PALM SPRINGS —  Saying his approach of “seek-and-destroy” was not compatible with his style, Alfie Pettit, a candidate in District 3, has parted ways with the often-bombastic Randall “Randy” Economy who served as Pettit’s campaign consultant, Pettit confirmed for Uken Report.

The two parted ways several weeks ago as evidenced by a decidedly different approach and tenor in Pettit’s campaign.

Pettit Severs Ties with Campaign Consultant

Randy Economy

“Alfie should stick with what he knows best, being a Drag Queen and entertainer,” Economy, a conservative, told Uken Report.” He has little or no concept of how municipal government works.  I resigned from his campaign several weeks ago and I have no further comment.”

There were issues and missteps almost from the moment Pettit, a liberal drag queen performer, announced his candidacy.

First, Pettit purchased a flattering front-page story of himself in a local weekly arts and entertainment publication for $1,500, which could potentially violate state election law. The story failed to carry a disclaimer saying the candidate paid for it.

The Fair Political Practices Commission’s website refers questions about newspaper advertisements to the Elections Code.

The Elections Code requires newspaper advertisements to “bear on each surface or page thereof … the words ‘Paid Political Advertisement/” The print edition of the publication did not include the disclaimer. It later added it on the electronic version.

Then, shortly after Pettit announced his candidacy, Economy filed an exhaustive public records request on Pettit’s behalf seeking all cell phone records and text messages from City Councilmember Geoff Kors’ city-owned cell phone.

The Freedom of Information request sought the records from Kors’ phone for the years 2015 through June 18, 2019. This is the day Economy filed the request with City Clerk Anthony Mejia.

Pettit is challenging Kors in District 3 along with Michael Dilger.

Kors, elected to serve a four-year term on the City Council in November 2015, is poised to become mayor in December when the City Council begins to rotate the position among City Councilmembers.

Pettit Severs Ties with Campaign Consultant

Alfie Pettit

“(The) approach of ‘seek-and-destroy’ he employed  from his days as an investigative reporter just wasn’t compatible with my style,” Pettit told Uken Report. “Although I am not shy about pointing out hypocrisy and deceit when campaigning, my campaign was to take the high road and was stated in our first press release the campaign issued.”

Economy immediately submitted a request for information to the City Clerk for records pertaining to Kors and longtime City Manager David H. Ready.

Economy’s approach was not about Pettit’s campaign for City Council in District 3, Pettit claimed. Instead, he had an attitude of “we-are-going-to-get-these-guys” attitude, which is where he expended much of his energy, Pettit alleged.

The results of the public information inquiries are currently in Economy’s possession, Pettit claims.

“I did not review any of them,” Pettit claims. “He was wishy-washy about their content and always on to the next tactic to create havoc.”

Economy is a former investigative journalist. He is now founder and CEO of Hot Water Studios, allegedly named because the subjects of his investigations tend to land in “hot water.”

“Randy touted himself as having run over 400 campaigns for Democrats, Republicans and Independents,” Pettit alleged. “I expected him to know all about form filings and reports to be submitted. He said, ‘I got this.’ He almost missed a critical filing of form 400. Randy said he would take charge of everything, including the signatures acquisition for qualification for the ballot.”

Pettit was in Vancouver, Wash., for a few days dealing with his father’s declining health, which has been well-documented on his Facebook page.

“When I returned, I quickly realized Randy had been doing absolutely nothing,” Pettit alleged. “My personal team who Randy had not included in anything, and who he had had personal confrontations with on several occasions, jumped in and got me qualified for the ballot.”

Between Jan. 1, 2019 and June 30, 2019, Pettit paid Economy $2,000 for consulting services, according to his Campaign Disclosure Statement.

“The final straw was an article I asked him to write and publish about Kors included an insensitive and bigoted remark about Kors and the Jewish community, Pettit claimed. “I am positive he did this intentionally, although he said that he had no idea the word was offensive. It resulted in a letter to the editor in the Desert Sun written by Ginny Foat”s spouse Pam (Genevrino).  This is exactly the kind of response he loves to create. Chaos and distraction.”

Pettit was coming under fire on some social media pages for being “too negative.”

So, he is gone and the morning after his departure from the campaign, Economy posted on Facebook “Go Trump,” Pettit claimed.

“It seems he wanted to hurt my campaign rather than help it,” Pettit alleged.

His mother was a constant interference, Pettit claimed. After Pettit hired Economy, he allegedly said, “We have to downplay the drag thing.”

“Randy wanted  no drag queen campaign stops,” Pettit alleged. “He bought me a blue blazer to make me more conservative. I am what I am and plan to stay that way through the remainder of the campaign for District 3.”

 

 

Image Sources

  • Randy Economy: Facebook
  • Alfie Pettit: Alfie Pettit
  • Political Storm: Shutterstock