July 10, 2009

How Much Land Underneath Your Town Do the Mormons Own?

Settle in for a long one, folks — we’re back to the mindboggling web of connections that comprise the powerhouse of Mormons, money, and marriage inequality.

So, I’ve not been blogging the past few days, partly because I had to attend to some business. I’ll probably end up telling you about it, but not today; for one thing, the deal is not signed yet. But it’s a worthy story, because I found myself in a situation I wasn’t expecting: I’m all ready to sign onto something that promises to be very lucrative (and very stable), when I find out that the lawyer who will (potentially) be handling the deal is — you guessed it — a Mormon. And an openly admitted conservative one at that.

Can you hear the sound of my hand smacking my forehead from where you’re sitting?

I have no record of this lawyer donating to Prop H8, but at least one of his partners did, and, from his unusual name, I strongly suspect three or fours of his relatives did. But that doesn’t even matter; there is no way I will part with even one penny that will presumably be tithed to the Mormon church.

In the end, I’ll probably sign on, but only if I can get a different lawyer (and I do have a one in mind) to handle the paperwork. Otherwise, AFAIC, the whole thing is off. It’s that simple.

So, that’s part of the reason I’ve been MIA this week. The rest of the reason: Yep, I’m still working on the next installment of Base8. It will be at least a few days until I’m close to finishing the Education category. Just dealing with all the donors from Brigham Young University alone will be a nightmare — and that’s after I make sure I have them all identified in the first place; between misspellings and what I am sure are deliberate “misspellings” designed to throw off-track anyone like me who wants to do some digging, I’m always turning up another batch of donors I hadn’t recognized before.

What really slows me down, however, is the occasion — the frequent occasion — of working on a seemingly innocuous record which, once I start the search, turns up a complex web of connections I didn’t see coming.

Like today.

So, I’m looking for the business address (I try never to reveal a home address, unless that is the business address) of a piano teacher in my own town. And what I turn up makes my head spin.

Following is the entire entry as it will appear in Base8 once I release the Education section. Mind you, I don’t know the exact connection of this piano teacher to either of the “Encore Staging” companies I found during my search (although the likelihood is clear as day), but it did lead me to discover some disturbing facts (which I am convinced represent just the tip of a very large iceberg) about a piece of business property in my town — and led me to the question: “Just how much land underneath my town do the Mormons own?”

Encore Staging, LLC

There’s no “Encore Stagging, LLC” in Los Altos (or anywhere else), of course. What we did find:

California Secretary of State:

LP/LLC
ENCORE STAGING, LLC
Number: 200717410005
Date Filed: 6/20/2007
Status: active
Jurisdiction: CALIFORNIA
Address
727 BRENTWOOD PL
LOS ALTOS, CA 94024
Agent for Service of Process
DAVID L LOWE
FOUR MAIN ST STE 220
LOS ALTOS, CA 94022

First things first: Who’s at “727 Brentwood Pl”? A quick Google search turns up this domain record:

domain: mattandmichael.com
owner: Matthew Taylor
organization: Mattco Ind
email: matt29taylor@gmail.com
address: 727 Brentwood PL
city: Los Altos
postal-code: 94024
country: US
phone: +1.6509644552
admin-c: CCOM-447066 matt29taylor@gmail.com
tech-c: CCOM-447066 matt29taylor@gmail.com
billing-c: CCOM-447066 matt29taylor@gmail.com
. . .
created: 2003-08-04 01:00:27 UTC
modified: 2008-04-15 10:42:12 UTC
expires: 2009-08-04 01:00:07 UTC

contact-hdl: CCOM-447066
person: Matthew Taylor
organization: Mattco Ind
email: matt29taylor@gmail.com
address: 727 Brentwood PL
city: Los Altos
postal-code: 94024
country: US
phone: +1.6509644552

www.mattandmichael.com redirects to a MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/holmesskillet, which tells us:

“Our server has crashed and the website mattandmichael.com is temporarily down.”

Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has an archive; the latest version is from 2007:

“Matthew Taylor currently works and lives in Los Altos CA where he also aspires to finish school and move to CA permanantly. In 2000-2002 he served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the islands of Micronesia. Previous to his missionary service he was involved with the garage band: Pop Sky, during which time they produced their album: “User Friendly.” In his spare time, Matt enjoys baseball, going to the gym and writing music.”

We have no record for Matthew Taylor / Matt & Michael / “Mattco Ind”; all we know is this is a young (according to his MySpace page, 28-year-old) Mormon. But his name will come up again.

Next: David L. Lowe (David Leishman Lowe) is an attorney, who donated to Prop H8; his Base8 entry (in Legal Services >> Lawyers >> California >> Santa Clara County) reads:

PROTECTMARRIAGE.COM (ANTI-GAY)
DAVID LOWE - SELF/ATTORNEY
LOS ALTOS CA 94022-2931
08/19/08 - $2,000.00 - 1364931-INC45783

Mormon; BYU.

Not surprisingly, the all-Mormon law office of Packard, Packard & Johnson (q.v.) is located at 4 Main Street #200 — and so is Four Main Street Associates, which, according to the Los Altos Village Association, is the property manager of 4 Main Street. And look at the email address contact for Four Main Street Associates:

Four Main Street Associates
4 Main Street, Suite 200
Los Altos 94022
947-7300
Fax: 947-7301
rdpackard@packard.com

That’s Ron Packard, of Packard, Packard & Johnson — Los Altos City Council member, past (and probably future) mayor of Los Altos, and sworn enemy of equality. (See the Packard, Packard & Johnson entry for details).

Meanwhile, the property records on 4 Main Street, Los Altos, reveal even more Mormon connections:

From Utah County, Utah:

Document Detail
Entry #: 17517-2006
Recorded: 2/13/2006 3:31:58 PM Pages: 2
Instrument Date: 2/2/2006 Consideration:$10.00
Kind of Inst: WD - WARRANTY DEED
Fees:$12.00
Rec Party: LOWE, DAVID L
Mail Party: DELIVERED
Mail Address:
Tax Address: FOUR MAIN STREET SUITE 220 LOS ALTOS, CA 94022
Grantor(s):
CARMACK, PHILIP
CARMACK, PHILIP J
CARMACK, BROOKE
CARMACK, BROOKE A
Grantee(s):
CARMACK, PHILIP J TEE
CARMACK, BROOKE A TEE
Releases:
Abbv Legal Desc:
Section 36 Township 6S Range 2E

And here, in Base8, is Philip J. Carmack, Nvidia Senior Vice President, Mobile Business Unit, and his wife — who are, of course, Mormon — and who between them contributed a whopping $25,000 to Prop H8:

PROTECTMARRIAGE.COM (ANTI-GAY)
PHILIP CARMACK - EXEC
NVIDIA
SANTA CLARA CA 95051-5638
08/19/08 - $10,000.00 - 1364931-INC45750

PROTECTMARRIAGE.COM (ANTI-GAY)
BROOKE CARMACK - HOMEMAKER
SANTA CLARA CA 95051-5638
10/05/08 - $15,000.00 - 1369259-INC96459

Finally, there is also a now-dormant California corporation, “Encore Staging, Inc.” (encorestaging.com); California Secretary of State:

Corporation
ENCORE STAGING, INC.
Number: C2339209
Date Filed: 3/12/2001
Status: suspended
Jurisdiction: California
Address
19118 CHINOOK CT
MORGAN HILL, CA 95037
Agent for Service of Process
BRIAN R CALL
19118 CHINOOK CT
MORGAN HILL, CA 95037

…which doesn’t look like much at first glance, until you see the WHOIS record for encorestaging.com:

Registrant:
Brian Call
1366 Arlington Dr.
Salt Lake City, UT 84103
US
Email: brianrcall@yahoo.com
. . .
Administrative Contact:
Brian Call
1011 Alegre Ave.
Los Altos, CA 94024
US
Phone: 650-773-3594
Email: brianrcall@yahoo.com

It just keeps getting deeper and deeper.

Anyway, here’s the original Prop H8 donor record that led us to all these discoveries:

PROTECTMARRIAGE.COM (ANTI-GAY)
JANE TAYLOR - PIANO TEACHER
ENCORE STAGGING, LLC
LOS ALTOS CA 94024-5492
08/24/08 - $1,000.00 - 1364931-INC49456

…for whom, ironically enough, we can’t get a definite ID… although it appears clear as crystal that Jane Taylor is connected to Matthew Taylor. We assume husband-and-wife. We don’t know… yet.