For months now I've been sickened by Dana Rohrabacher's dishonesty and hypocrisy. See, he supports this thing called the Foothill-South Toll Road extension, which would bisect the inland San Onofre State Beach and threatens Trestles Beach. It's the entire impetus of the Save Trestles campaign, geared towards protecting one of the finest surf breaks on the planet.
The thing is, Dana markets himself as a surfer. His website is even called
http://www.surfdana.com. As a surfer pal of mine said when he saw it, "Damn, could he have found a smaller wave?" You'll have to click the link to get the joke.
But now Dana's gone and one-upped himself. One of his former aides, Jeffrey Ray Nielsen, has been accused of serially molesting young boys. Naturally, Dana has announced that he and Jeff were never friends and he never knew anything about Jeff's private life. His previous actions state otherwise, according to uber-reporter R. Scott Moxley.
In a posting on OC Weekly's Staff Blog, The Blotter, Scott picks up on two Rohrabacher lies in a local paper, the OC Register(
http://www.ocregister.com/...), contrasting them with the true state of affairs (as reported in past articles in the Weekly)
(
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/...)
The Congressman lied in the "newspaper" article, not once but twice:
Fairy Tale #1: Rohrabacher said Nielsen worked for him for a few months after Nielsen graduated from college.
Reality: Rohrabacher handpicked Nielsen to relocate from Orange County to Virginia and serve as his congressional aide in D.C. While working for Rohrabacher for more than half a year, Nielsen allegedly spent his spare time molesting a 7th-grade boy.
Fairy Tale #2: Rohrabacher said he had no idea what Nielsen did in his personal life.
Reality: Rohrabacher vouched for Nielsen's character in a personal letter of recommendation he wrote to get his hand-picked pal into USC's law school.
Oddly, both of these facts were missing from the Reg story. However, they are contained in previous articles I've written about the Nielsen case, a case which the DA's office-a place where Nielsen once worked-has allowed to stall for 42 months without a trial.
There you have it. Rarely do we get a clearer picture of an elected official lying about his personal relationships in order to protect his political career. I'd pity Jeff for his lost friendships, except I don't find it easy to pity suspected serial child molesters. Maybe if it was a one-time thing ... nah, probably not then either.
All that's left to do is give a big shout-out to Rohrabacher's opponent in the upcoming, Jim Brandt! Go Jimbo!