We keep hearing from his supporter that Harry Sidhu is all about jobs. Fast food jobs, we reckon, but hell, a job is a job.
So weren’t we shocked to learn that Sidhu is shipping work right out of the county! How so, you ask? Well we received a blast-spam e-mail attacking Shawn Nelson for having three traffic tickets in seven years (the horror!). The English in the e-mail was mangled and the time stamp indicated that it was sent from India!
Time Zone GMT +0530
Bad boy, Harry! Bad Boy! Outsourcing your opponent research and hit pieces to India?
How about keeping jobs right here in Orange County, Harry?
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.
My good friend Chriss came this close to beating the rap...
Reading Harry Sidhu’s list of endorsers really makes you pause. I checked out the list of “honorary host committee members” to his upcoming fundraiser.
Harry and I are in complete agreement. Government is all about service. Self-service!
Oh, look! There’s Brett Barbre, the OC Municipal Water District creep who gouged County taxpayers for $48,000 to study an athletic hall of fame, and who kicked back a $1000 campaign contribution to Tom Daly – they guy who gave him the do-nothing job at our expense.
I think Harry has a bright future...even brighter than mine.
Look again and you see the name Chriss Street, the County Treasurer who yesterday was found guilty by a judge of breaching his fiduciary obligation by systematically plundering a business trust that was his responsibility. He was ordered to pay over $7,000,000 by the judge in the case. John Moorlach has called for his immediate resignation.
And Street had previously gotten into hot water by having hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of remodeling work done at his office without soliciting bids. How did he do that? He split up the work into dozens of small purchase orders. He also got County employees to dummy up fake bid solicitations after the fact. Chris Prevatt did a pretty good job describing the DAs subsequent whitewash, here.
What slimy rocks does Sidhu turn over to find these miscreants?
Disturbing image of Van Tran courtesy of the OC Weekly
Our friend Scott Moxley was written a piece at the OC Weekly about how local State Assemblyman and would-be Congressman for the 47th District, Van Tran, actually flew his Chief of Staff down from Sacramento to vote in the recent California Republican Assembly nominating convention – casting a vote for his boss, of course.
Seems there’s some heartburn in some circles because the fellow, Paul Hegyi, somehow got himself affiliated with the Stanton Chapter of the CRA, where he doesn’t live, and also because Stanton isn’t even in the 47th Congressional District.
But part of Fullerton is, so we share this tale with you.
P.S. here’s a fun quote from Tran’s website: Let’s bring character and integrity back to Congress…
It’s a dubious proposition that Congress has ever had any character or integrity, but it’s a bit much to hear that from a guy who is ripping off the taxpayers by claiming a phony per diem in the State legislature, and whose wife was busted as part of an insurance fraud conspiracy ring.
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.
Well, the folks at the Galloway campaign have done it again: another brain-dead video with overdressed, cute-as-a-button Lorri supposedly embarking on her first “tour” of the 4th Supe District to learn all about the concerns of her would-be constituents.
I’ll bet my rawhide bone that Galloway never got beyond the steps of her fake address. The video includes some snippets of people talking, who knows where, who don’t even know what a supervisor is, or does. They shouldn’t feel too bad. Galloway doesn’t seem to know either, but more of that in a bit.
I’ll also bet nobody mentioned that Galloway, until very recently claimed the 3rd District as her legal residence and is claiming to live in a house provided by a big contributor and Anaheim city contractor.
The funny thing is you never actually see Galloway talking to any of these people as they share their worries. We just see the “person on the street.” And then, at the end, Galloway addresses their concerns. Did Galloway actually even bother to leave her phony address? Bet not.
And the issue? We need jobs, jobs, jobs! And Galloway is right there with the answer: jobs; but not by getting government out of the way and by making it cheaper and more efficient. Oh Good Lord, no! That would imply criticism of all those public employee unions and their bank-breaking pension deals. No. Lorri is going to create jobs by spending ever more of your tax dollars, or course; the magic pill: bringing in the high speed rail, the lazy politicians cure all for what ails us. Of course Sidhu is pushing that same jobs button with the same solution. Is there enough gullibility to go around?
And why didn’t somebody tell Lorri nor to stare at the cue cards. Jebus, couldn’t she have at least memorized her stupid script? After all. it’s not like she actually spent a lot of time driving around.
Here’s a JFD promise. As long as they keep making this crap, I’ll keep sharing it.
Check out the indignant posts here and here, by outraged carpetbagg’ stalker Matthew J. Cunningham as he endeavors to bag and tag Villa Park’s Tom Umberg during the 1st Supe District Special Election in 2007. Jeez, Cunningham didn’t even live in the 1st District but boy was he bent all out of shape!
Wow! What huevos! Videotaping the neighborhood, snooping on the living arrangements of the entire Umberg family, including offspring, and generally making a nuisance of himself!
And so we recognize the intrepid Jerb for his cunning and resourcefulness –a full three years before our admin decided to visit the completely suspicious Casa Sidhu #3 – Sidhu’s third “residence” in but a single month.
Sometimes you have to wonder just how dumb some of our politicians really are. One of the problems is that they actually start to believe the campaign bullshit they peddle out to the electorate and begin to take themselves so seriously that they don’t even know when they’re being played. Even by a famous satirical comedy “news” program.
Here’s a vastly entertaining clip from The Daily Show, with the ever irreverent Jon Stewart. Enjoy the sanctimony, confusion and ultimate horror on the face of Anaheim’s own teen queen, Lorri Galloway. When I first saw it I coughed up an old chew toy. Keep from laughing. I dare ya!
And that, Friends, is what happens when you combine vast ambition and profound brainlessness.
