R. Keith Olberg

R. Keith Olberg is president of the Economic Freedom Fund, a 527 political action committee funding media buys against Democrat candidates in the 2006 congressional elections, according to the FEC Form 9 filed October 1, 2006.

Olberg, a Republican from the desert community of Victorville, served as a California Assemblyman in the 34th District from 1994 to 2000. [1][2]

As of July 2006, Olberg's wife, Delette Olberg, is "a $99,000-a-year official on the [California] Assembly GOP caucus staff." [3] She has also served as scheduling director for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. [4]

Profiles

"Prior to his election to the California State Assembly, Keith Olberg worked in the building industry." [5]

Olberg "worked with" the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, and was "a member" of the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, "managing governmental affairs" for the Legal Services Corporation in the U.S. Congress. [6]

In the 2002 election cycle, Olberg's campaign fund information states that he was a Republican candidate from California's 40th Congressional District running for the U.S. House of Representatives [7], although he was also a candidate for Secretary of State in California the same year [8].

"Olberg was born in Chicago, Illinois,and he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Bethel College in 1982 and a master’s degree in comparative politics in 1989 from the American University, and he continued his education at the Claremont Graduate School in California, earning a Doctor of Philosophy degree in constitutional law and political philosophy in 1993." [9]

On the Issues

Environmental Record

In 1996, the California League of Conservation Voters selected Olberg as the worst legislator that year:

"Assemblyman Keith Olberg, chair of the Natural Resources Committee, who told the LA Times his strategy was to send up more anti-environmental bills than the Senate could knock down. Only one (AB 3048) made it to the governor's desk, after extensive amendment."

In June 1998, Assemblyman Olberg said that the Kyoto Protocol "favored by the Clinton Administration would cause 'massive economic dislocation' in California." [10]

Homosexuality

Olberg was a scheduled speaker at the October 1996 Los Angeles conference entitled Making Sense of Homosexuality, "unanimously condemned by the Los Angeles City Council. Religious conservatives at this conference [openly propagandized] their discredited 'Ex-Gay' theory, namely that homosexuality is a curable disease." [11]

Elections: e-voting, voter fraud

When he was running for Secretary of State in 2002, Olberg pledged "to work to prevent voter fraud, introduce modern voting machinery, and require the expeditious and accurate posting of all campaign contributions on the Internet." [12]

In October 2002, LA Weekly wrote that Olberg, a "veteran Republican wonk and legislator", "would neither disgrace nor distinguish the office, but he's likely to follow the lead of his Republican predecessor in limiting voting opportunities in the name of opposing voter fraud."

External links

• "1996 Environmental Scorecard," Ecovote.org.
• Elisa Odabashian, "Concealed Danger: Who Is Really Behind the Bid to Kill The California Corporate Criminal Liability Act," ConsumersUnion.org, April 24, 1996.
• Barry Willis, "Music Business Targeted by California Assemblyman," Stereophile.com, April 15, 1998.
• "Los Angeles City Council Condemns Fundamentalist Hate Conference," Gay Today, October 26, 1998.
• House Resolution No. 77—relative to commending the Honorable Keith Olberg, California Legislature, August 14, 2000.
• "We support McPherson, Olberg, Westly," San Diego Union-Tribune, October 21, 2002.
• Greg Lucas, "Secretary of state. Electronic polling to become key priority," San Francisco Chronicle, October 27, 2002.
• Gretchen Losi, "Audit spotlight falls on politicians," Desert Dispatch, April 17, 2005.
• "Old School Corruption Could Bring Down New School Political Machine," Cactus Thorns, July 1, 2005. re California Charter Academy: "Former Assemblyman Keith Olberg was paid more than $375,000 over three years to develop an honors program for the academy but did little work to justify the pay. When Olberg was in the Assembly, [San Bernardino County Supervisor Bill] Postmus worked as district director in his High Desert office from 1994 to 1999."
• Press Release: "Governor Schwarzenegger Announces Appointments," Office of the Governor of California, January 27, 2006.
• "Decent pay still makes up for Capitol stress, politics," Capitol Weekly, July 6, 2006.