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Author: The Fullerton Harpoon
The Fullerton Harpoon is a retired commerical fisherman having served many years on the Japanese whaler Nisshin Maru where he unfortunately lost the right side of his brain and his sense of propriety in a Greenpeace attack.
Get a load of the sort of useless crap The Three Bald Tires are wasting their contributor’s money on, accompanied by another thoughtful “press release” by the slouching sloth, Larry Bennett. Hard hitting? How about comically pathetic?
ANTI-RECALL COMMITTEE RELEASES HARD HITTING
AD CALLING OUT SPECIAL INTEREST KING TONY BUSHALA
Fullerton, CA – Today the committee fighting the Tony Bushala funded Fullerton recall released an ad that documents Bushala’s $260,000 effort to buy the Fullerton city council. “Bushala’s special interest money has polluted Fullerton. His rent-a-mob has been disrupting city council meetings for months. Many of the people he paid to collect recall signatures are now regular gadflies at city council meetings. This ad exposes Bushala’s sinister power play – using Kelly Thomas’ death – to advance his political agenda,” declared committee chairman Larry Bennett.
Yes, folks, the blithering idiots who paid for this pathetic video are the same clowns who have been squandering your tax dollars for the past two decades. It all makes sense now, doesn’t it?
Apparently Dan Hughes and Sharon Quirk’s “reformed” FPD learned one lesson from the Kelly Thomas murder perpetrated by members of the force last summer. Don’t de-escalate, instead just send in more boys!
Our roving correspondent “streets of fullerton” sent in a story complete with pics from an incident on Harbor Boulevard, last night at 10:30. Here’s how it began: one garden-variety, Manny Ramos-body type FPD cop lecturing a homeless dude.
When he returned to the scene a bit later, our correspondent noticed half the night shift was there to weigh in. Our witness seems to think there may have been a physical altercation of some sort.
Well maybe this strategy is an improvement. Apparently the homeless guy left the scene in a cop car, alive. What his offense was and why he was confronted in the first place is still unknown.
Perhaps we should call Rusty Kennedy’s Human Relations Commission so he can tell us all about it. Here’s Rusty’s number: 714/567-7470.
Here’s your millionaire developer. He’s hard working, loyal, dedicated to Fullerton, to Friends, and to freedom. This video was made by a Friend who recognizes a home town hero when he sees one.
To the blowhards, out-of-towners, sad-sack political wannabes, here’s your role model. Aspire to something when you grow up.
At tonight’s Fullerton City Council meeting the City Attorney announced that the council had unanimously voted to pay $1,000,000 to Cathy Thomas, the mother of Kelly, who was beaten to death by members of the FPD who bashed in his face, and ribs, tased him, sat on his chest, and then stood around while the homeless man died in the gutter.
A million bucks. It’s hard to begrudge the Thomas family of the settlements that are coming their way in this obscene killing. And yet for those of us who have criticized the obvious Culture of Corruption in the FPD it rankles to contemplate the fact that we are responsible for the bill; and that other enormous payouts are coming our way.
Pat McKinley created this unholy mess as police chief while Don Bankhead and Dick Jones sat on their fat behinds all these years as the department festered under the incompetent and indifferent leadership. We get the bill. And Acting Chief Hughes can only act like nothing is wrong, even as Joe Wolfe, the apparent instigator of the Thomas murder breathes the air of a free man on paid vacation.
First there was the sexual battery cases against Albert Rincon. Those cost $350,000. We now know the Thomas murder will probably cost us at least $3,000,000. And there’s no telling what the other violent and criminal episodes perpetrated by thugs like Kenton Hampton, et. al., will cost.
I also note that once again PatMcPension voted to approve a settlement to make on of his embarrassing problems go away.
Really folks, haven’t you seen enough of this rogue’s gallery? The answer is crystal clear. RECALL.
About two-and-a-half years ago my predecessor wrote a post about how the Fullerton Interfaith Emergency Shelter (F.I.E.S) had gotten an agreement from the owner of the property at 504 W. Amerige to sell/give his land to them so they could expand their adjacent compound.
Apart from the fact that the increasing scope of the operation appeared to be dodging California environmental impact laws, there was another problem, to wit: the site already housed numerous housing units that were providing what just about anybody would consider “affordable” housing to families with kids and even an infant.
A little dust up followed in which the Fullerton Observer, right on cue, ran cover for the embarrassed non-profit.
I haven’t got a clue if any of the displaced tenants received any sort of assistance finding new homes, but I do know what the property looks like now.
Empty...
Today the property is vacant, a weedy eyesore between mowings. It’s been scraped to the dirt for a subsidized housing project if funding can ever be found; the property of a non-profit, it’s been taken off the tax rolls forever; and half a dozen truly affordable units have been permanently removed from Fullerton’s housing stock.
Here is the League of Women Voter’s Recall candidates forum held last night. It was held in three shifts, one for each city council seat being contested. To his credit, Sleepy Don Bankhead actually showed up to try to explain his 25 year record of failure. The two other Recall targets, Pat McKinley and Doc Jones flipped the LWV The Bird by not even bothering to show up to defend their misrule.
At the OC Weekly Nick Schou has uncovered an old article about the militarization of the Fullerton Police Department under Pat McKinley. The seminal event of the story takes place in 1997 and describes a military-style invasion of the Latino Maple neighborhood in response to a drive-by shooting along Harbor Boulevard.
Me and my gang are gonna kick your ass. And you're gonna like it.
Since McKinley had cut his fangs on SWAT deployments up in Los Angeles it was just a matter of time before the bald badass brought his methods and manpower from the LAPD to Fullerton. The trouble with militarization, apart from the monetary cost of deployment, is the inevitable occupation mentality, and the concomitant “us versus them” mindset. When you watch the Veth Mam video this comes through loud and clear.
15 years later many of McKinley’s scrofulous chickens have now come home to roost. I have to wonder how many incidents in Fullerton over the years were escalated into confrontations by the cops themselves. And I have to wonder what all of this is going to cost us.
I found this communication in our in-box yesterday:
An Open Letter to Doug Chaffee
April 23, 2012
Dear Mr. Chaffee:
I support the recall effort and will vote in favor of removing all three councilmen on June 5th. I support the statements made on the Notice of Intent to Recall, and I believe any candidate running to replace a recalled councilman should believe the same.
I saw this on Euclid today. The homeowner seems to be on both sides of the fence. It begs the question: Are you?
Um, anyone miss the irony?
The rumor mill is spinning around town. It claims that you’re proud to receive Pat McKinley’s endorsement of your candidacy should the recall succeed; and worse publicly stated as much during a fundraising event at the Pint House several weeks ago. If this is true, this is not compatible with the Notice of Intent to Recall. You have to pick a side and you have to do so definitively.
In fact, I demand you take one of four positions immediately.
1) If you have stated that you’re proud to receive McKinley’s backing, you must withdraw your candidacy from the special election on June 5th. This statement does not meet with the spirit of the recall and is insulting to the electorate. Candidates not supporting the spirit of the recall should not be on the ballot. Just because you had some extra campaign signs sitting around from 2010 doesn’t mean you’re entitled to run.
2) If you find it morally acceptable to be proud of McKinley’s endorsement of your candidacy, state so in bold letters on all your campaign literature, website, Facebook account, and during any public appearances you make. Failure to be transparent on this issue is dishonest.
3) If you’re not proud of McKinley’s endorsement, state loudly and often that you’ve signed the recall petition and outline why Pat McKinley needs to go. Demand that those posting propaganda against the recall remove your name from their lawns. Take a stance and make it clear that no supporter of Pat McKinley is a supporter of yours.
4) Do nothing. If you ignore this open letter and succeed in your candidacy, count on being recalled.
Sincerely,
Ryan Cantor
P.S. Dear Friends, just to show what a small world it is, after all, the property above is the residence of one Beatriz Gregg, mater familias of the Gregg clan that includes our old pal Aaron, whose 2010 campaign was, um, something of a personal embarrassment.
