Mr. Peabody, Author at Friends For Fullerton's Future

June 2, 2010Fullerton City Council

Let Me Put This In Recognizable Terms

John Lewis told me to move — You're right Julie, these people are suckers

I first became dimly aware of Fullerton politics back in 1993 when I saw a performance of then councilwoman Julie Sa. Sa was incapable of communicating in English, understood nothing, and was completely at the mercy of the City Manager, Jim Armstrong. The worst part of her reign of error was the evident truth that she was just using the office to promote herself.

In 2000 she was busted for not living in Fullerton and she gave up on running for third time. Fullerton had set the bar so low that any idiot with money could get over it. But at least Sa was gone.

So why am I bringing up Sa now? Because those folks who remember Sa have a useful frame of reference to assess the potential of one Harry Sidhu, who wants to be our Supervisor.

Like Sa, Sidhu doesn’t live in the jurisdiction he wants to represent. Sidhu cannot communicate his thoughts to his would-be constituents in English. Although I presume he can read English better than he can speak it, his grasp of simple grammar doesn’t portend a great understanding of the language. His well-documented manglings of simple statements has been nothing less than embarrassing – not for him, he doesn’t seem to possess the faculty of shame – but for those of us who have been subjected to it. His public admission that he didn’t know the impact of defined benefits was pitiful; his statement that he wasn’t taking union money was the closest thing to a million dollar lie that you will ever witness.

Sidhu’s self-interested supporters just love to accuse his critics of racism; nuh uh. Like Sa, Sidhu is an immigrant who made some money in the fast food business – more power to ’em (although Sa went bankrupt). But this economic success in no way qualifies Sidhu to run for elective office, and it certainly doesn’t make him immune from honest assessment of his abilities – or lack of same.

In 1992 the unknown Julie Sa ran for Fullerton council by sending out a bunch of slick, well designed mailings that masked the fact that she was utterly unqualified for any public office; and her subsequent performance proved this assessment true. In 2010 Harry Sidhu is running a vicious and hollow campaign lubricated with a million dollars of union money to in an office that he is patently unfit to hold.

Let’s not make that mistake again.

May 29, 2010May 29, 2010Dead heads

CRA Funny Times – What A Difference 2 Years Makes

by Mr. Peabody32 Comments

Here’s another pearl from a recent Sidhu mailer, purportedly penned by some guy named Karl Heft, who revels in the title of Vice President of the CRA (California Republican Assembly):

“…Harry is a candidate we can trust to uphold our conservative Republican values.”

Um, gee, Karl, what values would those be? Carpetbaggery? Perjury? Perpetual public office hunting? Clearly the CRA endorsement, for what its worth, can be obtained by anybody. And just to enjoy the hypocrisy of the bestowers and the receiver, read on.

Harry'sFriend — I did not take it personally...

It’s indeed illuminating to recall what the folks at the CRA had to say about Hide and Seek Sidhu less than two years ago, when the perennial candidate was running for State Senate – yet another job he wasn’t qualified to hold.

May 18, 2010Harry Sidhu

The Joke’s On You!

by Mr. Peabody3 Comments

I got an e-mail today from a friend of mine from Anaheim who isn’t all that politically active, but who saw the 4th District Supervisor WAND forum and has seen the videos of Hide and Seek Sidhu on our website.

Shock and dismay would be two good words to describe this woman’s impression of Sidhu. But I’ll let her speak in her own words:

I am aware that money is really all it takes to run a political campaign, but I have to say I am really and truly amazed by the campaign of Harry Sidhu. I know he doesn’t live in the district and I know he made up several addresses in order to run in the 4th. Okay. That’s pretty awful.

But what’s really bad is that the man is completely incoherent, has no grasp of any issues, and can only read what has been written for him on index cards. It’s pathetic. I would feel sorry for him if he hadn’t brought this embarrassment on himself. In fact, I really doubt if the man has a sense of shame at all.

At the WAND forum all I heard from this character were platitudes of the emptiest kind and even most of those were irrelevant. His performance at the GOP Central Committee meeting was humiliating – and embarrassing for everybody.

Keep up the pressure on this candidacy. You are doing an great job exposing this empty suit for what he is – an over ambitious, ignorant carpetbagger.

P.S. You can use my name.

M. Rodriguez

Thanks, for that. I couldn’t agree more.

May 18, 2010May 18, 2010Boohooism

The Priorities of Organized Labor

by Mr. Peabody5 Comments

Like their brethren among the ranks of the public employee unions, it appears the non-government unions want to grab as much government gravy as they can, too.

Here’s a mailer sent out by labor unions for Lorri Galloway. Same brainless jobs, jobs, jobs theme as Hide and Seek Sidhu, but with a decided emphasis on make-work jobs for union members earning very high prevailing wages.

See, we’re in a budget crisis. So what’s the solution? Jobs! Say what? It takes a few mental bends to figure it out, but presumably people with jobs will pay taxes and increase tax revenue. But wait! Where on Earth are those jobs going to come from? Galloway knows: they come from projects funded by current taxpayers. In other words, ya gotta spend more money to make money. The typical big government refrain. Will it ever break even? Of course not, but who’s keeping track?

Naturally, those “living wage” earners will also need a place to live and Lorri probably has a plan for that too – more subsidized low income housing, of course!

Of course the unions have no more conception of what a County Supervisor does than do Harry Sidhu or Lorri Galloway.

lori2 — You know, I really just don't get it.

Supervisors ARE NOT in the jobs creation business. They are supposed to be there to manage the County government.

And why can’t people like Galloway look at government from the taxpayers point of view? That is: to provide necessary County services efficiently at the best value? Instead its all about satisfying the government workers and their demands. And that’s exactly why the State and the local governments of California are so completely screwed up.

It’s pretty simple. Galloway wants to go to work for the unions, and they are already working for her.

May 14, 2010May 14, 2010Boohooism

Galloway Puff

by Mr. Peabody11 Comments

Apparently the Precious Princess has sent out a campaign mailer, and boy is it hollow. Almost as empty as her noggin. Here’s one side:

Galloway-500 — I wonder how many of these people are going to end up suing me...

Ah, the Shining Path to a brighter future runs right through Galloway and her fortune cookie. Pedicures for everybody!

Here’s the other side:

Oh oh! Hide and Seek Sidhu has already staked out that territory. And come on, Lorraine, you’re taking credit for the All Star game and the Kaiser expansion? Hell, Kaiser already has a medical center in Anaheim only a mile away. What’s going to happen to that? The only thing Galloway can really take credit for is the massive ARTIC boondoggle that is siphoning off $140,000,000 Measure M tax revenue into Curt Pringle’s white elephant.

I wonder if Disney is going to like the Precious Princess taking credit for their expansion. Hmm.

May 12, 2010May 12, 2010Lorri Galloway

The Lorri Galloway Experience: Monterey County

by Mr. Peabody21 Comments

Before she blessed us here in OC with her Presence, Lorri Galloway lived in Monterey County. There, according to State Superior court records, Galloway and her husband Mike were sued by Barbara J. Russell. How come? According to an agreement, Mrs. Russell, Mike Galloway’s aunt, had entrusted title to her home to the Galloways, who then proceeded to borrow against it three times without telling Russell. Naturally, the Galloways defaulted on the loans and the home went into foreclosure.

And that’s not very nice now is it, Lorraine?

lorrisfortune — You are about to acquire some more real estate...

Mrs. Russell tried to get the cost of her lost home back and successfully sued her relatives in the Monterey County Superior Court, but, seemingly, to no avail. Apparently, she got cancer and died, never collecting the judgment.

Russell v Galloway - Judgement - Cover — The Judgment

Not long afterward Galloway showed up in OC praising the Lord for her good fortune in real estate investments. Now why does that put me in mind of a crooked televangelist?

If this is the way Galloway treats her own family we can only hazard a queasy guess as to what she might have in store for us – the would-be constituents of her carpetbagging campaign for 4th District County Supervisor. Throw in multiple bankruptcies and the character profile that emerges ain’t pretty – no matter how nice the manicure is.

May 8, 2010Harry Sidhu

Steve Greenhut Touts Fullerton’s Shawn Nelson

by Mr. Peabody8 Comments

Former OC Register editorialist and current part-time op-ed writer Steve Greenhut penned this piece about the 4th District County Supervisor race that is supposedly being printed in the paper’s Sunday edition.

Greenhut praises Shawn Nelson’s willingness to stand up the incessant demands of the public employee unions – especially the powerful unions at the County that have already started to attack his candidacy. He also correctly points out that Sidhu and Galloway would both be supportive of the horrendous anti-taxpayer labor decisions made by past county supervisors.

In passing, Greenhut notes that both Galloway and Sidhu are recent arrivals in the 4th District from Anaheim Hills, which is in the 3rd. Steve is too kind to use the term “carpetbagger” to describe the behavior of these too miscreants, but I’m not. They both established fake and unlawful “residences” in their quest to favor us with their own weird ego-driven candidacies.

But back to Nelson. This endorsement is important. The Register still has tens of thousands of subscribers in the 4th District and absentee ballots will start arriving – and being returned – this week.

May 5, 2010May 5, 2010Behind Closed Doors

CSUF Going Way Out On Limb

by Mr. Peabody7 Comments

We just received an e-mail from a young Friend, directing our attention to a story in the CSUF Daily Titan about the university trying to go ahead with the acquisition of the Hope University campus across Nutwood Avenue. We’ve been documenting the damage already done to mid-century architecture in the area and of course noting that the buildings on the Hope campus are architecturally significant – and would be demolished by CSUF.

According to the article funding would come from the sale of bonds. $30 million will be needed to close the deal. But of course the university employee cited says nothing about how the bonds are to be paid for. It seems that the school’s debt service ratio is already crappy – they’ve been spending like drunken sailors over there and their credit card is maxed out. Can anybody forget the debacle of the “University Heights” housing fiasco, here, and here? That didn’t help, either.

With the State budget cuts they’ve had to cut enrollment, and so student fee revenue is down.

And speaking of fees, it also seems as if the recent increases in fees and tuition have a lot of students pissed off, and using their dough to help swing future expansion that’s years off is going to rub a lot of people the wrong way.

So will the CS Chancellor’s office nix this massive added liability? Let’s hope so. CSUF President Milton is on clueless cruise control. Somebody needs to behave responsibly – and soon.

May 3, 2010May 4, 2010MSM Falls on Face

The Voice of OC Speaks

by Mr. Peabody7 Comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmwB-oKwk5U

Here’s what the people at the “Voice of OC” think is pressing: Santa Ana tops Anaheim in population. Really? Who the hell gives a damn? The writer tried to make it relevant by noting that some funding is allocated by population. Again, so what? the difference is a few thousand people – and a pro rata share differential is negligible.

C’mon you guys! May we humbly share some real issues? What about the repeated malfeasance by County Clerk-recorder Tom Daly? What about an out of control Children and Families Commission that pays a political operative $200 an hour to hand out toothbrushes? What about the County Cemetery District that paid Anaheim Mayor-for-Hire Curt Pringle $72,000 per year to find a graveyard site? Sweet Jebus, you guys, what’s wrong?

Do you folks really want to be taken seriously, or not?

April 29, 2010April 30, 2010Behind Closed Doors

State Auditor Rains on Pringle’s High Speed Rail Parade

by Mr. Peabody2 Comments

PringlePower — Pay no attention to that man in front of the curtain...

In a comprehensive indictment of the High Speed Rail Authority’s procedures and protocols, and its abilities to manage and oversee spending public bond revenue, the California State Auditor has taken a considerable step in derailing the proposed boondoggle. Read the highlights for yourself.

Although this doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t suspect, it does confirm the worst suspicions about poor planning and lax or non-existent oversight, and raises the worst spectre of all: a worthless, duplicative, hyper-expensive and disruptive system – a mere leg – say from Anaheim to downtown Los Angeles.

Tonight Pringle’s PR consultants are coming to town, not to ask our opinion about anything, rest assured. Rather they are coming to soft sell what’s already been decided. But there’s no reason why we can’t go and share our opinions, and maybe even ask Mayor Bankhead (who’s bound to be there) how come he stood up a couple years ago and told people that the City of Fullerton supports this disaster in the making.

They’re going to be at the Senior Center from 5-8 with a propaganda presentation at 6pm.