At one point 10 months ago, Troy Edgar enjoyed support from a long list of Orange County Republicans in his attempts to leave the Los Alamitos city council for higher public office.
But recent months haven't been kind to Edgar–especially after the Weekly revealed he'd doctored mandatory federal campaign disclosure reports to hide a large campaign expenditure and who illegally paid the bill.
Citing that cheating and Edgar's pro-tax increase stances, Michael J. Schroeder–a former California Republican Party chairman and Orange County political heavyweight–declared this week that he is withdrawing his endorsement.
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“After careful consideration, I have decided to withdraw my endorsement of Troy Edgar and to endorse [Edgar opponent] Travis Allen,” Schroeder said in a press statement.
Allen, an articulate Republican financial adviser, has surged in public support in recent weeks and it won't hurt to have the help of Schroeder, a cagey veteran political strategist by hobby. A theme of his campaign's is a shot at Edgar: “A business owner, not a career politician.”
According
to Schroeder, Edgar lost credibility by promising to sign a no new tax
pledge and later reneging. He also was disillusioned to learn that the
Los Alamitos mayor had supported tax increases in his city.
“I
have come to know Travis Allen and believe he would best represent us
and best protect the taxpayers from the predators of our Democratic
legislature,” said Schroeder, who is an insurance company executive.
A big question remains: Will Edgar's ethical lapses also cause Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas to withdraw his endorsement?
Edgar is feeling the pressure. He hadn't been shy about telling people
with an air of school-boy cockiness that he couldn't lose to Allen. But in recent
days, he and members of his family have poured more than $107,000 into
the race.
Go HERE to read the Weekly's exclusive news report about Edgar's campaign finance cheating.
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CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.