Nielsen lives in a million dollar mansion in Woodland, outside of our
assembly district. Postal officials confirmed that he did not have a
registered address in Gerber when the Pioneer Press first published
an article on his residency on April 2.