Was It Something We Said? HSR Board Blinks

You are becoming very sleepy...

Responding to mounting criticism about taking a bunch of property along the proposed right-of-way for its multibillion dollar boondoggle, the California High Speed Rail Authority took a step back the other day and voted 6-1 to entertain a shared track option previously discarded when they thought nobody was paying attention. Read all about it in the LA Times.

Even lobbyist and fixer Curt Pringle, the termed-out Mayor of Anaheim, joined the majority. Is he perhaps starting to fear a Buena Park, Fullerton, and Anaheim backlash that might spoil all of his crafty electoral machinations for 2010?

Well, it’s a step in the right direction, but it still begs the question of bureaucratic and rolling stock cost vis-a-vis minimal travel time gains to downtown LA.

The lone “no” vote came from Quintin L. Kopp, the former Bay Area politician who also advocated for the controversial BART extension to the San Francisco Airport. Apparently Kopp thinks it’s too late to be smart – always a bad sign.

Sucking Hard at the Teat of the Welfare State

Move over Pringle...

The other day I described how Republican Mayor Curt Pringle made some big bucks as a lobbyist for the so-called Children and Families Commission, a by-product of the 1998 liberal feel-good Proposition 10 that placed a new tax on tobacco and redistributed the dough to the Government Kiddie Bureaucracy. I promised to shake the branches of this tree to see what other strange fruits might tumble out. Well, Lo and Behold.

Matthew "it takes a village to raise a child" Cunningham

It turns out that Matthew J. Cunningham who masquerades as a local “conservative” blogger may be the biggest big government gravy slurpers at the Children and Families Commission trough.

As he pontificates about the joys of small government on his blog, Cunningham is making a killing as a PR flack for the ultra-liberal Commission and it’s professional do-gooders. And why not? His buddies Bill Campbell and Hugh Hewitt are/were on the Commission when he started his lucrative shill-meistering and wordsmithery for a government bureaucracy, and it’s hard to conceive that his uberboss, John Lewis wasn’t somehow responsible for directing this huge windfall to its rather unlikely recipient.

Here are the fun facts of the Cunningham contracts with the Commission:

Contract 230   July 6, 2005  $ 25,000

Contract 227   May 2 2007   $100,000

Contract 227A May 7, 2008 $195,000

Contract 264   June 3, 2009  $185,000


Hey you poor hungry kids out there: that’s almost half a million bucks in just three years to a guy who couldn’t even proof read his own website! And let’s not forget the hundreds of thousands of dollars dished out to Pringle and the White House Writers Group.

And if you look at the Exibit B scope of work attachments you’ll come away hard pressed to see how the scope of work amounts to more than a handful of hours a week, flack-wise. No wonder Intrepid Boy Journalist has so much spare time for his blogging and political punditry.

The biggest challenge for Cunningham appears to be to get conservatives to buy the spin on all this hogwash. And naturally a lot of his “scope”  is the usual nebulous “assist the staff” bullshit. Of course we can only wonder at the selection and bidding process at work here.

It’s perfectly clear to me that this opaque and over-funded commission needs complete outside scrutiny with fiscal and performance audits. Maybe Cunningham’s pals at the Grand Jury might want to delve into the doings of this public agency.

And the next time Matthew Cunningham preaches at you that you must believe in the joys of small government and lower taxes, or when he suggests whole village child rearing is Obama socialism, just give him a wink and a nod and try not to stare too hard at the giant scarlet H on his forehead.

The Pringle Money Machine Finds Unlikely Opportunities For Growth

Your friendly and well-paid guide to the next life.

Okay. We know there’s a lot of money in lobbying. That’s why lobbyists contribute so much to political campaigns – to influence legislation and win government contracts for their clients.

But who knew there was so much taxpayer gravy to be slurped up in and around opaque local government districts? The other day we looked at Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle’s massive windfall lobbying for the little-known OC Children and Families Commission, here. But Pringle has not only scored big bucks lobbying for the Heathy Kids Bureaucracy, he’s also made some serious green lobbying for the dead!

Yep. That’s right. In 2008 Pringle was awarded a $6000 per month annual contract to find new burial grounds for something called “The OC Cemetery District” and to do some sort of educational outreach to the community. He was also supposed to be some sort of “consultant” on developing the existing Lake Forest bone yard. You read right. $6000 per month is $72,000 per year. With a $25,000 bonus if he actually managed to accomplish something.

According to the General Manager of the Cemetery District, Tim Deutsch, the contract was extended to cover the balance of fiscal year 2009-2010, so presumably Pringle failed to deliver in year one, and was naturally rewarded with a contract extension.

The lobbyists are dying to get in...

So we have several problems as far as I can see:  one is a pretty vague contract with completely disparate elements, awarded without any sort of competition; and then there’s the amount – what seems to be an exorbitant sum of money with no guarantees of actually accomplishing anything; and finally, there seems  to be a lack of any sort of quality control or financial oversight in the management of this District.

Pringle got $6000 a month and all I got was this lousy mug...

It’s pretty obvious that the District has more money than it knows what to do with. But the real question is: why didn’t they simply engage a commercial realtor to find them more land – at zero cost? And while we’re contemplating embarrassing questions, what qualifies Pringle’s PR shop as a cemetery planner or a cemetery entitlements developer? Isn’t that what the District pays it’s general manager to do?

And finally, why on Earth does the Cemetery District need anybody to do community outreach?  Isn’t that why the phone book has the Yellow Pages?

Milking the Welfare State; Repuglicanism for Fun and Profit

First wrap yourself in the flag. The rest is easy.

Away back in 1998, the people of California in their infinite wisdom passed Proposition 10, a tax on cigarettes and tobacco products the revenue of which was to go to the creation of a vast new state and local early child development bureaucracy. At the time, and even subsequently Republicans have assailed the tax and its main advocate, Rob “Meathead” Reiner for this statist approach to whole village child-rearing.

What many people don’t realize is how many supposedly conservative Republicans have made small fortunes participating in skimming lucrative contracts of questionable value off of the tax proceeds.

Let’s take a look at how this works in Orange County.

Proposition 10 created Children and Family Commissions in California’s counties, including Orange County. The very name suggests typical liberal social engineering. Replete with staff, lawyers  and appointed commissioners the thing is virtually opaque public-wise, and yet it starts the process of allocating millions of dollars of Prop 10 monies as it adopts programs, and more problematically, hires a plethora of consulting services. And what consulting services they are!

Let’s take a look at the OC Child and Family Commission agenda for the June 4, 2008 meeting. One item really jumps out.

$150,000 to Curt Pringle (up from $100,000 the year before) to be a lobbyist! And another $150,00 to “The White House Writers Group,”  a collection of former Reagan script writers, to promote the County’s ever-so special programs and projects nationwide!

Say what? Why is a government agency that is supposed to be helping unhealthy poor kids making healthy, rich Republican adults even richer? Why do they need a lobbyist? They say it’s to protect their bureaucracy from budget raids. Really? $150,000 to lobby the legislature for a mere twelve months? Yep, that’s $12,500 per month; or, over $600 per working day! And, say, how did that Pringle deal work out for them?

And why do they need to promote themselves and their programs anywhere except inside the County? Good questions. Anyhow, $300,000 per annum could feed a lot of hungry kids; or a mere handful of grownup Repuglicans.

If anybody was wondering what Pringle’s “expertise” is, and how it will be applied to his Main Chance Choo Choo, now you know – lobbying for ever greater tax revenue in Sacramento! What a racket!

I like to help spread the wealth around...

I notice that in 2008 Commission members include the John Lewis-sawdust-brained-marionette Bill Campbell, and ‘Pug talking pin-head Hugh Hewitt – both chums of our old acquaintance, Matthew J. Cunningham – another supposed big government hater.

News flash! Repuglican “consultants” like Curt Pringle  not only make their livings helping us regular citizens “navigate” the treacherous waters of the big government they helped create, they also make big incomes for themselves and their underlings by reaping government windfalls – like Prop 10 revenue redistribution.

Well, the original critics of Proposition 10 were right on the money. But now it looks like some of them are in it – but good.

I’m going to be giving the branches of the Children and Families Commission tree a real good shake, and it will be interesting to see what other strange fruits fall out of it.

Too Good To Pass Up

I recently visited the Craig Hunter for Sheriff website and found this picture.

Yeah, a picture of Hunter with Il Duce himself. The guy who became an American hero and terrorism expert by accomplishing – absolutely nothing. That’s right kids. Apparently this noble nation is so starved for real heroes that you can become one by being a mayor in a town where terrorists fly airplanes into your biggest buildings.

But this post isn’t about Rudy Giuliani – not directly, anyway. It’s about authoritarianism masked as conservatism; about using the police power of the government to keep us safe from – ourselves. And that’s the vibe I’ve gotten from this Hunter guy, from his statements about marijuana and the hapless “drug war”  and about the rights “that have been given to us” – presumably he believes by the government.  It doesn’t help that most of his pictures seem to reveal a guy with a really bad case of constipation.

More fiber, dude.

I really can’t wait for the day that wannabe politicians quit sharing their photos ops with Bush-era police staters.

When this campaign started I really was planning on just boycotting the whole thing. But the more I see of Hunter the less I like him.

Another Day Another Dump on Pringle’s Main Chance Choo Choo

You are growing very sleepy...

This time it’s a story by the LA Times featuring former OCTA boss Art Leahy and others questioning the dedicated tracks, the impacts, and of course some of the basic operating assumptions of the California HSR.

Meantime we’re not holding our collective breath for the release of Curt Pringle’s “business plan” that seems to be at least 5 years late.

Carona Gang Still Gunnin’ for Hunt: The Elusive Attorney General Report

As Bill Hunt’s candidacy for sheriff is building momentum, the previously unreleased Attorney General report on the Greg Haidl incident has begun to surface. FFFF has obtained the report now we pass it along, although it has been slightly redacted to protect the identity of a minor (view the report).

The Attorney General Report

The report was allegedly leaked to the press by Carona’s pal Michael Schroeder back in 2005 but was never completely released to the public. Why not?

Perhaps because the 21 page document is primarily an indictment against a department culture created under Carona himself, along with Jaramillo and Haidl back before Carona became a convicted felon and was forced to resign. The report also reprimands several subordinates, including Lieutenants Downing and Hunt for showing “poor judgment”. Somehow even blogger Jon Fleischman managed to receive a slap for his complete lack of accountability as PIO for the department.

Well that's bittersweet.

So how will the report affect candidate Bill Hunt?

It’s not quite the indictment on Hunt that his detractors claim it to be. Hunt’s involvement in the controversy centers around whether Hunt ordered his deputy to remove opinions and facts from an incident report on the night that Greg Haidl, son of Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, was stopped with some friends who were found in possession of marijuana back in 2003.

The report does accuse Hunt of ordering the police report to be edited in a “questionable fashion,” but what does that mean? Were facts removed, or just opinions?

In our interview last month, Hunt indicated that he asked his deputy to remove only an opinion that contradicted both the evidence and a confession.

Additionally, a sworn statement made after the report that was issued by Hunt’s sargent asserted that the involved deputy’s report was “too opinionated” and so Hunt asked Deputy Roche to remove the opinions. Hunt reportedly said “you need to put the facts – the elements of the crime” into the report.

Statement by Sgt. Gaffner

Five years later, Hunt is still standing behind his actions. In our interview, he told us that he violated no law, no policy and he still maintains that he did the right thing.

I am told that forthcoming federal court testimony will be revealing. But will it conflict with what Bill Hunt told us?

It’s also important to note that the AG report was not part of an independent investigation – for some reason Carona specifically requested that an investigation not be performed (see page 2). Rather, the Attorney General based the report primarily on Carona’s own internal investigation as conducted by Assistant Sheriff Jo Ann Galisky.

A Day Late And A Dollar Short

Methane isn't a greenhouse gas, is it?

Trying to keep up with the FFFF juggernaut isn’t easy, but Repuglican hackling Matthew J. Cunningham seems to want to give it a go.

Maybe he took umbrage at us last week for posting the fact that he tried to do a public records strip-search of Republican County Clerk candidate Hugh Nguyen. After all, Cunningham is still trying to pitch the concept  that he represents some sort of conservative ideals. Working as a flack for Democrat Tom Daly isn’t going to help sell that fable.

Today we learned that our old friend has made a request at the County to see our public document requests! It seems Cunningham has requested a County-wide search for any document requests made by our own fearless Travis Kiger. Well, turn about is fair play, of course, and we always play fair.

And because we’re so helpful, we’ll make it easy on him. We’ve requested Tom Daly’s and Rene Ramirez’ County issued blackberry and credit card records for the past couple of years. Why? After the discovery of the $48,000 sports hall of fame fiasco, the $1700 per month do-nothing retainer, and the $2.1 million building purchase disaster, we’ve been wondering what other fiscal misadventures have been swept under the County Clerk’s rug during Tom’s tenure.

Of course one has to wonder why The Jerb is so interested in finding out what we are looking for, and the curious wouldn’t have to waste a lot of time guessing. He’s obviously working for Tom Daly’s campaign, no doubt through the direction of his boss and political soul mate John Lewis. Still, a County-wide search?

Cunningham will do whatever I tell him. We're very tight.

Those guys seem to be terrified that more crooked skeletons will soon be a tumblin’ out of Tom Daly’s closet, and it looks like maybe it’s Cunningham’s job to run interference and perhaps preemptively wordsmith them away.

And it may also be that Cunningham just wants to see what we’re up to so he can find out if he has any other buddies under our scrutiny. Or maybe he just wants to learn what real, disinterested citizen bloggers do.

In any case we’re flattered to have somebody check out and even publicize what we’re doing. See, unlike Cunningham, we aren’t front men for crooks, influence peddlers, and perjurers. We’re just funny that way.

Sheriff Hutchens Tells Gun Owners to Elect Someone Else

Sandra Hutchens found it difficult to garner applause at the OC Young Republican’s Sheriff’s candidate forum last night, but she did have one shining moment. Unfortunately it came when she implored gun owners to vote for her opponents if they desire to see less restrictions on concealed weapons permits in Orange County.

Hutchens Questioned – Another Snooping Incident?

A group named OCCCWS has asked a series of probing questions to appointed OC Sheriff Sandra Hutchens in what amounts to an accusation that she is covering up at least one incident of confidential records abuse within the SAFE division of the Sheriff’s department.

The letter asks if members of the OCSD SAFE division are currently under internal investigation forillegally using law enforcement and/or DMV databases to probe the histories and/or personal information of individuals not under criminal investigation, such as current or former love interests, or romantic rivals.”

I'm watching you

It goes on to question the legality of not reporting the investigation to authorities such as the FBI and DOJ. OCCCWS also wants to know why the incident was kept from public view after promises of transparency within the department.

The accusations specifically target the S.A.F.E. division, which was developed by Hutchens last year to “create policies and procedures to bring the department up to industry standards.” For her critics, that means bringing Los Angeles-style policing to a reluctant Orange County population.

The letter contains no details or evidence to back up the accusations, so we’ll just hope that more information is forthcoming. It’s worth noting that the guys behind OCCCWS are well connected within the OCSD and their disdain for Hutchens is notorious, making it very plausible that news of an internal investigation would get leaked through them.

So was there an incident? An internal investigation? Will the department respond to requests for transparency? We’ll find out.