Author: Joe Sipowicz

Posted onBehind Closed Doors

Our County Government Attacks 1st Amendment, Fails

by 12 Comments on Our County Government Attacks 1st Amendment, Fails

Funny plastic handcuffs graphic borrowed from Voice of OC
Once in a while news from the County is so pregnant with consequences for us in Fullerton that we here at FFFF feel obliged to share it with the Friends.

Yes. I did that. Didn’t think you would remember.
In case you weren’t following the weird story: on Good Friday, 2015 3rd District Supervisor Todd “Super Victim” Spitzer got scared of a Christian proselytizer in a Foothill Ranch Wahoos, went out to his car and returned with handcuffs and a loaded pistol. He “hooked up” this poor sap and waited for the deputies to arrive. Of course nothing came of it. Mr. Bible was released from bondage and everybody went his own way.

Pretty weird, in a “dress up like a cop and play” sort of way. I mean, who drives around with handcuffs in his trunk, right?

Unfortunately for Spitzer, news of the bizarre incident was finally leaked to The OC Register who reported on it in August 2015, much to the merriment of the pistol-packin’ supervisor’s numerous detractors. But the story gets better – or worse – depending on your point of view.

Todd Spitzer gets emotional.
Photo by MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER –

Apparently Spitzer couldn’t leave the depiction of himself as a nutcase, alone. Sort of like obsessively picking at a scab. So he enlisted the help of Jean Pasco, the County’s press release writer to write some sort of clarifying/absolving press release. Although this document never saw the light of publication, the Voice of OC got wind of it and did a PRA request for all related docs. Hilariously, the County refused, claiming that unfinished documents don’t constitute “records.” The Voice sued the County for release of the relevant material. The County fought back.

It got worse. Under Spitzer’s guidance County Counsel demanded to depose Voice publisher Norberto Santana, ridiculously suggesting that conversations between him and Spitzer were relevant to the matter. Voice objected to the blatant harassment attempt.

On December 12, Judge Walter Schwarm “quashed” the depostion of the journalist . In legalese that means the judge shoved the matter right up Spitzer’s sorry ass. The County’s effort to intimidate a journalist was met with a stinging rebuke by the jurist.

Downhill racer…
Meantime, the completely unnecessary lawsuit drags on, the costs of which, when the County inevitably fails, will be borne by you and me. And where is our own Supervisor Shawn Nelson during all this? Nowhere to be seen or heard as far as I can tell. Evidently, he, too, believes that we peons are only to know things when he and his pals at the County feel like sharing, and that it is right and proper that we pay the costs of them keeping public information from the public.

 

 

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Posted onBehind Closed Doors

OCDA Digs In!

by 27 Comments on OCDA Digs In!
The investigation was late, but it sure was unconvincing…

An alert Friend sent in this image of a guy recognized as Orange County District Attorney investigator, Abraham Santos, at the scene of the Memorial Joe Felz Crash Site. Well, now we know that the DA is indeed involved in this mess. What sort of crime he might be investigating and how he is investigating it, are far from clear. No one was ever arrested, or charged. We aren’t even sure if anybody got a traffic citation for reckless driving. Could the DA be investigating the behavior of the Fullerton cops? For some reason that idea provides no consolation. But the sooner the deal is whitewashed, the sooner we can get the video recordings made by the cop cams.

Also please note that Sappy McTree has been removed.

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Posted onA Step in the Right Direction

Getting to the Bottom of It

by 10 Comments on Getting to the Bottom of It

We may have bid a fond adios to former City Manager, Joe Felz, but the mess he leaves behind still needs to be attended to.

The most timely issue is Fullerton Police Department personnel conduct in the Case of the Missing City Manager. The police on the scene of Joe’s Big Crash drove him home sans Breathalyzer test, and despite the fact that his vehicle had careened out of control and run over a parkway tree; and this after an evening of fun DTF libations and despite the fact that a cop on the scene smelled alcohol emanating from Joe. Did the cops follow their own rules? Or did they help their boss boss get away with a couple of crimes? From here, it looks pretty bad.

It’s been six weeks and nobody knows what’s being investigated. Or even if there’s any investigation at all.

What’s happening now? Certainly there’s no evidence of an internal investigation. Nothing more about the hiring of the mysterious “independent person.” And who really knows if anything got sent to the DA? Our city council (at least certain members) is in the dark, and so are we.

When the perps are about to get away, you gotta do what you gotta do.  Filing a personnel complaint initiates an internal investigation, or at least a pretend investigation, into the events of election night, just in case one doesn’t already exist. So one of the Friends decided to do just that.

View compliant

When the investigation is complete, this complaint entitles the filer to a letter from the Chief of Police indicating whether the finding was sustained or not sustained. That’s not much, but something is better than nothing.

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Posted onBoohooism

The Sorrowful Saga of Sukhee Kang

by 12 Comments on The Sorrowful Saga of Sukhee Kang
The writing was on the wall…

The year is almost over and I would be remiss if i didn’t briefly recount one of the most memorable events of 2016 – the carpetbagging candidacy for State Senate of Sukhee Kang, the former dismal Irvine councilman who, uninvited, declared his candidacy THEN moved to Fullerton to make it legit. He bought a mini-mansion on a golf course. He had an Irvine flunky named Dan Chemilewski try to make the thing appear normal and kosher, but that failed.

 

The simpering smile became a trademark

Sukhee racked up a bunch of endorsements from a state-wide pool of politicians who really didn’t care much about it one way or another; and all the local small fry who were too chicken to question the inevitability of a carpetbagger with a dreadful record – in a whole other State Senate district.

Sukhee got schooled…

In the end, Sukhee spent  a ton of money, almost all of it his own. The more he spent, the worse it got. And on election day he lost to a guy named Josh Newman by three points – a remarkable disaster that left almost every Democrat in Orange County – and the state – quickly looking for the exit.

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Posted onBehind Closed Doors

Inside Source: Felz is Out

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Auld lang syne…

One of our well-placed sources in the City administration has informed us that on-leave City Manager, Joe Felz will be quitting permanently soon, even as conversations now spin around who will replace Felz. Is this true? It has the ring of truth to it.

Speaking of spinning, Felz spun off the Glenwood Avenue in the early morning hours of November 9th, ran over a tree and tried to drive away. The cops on hand smelled alcohol but for reasons that have not yet been revealed, administered no breathalyzer test and instead drove Felz home.

The voice wasn’t soothing, but the words weren’t clear.

The City Attorney has been trying to protect Felz with illegal bogus claims of “personnel matters,” so that excuse would soon be gone if Felz flees the scene. Then there’s the matter of the rather bizarre “ongoing criminal investigation,” that some folks reasonably think is nothing but another dodge to avoid releasing incriminating video and audio records that were made when the cops arrived at the crash scene. No one has even bothered to explain to the public what possible crimes were committed, or who may have committed them. And of course our City Council members have not expressed any curiosity about that, either. Sooner or later our mush-mouth City Attorney is going to have to admit a big problem with his “criminal investigation” yarn, to wit: nobody was arrested that night. No evidence of drunk driving was collected. We don’t even know if a citation was issued.

When Felz goes, he will save the the taxpayers the cost of that so-called “independent person investigation” that the City Attorney thoughtfully cooked up to stall and obfuscate the matter. If so, it will be the one and only time Felz ever saved the taxpayers anything, and that going out the door.

Of course the open question is this: what sort of windfall will be offered by our ever-helpful council to grease the skids of Felz’s departure? If he quits he won’t get his guaranteed payola, but the circumstances of his Wild Ride may make that a moot point.

Whatever happens, rest assured, we will told as little as possible, as late as possible.

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Posted onA Step in the Right Direction

Make It One For My Baby, And One More For The Road

by 26 Comments on Make It One For My Baby, And One More For The Road
Another party on a Tuesday night, and no DUI stops!

How fitting. Soon to be former councilwoman Ms. Jan Flory, one of the principal architects and mother hen of downtown Fullerton’s out-of-control culture of vodka. vomit and vehicular mayhem, is tossing herself a going away party. And naturally it’s at one of Fullerton’s fine dining establishments bars.

Here’s the outreach:

———- Forwarded message ———-

From: Jan Flory [mailto:jflory1@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2016 11:07 AM
Subject:

 Good morning!

 As you know, the new council will be seated on 12/13/16 at 6:30 p.m.  Would you pls get the word out that I will be having a soiree at Joe’s Bar and Grill after that council meeting.  I’ll have appetizers and a no-host bar to celebrate my leaving the council.  That doesn’t sound right, but it will be better than a funeral.  People will probably start showing up between 7:30 and 8. 

 Thanks a bunch and thank you for keeping so many people informed. 

 Jan Flory

 

You would think a Fullerton City Councilperson would be a little reluctant to have a political party at a downtown saloon given what happened the last time this occurred – five scant weeks ago.

Sappy McTree, We Hardly Knew Ye…

You’ve got to love the message of the “soiree”:

“I’ll have appetizers and a no-host bar to celebrate my leaving the council.” 

Auld lang syne…

Maybe Flory figures if you have to buy your own drinks you’ll be a lot less likely to get drunk, drive off the road on the way home and require the interim police chief to cover up the whole mess.

We probably won’t be there, but we’ll be celebrating, too.

 

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Posted onBehind Closed Doors

HE’S TRYING TO TAKE OFF! GET HIM!

by 28 Comments on HE’S TRYING TO TAKE OFF! GET HIM!

joe-felz-up-close

Intrepid Friend, David Curlee, has got hold of mobile data computer log from the FPD patrol cars on the night City Manager, Joe Felz, was driving home after a night of campaign partying, jumped the curb on Glenwood Ave, ran over a tree, and tried to motor off. After that the Cone of Silence has descended on the incident thanks to the Fullerton Culture of Cover-up.

HCON3 is a dispatcher. U321 is a patrol unit. Note the time: 1:30-ish in the morning. Precisely the time the Felz incident occurred.

 

trying-to-get-away-get-him-2

 

 

trying-to-get-away-get-him-1

Hmm. Twenty minutes of radio silence. Then another cop who must have been there decides that whatever happened, he ain’t a-talkin’. I wonder why not. No I don’t. And notice U321 isn’t saying anything, either.

Now, remember Barb Pollinger, the neighbor who called the cops in the first place? She said very clearly that driver of the vehicle”should have stopped.”

Is it possible that the MDC is describing an incident other than the madcap motoring of our City Manager? I suppose it’s possible. But it seems pretty implausible.

The witness talks about a suspect departing the scene of an accident. The log conveys the notion of someone in need of immediate apprehension.

I think what is being described here is a crime. If that’s true, then I would also think the actions of former Chief of Police Dan Hughes in ordering his troops to let Felz go without a breathalyzer analysis, to drive him home, to tuck him into bed and to forget the whole thing would also be a crime, obstruction of justice-wise. Our lawyer, Dick Jones, said that a criminal investigation was underway/remotely possible, but since the cops arrested no one that night, and since nobody has been charged with anything that I am aware of, what gives?

The City Council once again takes up the topic of Mr. Felz’s performance tomorrow night. It might be an interesting performance.

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Posted onI Aint a Swallerin That

Behind the Bullshit – Standards? Really?

by 37 Comments on Behind the Bullshit – Standards? Really?

“Behind the Badge OC” is a propaganda outlet for “public safety” departments across Orange County. It is run by former OC Register staff who came to realize that writing cop puff pieces on their own was even more lucrative than doing it while pretending to be reporters for the pathetic, knee-jerk pro-cop Register.

This enterprise works for police unions in the main, but things get really profitable when they can sucker a public agency, like the City of Fullerton, to use public money to write this drivel, all under the auspices of “educating” us about our wonderful police department. You’d think that honest work, a good attitude, and abiding by the same laws the rest of us have to, would be sufficient to generate respect for our boys and girls in blue. Wink.

But enough preamble.

Back on June 13th, BtB published this completely unremarkable tale about the squad responsible for documenting the training given to FPD personnel and the standards that apply thereunto. Standards, eh?

Fullerton Police from left, Cpl. Eric Song, Patricia Arevalo, Sgt. Dan Castillo, Lt. Andrew Goodrich and Cpl. Donny Blume. Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC & Paid for by Fullerton Taxpayers
Fullerton Police from left, Cpl. Eric Song, Patricia Arevalo, Sgt. Dan Castillo, Lt. Andrew Goodrich and Cpl. Donny Blume.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC & Paid for by Fullerton Taxpayers

Check out the adipose and otiose individual in the middle who is in charge of this unit: none other that our old friend Andrew Goodrich, who was last heard of serving in the exalted office of watch commander the night of November 8th, when our City Manager, Joe Felz, ran off the road, was given a pass on a breathalyzer test, was driven home and tucked into bed by one or more of those cops who got all that expensive training.

You may also remember Goodrich from his stint as FPD Public Information Officer – a job in which he really shined – passing out phony information to make Kelly Thomas look bad, and the cops who killed him, well, at least better. He was also part of Chief Danny Hughes’ obnoxious scheme to hand out tickets to protest supporters for “excessive horning.”

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Posted onA Step in the Right Direction

Revisiting The Seven Walls of Local Government

by 2 Comments on Revisiting The Seven Walls of Local Government
What? We can't hear you. Please speak louder...
What? We can’t hear you. Please speak louder…

Over five years years ago this blog published an essay (broken into bite-sized pieces) on the subject of local government and how it exercises its ability to effectively marginalize and ultimately disenfranchise the very citizens it is supposed to be working for. It is called The Seven Walls of Local Government and it has both scholarly and entertainment value.

For the reawakening of the blog from its almost four-year snooze, I propose to re-schedule this masterpiece for the edification of the Friends. Stay tuned.

 

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