Fullerton BooHoo Archives - Page 20 of 24 - Friends For Fullerton's Future

October 30, 2010October 30, 2010About Us

Dereliction of Duty. The Case of the Missing Media.

The only reason FFFF sprang into existence was because the people who pretended to be professional reporters stubbornly and steadfastly refused to do their jobs.

Their jobs. The jobs to which they accrete a professional aura, a sanctimony, self-righteousness, and institutional importance that demands as a concomitant an objectivity that is exercised in the public interest.

Of course all that stuff is pure bullshit. Oh, yeah, these people want to be treated as if they actually performed a function that allows them to claim an official title: “Fourth Estate.” But in reality their work is almost never objective, never diligent, and often downright incompetent. And the closer you get to tour own community the worse it gets.

But back to FFFF. We started in the fall of 2008 because F. Richard Jones, the Braying Donkey of Raymond Hills, the man for whom no issue could not be used to spin off, dervish-like, on an insane rant, was getting a free pass. Twelve years of insulting people from the dais, weird, barnyard rantings and raving, backtracking on key issues, and generally insulting the collective intelligence of the City was ignored.

And this being Fullerton very little has changed. Consider 2010.

Roland-and-Mystery-Man — The chicken was ready for plucking.

Does “the press” inquire into how candidate Roland Chi got rung up on criminal charges by the DA for serially ignoring health inspection failures? Or ask why he is using a 501(c)(3) to prmote his political ambitions? Or even ask this miscreant how long he has actually lived in Fullerton?

McKinley2 — Hey, that vest was not designed on company time.

Does “the press” ask Pat McKinley about his $215,000 pension payout – far more than he ever made actually working – and his ability to make rational pension decisions?

Does “the press” ask Aaron Gregg why a guy who skipped out on $75,000 in back taxes and stiffed local creditors though bankruptcy is qualified to manage the city’s $100,000,000+ budget?

Does “the press” inquire into what appears to be Don Bankhead’s increasingly diminished capacity to participate in, let alone conduct, a public hearing?

Of course our local reporters never said boo about the carpetbaggery of Hirsute Sidho or Linda Ackerman, either.

For some reason people who work for the Times and the Register would rather look the other way than admit that the emperors have no clothes on. What are they afraid of?

And so we soldier on…

October 28, 2010October 28, 2010Behind Closed Doors

Mickadeit Already Running Cover For Lame-O DA By Floating Trial Balloons?

by Joe Sipowicz16 Comments

Yesterday, OC Register homunculus and repuglican lackey-chronicler Frank Mickadeit wrote up a story about possible contenders to a Todd Spitzer 3rd District Supervisorial run in 2012 – as a prelude to a Spitzer DA run in 2014.

The big names – outgoing assemblyman Chuck DeVore and Dick Ackerman deserve special attention, and we’ll get back to that in a bit.

But first let’s relish Mickadeit’s effort to stir up anti-Spitzer sentiment for the benefit of our Do Nothing DA who is actually endorsing serial law breaker Roland Chi in Fullerton’s city council race. As is well known, Mickadeit dances to the tunes fifed out by GOP bigwig Michael Schroeder and his wife, DAs spokeshole Susan Kang. In return for providing this entertainment Frank gets to smoke cigars and sip brandy with the Schroeders.

It seems not unlikely that besides the congenital name-dropping instinct, Frank is throwing out these big names as a counter to Spitzer’s own vaulting ambition, as in: not so fast Todd, boy.

chuck-devore — Will nail down the Eagle Scout vote.

DeVore wouldn’t be a bad supervisor and might actually bring some refreshing relief to a County operation dedicated to doling out medical and social services compliments of the federal government. But he needs a job. Now.

Dick Ackerman? Well he does live in a “top secret, gated community” in the 3rd District which s a far cry from his claim to have moved to Fullerton last year so his old lady could run for the State Assembly. Apart from that he’s got some explaining to do. Such as the Pacific Policy Research Foundation scam we reported about here, years of RINO accommodating votes, his dubious behavior vis-a-vis the OC Fair sale. He’s also 70 and we sure have seen enough geriatric retirees at the County over the years.

tricky dick — My top-secret gated estate is in the right district. Now if only that white van would quit following me around.

Worst of all, is Ackerman’s perpetual backing of the worst kind of liberal, staff-stooge candidates here in Fullerton.Pro-Redevelopment, big government chuckleheads like Don Bankhead, Doc HeeHaw Jones, Pat McKinley, Aaron Gregg, and a long list of similar tools, simply selected to keep the scary Dems out – Democrats whose political philosophy is practically indistinguishable from Ackerman’s RINO herd.

The fun part of this is that either one of these worthies running would put a serious crimp in Der Pringle’s master plan of putting Orange’s dreary RINO Carolyn Cavecche into that seat.

October 9, 2010October 11, 2010Boohooism

The “Honorable” Jan Flory, et al.

by Jan Florys Dog28 Comments

Looking down from doggie heaven on you folks I get some interesting perspectives on things. Like right now Fullerton has not a single female liberal running for the city council.

Back in 1982 & 86 it was everyone’s fave featherhead, Molly McClanahan; in 1988 it was Maryevelyn Bryden, a humorless old bat who was trounced by the still marginally cogent Bankhead; in 1992 it was my former broomstick wielding mistress, Jan Flory, who was chain-whipped by the incomprehensible Julie Sa; in 1994, 1998, and 2002 Flory ran again and actually won a couple of times. In 2004 and 2006 Sharon Quirk and Pam Keller emerged, right on cue to claim their liberal XX chromosonal birthright. In 2008 it was the hapless Karen Haluza.

But now, in 2010? Nobody. The closest thing the Fullerton liberal crowd can point to is Doug Chaffee. And he isn’t a woman.

But wait! All is not lost! There’s always the hand-picked Ed Royce candidate and darling of the Dick Ackerman/dim-bulb Federated Republican Women crowd: Patrick McKinley.

On September 7, Jan Flory gave McKinley $200 – more than she spent on dog food for me in ten years. McKinley’s website also boasts the endorsement of McClanahan, too. So what gives?

Are the Fullerton Dems so sad and pathetic that they have to go along with Royce and Ackerman tools, the same repuglican goons who have worked so tirelessly for decades to undermine Democrat candidates and electeds? Remember that Ed Royce was the sole creator of Leland Wilson who knocked off the liberal beloved Flory in 2002.

And you know, now that I come come to think of it, I have to wonder if these endorsements don’t say just as much about McKinley as they do Flory and McClananhan. Hmm.

September 28, 2010September 29, 2010Dead heads

The Public Safety Employee Life Expectancy: I Call Bullshit!

by admin4 Comments

As the Davis Vanguard does, here.

July 30, 2010July 30, 2010Boohooism

Fullerton Observer Takes Dump On Self. Again.

by The Fullerton Shadow15 Comments

the-observer-ostrich4-300x225 — On a clear day you can see forever...

In its page one retelling of events at the last Fullerton School Board meeting, Yellowing Observer Jan Youngman spun out this yarn about the District’s unconscionable arrangement with The Fullerton Collaborative for the services of FSD employee and soon to be ex Fullerton Councilwoman Pam Keller:

Five spoke in opposition to
continuing the relationship,
including the president of FACT
(Fullerton Association of
Concerned Taxpayers), a group
responsible for vicious hit mailers
in past school board and council
campaigns. (The group’s major
funding comes from Bushala
Brothers Inc. Tony Bushala heads
the group FFFF (Friends for
Fullerton’s Future) which has
made both Pam Keller and the
Fullerton Collaborative frequent
targets. FFFF is currently suing
the City of Fullerton.).

Hoo boy! Now there’s a mouthful of tripe, even for one of the Observer crew who can’t discern the difference between editorial and news reporting. We haven’t made Keller or her illicit arrangement with the Collaborative a “target.” Oh, no. That was all her doing – by a multiplicity of conflicts of interest as a councilmember, by skipping out without having to account to anybody for her time, and by remaining an FSD employee with the attendant benefits without having to set foot in a classroom. We only shed some light on the whole rancid deal.

Bad girl. Bad, bad girl.

But back to the egregious Youngman. Important fact, hon. FFFF sued the Redevelopment Agency, not the City. I know it’s next to impossible for you people, but next time do please try to get your facts right. By the way, why is that even relevant to your story?

July 25, 2010Big Brother

The Wishing Well, Once A Mayor’s Crib; Now A Bottomless Money Hole

by admin11 Comments

IMG00037-20100723-0855 — The Wishing Well Apartments. Someone's wish just came true.

For those interested in obscure Fullerton history, Louis Valasquez lived in the Wishing Well apartments at 466 West Valencia Dr. while serving as the Mayor of Fullerton in 1979.

Those more curious about modern-day Redevelopment Agency boondoggles, may be interested to learn that this past week the Fullerton City Council voted to sell the Agency owned Wishing Well Apartments to an out of town “developer” for $100.

The Fullerton Redevelopment Agency purchased the ol’ Wishing Well for $1,993,433 and paid an additional $60,930 to kick out (relocate) all the tenants that resided in the 16 unit building. On top of that the Agency is going to give the out-of-towners an additional $184,347 to “rehab” the apartments, provided the developer rents the apartments to low income tenants. Here in Orange County “low income” is 50% of the median income – which for a family of 3 is $70,890. This means that people that make around $35,445 will be living in the Brand Spanking New Wishing Well. I’ll bet ya the previous tenants made less than $35,445 per year. So in reality the city kicked out the poor folks in order to replace them with richer poor folks.

Now that’s not very good is it?

And if the units were so dilapidated, why didn’t City Code Enforcement simply cite the landlord and require the units to be standard units?

I think I’ll do a follow-up post and focus on code enforcement failures under Don Bankhead’s and Dick Jones’s years of “leadership.”

May 21, 2010Boohooism

Observer Seeks Credibility; and City Funding

by admin18 Comments

A Friend sent in an interesting newspaper clipping this week. It looks like Sharon Kennedy is trying to obligate the city of Fullerton to pay her Observer rag for posting public notices.

Back in March the city council decided to stop paying local newspapers to print public notices in order to prevent layoffs. An obscure set of state laws deem that Fullerton has no local “newspaper of record” and thus is not required to waste money on ad space in the back of newspapers for notices that could just be posted on the Internet.

But now it appears that Kennedy is anxious to latch on to the city teat and get her hands on the $40,000 per year that the city is currently saving. She will appear before a judge next month in hopes that her wretched rag will be bestowed with some judicial legitimacy.

Unfortunately Kennedy has failed to read the very simple laws that define a newspaper of general circulation.

For one, the paper has to be printed at least weekly. The Observer is printed bi-weekly and monthly during the summer.

Second, it has to be physically printed inside the city. The Observer is printed elsewhere.

Third, it must have “substantial distribution to paid subscribers.” The Observer is free.

And finally, the paper must have “maintained a minimum coverage of local or telegraphic news and intelligence of a general character of not less than 25 percent of its total.” We’ve said it before: most of the stuff printed in the Observer is opinion disguised as news.

If Kennedy succeeds in her wacky court case, it will force the city to pay her for publishing public notices. Perhaps the city will dispatch someone to the hearing to make sure she doesn’t get away with it.

April 8, 2010April 8, 2010Fullerton BooHoo

Fullerton’s $100,000 Pension Club Welcomes 15 New Members

by Travis30 Comments

It’s been almost a year since we published the original list of retired Fullerton public employees earning over $100,000 per year in pensions.

Since then we have learned that our state’s unfunded pension liability has grown to over $500 billion dollars. Our Friends over at California Pension Reform have updated their list of CalPERS pensions, bringing on fifteen new “hundred grand” members from Fullerton this year. That’s an increase of 40% in a single year.

So let’s see who is getting the most from largess from taxpayers. New members are in bold:

Name	Annual Pension	Position
JAMES “JIM” REED	$166,781.88	Fire
GEOFFREY SPALDING	$149,852.88	Police
GREGORY MAYES	$148,889.40	Police
MICHAEL MAYNARD	$140,317.20	Police
DANIEL CHIDESTER	$139,416.72	Fire
FRANK PAUL DUDLEY	$133,821.00	Development Services Director
ALLEN BURKS	$133,782.36	Police
DOUGLAS CAVE	$130,761.36	Police
GLENN STEINBRINK	$127,533.00	Administrative Director
ANTONIO HERNANDEZ	$127,402.20	Police
H SUSAN HUNT	$126,970.80	Director of Park and Recreation
STEVEN MATSON	$126,430.68	Police
RONNY ROWELL	$125,168.40	Police
TERRY STRINGHAM	$123,482.28	Fire
GEORGE NEWMAN	$121,410.60
RICHARD RILEY	$121,113.36
MARK FLANNERY	$120,934.68	Director of Personnel
DAVID STANKO	$120,279.84	Police
ROBERT HODSON	$119,956.08	Director of Engineering
ROBERT “BOB” RICHARDSON	$119,720.88	Police
PATRICK MCKINLEY	$118,446.48	Chief of Police
DANIEL BECERRA	$116,917.20	Police
NEAL BALDWIN	$116,740.68	Police
PHILIP GOEHRING	$115,076.04	Police
BRAD HOCKERSMITH	$115,053.84	Fire
JEFFREY ROOP	$113,618.88	Police
KURT BERTUZZI	$109,255.08	Fire
LINDA KING	$108,168.84	Police
DONALD “DON” PEARCE	$107,972.76	Police
CAROLYN JOHNSON	$107,179.80	Library Director
TIMOTHY JANOVICK	$106,330.44
PAUL TURNEY	$105,747.12
RONALD “RON” GILLETT	$105,499.56	Police
ARTHUR WIECHMANN	$104,153.76	Police
JONATHON “JON” MCAULAY	$102,034.80	Fire
RICHARD HUTCHINSON	$101,822.16
JOHN PIERSON	$101,524.92
HUGH BERRY	$100,488.84	Assistant City Manager
WILLIAM KENDRICK	$100,194.48	Police

Remember… public employee pensions are negotiated between the unions and our city council. It’s time to figure out who has been representing the taxpayers and who has been sticking up for the unions.

March 17, 2010March 17, 2010Boohooism

The Fullerton Observer Does It Again

by admin9 Comments

Here’s a painful pill for those Yellowing Observers who offer up their criticisms about the accuracy of our blog.

Today the tattered Fullerton Observer released its Mid March bird cage liner with a front page story on the 4th district Supervisorial race. The story inexplicably claimed that candidates Harry Sidhu, Rose Espinosa and Richard Faher had dropped out of the race. Ay, caramba! Not even close! Jebus, how did that happen?

Actually, when you come to think about it, the screw up is not all that unusual for the Observer where news, editorial, and incompetency are often shot through Sharon Kennedy’s particle accelerator in opposite directions.

Anyway, the Observer elves got hard at work right away making the fix, albeit on-line:

Good Lord. And Sharon Kennedy says we are widely discredited. Hoo boy!

It should be pointed out that the Friends here at FFFF have published 721 blog posts in the last 18 months; and had my bloggers coughed up any thing this errant I would have introduced corporal punishment into our editorial board meetings.

February 11, 2010Fullerton BooHoo

Fullerton Collaborative Website Vanishes Into E-mist

by Mr. Peabody12 Comments

Gone. Poof.

For the past six weeks I have been visiting the Fullerton Collaborative website periodically to determine when, if ever, the Collabricorns were actually going to put any activities on their calendar. It was a complete blank. For the whole year. And that was interesting because the blurb above the calendar ever so earnestly solicited public participation in the many upcoming Collaborative events.

malevich_black-square — Mick said to paint it black...

I couldn’t figure it out. The Collaborative has a well-remunerated Executive Director, Pam Keller, and surely that type of administrative chore would fall under her job responsibilities. Having no calendar of events didn’t look too good. Was Keller just too darn busy? Too lazy? Does the Collaborative really not care much about public participation? Or was there just really not much going on?

Now we may never know. On my visit to the website – www.fullertoncollaborative.org – yesterday, I was immediately shuffled off the the Collaborative’s “Facebook” page. Now that looks pretty bush league for a non-profit to suddenly take its website offline.

Will it be back? I sure hope so because I want to keep the dark calendar meter running – 35 days and counting.