When he decided to run for Anaheim City Council at the beginning of the year, James Vanderbilt told both Mayor Pro Tem Kris Murray and Councilwoman Gail Eastman that he was mainly running to build up name ID, that he thought they’d done a good job and he wasn’t going to attack them.
So much for promises.
Yesterday, this mailer from Vanderbilt landed in voter mail boxes and in truth, Vanderbilt broke that promise “no attacks” pledge early in his campaign):
In the mailer, Vanderbilt tries to contrast himself with Kris Murray on Measure N by claiming she “Placed Measure N on the November 4 ballot to transfer utility fee surplus to the general fund by describing it as a “language update.”
There’s no other way to say it: Vanderbilt is lying. I very clearly remember watching that vote: both Kris Murray and Tom Tait voted against placing Measure N on the ballot. I even checked the minutes of the July 22 meeting where the vote took place, just the be certain I wasn’t mistaken.
As Anaheim Insider pointed out yesterday, the Tait campaign posted on Facebook that Anaheim voters need to replace Kris Murray and Gail Eastman with “a new, honest council.” That’s typical of the kind of rhetoric wafting out from Team Tait. How does the mayor square that with this falsehood being promoted by Vanderbilt? Either Vanderbilt didn’t bother verifying his claim (something easily done) or he knew it wasn’t true and made the false claim anyway.
Anaheim Blog 
9 comments
Comments feed for this article
October 29, 2014 at 9:42 am
City Employee
Vanderbilt is also lying about either of them increasing pension liabilities in Anaheim. Council members Eastman and Murray voted to reduce pensions for all five, full time bargaining units in Anaheim – Police Management, Police, Fire, AMEA (city’s largest employee group) and IBEW – bringing all employee contributions to 12 percent and exceeding the state’s new pension reform mandates and schedules for adoption. Mayor Tait voted for the AMEA and IBEW agreements which are the same contribution formulas as police and fire. So any claim that Mayor Tait wanted a higher formula could only apply to police and fire. He did not raise any objections to the largest group of employees, AMEA, or one of our smaller units IBEW. Any resident can check the facts at (http://www.anaheim.net/articlenew2222.asp?id=4966).
What’s also not been widely reported is that Mayor Tait voted to spike pensions when he previously served as a member of the City Council. It doesn’t escape the staff’s attention that he is falsely attacking his colleagues on this issue when they have reduced the pension burden they inherited from a previous council that Mayor Tait served on.
October 29, 2014 at 10:30 am
Anaheim Jack
Easy fact check skipped resulting in an embarrassing mistake that will go unanswered for by the perp… attack against the two women candidates… for my money this sounds like Team Tait. I wonder if Vanderbilt even saw it before it showed up in his mailbox
October 29, 2014 at 10:43 am
Proud Colonist
This came from his campaign and his alone – not a PAC and not funded by Tait. If he is not reviewing his own mail before it goes, then he is not fit for duty at any level of office.
October 29, 2014 at 1:31 pm
Anon
Lawsuit
October 29, 2014 at 3:02 pm
Clown Car Hijinx
My guess is he knew – or his campaign manager knew – EXACTLY what they were doing. Drop a bald face lie at a moment when no mail can refute it and the worst that could happen is he’s a little shamed faced later. Whoops, sorry!
I find it really, really sad that this was done by him personally… to know that this “military veteran” is not above wrapping himself in the flag then dishonoring himself like this is just terrible.
October 29, 2014 at 7:45 pm
Anaheim Insider
As I’ve said already, this is personality cult behavior. The Tait gang believes anything they do, including lying, is permissible because Tom Tait is so virtuous and their cause is holy. Tait and his campaign team knew full well they were lying about Murray’s vote on Measure N, but they said it anyway. Tait was sitting next to Murray when she voted with him against putting Measure N on the ballot,
Tait is complicit in Vanderbilt’s dishonesty.
October 29, 2014 at 9:51 pm
Anon
Don’t they use the same campaign consultant?
October 30, 2014 at 8:13 am
Colony Observer
Really shameful by Vanderbilt. It’s not like that vote on Measure N is open to interpretation. He and his consultants CHOSE to lie about Murray’s vote, plain and simple.
October 31, 2014 at 8:39 am
Stand for Anaheim
I wish I could say I am surprised but that blatant dishonesty and lies is consistent with Tait, Lewis and Holder.