Earlier FFFF noted the story of an Anaheim activist who says he was wrongfully arrested after speaking out against OC Sheriff candidate Craig Hunter at Anaheim city council meetings. James Robert Reade claims that several officers questioned him about his anti-Craig Hunter speeches shortly before arresting him on false premise that he was under the influence of narcotics.
Yesterday Reade took his accusations a step further and filed an $85,000 claim against the city of Anaheim, saying he was “attacked and brutalized by two Anaheim officers under color of authority.”
In the claim Reade presents drug tests from both the OC Crime Lab and St. Jude hospital that show there weren’t any narcotics in his system on the day of his arrest. Reade further asserts that he has never used drugs in his life and should never have been detained.
The city dropped all charges against Reade after determining that the officers made a misdiagnosis of Reade’s behavior. Officers were disciplined and sent to additional training for mishandling the incident.
At best, we could consider this another example of the culture of abuse coddled by decades of poor leadership at Anaheim PD under the control of Craig Hunter. That certainly lines up with what courts and civil rights activists have said over the years.
On the other hand, the officers’ prior references to Reade’s political activities suggest something far more malicious may have happened. If the department intended to silence an outspoken activist as Hunter was about to begin his campaign for Sheriff, that would be an inexcusable abuse of authority.
Obviously Mr. Reade is very serious about pursuing this case against the department. We’ll see what happens.
Some dude named Chris Prevatt at a blog called “the Liberal OC” has decided to pass along that ludicrous piece of spam mail “hit-piece” we posted about yesterday – sent all the way from India!
It seems Prevatt is taken with the fact that Sidhu’s Mumbai Marauders have discovered the horrible truth about Nelson: he’s gotten three traffic tickets since (gasp) 2003! Prevatt seems to think he deserves his own wing at Corcoran State Prison.
All tentacles and no brains
A little digging uncovers what’s going on here. Prevatt is a County worker who once had his computer taken away for blogging on company time. He is also what is known as a “Jannie,” one of the pathetic creatures that Janet Nguyen discovered under some rock or other and put to work in her PR salt mine.
Here’s the connection: Nguyen has recently endorsed the completely unethical carpetbagging scampaign of Harry Sidhu, fake addresses and all; and we’ve been questioning why Nguyen is putting on additional staff in Norby’s former office where there is no supervisor. The Register’s Jennifer Muir picked up on this and started asking questions. Nguyen is no doubt pissed off at being outed.
Prevatt leaps into the breach by passing along Sidhu’s comically pathetic attempt to attack Nelson for traffic tickets! Hoo boy! Petty and silly? Stupid and ineffectual? Of course. What do you expect?
Say, what is the Democrat equivalent of a “repuglican?”
Yesterday we related how Board of Supervisor Chair, Janet Nguyen, Supervisor for the 1st District, has taken into her noodle to employ two new folks in Chris Norby’s former 4th District office – even though there is no supervisor there.
Now we are informed that the OC Register’s Jennifer Muir was calling around the Hall of Admin later in the day and asking about the new staffing arrangements.
Geez, pretty soon the Register may just have to give FFFF its own column.
As we reported, March 1, 2010, FFFF’s Travis Kiger, Fullerton businessman Larry Lazar and myself sat down with Bill Hunt, 2010 candidate for Orange County Sheriff. The round table discussion was an opportunity to ask some important questions that we think are on the minds of voters. No topic was off-limits.
Hunt Speaks Out About Haidl & Co.
Back in 2003, Greg Haidl, son of Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, was awaiting trial (where he was eventually convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious teen) when he was picked up by deputies in San Clemente after they found marijuana in a car driven by Haidl’s friend.
FFFF: “You’ve taken a lot of criticism for some events that happened a long time ago with Haidl’s son, specifically the October 26, 2003 incident. Can you tell us what happened?”
Bill Hunt: “Here’s what happened. At the end of the day, me and my captain were sold out by a sheriff and assistant sheriffs, Jaramillo and Haidl, who were involved in this thing behind the scenes and then lied about it and tried to hang it on me. And you’ll remember by that time I was a candidate for the office [sheriff].”
Hunt went on to describe in great detail the events behind the criticism that eventually lead to his resignation. The following is a synopsis of Hunt’s full explanation:
Gregory Haidl was out on bail on rape charges and living with his mother in San Clemente. On October 26, 2003 at around 10:00PM Haidl was skateboarding with a couple of friends in an industrial complex when Deputy Roche spotted them and made contact. It seems everyone agrees that there was marijuana in a car that the teens used to get to the industrial complex. After a brief interrogation by Deputy Roche, a sixteen-year old male confessed to possessing the pot. Based on an audio record of the incident, it was a solid bust based on a solid confession.
Deputy Roche, knowing Haidl was involved, called his supervisor, Sergeant Richard “Dick” Downing. Downing arrived, reviewed the circumstances, and called his watch commander. At some point, Haidl was driven home to his mother’s house by Sgt. Downing and the sixteen-year old was allowed to leave with the third suspect in the third suspect’s car. It is at this point that the cover up seems to begin.
Sgt. Dick Downing called his watch commander, Lloyd Downing. Lloyd Downing then called Jaramillo who told him “Don’t log it, take care of it.” Lloyd Downing said, “It’ll be our little secret.” Then Lloyd Downing called Dick Downing and told him not to log the event. But Sgt. Downing wasn’t dumb and he wanted to do the right thing. He told Roche to log it in the deputy’s log and then he intentionally did not enter it into the sergeant’s log. This way, Sgt. Downing could say he followed orders without really doing anything wrong. Next, Jaramillo called Carona and a six minute conversation ensued.
Sgt. Dick Downing decided to call Hunt and explain that Roche found Haidl and his friends with some dope and that Haidl had been taken home. He didn’t tell Hunt that he had already spoken with the watch commander or what the watch commander had told him. Hunt then called his captain to let him know what happened.
Days later Hunt ordered Deputy Roche to submit his report and book the confiscated marijuana which had been stored in Sergeant Downing’s file cabinet. Roche wrote up the report and submitted it to the shift supervisor, Sergeant Nancy Gafner, who reviewed it and determined that there are subjective opinions in it. Roche stated that, although the sixteen-year old minor confessed to possessing the marijuana, he believed it to be Haidl’s. Gafner felt that the opinion should be omitted because there were few or no facts to support it and asks Hunt if he concurred. Hunt read it and decided that he wanted Roche to explain why he was so sure was Haidl’s dope. Roche explained that he just felt that the kid was covering up for Haidl but he could not articulate exactly why. Hunt then told Roche to omit the opinion and only include the facts.
Greg Haidl
Later, Carona and Jaramillo conspired to dump the entire case on Hunt’s shoulders. Hunt said “So if you look at the indictment of Mike Carona, that’s on page 19. It says in there defendant Carona, defendant Jaramillo, and co-defendant Don Haidl conspired to arrange for preferential treatment for co-defendant Haidl’s kid. And they don’t mention me in there. But remember, the attorney general didn’t know about this. They didn’t do an independent investigation. They didn’t pull phone records. They took a corrupt Sheriff’s word on an investigation that only looked at us and didn’t look at their involvements. My captain went to Jaramillo several times and said ‘let me go to the media and explain it. This is a nothing deal that you let spin out of control.’ They wouldn’t let us and that’s why. If they found out what our involvement was it didn’t make sense with what happened on the back end. They wouldn’t be able to get the stories straight.”
All of these details come to light through the media over the course of years. David Lopez of KCAL9 news and R. Scott Moxley of OC Weekly were able to corroborate the much of the story. Lopez ultimately caught Carona in a lie when he asked “Did you get involved with this on October 26, 27, or 28?” Carona responds, “No. No sir.”
There is so much more to this story and we encourage you to read Hunt’s own words on the case and decide for yourself. Hunt names names and tells it like it is.Read the full transcript.
UPDATE: ALTHOUGH THIS STORY BY MS. MUIR APPEARED ON-LINE, APPARENTLY IT DID NOT APPEAR IN ANY PRINT EDITION – CAUSING SOME OF OUR FRIENDS TO WONDER WHAT SORT OF THRESHOLD OF PUBLIC MISFEASANCE/MALFEASANCE NEEDS TO BE SURMOUNTED IN ORDER TO ACTUALLY BE PRINTED BY THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER.
THE ANSWER: WE DON’T KNOW. BUT MUST IT MUST BE PRETTY HIGH.
WELL, I’VE GOT MORE GOOD STUFF ON DALY AND WE’LL SEE IF THAT’S OF ANY INTEREST TO THEM.
– Grover Cleveland
Jennifer Muir of the OC Register picked up on the Brett Barbre hall of fame brainstormin’ fiasco that cost the taxpayers $48,000 – courtesy of County Clerk Tom Daly’s reckless largess with our money. Interestingly, Muir cites a County rule that any expenditure more than $50,000 has to be approved by the Board of Supervisors. Hmm.
I am a fiscal conservative. I am a fiscal conservative. I am... aw the hell with it.
The funniest quote in Muir’s piece was Daly claiming that the whole deal was within his purview and that he paid Barbre for ideas, not “long reports.” Of course he got neither.
Worked my synapes to the bone, I tells ya...
Hilariously, Barbre claims to have worked 40 hours a month on the project. That would be an average of 2 hours a day. Every working day. For 18 months. That’s 720 hours – with nothing to show for it. Is there a single person in OC stupid enough to believe any of that?
He seemed to be soliciting sympathy with the big revelation to Muir that a trip he made to Boston was paid for out of his own pocket! What self sacrifice!
Barbre also seemed indignant that somebody (us) might imply a nexus between his windfall and the $1000 he gave to Daly’s supervisorial campaign. His self-exoneration? He didn’t even give Daly the maximum amount of $1700! What a guy.
Additionally, we have received an e-mail that really sheds light onto just how feeble Barbre’s and Daly’s “research” efforts really were. Here it is:
Subject: Orange County Sports Hall of Fame
I am a founder of the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame. We began in 1980 with a huge banquet at the Anaheim Convention Center. Over the years, we inducted more than 70 athletes, coaches and contributors from Walter Johnson and Mickey Flynn to Jack Youngblood and Jim Fregosi. We eventually had a museum at Anaheim Stadium that has since been replaced by Angel offices (our artifacts are in storage). Nobody contacted me or other founders (including Cal State Fullerton Sports Information Director Mel Franks and long-time OC business and political leader Buck Johns) regarding research into a Hall of Fame — that existed 30 years ago. If someone was paid nearly $50,000 to do research they did an amazingly poor job. Sincerely, Pete Donovan
Thanks for the e-mail, Mr. Donovan. Just as we expected.
Janet Nguyen. Why is she trying to horn in on the 4th District office?
We have heard from reliable sources that Board of Supervisor Chair, Janet Nguyen, has very recently hired two individuals to join the remaining staff in Chris Norby’s ex-office. How?
Under board policy the chairman is supposed to take oversight of that District office.
But, I have to wonder why.
Since there is no longer a supervisor to report to, and hence no staff work preparatory to supervisor’s meetings, the staff should be reduced, not increased. There would seem to be less “constituency” type work to be done since there is no supervisor to direct it, and in any case the replacement election is just three short months away. So what gives?
Is Nguyen just planting “her” people in the office to report back to her directly? And are these “her” people that she intends to keep in place in the wildly remote chance that her boy Harry Sidhu should actually win the upcoming election?
The Tom Daly Experience. The closer you look, the worse it gets...
It’s looking like County Clerk Tom Daly figures he can peddle any old bullshit to a Register reporter and get away with it. And he probably figures on an easy re-election this spring. That’s the arrogance of a career politician for you.
When questioned by the Reg’s Jennifer Muir about his sports hall of fame fiasco in which he paid “consultant” and campaign contributor Brett Barbre $48,000 to “study” the notion, Daly said he paid Barbre for “ideas, not long reports.” Not quite right, Mr. Daly. See, we read your contract with Barbre even if you didn’t. He was supposed to be doing research on the feasiblity of the scheme – a scheme, by the way, that falls way outside the County Clerk’s job description. That specifically included contacting similar entities.
Hey, those guys weren't in the phone book!
And here’s the kicker: we already had a hall of fame in the County – which apparently was located in Angel’s Stadium in the 80s and subsequently mothballed. And we got an e-mail from a gent who says he was one of the founders: Pete Donovan. Mr. Donovan asserts that nobody ever contacted him or fellow founders about this idea. Here’s Donovan’s e-mail:
Subject: Orange County Sports Hall of Fame
I am a founder of the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame. We began in 1980 with a huge banquet at the Anaheim Convention Center. Over the years, we inducted more than 70 athletes, coaches and contributors from Walter Johnson and Mickey Flynn to Jack Youngblood and Jim Fregosi. We eventually had a museum at Anaheim Stadium that has since been replaced by Angel offices (our artifacts are in storage). Nobody contacted me or other founders (including Cal State Fullerton Sports Information Director Mel Franks and long-time OC business and political leader Buck Johns) regarding research into a Hall of Fame — that existed 30 years ago. If someone was paid nearly $50,000 to do research they did an amazingly poor job. Sincerely, Pete Donovan
Gee. Barbre had time to go to Boston to “study” the issue at Fenway Park, but not not enough time to make a couple of local calls to people who had already given it a go. Come to think of it, maybe those were exactly the people Barbre and Daly didn’t want to talk to!
Well, that pretty well sums up the incompetence and/or corruption of the whole stinking pile.
Last night, FFFF’s Travis Kiger, Fullerton businessman Larry Lazar and myself sat down with Bill Hunt, 2010 candidate for Orange County Sheriff. The roundtable discussion was an opportunity to ask some important questions that we think are on the minds of voters. No topic was off-limits.
We will share with you what Hunt had to say about Marijuana, concealed weapon permits (CCW), citizen oversight, DUI checkpoints, illegal immigration, Sandra Hutchens, Craig Hunter, emerging technology, OC political insiders, controversial endorsement by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, OC jail reform, and dealing with federal agencies.
The lengthy discussion yielded too much information for us to share with you all at once, so we will be breaking it down into topics of interest. For that matter, we will not be spelling out every single word said only because this series of posts would soon turn into a full-length novel.
First Impressions
To my surprise, Bill Hunt arrived by himself with no handlers or henchmen. As our discussion progressed, it was clear why he came alone. Bill Hunt told us that he does not need anyone reminding him of where he stands on any issue. In fact, he didn’t lay out his talking points or any of the shenanigans that you might expect a typical politician to do. Hunt is an energetic man who has spent a tremendous amount of time and thought on the development of his platform and studying what lays ahead for his political race and the Sheriff’s Department. He is well-read and seems to possess new perspectives and insight on old problems. Bill Hunt clearly has an in‑depth knowledge of the crisis that faces the Sheriff’s Department and jail system. He presented some out-of-the-box innovations, leaving us with the hope that he would serve the People well.
Bill Hunt on Marijuana
No, the South County candidate for sheriff isn’t ON marijuana but we did ask him about the subject. Bill made it clear that he isn’t in favor of legalizing pot but that he respects the will of the people.
FFFF: “If you are elected sheriff and the DEA came into OC and asked OCSD to help shut down medical marijuana dispensaries, would you oblige them with support?”
Bill Hunt: “No. I would prevent them, it’s unconstitutional! I’m not an advocate for legalizing marijuana but on the other hand the sheriff is elected to enforce state laws. So, if I’m elected sheriff to this county enforcing state law and I’m using federal law to circumvent state law, then I’m not really being true to my office and my oath of office. The sheriff can prevent the feds from coming in and doing that.”
Hunt goes on to say, “Medical marijuana is legal within certain parameters, just like alcohol is. If a kid is drinking alcohol or if you’re drunk driving, it’s a violation of law and we’ll enforce it. The same thing with people who extend beyond the legal limits of medical marijuana, we’ll enforce that. But we [law enforcement] can’t be taking a vendetta just because the general consensus in law enforcement is they [law enforcement officers] don’t like it. The public has already ruled. Now, I think it’s a zoning problem, a business problem, not a law enforcement problem. The cities need to get together and regulate it just like they tattoo shops and bars just like their CUP’s [conditional use permits] provide. It’s a regulatory issue, I think, right now more than law enforcement.”
As we reported last week, here, County Clerk/Recorder Tom Daly paid almost $50,00 in 2008 and 2009 to a campaign contributor to “study” the feasibility of developing an Orange County athletic “hall of fame.” We opined upon the irresponsible expenditure and questioned why the County Clerk would even embark on such a lame idea in the first place.
At the time of the post, our request for public records had resulted in scant documentation that this “consultant” Brett Barbre, had actually done anything at all to justify his $3000 per month bill. We were informed by the County that we didn’t have all their “work product” documents.
Now we do.
I don't remember and you can't make me.
The sum and substance of Mr. Barbre’s efforts for Daly is reflected in brief periodic memorandums sent to Daly’s office informing them of what he had been up to in the previous month. Even these cursory, written updates ceased after September 1, 2008, although Barbre continued to be paid by Daly through June, 2009.
The lack of accomplishment was clear; but the invoices kept coming in.
Curiously, in the summer of 2008 Barbre and Daly had gotten it into their noggins to create something called a prep sports honor roll dinner, some sort of tie-in to the original concept, presumably. They had even picked a date for the inaugural event. Amazingly no one seems to have even questioned why the County Clerk would be organizing such a blatanly non-public function that had absolutely nothing to do with his job responsibilities.
We will probably never know what was actually discussed verbally between the parties involved – including why they thought this hare-brained idea was in any way justified; or how they could ever defend the $50,000 paid to Barbre to do almost nothing. One thing is evident from the documents: by the summer of 2009 Barbre was no longer at the public trough, although by then he had already collected regular monthly payments of $3000, totaling $48,000 with nothing to show for it.
Almost fifty thousand dollars. Squandered. Wasted. Flushed down a rathole and into the pocket of a Daly campaign contributor.
Does anyone in the County government even care about this total dereliction of responsibility and breach of the public trust? Do the folks at the Orange County Register care? Do you?
UPDATE: Allan Bartlett has helped close the circle on the Daly-Barbre financial connection. Here is the link that shows a $1000 campaign contribution from Barbre back to Daly. Even if there is no overt kickback here it sure stinks like Hell.
– GC
Has there been fiscal misfeasance by Tom Daly at the County Clerk/Recorder’s office? As we previously indicated, here, OC Clerk Recorder paid self-styled public relations “consultant” and Municipal Water Board member Brett Barbre tens of thousands of dollars in 2008 and 2009 to assist in the creation of some sort of OC sports “hall of fame.” A public records search has turned up invoices from Barbre to Tom Daly’s department for almost $50,000, with almost nothing to show for it. Interestingly, as early as March, 2009 Barbre, who is a Republican, made himself conspicuous as an endorser of Daly in his now defunct campaign for 4th District County Supervisor.
What the records show is that in February 2008 the County Clerk’s office engaged the services of Barbre in a contract for $15,000 and later in a $3000 per month extension, to delve into the subject of creating a sports hall of fame museum.
What the consultant selection process was, why Mr. Barbre was chosen, what his qualifications were, and why the taxpayers were put on the hook for this dubious concept project may never be known. But what is known is that from May 2008 through June 2009 the County paid Barbre $48,000 with virtually no evidence of any accomplishment at all.
Our request for “all activity status reports” and “lists of work completed” turned up three short memorandums and an incomplete spreadsheet listing Orange County High Schools and their mascots.
We have been provided with no evidence to suggest that any of the activities outlined in Barbre’s contract were ever achieved. Added to the evident lack of accomplishment seems to be a reluctance to publicize the hall of fame brainstorm at all. Very telling is a sentence from a January 15, 2009 memorandum from Barbre to Tom Daly, in which Barbre says about the whole idea: I would suggest keeping it fairly low key until the budget mess at the state and the county are behind us.
Right. No sense in letting the public know that the Clerk/Recorder Tom Daly is squandering public money on such a hare-brained scheme during a recession, including giving Barbre $3,000 a month to ponder the sports hall of fame concept, while county employees are about to be laid off.
A very big sports fan.
We have been informed by the County Public Information office that we are not in possession of all the work product documents, and that something else is forthcoming. This strikes us as particularly odd since Barbre’s questionable “services” were concluded nine months ago and our records request was made several weeks ago. We can’t help but consider the possibility that something is being fabricated up after the fact to make it appear as if the $48,000 slipped to Barbre by Daly produced more than a few short memos and an incomplete list of Orange County’s High Schools and their mascots. Well, we’ll soon find out.
The final disturbing piece to this puzzle is the fact that Brett Barbre’s name appears on Tom Daly’s March, 2009 fundraiser host committee list – the event in which he launched his abortive campaign for County supervisor; and that later, in the summer of 2009, Barbre assumed the office of ambassador to the OC GOP Central Committee for newly-minted Republican Renee Ramirez, Daly’s employee and hand-picked successor for the County Clerk’s job.
First column, six down.
Ironically, we note that Daly pulled the plug on his supervisorial campaign last Friday – the very same day we presented ourselves at the County to pick up the Barbre documents.
That’s the story so far. It doesn’t paint a pretty picture of either competence or probity within Tom Daly’s bureaucratic regime. The self-styled fiscal conservative seems to have been anything but conservative with public funds, and, as will become painfully evident in subsequent posts, this episode is not a lone example.
Hall of fame? Really? Maybe what we need in OC is a hall of shame – for politicians who abuse the public trust. We’ve got a recommendation for the first inductee.
