Column: Wagging tongues lead to shaking heads in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa

There’s an old saying, “Loose lips sink ships.”

Take a recently surfaced audio tape, where Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) is overheard at a 2016 political fundraiser in Newport Beach calling Trump a “mean, nasty SOB.”

The tape is posted on Youtube and Politico reported on the event as well.

Listening to the tape, it’s clear Rohrabacher wasn’t a Trump fan, which I found a bit odd since in February 2016, when former O.C. Republican Party Chairman Scott Baugh first announced his plans to run for Rohrabacher’s seat, he did so because Rohrabacher said if a Republican president was elected he could get a “top-level appointment” and vacate his seat.

Trump was the Republican frontrunner then, so did Rohrabacher really think he’d get a high-level appointment from someone he was publicly dissing?

Of course, Rohrabacher never got an appointment and remains in his congressional seat, which is now being challenged by Baugh.

I find it hard to believe in the gossipy atmosphere of politics that this recording didn’t make the rounds in political circles in 2016.

But now that it’s surfaced, whether it will have any impact for either Baugh or Rohrabacher in the 48th Congressional District race remains to be seen.

I followed up this week with Baugh regarding the April 23 letters he and some OC Republican Central Committee members wrote to OC GOP Chair Fred Whitaker asking for “an ethics investigation into the false, misleading, defamatory and distorted information used by Dana Rohrabacher’s campaign committee and Congressman Rohrabacher himself,” against Baugh.

“I’m told that there is likely to be a hearing this week,” Baugh says, adding that’ll keep me posted.

It’ll be interesting to see what develops as the war of words escalates between these candidates with the June primary nearing.

Loose lips may also have gotten Newport Councilman Jeff Herdman in a bit of hot water.

Herdman shared personal opinions from his city email address about Mayor Marshall Duffield, Councilmen Kevin Muldoon and Scott Peotter and why he believes they should be voted out of office for what he termed behind-the-scenes dealings in convincing City Manager Dave Kiff to retire before the end of his contract.

Herdman urged support for new council candidates Joy Brenner and my neighbor and friend Tim Stoaks as replacements for Peotter and Duffield, respectively.

The dust-up is over whether Herdman violated California Government Code 8314, which bans elected local officials from using public resources for campaign activities — as he did indeed urge people to vote for the two candidates he endorsed.

But it’s important to read the code — and consider its intention.

“‘Personal purpose’ means those activities the purpose of which is for personal enjoyment, private gain or advantage, or an outside endeavor not related to state business. ‘Personal purpose’ does not include the incidental and minimal use of public resources, such as equipment or office space, for personal purposes, including an occasional telephone call.’”

Then there’s “Campaign activity,” which “means an activity constituting a contribution as defined in Section 82015 or an expenditure as defined in Section 82025. “Campaign activity” does not include the incidental and minimal use of public resources, such as equipment or office space, for campaign purposes, including the referral of unsolicited political mail, telephone calls, and visitors to private political entities.”

“Use,” under the code, means “a use of public resources, which is substantial enough to result in a gain or advantage to the user or a loss to the state or any local agency for which a monetary value may be estimated.”

Though Herdman probably shouldn’t have named candidates he supported in his emails critical of Muldoon, Peotter and Duffield, at best his use of an email address was, at least in my estimation, “minimal use” of city services or property.

Trying to pin a code violation on him here is a stretch at best. Especially when you consider the whole Kiff saga.

It’s laughable they think this will alter public perception of them in this deal.

And when Duffield told the Daily Pilot he was “disappointed with the current discord toward and within the council” and hopes “it all calms down” and “it’s not fun. Not fun at all,” What did he expect?

With his actions causing the discord in the first place, did Duffield really expect some laughs and a good time from all of this?

If fun is what he’s looking for, he’s certainly in the wrong job.

BARBARA VENEZIA is an opinion columnist writing political and social commentary since 2007. She can be reached at bvontv1@gmail.com