Despite his objections, former Assemblyman Bob Pacheco is named to Trump’s California delegate list
“The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems,†said Donald Trump on Tuesday.
Former Republican Assemblyman Bob Pacheco says he was wrongly placed on a slate of California delegates who would back Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, at the Republican National Convention this summer.
“I told the Trump campaign that I’m not endorsing him,†Pacheco said Wednesday, adding that he was “very surprised†to see his name on Trump’s delegate slate.
The news comes the day after the revelation that a Los Angeles-area white nationalist had been named a member of Trump’s slate. A Trump aide said William Johnson’s inclusion on a list of delegates submitted Monday to the California secretary of state’s office was an error.
The campaign has since said Johnson and Pacheco will be struck from the delegate rolls.
Pacheco’s case seems to be another example of the shortcomings of Trump’s campaign. When the Republican nomination race was still competitive, Trump’s lack of organization cost him delegates in states where he had trounced Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Trump continued to win races because his message resonated with voters, and his campaign was buoyed by the unprecedented amount of free media time he received. But the candidate appeared to recognize he had a problem, and in recent weeks began signing on seasoned Republican operatives.
In California, Katie Lagomarsino is Trump’s delegate coordinator. But according to public records and a person who knows her, Lagomarsino is a 22-year-old who was in the midst of studying for college finals as the delegate selection process took place. She worked briefly as an assistant at a Sacramento-based political fundraising firm.
Tim Clark, Trump’s California campaign director, said Lagomarsino does not speak to the media, and declined to discuss her background. He said Pacheco was included on one of several lists of potential delegates compiled by volunteers before Lagomarsino joined the campaign in mid- to late April.
Jim Brulte, chairman of the California Republican Party, said Pacheco signed up as a Trump delegate with the state party, which then turned over those names to the Trump campaign.
Pacheco, the mayor of Walnut, provided The Times with emails from April and May in which he repeatedly told the Trump campaign he did not want to be a delegate for the businessman-turned-reality television star.
“I am reconsidering my support for Mr. Trump,†Pacheco wrote in April, in a response to a request that he fill out a delegate application form. “Please do not include or consider me as an endorsement.â€
Clark said this email was never turned over to Lagomarsino.
On Monday, in response to an email from Lagomarsino congratulating him on being named a Trump delegate, Pacheco responded, “Please do not include me on any list of endorsement or as a delegate.â€
Pacheco, who backed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush until he dropped out of the presidential race, said he does not plan to attend the GOP convention and does not know whether he will vote for Trump in California’s June 7 primary.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do,†he said, “me, along with a lot of other people.â€
Twitter: @LATSeema
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