This great post was written the other day right here in Fullerton by our good Friend and fellow blogger Martha Martelongo, about the 72nd election as a watershed for the OC GOP. Enjoy!
This past Tuesday night, I was in Orange County for the special election to fill the seat vacated by the disgraced, resigned, Republican, Mike Duvall, for the 72nd State Assembly district. Duvall was handpicked by the entrenched ethically bankrupt establishment of the Orange County GOP. The same group that handpicked, Linda Ackerman, whom they thought would be a shoe-in, because she is the wife of former Republican Senate minority leader, Dick Ackerman.
The winner in that race, Chris Norby, born in the City of Fullerton, in the heart of the District, has been a teacher, a City Councilman, a County Supervisor. His politics have earned him a reputation for being a staunch defender and innovative leader for limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual property rights, education reform, and public employee pension reform, all issues that resonate with the independent minded majority of Republicans who live in the strongly Republican District. He speaks to these issues with moral clarity, authority, boldness, conviction and consistency.
Lost in the brouhaha over his wife’s sudden carpetbagging political ambitions in the 72nd State Assembly special election is the curious fact that Dick Ackerman is very likely going to be a resident soon of the 4th Supervisorial District.
We’re not real sure yet where the Ackermans have decided to take up their faux residence, but chances are pretty good it will be back in Dick’s old happy hunting grounds, surrounded by the love of all his old Fullerton Rotarian pals. And if he does “move” to Fullerton he would be able to throw his hat in the ring for termed-out Supervisor Chris Noby’s job.
Far-fetched? Well, maybe. But the Ackermans seem to be the type of folks who avoid leaving anything on the table, so Shawn Nelson would be well-advised to watch his back…
Why is it so many supposedly conservative, small-government OC Republicans seem to make it their business to make as much money as they can off of the very entities that they are constantly railing against? For many of these miscreants the County government is nothing but a plantation to be worked, and worked over, as often as possible.
Take the case of former State Senator John Lewis, supposed arch-conservative Republican, who as a campaign consultant gets his boys elected and then as a lobbyist raises money for them – right before he puts the squeeze on them for a vote or two. His “firm” brags about being able to navigate the complex maze of government. Hmm. Seems like it’s to his advantage to keep government as big, complicated, and non-user friendly as possible. The list of other Republicans -like Anaheim mayor Curt Pringle, County GOP party Chairman Scott Baugh and his predecessor Tom Fuentes, who lobby this or that – is pretty long. We’ve even heard from one reliable source that the latter’s endorsement can be had – for 2500 bucks.
But back to Lewis. His most recent Lewis scam seems to be the utterly bizarre candidacy of one Laura Cunningham for the County Clerk job – as reported by Lewis himself on the Orange Juice blog here. We say bizarre because this idea is so weird that it barely deserves consideration. Except that what the hell, somebody’s got to win this election! Ms. Cunningham is the spouse of Matt Cunningham, a Lewis protege and collaborator; according to her on-line resume she also used to work for Lewis himself as a lobbyist at the County Hall of Admin – so the promotion of this “candidacy” makes sense. But this woman seemingly has no experience or record managing anything. Like her husband, she seems to have spent an adulthood spinning yarns for this or that Republican politician, or trying to help some clients “navigate” some public issue or other (i.e lobbying and PR); running a public agency? Nuh, uh.
Lewis may be afraid that his boy Tom Daly is getting cold feet about running to replace Chris Norby as Supervisor and wants him to nail his colors to the mast by endorsing a potential successor. Ultimately Lewis has nothing to lose by promoting an unqualified unknown. Who knows? Maybe the whole thing is just a ploy. On the other hand maybe Lewis figures this could be the start of a brilliant new political career – and ultimately a lobbying target in the future!
P.S. The funny thing about all of this is that everybody seems to be forgetting about Chris Norby who until a few days ago was also running for the Clerk job. If he gets beat by Ackerman in the 72nd Assy primary in November will he re-train his sights on preserving our vital records at the County Clerk’s office? And what would Lewis do at that point?
Last night the Fullerton City Council voted to give the County of Orange $4,000,000 of your money. Right now. Right out of your pocket.
Well, there she goes. Say good bye.
So what’s the reason for this unusual generosity? It was because the County was threatening to sue the City over the diversion of property tax increment from the County through the bogus establishment of an expanded Redevelopment project area where no blight exists as required under State law.
The City lawyers, Rutan & Tucker,sure must have felt they had a lousy case – because they cooked up a deal behind the scenes to buy off the County with a ton of up-front cash plus some hinky lease back deals on down the road. Ultimately the total payout will be $25,000,000. We shared news of the the payoff meetings here . The County knows the Redevelopment expansion is fraudulent, because it has already made that argument publicly; but apparently there are at least three votes on the Board of Supervisors to take the deal and help out a fellow government agency. The County will formally go for the gold next week.
The City Council vote was utterly predictable with Pam Keller, Don Bankhead, and Dick Jones cheer leading the payoff. Dick Jones in particular excelled himself in ignorant idiocy. We’ll soon be showing the Friends clips of Fullerton’s City Council in action.
To their credit, both Shawn Nelson and Sharon Quirk-Silva voted against an action that both robs the taxpayers of Fullerton and violates a basic ethical standard. The other three broke the law, and they know it. But they’re not out of the woods, yet. A court will decide the matter.
This past Tuesday night, I was in Orange County for the special election to fill the seat vacated by the disgraced, resigned, Republican, Mike Duvall, for the 72nd State Assembly district. Duvall was handpicked by the entrenched ethically bankrupt establishment of the Orange County GOP. The same group that handpicked, Linda Ackerman, whom they thought would be a shoe-in, because she is the wife of former Republican Senate minority leader, Dick Ackerman.
