A Step in the Right Direction Archives - Page 14 of 15

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

Fullerton Was Sold 20 Years Ago And The Recall Is How We Pay For Her Emancipation

Friends, long time community activist Steve Baxter wrote a must-read letter that was published in one of Fullerton’s up-and-coming blogs, The Fullertonian. Enjoy!

For a period of time I knew the man six Fullerton officers killed last July. His name was Kelly Thomas and I liked him. As I was walking to my car in the Fullerton Ralphs shopping center, a man, when seeing my “Justice for Kelly” button, said to me that if I cared this much about Kelly when he was alive, he would still be alive. I was pretty baffled at that statement, but then I saw the “NO RECALL! FULLERTON IS NOT FOR SALE” sticker on the back of this big boy’s Jazzy Jeff scooter and it all made imperfect sense. “Hey brother,” I yelled, “just because you …..” That’s as far as I got before I knew it was not worth it. Besides, you don’t look very dignified yelling at someone who is relegated to a scooter.

I know that Kelly was loved by his family, and I know that Kelly was welcome to stay at any number of relatives’ homes, and for periods of time, he did. I know what six of our police officers did to him, and I know how Dick Jones, Don Bankhead and Pat McKinley, the three councilmen now facing a recall, reacted publicly to his death. Their lack of urgency, their lack of outrage, and the insensitive treatment to Kelly’s family, after what in my mind may be the most shameful 10 minutes in this city’s history, rises well beyond what even I expected from these three men. I’ve witnessed their disdain for the victim and his supporters firsthand at many council meetings. I witnessed it again watching TV interviews, where their ignorance was broadcast across the county. These old mens’ desperate need for order trumped any need for truth. They lied and tried to spin the story at every opportunity, at times to ridiculous proportions. Dick Jones even tried to diminish Kelly’s injuries by saying he had seen worse in Vietnam. When the DMZ becomes the go-to reference point for downtown Fullerton, we have a serious problem. In light of this, the “NO RECALL! FULLERTON IS NOT FOR SALE” signs mean nothing to me.

Read the rest of “Fullerton Was Sold 20 Years Ago And The Recall Is How We Pay For Her Emancipation” on theFullertonian.com

March 23, 2012March 23, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Daily Titan Spotlights Kiger, Rands

by Mr. Peabody74 Comments

Travis and Selah — Travis (right) & Selah, pleased to be in the news

The CSUF Daily Titan ran a piece on Wednesday about the Fullerton Recall, spotlighting the candidacies of Travis Kiger and Jane Rands, running to replace F’ “Dick” Jones and Don Bankhead on the city council.

It’s good coverage for both, and captures the feelings of disgust felt by the tens of thousands of people who signed the Recall petitions because of the complete leadership failure of the Three Hollow Logs.

March 9, 2012March 9, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

Here’s Your Line Up

by The Fullerton Harpoon145 Comments

At 5:00 PM today the filing period to run in the Fullerton Recall Election came to a close. These are your candidates:

F “Dick” Jones:

Travis Kiger
Glenn Georgieff
Roberta Reid
Dorothy Birsic
Matthew Hakim

Don Bankhead:

Greg Sebourn
Paula Williams
Jane Rands
Rick Alvarez

Pat McKinley:

Barry Levinson
Doug Chaffee
Matthew Rowe
Sean Paden

As a public service, FFFF will be providing detailed, insightful, and colorful descriptions of these candidates to help you Friends reach an informed decision on June 5th.

March 7, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Jane Rands Files For Bankhead’s Job

by Mr. Peabody136 Comments

Well, somebody has to do Bankhead’s job since he has adamantly refused to do it himself – for almost 25 years.

Bankosaurus — The impeding cold streak was an omen of things to come.

Today, Jane Rands, former State Assembly candidate under the Green Party banner, has filed papers to replace council Precambrian holdover, Don Bankhead.

Jane appears to be somebody who is smart and believes in accountability, and would make an immeasurably better city council person than Bankhead – who has been targeted for Recall because of his dismal leadership failure.

FFFF looks forward to sharing more information about Jane and her platform in the coming days.

March 4, 2012March 4, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

A New Generation of Leadership for Fullerton

by admin103 Comments

With the deadline for filing papers to run in the Recall election approaching – it’s at the end of the week – it seems like an opportune moment to invite our Friends to suggest names of people they would like to see run for the seats held by the Tyrannic Triad, Jones, Bankhead and McKinley.

During the past eight months we’ve seen lots of people step up and take leadership roles, challenging the Old Regime for its incompetence, corruption and detachment from the very people they were elected to serve.

The issues have centered around the serial criminal behavior by members of the Fullerton police department that culminated in the beating death of Kelly Thomas; the illegal grifting of a 10% water tax; and the land development giveaways handed out to campaign contributors.

There is no doubt in my mind that there are dozens of folks in these protests that would do an immeasurably better job governing our City than the The Three Fissured Fossils up there on the dais now.

So share your ideas. Maybe we can talk some of these good people into running.

February 23, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Fullerton Mayor Wants To Offer Thomas Family An Apology

by Mr. Peabody109 Comments

The Voice of OC(EA) is reporting here that Fullerton mayor Sharon Quirk-Silva intends to issue an apology to the Thomas family on behalf of the people of Fullerton; and apparently she also wants name a small part of Fullerton after Kelly Thomas, the homeless, schizophrenic man beaten to death by members of the Fullerton police department last July.

What’s the apology for? According to the article, it’s not entirely clear if it’s for the deliberate smear campaign against Thomas to help make the cops look justified in their actions, or for the actual killing itself.

If it’s the former, I guess the apology would focus on the FPD/City totally mischaracterizing as a “fight” the horrible beat down that took place on Thomas; for telling the public that cops had suffered broken bones; for insinuating that Kelly was amped up on drugs and had stolen property on his person.

Of course all that nonsense was pitched by FPD spokesdonut Andrew Goodrich who never thought it necessary to correct any misinformation he had peddled in those first days after the crime, which makes it deliberate, obviously. If this will be the gist of it, then the apology will be nothing more than a repudiation of Goodriches’ sad performance trying to defend the indefensible actions of his union brethren.

Personally, I would be happier with an apology for the murder itself, along with a personal apology from Quirk-Silva to the citizens of Fullerton for helping permit a Culture of Corruption in the FPD during her seven-plus years in office. I guess this ins’t too likely.

An apology may make Q-S feel better, but sincere or not, I think it falls under the heading of too little, too late; still, better late than never, I suppose.

Oh, by the way, Ms. Quirk-Silva is letting the City Attorney edit the “apology” and that’s not good sign.

As to the issue of placing and naming a bench after KT, I think that’s not helpful. But I relish the idea of watching Pat McPension vote to recognize the homeless man who was beaten to death by thugs he personally hired and vouched for.

February 23, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Real Leaders Lead

by Joe Sipowicz43 Comments

Enjoy the rare sight and sound of an elected Fullerton leader actually leading.

Please note the not so subtle threat: the tyranny of the Three Dead Batteries, Bankhead, Jones, and McKinley is exercised to deny an elected official – Whitaker – access to public records and public property; and their own stupid intransigence is forcing their dereliction directly into the political arena.

Not surprisingly, the Three Stagnant Ponds are backed up by Attorney Richard Jones who, incredibly, wants the people of Fullerton to believe the authority of the Council derives from – the Council itself!!

That’s the kind of Divine Right bullshit that inspired the American Revolution. The Three Hollow Logs no doubt find comfort in that sort of tyranny. And that’s exactly why we are having a recall.

February 22, 2012February 22, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

In Search of Leadership, A Floundering Fullerton Finally Finds It

by admin66 Comments

FFFF’s own Travis Kiger, a member of the City’s Planning Commission hit a home run last week in his comments about the proposed high-density government subsidized housing project on W. Santa Fe Avenue in downtown Fullerton.

January 24, 2012January 24, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

We Get Mail: Oh Yeah. We’re Keeping Up The Pressure

by The Fullerton Harpoon24 Comments

We just received this e-mail from a nice lady who recognizes the contribution of FFFF and Kelly’s Army in regards to the way the Fullerton police interacts with mentally ill folks.

Subject: keep up the pressure

I would like to thank you and Ron Thomas for all your efforts. I am the mother of a mentally ill son who just recently (Dec 4, 2011) had contact with Fullerton PD due to his illness and the way it was manage was amazing and human. They actually contacted his father for assistance with him and to get a better understanding of his history. I truly believe this is a result of the actions Ron Thomas and you are making. Thank you doesn’t even begin to cover it. Although I personally am not a citizen of Fullerton, I want you to know that I think what you are doing matters and hopefully spreads to get the kind of changes that are need when Police are dealing with mentally ill people. I know I am becomming more active in those changes in the small ways that I can. Keep up the pressure and the good work. This is one mother who thinks you are heroes.

January 20, 2012January 23, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

Amateur Hour at Anti-recall HQ

by Joe Sipowicz29 Comments

Ackerslime2 — I'll be happy to take your money and waste it. Been doing that for years.

How many tens of thousands of dollars of Pat McKinley’s pension bucks have Anti-recall leaders “Dick” Ackerman and Dave “Dick” Ellis squandered so far?

The metamorphosis into an oxygen breathing life form conferred no added intelligence.

Tens of thousands? Here’s a hopeful blurb from Dick Ellis’ pathetic website:

Rescission Cards Flood In After Mailer Exposes Over 80 Bushala Code Enforcement Violations
Click here to view

Uh, yeah, right. Those were the cards wishfully cast out, blindly, into a sea of possible Recall signatories. The idea was that some folks would take back their recall signatures when they learned what a monster Tony Bushala is.

The “flood” turned out to be more of a trickle that evaporated before it could even form a puddle.

Now that signatures have been submitted, we also know the fruits of Dick Ackerman’s campaign genius: 145 cards returned for each of the Three Dithering Dinosaurs. 145. And many of those are the names of dead jazz musicians, infamous criminals, and assorted fictional movie characters living at impossible addresses.

Consider that when compared to over 17,000 signatures gathered for the Recall on each of the Ossified Fossils and you will understand the breadth and depth of the Anti-recall failure. And be sure to recall Pat McKinley’s winning margin in 2010 – 90 votes.

How many tens of thousands of dollars were wasted on the Anti-recall mass mailing efforts? I don’t know. But I suggest that if you want to find out, you inquire of the experts in wasting our money: Bankhead, Jones, and McKinley.