Fullerton voters will soon be deciding if they’ve had enough of the jurassic councilmen Don Bankhead and Dick Jones. Sharon Quirk-Silva has championed Measure M, which puts the enactment of term limits up to voters.
Term limits are a practical countermeasure against the momentum of dimly lit incumbencies and perpetual perpetrators of barely-passable mediocrity.
Rawr.
In other words, Bankhead and Jones have been on this boat for far too long. We’ve shown you video after video of incoherent ramblings, procedural blunders and pharma-induced outbursts as these two men bask in the early stages of senility. Decades on the dais have made them callous to the concerns of Fullerton residents, proven by their constant bullying and dismissiveness during public meetings. And while we’re watching this sideshow, they have been cluelessly steering our city directly into boondoggle after boondoggle, at our expense.
Who is Jesse La Tour? I have no idea. But he is the first candidate to throw a bone to Fullerton’s poultry-loving voters.
A cursory search of the new Fullerton city council candidates revealed the blog of La Tour, who is bent on discovering the secrets of the culinary curiosities known as “chicken fingers.”
Nine out of 10. Winner!
On his blog, Jesse journals his journey to five Fullerton eateries, tasting varieties of fried fingers at places like Bill’s Burgers, Stadium Tavern and the Cajun Swamp.
“I love chicken strips. They are delicious,” writes La Tour, who began his quest at Roadside Burgers where he observantly declared that the nuggets probably came in a frozen bag. His suspicions were heightened later when he discovered that the fingers of Bill’s Burgers a few blocks away were almost identical. Both eateries earned a 6 out of 10 on La Tour’s scorecard.
He's not messing around.
So who won? After five plates of simulated poultry appendages, Jesse La Tour finally declares that the best Fullerton fingers can be found at The Pint House in downtown. “These strips are made from scratch, hand-dipped in beer batter and fried to perfection, so they are crisp on the outside and juicy in the middle,” he writes. Sounds tasty.
It is unknown if any other candidates will capitalize on La Tour’s willful abandonment of vegan voters, although some hope other candidates will be as forthcoming as Jesse has been on his carnivorous preferences.
In all seriousness, the lineup for Fullerton’s city council races are nearly complete. Today is the day when FFFF begins combing through the histories of each candidate, distilling fact from fiction and shining light on everything they hoped you would never find out. Despite what you may hear from those who prefer to keep their heads in the sand, this process is not about negativity, personalities or vendettas. This is about the truth, our choices, and ultimately, our future.
Bruce Whitaker has officially filed papers for the 2-year city council seat previously held by Supervisor Shawn Nelson.
The two-race situation has generated plenty of speculation as to which candidates will face each other for the separate seats. With Bruce being one of the strongest contenders, this action may solidify the choices of other candidates.
Whitaker has already received the endorsements of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Assemblyman Chris Norby, Congressman Ed Royce and Supervisor Shawn Nelson.
Bruce’s campaign is having a kickoff party this weekend. Contact the campaign at ElectBruceWhitaker@live.com for details.
One of our own FFFF bloggers has announced his candidacy for Fullerton city council. Greg Sebourn, a professional land surveyor, pulled nomination papers at city hall on Wednesday afternoon.
Greg says he represents fresh leadership in Fullerton and will focus on core city issues such as restoring infrastructure, improving public safety and enhancing customer service at City Hall.
Here’s a little more about Greg:
Greg Sebourn is the Senior Survey Project Manager at Johnson-Frank and Associates, Inc. of Anaheim Hills. Greg has been instrumental on projects that include the subdivision of Anaheim Stadium to make room for an NFL expansion team, U.S. border properties and rights-of-way acquisition, several National Forest boundary projects, and numerous smaller municipal projects.
Additionally, Sebourn is the Facilitator of the Survey/Mapping Science Program at Santiago Canyon College, the largest program of its type in the continental United States as well as a distinguished adjunct-faculty.
Greg currently sits on the City of Fullerton’s Citizens’ Infrastructure Review Committee with broad knowledge on the challenges for Fullerton.
Here’s some big news. Fullerton resident Bruce Whitaker just pulled papers to run for city council.
Given the current crop of candidates, it’s safe to say that Bruce is an early favorite. He’s likely to get the endorsements of both Supervisor Shawn Nelson and Assemblyman Chris Norby, along with the GOP endorsement.
Why? Because Whitaker has a long history as a successful tax fighter and a proponent of property rights and personal freedom.
And now on to the chronicles of Bruce Whitaker:
Bruce entered political activism in 1992 when he became incensed at the largest federal tax increase in U.S. history and the largest state tax increase in California’s history under Governor Pete Wilson. He became active in the city of Fullerton the following year when he led a successful effort to recall a majority of the City Council and repeal unnecessary utility taxes. That repeal has saved more than $150 million for Fullerton taxpayers to date.
After the Orange County bankruptcy, Bruce Whitaker debated against tax proponents and authored numerous guest editorials which helped defeat a bankruptcy sales tax in 1995, resulting in more than $2.2 billion in taxpayer savings.
Bruce founded the Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers (FACT) in 1996, a group that successfully stopped the Gray Davis Administration from pushing an unconstitutional $12.7 billion bond offering. Later, FACT sued again to stop a $2 billion pension obligation bond which was also pushed without voter approval.
Bruce is currently the O.C. District Director for Assemblyman Chris Norby and serves as a member of the Fullerton Planning Commission.
Last year a few downtown Fullerton property and business owners lobbied the City Council to impose an tax assessment on downtown Fullerton. The purpose of this “Business Improvement District” was to raise money to clean up the mess introduced into Downtown by the numerous booze joints and illegal dance clubs.
The first step was predictable: hire yourself a “consultant” who will tell you what you want to hear. But the price tag was too steep and the promoters couldn’t get a clear majority of the Council to go along.
But apparently now Councilwoman Sharon Quirk-Silva has changed her mind about hiring a consultant to meet and greet and spread the BID propaganda.
The direction here is all too clear: build up some momentum toward the idea and then rely on the self-interested parties to vote their interest and hope that the other property owners don’t catch on.
Well I think this stinks. Why should all the downtown property owners pay to fix the problems caused by the bar owners and their out-of-control customers, not to mention a City policy that has enabled all these problems? And let’s not forget – former police chief and council candidate Patrick McKinley who liked to look the other way.
And why should the taxpayers keep footing the bill?
What valuable piece of manpower is worth paying over $200,000 per annum not to do anything?
I'm your man...
If you guessed former Fullerton Police Chief Patrick McKinley you’d be right on the money. If there was ever a poster boy for out of control police pensions it would be Chief McKinley. See, the big guy pulls down a cool $96K a year from his old job at the LAPD that he’s been collecting since he left 17 years ago; then there’s the $118,000 he now rakes in from CalPERS, presumably from his time as Fullerton’s top cop.
Yipes! $215,000 a year in pension receipts; or about $18,000 a month; or $4100 every single week. More than he ever earned actually working. For the rest of his freaking life. If he lives another 20 years that’ll add up to $4,300,000 on top of what he’s already got, not counting cost of living increases.
Why is this important, apart from the obvious illustration of public safety pensions run amok? Because the word on Commonwealth Avenue is that Mr. McKinley is being promoted for City Council appointment to replace Shawn Nelson by Don Bankhead and Dick Jones – two other public pensioneers, one of whom is also a former cop.
In the RINO world of Bankhead and Jones this sort of thing is just hunky-dory. But for a lot of people – liberals and conservatives alike, the thought of this massive double dipper making pension decisions that affect Fullerton taxpayers is reminiscent of the fox guarding the hen house.
There will be 3 open seats (and maybe 4) for Fullerton’s city council this November.
For those that are interested or considering running for any one of those seats, our Friends would really like to know your opinion about the following issues:
1. What’s your opinion about Redevelopment in Fullerton and the recent council vote to expand Redevelopment?
2. What’s your opinion on the roll the city manager plays with the city council?
3. What is your opinion about public employee pensions?
4. What is your opinion about holding people accountable for their actions?
5. What is your opinion about Zone changes and General Plan Amendments; are they ever justified and if so, why and when?
6. What is your opinion on the High Speed Rail coming through Fullerton?
7. What is your opinion about the way things are going in Downtown Fullerton?
8. What is your opinion about the proposed Fox Block development?
9. What is you opinion on future development in West Coyote hills?
