Pacific Strategies: Ventriloquism For Uncle Bill and The Little Kids
Sometimes its hard to tell whether certain people are stupid or lazy. Or maybe a little of both. Take, for instance, County Supervisor Bill Campbell who is currently the Chairman of the OC Children and Families Commission.
As a commissioner he has approved big PR contracts to his political pal Matthew J. Cunningham whom he also appointed to the County Parks Commission. And I mean really big contracts. And apparently free of either competition or real scrutiny.
Part of Cunningham’s job is to ghost write pro-commission “op-ed” pieces for politicians across the political spectrum who either can’t be bothered, or who are too illiterate to do it themselves. The topic of these scribblings is always the same: protect the tax revenue!
Here’s an invoice where Mr. Conservative Republican Wordsmith is wordsmithing hard for – Bill Campbell!
And looky here, we’ve uncovered the fruits of Mr. Cunningham’s labors in the OC Register.
There are some fun quotes about rigorous audits and Grand Jury approbation that come a-tumblin’ out of the old mannequin’s mouth, but these are my faves:
“I can say unequivocally that if state government emulated the prudent, sensible and farsighted operations and budgeting practices of the Children and Families Commission, there would be no state budget crisis.”
Uh, yeah, like handing out a $200K per year PR contract that enables your pal to put semi-intelligent words in your mouth for $200 an hour.
“…while our commission contracts out as many functions as possible so more dollars go toward funding services rather than bureaucracy.”
See comment above. Contracting out unnecessary PR crap for $200 an hour services like facebook updates, going to lunch with Steve Greenhut, and passing out toothbrushes. Newsflash Bill – that robs funding. Contracting out for unnecessary services is incompetent. Directing that largess to a political crony is despicable.
“Taxpayers should cast a critical eye on the idea of abolishing such county Children and Families commissions, which are locally accountable and manage their budgets responsibly…”
Uh huh. Yeah. Sure, Bill. You pass out hundreds of thousands annually for lobbying and PR most of which seems to be mysteriously directed outside Orange County. Well, Campbell also seems to be one of the masterminds behind the unintentionally hilarious Harry Sidhu for Supervisor campaign. And that, in a nutshell, really tells you all you need to know about that sawdust head.
And finally a free wordsmithing tip to the Wordsmith: when you’re going to put words in the mouth of numbskull try to avoid words like “panoply” and “unequivocally.”
Indubitably!
“No good deed goes unpunished”. Yeah Ok Billy Boy. God forbid anyone slaps your hand away from your personal cookie jar. I have an idea. Since Big Bill apparently has a conflict of interest in overseeing pubic funds going to children in need (excluding Cunningham) howsabout calling for a state investigation?
Paid to “pitch” Steele op ed?
Revise Dunn op ed into Campbell op ed?
This is so over the top regardless of who the biller is I can not believe the board of supervisors would sit idlly by and do nothing about this.
Matt Cunningham outed sex-abuse victims.
Since nobody at the OCR, The Board of Supervisors or the OC GOP care. Maybe we all oughtta start taking Jubal on on the actual FACEBOOK PAGE.
At least that way, he’ll have to do some real work.
Here’s another First 5 Commission in trouble:
Amongst other serious issues in the report link below, the Contra Costa Grand Jury recommended that First 5 Contra Costa be converted to a county department, as was Riverside just last year. Though they are not a criminal Grand Jury, they did give a laundry list of many many issues that had been brought to the Grand Jury’s attention:
“Complaints received by the 2009-2010 Grand Jury regarding the First 5 Commission alleged Board of Commissioners’ self-dealing, conflicts of interest, misappropriation of funds in the awarding of contracts, general dereliction of fiduciary duties, and unethical conduct. In addition, complaints alleged illegal or inappropriate employment practices, including discrimination, manager bias and favoritism, sexual harassment and the cover-up of such behavior. Due to the number and nature of the complaints, the Grand Jury conducted an investigation.”
access the report (#1007) here:
http://www.cc-courts.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewpage&pageid=5093
And… the situation may not be over. A Civil Grand Jury may choose to leave conclusions about illegal activities to an assessment made by the District Attorney’s office, which has 3 years or so within which to press charges.
Here’s another blog taking it to the CC First 5:
http://www.eastbaydaze.com/2010/05/first-5-praised-then-comes-under-grand.html#comment-form
at quick glance, Cunningham made close to 4k for around 20 some hours of “work” in a month. That’s frustrating due to the fact I supervised and tutored his kids for several years, paying my way through college off meager wages, as they stayed in after-school daycare daily while he supposedly toiled in his garage. My frustration is compounded by the fact that I earned a print journalism degree that has been made worthless due to these thoughtless unrestrained party mouthpieces. At least his kids were pleasant. But now that we’re on the subject, any openings? 🙂
Cunningham has annual contracts that can be mutually terminated. I believe his is coming up.
I recommend a visit to the Children and Families Commission public comments and ask for a shot at the job!
Still, gotta warn you. One of the main complaints about the Commission is that they are wasting money like this at all – regardless of who the lucky recipient is.