Pacific Strategies – $3,200 for One Op-ed
Was a ghost written “op-ed” worth the $3,200 that Cunningham charged the OC Children and Family Commission? You be the judge. Here is the article that found it’s way into some obscure journal. Notice how the supposed writer, Shawn Steel, starts off by announcing his opposition to prop 10. Sound familiar? Then begins the fight to save Rob Reiner’s legacy.
But really. How could this have taken the better part of 20 hours to produce? That’s two and a half freakin’ days! The Declaration of Independence was written faster.
The irony of the “we know the value of a buck” schtick written by somebody billing the taxpayers $200 an hour to hand out toothbrushes is profound.
And why can’t Shawn Steel write his own op-eds if he actually cares about this issue instead of wasting the CFCOC money? Of course he may not be very bright. For some reason he is a supporter of Hide and Seek Sidhu.
Anyway, here’s the Pacific Strategies billing that reflects the effort on that masterpiece. So what does that work out to, ten bucks a word?
More scary ghost(writer) stories to follow…
I’ll bet that was “revised” (more billing of course) many times and fed out to other idiots.
The big question in my mind is why an individual Commission is footing the bill for that drivel. There’s 58 “First Five” Commissions, one per county, right? Why don’t they all pay for the same lobbyist and PR flak?
And another thing. Notice how Cunningham’s article found its way into an Inland Empire publication. What’s that got to do with Orange County?
This Commission is way out of control.
Demand that Cunningham start writing checks for Art Pedroza so he can avoid both of the credit card fraud lawsuits filed against him by American Express and HBSC Bank
If you get paid to write it, is it an Op-Ed or an advertisement?
God this is great, keep them coming please!!!!!
I think FFFF needs to put a little widget on the blog with a running clock of how long it has been since you guys uncovered this bureacratic fiasco and how long the corresponding silence has been from Matt. Until then, let the mocking & shaming continue.
I agree with Allan but I would take it one step further:
Put a little head of Cunningham that you can click on to see all the articles and related research regarding his involvement with the First 5 Debacle. When someone hovers over his head make his eyes bug out and when they click, he can exclaim, “Doh!”
“Sen. Cox’s proposal is the fiscal equivalent of sending the drunk to the liquor store”. Now that my friends is some fine wordsmithing.
Coming from someone whose sole source of income is Rob Reiner’s Prop 10. That’s one hell of a dependency.
What a guy.
Matt Cunningham outed sex-abuse victims.
Perhap’s nobody cares that Jubal is scamming the tax payers.
Certainly the OC GOP does’nt. His employer Chip Hanlon does’nt seem to give a shit.
This is amazing. The same people that sceam about birth certificates and Jerry Brown, look the other way when it’s exposed that Matt’s on the take.
When the dam does break, watch the rats on the sinking ship scramble.
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