Neeki Media Part 1 - Something for Everyone

Author’s note: Neeki Moatazedi loves the press. She loves getting her name out there, and to accommodate her, I’ve split this column into several pieces because, frankly, 4,000 words is a lot even for me. We’ll look at the inconsistency and hypocrisy of her message even as she was subject of an unfair hit piece.

Neeki Moatazedi called a press conference on Oct. 22 to escalate her war on Sonny Morper in the race for Lake Forest City Council District 2. Moatazedi was subject to two mailers, apparently mailed Oct. 17 and 19, which showed her posing before judges in a bikini for a fitness competition, referenced two Orange County Superior Court cases and one Los Angeles County Sheriff’s case in which she was included, and mocked her qualifications in a candidate statement parody that drew on her lean body with knowing how to cut the fat from a city budget.

The court cases were inaccurate representations and, coupled with a stock photo of a dark-haired woman in shackles, misrepresented Moatazedi. She was wronged.

For that, Moatazedi deserves your sympathy -- but not your sympathy vote.

Moatazedi has over the past few weeks shown herself to be a pretty good manipulator; she played the media, and the campaign to elect her over Sonny Morper is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of voters.

Much of Moatazedi’s media blitz to that point was that Morper was lying when he said he was not complicit with the hit pieces from the independent California Education Project political action committee which, it turns out, was funded by former councilman Adam Nick.

In front of regional news stations from Los Angeles, whose reach of 17.4 million far exceeds the Lake Forest city limits when it comes to damaging a person’s reputation and exploiting one's situation to raise the level of their own brand, Moatazedi delivered her message, how she had been “sexualized,” and how the forces opposing her were tearing apart Lake Forest.

The day after the Moatazedi press conference in which she called on Morper and Mayor Jim Gardner to withdraw from their races in Districts 2 and 4 because of their affiliation with the people behind the offending PAC, she was interviewed by Stan Yombo for tiny Lake Forest Community Views and News, a site that has 283 likes on Facebook. There, in a video that has no reach by comparison to the NBCs, ABCs, CBSs, KCALs, and KTLAs, Moatazedi said a couple of things that were interesting -- and scary if you're thinking of voting for her.

Yombo -- himself a candidate to replace Hamilton in the special election -- asked about the previous day’s press conference and whether she “set up the whole interview with the news.”

“No, she responded. “That’s actually been the most hurtful thing out of this process.”

Her response is that she didn’t call the press conference. Yet she was there, her supporters were there holding her signs, public speakers supporting her were there, her camera crew to film her video were there, Councilmen Dwight Robinson and Scott Voigts were there to provide sound bites for the video she was having created, and her printed media statement was being distributed there.

If she didn’t call the press conference, if she didn’t “set up the whole interview with the news,” then who did? Without question, it was her press conference called by the people trying to get her elected. She lied.

Also, she said the idea that she had called the press conference was "the most hurtful thing out of this process." She's concurrently claiming to be "sexualized," she's claiming she was inaccurately portrayed as a criminal, and yet the idea that she called a press conference to take advantage of a situation she was exploiting as much as possible is "the most hurtful thing" of all?

It didn't stop there, and this is where voters really need to think about whether they should trust Moatazedi with their vote.

Yombo asked Moatazedi if she still wanted Morper to resign.

“After realizing how emphatic he was about not knowing, even though he sent me an email the night before, I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt,” Moatazedi said. “The thing is there is still an association with the people behind the man. That’s the thing, he’s still associated and endorsed with someone who works closely with that contractor, Bob Schuman of the California Education Project. Those are the people who sent out those fliers.”

So, before a television audience with a reach of 17.4 million, Moatazedi was calling for Morper and Gardner to step down. Before a tiny internet audience the next day, she admitted she may have been wrong.

Something similar to this played out a couple of years ago, and it seems to be taken right out of Councilman Dwight Robinson's playbook. Robinson, who appears to be Moatazedi’s mentor but certainly an ardent supporter, contributed to an independent PAC opposed to his recall and sat idly by as it disparaged then-Councilman Adam Nick with lies and half-truths, and even called citizens thugs and pedophiles; it was only after the polls closed that Robinson admitted the smear campaign was “over the top.” The important takeaway is that Robinson waited until he had gained full benefit of the smear campaign before admonishing the racist-toned literature.

Moatazedi has done the same thing. After railing against Morper for five days while he did everything possible to disavow the content of the mailers against his opponent, including a private email to her within an hour of finding out about the offending mailer and calling it offensive on already-televised newscasts for KCBS and KCAL, she continued to pile on that he was guilty of wronging her. Moatazedi, even when she decided to give Morper “the benefit of the doubt,” still added the caveat that Morper was “endorsed with someone who works closely with that contractor” even though she was also endorsed by Robinson, who was guilty of the same thing.

About the same time the mailers dropped, an independent PAC supporting Moatazedi released a mailer that claimed Moatazedi was on "the OCTA oversight committee" working to improve traffic in Lake Forest; the committee was fictional. In the days since, another independent PAC said she was appointed to the Taxpayers Oversight Committee of the Orange County Transit Authority (the committee's correct name), although Moatazedi wasn't “appointed,” her name was pulled out of a fish bowl; additionally, she declined the “appointment” so she could instead run for city council because committee members weren't allowed to hold or run for elected office. In a city where traffic is a big issue, Moatazedi has not worked at all to fix the city’s traffic problems, on her own or through any oversight committee with the OCTA, nor has she lifted a finger to correct the falsehoods projected by the campaign to exaggerate her credentials to get her elected.

It’s a classic case of do as I say, not as I do.

Taking a look at the Moatazedi press conference and campaign, her hands aren’t clean. Not by a long shot.

THE PRESS CONFERENCE

Moatazedi, with Councilman Dwight Robinson at her shoulder and Councilman Scott Voigts in attendance to provide sound bites for a video she was having created, was also supported at her press conference by Carolyn Cavecche, former mayor and city councilwoman in the City of Orange; Cavecche worked on her city council alongside Fred Whitaker, the OC GOP chairman who has meddled in Lake Forest since 2016, spreading lies and half-truths on the GOP dime about Nick, deflecting on him while ignoring the record of the councilmen who were being recalled.

Nick was there too, briefly, before being asked to leave by Morper, who said he didn’t want any help from 2012’s leading vote-getter, but who lost to Robinson by 99 votes in 2016 after Robinson and Voigts helped fund an 18-month smear campaign against Nick.

For good measure, councilwoman Leah Basile also showed up after she heard what was going on and took video with her phone; good thing, too, as she captured video that the Moatazedi side initially claimed showed a Morper supporter attacking a Moatazedi supporter, though it’s clear that wasn’t the case.

NICK WAS INVOLVED

Nick also sent out a press release that same Monday “to absolve a decent and qualified candidate … of any wrongdoing or even the perception of impropriety by him in connection to the mailers.”

“The most important take-away from this statement is that MR. MORPER HAD NO PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF THE SAID MAILERS WHATSOEVER,” Nick wrote.

Nick’s statement explained that he contracted with California Education Project to help Morper win election in District 2, but contractually was “not permitted to micro-manage” the campaign. He said he at the time he had not made any financial contribution to the PAC headed by Bob Schuman, but “shall do so if and when I am requested.” Forms have since shown financial contribution.

Nick also stressed that he offered financial assistance to Morper’s campaign prior to his filing papers “along with the statement that I shall never ask or want him to vote a certain way on any matter and that I just wanted that he continued to be the same decent, loving man I’ve known him to be. Mr. Morper kindly declined, which I personally applaud him for.”

Nick had also removed signs supporting Morper at his gas station and store, per Morper’s request, a fact apparently lost on Moatazedi’s supporters given their shouts of disruption.

MORPER CLAIMED INNOCENCE

Morper, too, was on-hand and managed to attract some attention from media off to the side. He continued to disavow knowledge of the mailers and distance himself from Nick. He also provided a timeline for his response to the mailers, which brought some of Moatazedi’s statement into question, and reiterated his view that development in Lake Forest needed to be smart while mitigating traffic woes and overcrowded classrooms rather than “voting in lockstep” with Robinson and Voigts for the first project that comes along, a reference to the proposed 800 homes to be built on the Nakase Brothers Nursery property by developer Toll Brothers.

Morper said within an hour of learning of the mailers on Oct. 17, he alerted Moatazedi of their existence. He provided a copy of that email to this reporter. With a timestamp of 8:54 p.m., Morper wrote:

“Just within the last few minutes I received a copy of a sleazy flyer that is terrible. I am pictured with Leah Basile and you are (allegedly) pictured, too. The content about you is deplorable. I am compared in favorable terms. I certainly had nothing to do with it and will be making a statement on my Facebook page denouncing it. I further will report it since it appears to have been sent by mail to a couple who alerted me. I am offended, too. I assure you I have nothing to do with it in any way shape or form. As the father of a lady about your age, I am disgusted to think someone has stooped to this.”

Moatazedi replied 42 minutes later:

“I appreciate you alerting me to this and giving me a heads up. Certainly I would not allow or promote anything disparaging especially about myself. Thanks for letting me know.”

While addressing media, Morper continued to reiterate he was the most qualified candidate, and with 40 years of residency in Lake Forest, he certainly has the institutional knowledge that his opponent doesn’t. One of his goals, he said, is to have traffic flow continuously from Foothill Ranch to Interstate 5 without stopping.

He also added that he had been asked by Robinson to withdraw from the race, and that Robinson offered to resign if Morper withdrew. Facebook posts during the week were indicative that Robinson was having difficult a time.

When asked if he made that offer to Morper, Robinson responded: "I'm not going to answer that question." Very clearly, it was not a denial. If true, it was also illegal.

It may have been a press conference unlike any held in Lake Forest history. There was something for everyone.