My Council Speech from Tonight
I really don’t have much to say that I haven’t said at this dais before, or which hasn’t been reported by local media such as the Voice of OC.
It’s my opinion that this whole process has been riddled with malfeasance and corruption since the get-go. Yes Councilmember Zahra, there is plenty of blame to go around and money is an issue but that doesn’t excuse the way the city has handled this issue including changing our municipal code on election day.
Tonight’s issue has been so mired in the muck that even after you directed staff to reach out to the Neighbors United for Fullerton to have them change their meeting agenda and NUFF was gracious enough to accommodate your last minute favor – two of you snubbed them, disrespected the citizens, abdicated your moral authority on even the pretense of openness and transparency and you insulted all of the people who put themselves up for consideration.
I know about the lobbying by power brokers and the behind the scenes closed door meetings on both sides of the aisle as you preen and haggle to get your anointed pick onto the dais.
It was obvious a month ago who was the favorite before we the people even knew how the process would play out legally. That’s how baked into the cake the corruption and dishonesty is in Fullerton.
But I’m here to dare you to be better than you think you can be and better than you have been in the past. I’m here to dare you to be open and honest and to give the people a chance to vote for their own representation with a special election.
Regarding cost, It may have been hard to look at a struggling mother and explain where this $400,000 might be spent but as a struggling father of 3 I ask if you looked her in the face and explained why 70+% of our general fund goes to salaries and pensions to support people to do jobs we then don’t have the funds to complete – such as our aging infrastructure including that dark park?
If the cost is truly too much to bear then I can offer you a compromise. Everybody who tunes into these meetings knows that Whitaker doesn’t like me because I ran in the Newman recall instead of supporting him. Silva doesn’t like me for calling him out both here and on the FFFF blog time and again. Fitzgerald – well that list to too long to recount here but suffice it to say she and I won’t be getting tea anytime soon. And Zahra – he’ll learn if he hasn’t already.
I’m the one guy none of you wants up on that dais. I’m a “chronic malcontent”, I pick on everybody in power, I don’t smile enough and I have this beard. I have it on good authority that this beard alone disqualifies me with half of the city.
And all of that means that I can’t win reelection. I obviously won’t be tightly allied with any of you so you’ll have to compromise and work together to find solutions that aren’t one-sided nonsense and best of all my blogging by virtue of the brown act will all but need to cease and who of you wouldn’t see that as a bonus?
You know I’ve read the budget, you know I’m well versed in city issues and oh who are we kidding here – even if I was the best candidate this was done before it started. I didn’t throw my name in because I wanted the position – I put my name in to highlight the corruption and ridiculousness of this travesty of a process. The process ended up being worse than I anticipated so my goals were on point.
In summation I dare you to be better than yourselves. To actually embrace openness and transparency and to give the people the voice that you’ve been trying so hard to deny them.
Dark park?
You would have had to have heard Zahra’s opening comments for the context on that as I wrote this from the audience while awaiting my turn to speak.
Ok. Which park?
Richman Park.
Thank you Kirk
Corruption, murkiness, lack of transparency runs deep in this city. Somebody will always have someone’s back , somebody will always have “a connection”, everything will always be rigged ….. and, so on and so forth. It’s why our quaint little city is quickly changing and always feel “ dirty”. Meanwhile while corruption is running deep in City Hall and with Fullerton pd….. all of our high schools drug probably is continuing to get worse. So much that they are now bringing in drug sniffing dogs to our quaint little Fullerton high schools. You see lack of transparency runs deep with our high school administrators too and instead of addressing a out of control drug problem at the schools , more specifically Fullerton HS – cocaine, ecstasy, Xanax, weed, wax pens, etc) they choose to keep parents and community in the dark too. Don’t mind the drug sniffing dogs on campus people….. nothing to see here either. Three ring circus going on in Fullerton and its only getting worse. U hauls carrying drugs, our city skate parks over ran with drug dealers , our city over ran with homeless…. we need big changes and real leadership who are able to get this city back to where it needs to be.
Add the worst roads ever to the list. With the recent rains I’m pretty sure the streets, potholes, etc. are worse then ever….. if that’s even possible! Crime is high too. Who is leading , taking charge of Fullerton.l!? Complete joke already! We can’t get anything done in this city because of the corruption, bickering, high officials in the news, and all the other embarrassing things coming out of City Hall and the police dept. Come on already!
Well, that was a waste of everyone’s time. The fumbling on the dais while they made the rules up as they went along was particularly embarrassing.
Yes, democracy died in Fullerton last night. I am not one to believe in conspiracies, but the 3-1 vote for Flory was predicted by all as soon as there was serious talk of an appointment.
I feel sorry for the 20+ applicants who were led through the dog and pony show believing that their merits and experience would lead to their appointments.
A friend of mine was one of the applicants, and I chastised him for his willingness to participate in the charade. I wonder how he feels this morning?
Sebourn should also feel pretty stupid. After being rejected by the voters, he should have had the dignity to stay out of it.
Most galling was Jan Flory’s arrogance. “I really thought I would be the only applicant.” “I thought I could help.”
I was an initial supporter of Jennifer Fitzgerald. I thought her a pro-business moderate Republican.
Her collusion in returning Flory to the council in such an undemocratic manner was the final blow. I would not vote for her for dog catcher.
Flory certainly owns her part in the mess that Fullerton finds itself in: Revolving police chiefs, the worst roads in the county, unfounded pensions, and on and on.
The only interesting thing that came out of last nights fiasco was that we can expect a spirited run in the 2nd district in 2020.
I meant unfunded pensions. Damn spellcheck.
I am leaving my hometown of nearly 40 years this spring. While the political climate in Fullerton was not the primary reason, I cannot say that it didn’t factor into our decision. We are dismayed by the management of this city, the cronyism, and the nasty politics. And we can see the direction the city is going in regards to absorbing more than its fair share of the county homeless problem, not addressing pension concerns, etc. This latest charade by the Council confirms my resolve that leaving is the right thing to do.