Dave Ellis is a seasoned veteran at influence peddling in politics. He made contributions to and ran the campaign of a San Bernardino Supervisor who then directed staff to reconsider Ellis’ client, the infamous electronic voting company Diebold, in an effort to provide them with the $13 million contract with the County.
Ellis also used his influence with local elected officials to bilk Newport Beach taxpayers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. After running the campaigns of Newport Beach candidates and councilmen, he was able to get them to approve a $458,000 contract to his firm for “public education” regarding the proposed El Toro Airport. This was so egregious that new city laws were put in place that prohibit campaign managers from raiding the city treasury for tax dollars.
Ellis has moved up now to the state level and in partnership with Steve Beazley, is quietly perpetrating the biggest land heist in Orange County history.
What is stunning is that former State Senator Dick Ackerman seems to be helping Ellis and Beazley pull this off. Ackerman and his law firm are assisting with the legal maneuvering and his firm stands to make hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.
How far back do Ackerman and Ellis go? Did Ackerman lobby the Governor to get Ellis on this board so they both could benefit financially? It’s unfortunate that the Governor’s office has been used as a pawn so that Ackerman and Ellis can benefit personally from their public appointment.
The remaining board members who might be able to revert to the old ticket policy of “as many front-row tickets as you want, any time you want” seem to be seduced by the prospect of never having to hold another open board meeting again. There is even discussion of the board being a PAID, rather than a volunteer position.
Yet, if board members really knew the depths to which Dave Ellis and Steve Beazley are sinking, they would not want to be associated with them.
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