The Dope Lobbyist
We here at FFFF have never thought of Jesus Quirk Silva as a very bright fellow, but he seems to have learned at least one thing on the Fullerton City Council. And that lesson came courtesy of former councilwoman-for-hire, Jennifer Fitzgerald.
That lesson is simple: it’s more fun to try to peddle influence based on your elected position than it is to hold down a day job.
And so Mr. Quirk Silva has embarked on a new potential career path – away from teaching multiplication to slack-jawed pre-pubescents, and into the exiting realm of lobbying local governments.
Quirk Silva’s “employer” is Adan Ortega, of Ortega Associates, who you may remember as the desperate Fullerton MWD director who was replaced by Fred Jung, and who then tried to get appointed as a representative from the city of San Fernando.
I fully expect Quirk-Silva to attempt to follow in the footsteps of Fitzgerald, although he can barely utter a coherent sentence.
Now why does any of this matter, really? Because government ought to be about governing, not about being a bagman between special interests, other lobbyists, developers, and your colleagues on local boards and councils.
As a Fullerton Councilman, Quirk Silva doesn’t have that much juice, but he could be pulled and persuaded very easily. More importantly, his wife, Sharon Quirk Silva, is a state Assemblywoman, and as such actually does command respect for how she might be able to move something along in Sacramento.
And now back to Ortega. FFFF sources have indicated that he was attempting to break into the legalized marijuana biz here in Fullerton as a lobbyist, but got caught up in the interminable incompetence of the last city council, and the reluctance of the new council to go down the happy MJ trail. The same sources suggest that a cartel of cannabis interests from Long Beach is still very interested in reviving the issue in Fullerton.
The Jesus has been a long-time, big-time cheerleader for legalized dispensaries in Fullerton, so there are several loose strings as yet not quite tied together.
When they are, FFFF will be sure to let you know.
Dispensaries in Fullerton are not the problem. The *locations* of the dispensaries are.
Keep them in industrial areas and there’s probably not much opposition. The last plan enabling dispensaries WAY too close to residential neighborhoods was offensive. We could have literally had one across our back fence with people parking in front of our residential property.
The City also needs to work harder and faster to shut down existing illegal dispensaries and fine property owners who rent to them. I initially thought the “Serenity” store next to the Post Office on Chapman was perhaps an AA/NA meeting facility. Little did I know, after smelling weed every time I left the Post Office, that a Google search revealed it to be an unlicensed dispensary. Quite the opposite of an AA/NA meeting place. Shut down now, not sure how or why, but glad it’s gone.
Not quite the point of the post, is it?
I find it very hard to believe that anybody would knowingly hire such a chucklehead to walk their dog – let alone try to represent a client. The guy is constantly babbling nonsense.
Right? Gives new meaning to the phrase you can never make a second first impression.
Oh man, you guys remember when Mr. Quirk-Silva wanted to allow pot shops next to houses without so much as a hearing?
Now we know why.
We also know why he voted to put Fullerton in this boondoggle power consortium. I’m sure Mr. Ortega, who labeled this blog a bunch of white supremacists, will be pleased with the prospective contracts enabled by Fullerton’s participation.
“I’m sure Mr. Ortega, who labeled this blog a bunch of white supremacists,”
When did that happen?
During one of his interviews to get back into MWD after Fullerton fired his ass.
If The Jesus thinks he’s bringing MJ to F town he’s got another think coming. Oh wait. That second thought can’t happen because that would make two thoughts.
I wouldn’t worry about it. A year from now he’ll just be bad memory – back teaching math and living in a house Loretta Sanchez bought for him.
How is he getting paid? What do his financial disclosures say? I hope his peers on the council inquire about conflicts of interest before every vote. If he’s following in Fitzgerald’s footsteps, we can’t count on him to be forthcoming (or to follow the law.)
From Fitzgerald we learned that being an employee of a lobbyist company meant that you didn’t have to reveal your clients. That should be fixed by on of our State legislators – like Sharon Quirk.
She claimed she was not an employee of Curt Pringle and was only subject to disclosing individual contracts for only herself greater than $10k. Idiot-for-hire Jones went along with it.
Aside from skirting payroll taxes amongst other questionable write-offs, she believed being a subcontractor of a lobbyist contractor shielded her from direct financial conflicts.
That’s right up there with creating a new record with redacted dates and times to satisfy a public records request concerning legality and ethics.
SQS proposed a sunshine ordinance for Fullerton that would have fixed much of this bullshit. You’re absolutely right she should have fixed this at the state level.
Not fixing it begs the question of what her husband and her friend Loretta are really up to.
I don’t remember the subcontractor part. The website said she was Pringle’s Vice President.
Are all elected officials required to disclose contracts they receive for lobbying work? Is there a threshold limit for that?
Are those same elected officials legally allowed to make campaign contributions from their own campaign committee funds to another elected official if they have personal lobbying business or other discretionary approvals before that candidate’s city council? Could Fitzgerald transfer her campaign funds to another city Councilmember in a different city that voted to approve one of her development projects?
I’m confused by the headline. Is Quirk Silva a dope who is a lobbyist, or a lobbyist who pushes weed?
Yes, that’s right.
The Council better hurry and bring back an industrial area only pot ordinance or Kitty, her stoner group, Jesus and Zahra might try to make another push with their initiative to put pot shops in “commercial” areas with no setbacks from residential areas. The question remains whether Jung will side with the pot lobbyist Jesus and his party pal Zahra and make dope accessible at every street corner.
As we learned from J. Fitzgerald, having a lobbyist as a city councilperson only fits THEIR agenda and should be looked into. I smell a fish.
Wasn’t he a lowly school teacher?? Movin’ on up…
Being a school teacher isn’t lowly. Being a bad school teacher is lowly.
LOL! The Cartel of Cannabis, Exactly like that! Teacher Sylva, Zahra and Flori, who can forget about the Three Stooges?