Setting The Bar Low

Here’s a fun Doc HeeHaw campaign flier from 2004 sent to us from a guy named Baxter. It’s interesting because it shows how little you had to do to get re-elected in Fullerton: send out a couple mailers with a few hollow platitudes and specious claims about how you kept Fullerton safe.

And this document provides lots of exciting bonus material.

Working hard, or hardly working?

Gag. Let’s start with the part about keeping Fullerton safe. We now know that was a crock o’ the BS. But really? Fullerton was safer because it had more six-figure paramedics? Really? And our streets were safer because of money poured into an overpriced police annex and and some stupid, unspecified  Homeland Security “Program.” Pathetic. Nothing mentioned about Pat McKinley hiring one-eyed cops rejected by the LAPD. Hmm.

Speaking of McPension, the fact that this toady permitted his picture to be used in a campaign mailer for his boss is really pretty bad and should have caused him to be disciplined by his…oops.

Over on the right it gets even better. Responsible planning, Dick? You mean the proliferation of massive, high density apartment blocks built by your campaign contributors that are choking downtown Fullerton? You mean the Jefferson Commons behemoth? The idiotic Transportation Center Master Plan? And what major transportation projects were you talking about, Dick. The streets of Fullerton were falling into disrepair then, and haven’t gotten any better in the last eight years of your neglect. Also thank you Dick for improving “our” quality of life by revitalizing local parks, although I doubt if you wanted anybody to know about the Poisoned Park that has been virtually useless since the day it opened in 2003.

Oh, and fiscal responsibility? Oops, goofed again. No mention of balancing the budget by imposing a hidden and illegal 10% tax on our water. I would call that raising taxes, each and every year! Now that’s not very good, is it?

And now for Jonesy’s “public safety” gold seal of approval. Jones omits to tell folks what that endorsement cost the citizens of Fullerton: the notorious retroactive pension benefit formula of 3%@50 for cops and firemen that,with the stroke of Dick Jones’ pen, caused an immediate and massive unfunded pension liability that will be dangling over Fullerton taxpayers’ heads for decades, if it ever goes away at all.

Pat McKinley’s Selective Silence

Um, let me think about it...

A few days ago, OC Register employee Lou Ponsi scribbled an article here quoting Pat McPension “that because the City Council may have to ultimately decide the employment status of the officers, both on unpaid leave, remaining silent was the correct decision.

We remained silent because that is the rule,” McKinley said. “We were told by the (city) attorney, ‘Don’t say anything.’ … A lawyer tells me what to do and I follow his lead.”

Silent? Yeah, right Pat:

Pat was pretty quick to peddle his damage-control and try to downplay Kelly Thomas’ injuries as not life-threatening. His statement that the Coroner couldn’t determine the cause of death was the old flat-foot desperately clinging to the insinuation that there was some medical reason (i.e. maybe drugs) Kelly died – apart from 1400 lbs. of cop meat sitting on his chest after they had bashed his face into his brain.

We’ve also just raised the question as to whether or not Mr. McKinley may have blabbed about the employment status of Fullerton PD officer Kelly Mejia to his pal and anti-recall spokesorifice, Larry Bennett.

Did FPD Leak Personnel Information to Larry Bennett?

Hey, you over there on the left. You can talk now!

By now we are all familiar with the impenetrable shroud in which law enforcement has wrapped itself, with the knowledge and support of supine politicians across the state who have taken its campaign money and endorsements.

In Fullerton this official Code of Silence is used by the Three Dithering Dinosaurs – Don Bankhead, Dick Jones, and Pat McKinley –   to excuse their deplorable failure of leadership in the aftermath of the Kelly Thomas killing. They couldn’t say anything, it was all about personnel stuff.

But what do we have here? Listen carefully to anti-recaller Larry Bennett on an October 19, 2011 Inside OC program:

Hey, wait just a minute! That bit about the “iPad woman” doesn’t sound quite right.Here’s a snippet from Lou Ponsi’s article in the Register on the matter, just yesterday, citing FPD spokesdoughnut Andrew Goodrich:

Mejia was placed on paid administrative leave after returning from Florida and has not been a member of the department since Oct. 28, said Sgt. Andrew Goodrich. The city can’t say the reason Mejia is no longer employed with the department, Goodrich said

October 28th, 2011. So why did civilian Larry Bennett say Mejia had already been fired (past tense) nine days before, and how did he come to have any information about that at all?

Stepped on somebody's weenie.

Was Bennett just lying? Could be. The truth hasn’t tumbled out of his mouth for at least six months. But let’s consider something else, implausible, but not impossible – that he was actually telling the truth of what he knew.

If that’s the case then it’s obvious that the cop personnel Code of Silence was violated by somebody in the FPD itself, as some one who knew what was going on with Mejia (any guesses?), told Bankhead, Jones, or McKinley what was happening, and one of them leaked it to Bennett; and then Bennett shared it with a TV audience! Either that, or somebody in the FDP went directly to Bennett with the news so he could beat the drum for a decisive, pro-active department: No Culture of Corruption here!

Well, selective leaks are nothing new for Andrew Goodrich. Police love to share information about suspects unless those suspects happen to be cops. In this instance it sure looks like the cop curtain of secrecy was opened just a bit in the service of trying to make the department and the Three Tired Tubers look decisive.

So next time you hear about the need for secrecy in all police personnel matters, remember this story of hypocrisy. Some things aren’t as secret as others.

 

Note to Larry Bennett: Defrost The Three Tired Turkey Dinners And Bring It on!

Okay. So I leave a shiny trail. What are you gonna do about it?

Here’s a fascinating excerpt from the No Recall bozos’ website. It seems that some assclown named Larry Bennett finally responded today to a November, 2011 challenge by Chris Thompson for a debate. What a difference three months makes! Last anybody heard from Bennett, he was waiting for Dick Ackerman to return from Thanksgiving vacation to tell him what to do.

When I get back from Hawaii I'm gonna kick ass. Or not.

Now Bennett and Ackerman seem to think they’re in a position to dictate terms to the Recall campaign. No, dimwits, you’re not going to use the Best Blog in OC to peddle your bullshit. Publish it on your own joke of a website. And invite comments, you sad, pathetic puds. I dare you.

In the meantime, Larry, I’ve been told that the challenge from the Recall is still in place: a live debate between Recall Proponent Chris Thompson and you; or better yet, with one of the Three Dead Tree Stumps – if you can pull one of them out of cold storage long enough to defrost. Do you have the huevos? Do gastropods even have huevos? I doubt it. But pretty soon you’ll have no choice.

02/08/2012
Why Is Bushala Rejecting a Debate on his Blog?

TONY, WHY DID YOU REJECT A DEBATE ON YOUR OWN BLOG???

Dear Tony,

It appears that your $170,000 has bought a recall election in June.  It is unfortunate that you have rejected my offer for an on-line debate using your favorite blog – Friends for Fullerton’s Future.  Chris Thompson tells me that you are unwilling to modify the blog to remove the anonymity of bloggers and commenters because of the sensitive nature of some of your regular bloggers.

In case you would like to reconsider, this is my proposal:

I proposed that you and I engage in an online debate hosted on the Friends for Fullerton’s Future Blog Site. This online debate would be between you and I and available for viewing by the public. We would alternate posts where each of us is free to make our case and to challenge the opposing post. I’m sure you might want to talk about the death of Kelly Thomas, release of the video over the D.A. and Ron Thomas’ objection, pensions, the water tax, police discipline cases and the responsibility of our elected council members. We would want to explore the political involvement of yourself, how redevelopment has benefited your family, Chris Thompson and your political friends.

Our only conditions for the online debate is that the blog change its operations to provide to the Citizens of Fullerton the same level of transparency they demand of the individuals and institutions they attack. Specifically the bloggers who post to your site would post under their actual name. That way the Citizens of Fullerton would know who is making what charge and the responsibility for their comments would rightly be a matter of public record. Secondly, the commenter’s who wish to post to our debate items would do so using a Facebook profile. That would bring some accountability and civility to the debate. This format is used successfully by the Orange County Register, Times Community News publications, and many other political blogs.

I believe this will be a constructive debate that uses the blog you like to tout.  I look forward to your reconsideration.

 

Regards,

Larry Bennett

Chairman, Protect Fullerton-Recall No

She Bear About to Turn Violent?

Frustrated that the slow working of his mind could not process the new data, McKinley was about to flail about violently.

Here‘s an article in the Register about Fullerton Councilman Bruce Whitaker asking his fellow councilmembers to vote on whether to see the video of the Kelly Thomas killing at the hands of the FPD. He seems to be suffering from the delusion that Fullerton elected leaders should be intelligently informed.

It’s an interesting article for two reasons. First is the reaction of councilman Pat McKinley, former FPD Chief, and architect of the Culture of Corruption in the force. You would expect him to be opposed to letting anybody see the actions of goons he hired personally and let loose on the streets of Fullerton. But what’s that you say, Pat?:

Councilman Pat McKinley, Fullerton’s former police chief, said he is “violently opposed” to the release of the video.

“I think it’s completely off-base,” McKinley said. “It’s absolutely unprecedented, and it would be wrong to view that before the trial.”

Violently opposed? Now that doesn’t sound like a balanced man, does it? His reaction to a perfectly reasonable request says much about McPension the man. Is he about to go off the deep end?

Mcpension may not want the video released, but I assure you it has nothing to do with any trial, and everything to do with a recall election.

The other thing that struck me as odd is the City Attorney’s alleged request to the DA for permission to view the video and the imbecilic comments ascribed to DA spokesholetress Susan Kang Schroeder, who seems to be just making shit up. The council could watch this video as a closed session personnel issue and nobody else would have to see it. Also, the FPD is bound to have made copies so why ask the DA for permission at all – except to get that “no” answer you want? Acting Chief Hughes, who is neither investigating nor trying anybody, claims to have viewed the video 400 times! I’m starting to suspect everybody  has seen this video – except some of the council and of course, the public.

And as a final thought, is there anybody in Fullerton who believed the serial prevaricator Pat McKinley when, after an awkward pause on CNN, he denied seeing the video himself?

Amateur Hour at Anti-recall HQ

I'll be happy to take your money and waste it. Been doing that for years.

How many tens of thousands of dollars of Pat McKinley’s pension bucks have Anti-recall leaders “Dick” Ackerman and Dave “Dick” Ellis squandered so far?

The metamorphosis into an oxygen breathing life form conferred no added intelligence.

Tens of thousands? Here’s a hopeful blurb from Dick Ellis’ pathetic website:

Rescission Cards Flood In After Mailer Exposes Over 80 Bushala Code Enforcement Violations
Click here to view

Uh, yeah, right. Those were the cards wishfully cast out, blindly, into a sea of possible Recall signatories. The idea was that some folks would take back their recall signatures when they learned what a monster Tony Bushala is.

The “flood” turned out to be more of a trickle that evaporated before it could even form a puddle.

Now that signatures have been submitted, we also know the fruits of Dick Ackerman’s campaign genius: 145 cards returned for each of the Three Dithering Dinosaurs. 145. And many of those are the names of dead jazz musicians, infamous criminals, and assorted fictional movie characters living at impossible addresses.

Consider that when compared to over 17,000 signatures gathered for the Recall on each of the Ossified Fossils and you will understand the breadth and depth of the Anti-recall failure. And be sure to recall Pat McKinley’s winning margin in 2010 – 90 votes.

How many tens of thousands of dollars were wasted on the Anti-recall  mass mailing efforts? I don’t know. But I suggest that if you want to find out, you inquire of the experts in wasting our money: Bankhead, Jones, and McKinley.

Who Is “Bertha Washington?”

Yesterday we had some fun with a self-righteous, pearl-clutching visitor calling him/herself “Bertha Washington” who seemed peeved that her/his Heroes on the Fullerton city payroll were being impugned. It doesn’t seemed to have entered this empty cranium that perhaps, just maybe, these miscreants deserved a wee ladling o’ the disapprobation.

Spokesphincter was the last straw. Apparently.

Today we entertain guesses from the Friends as to the identity of Dear Bertha.

Have at it!

Pat McKinley Can Find Soulmates Among Egyptian Junta

What’s that you say, Harpoon?

Here’s a story from CNN about how Egyptian military authorities subjected arrested women protesters to strip searches and “virginity tests.”

Here’s the money quotation from one of the charming gentlemen generals who run that unfortunate land:

“The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine,” the general told CNN at the time. “These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and (drugs).”

Those girls weren't credible, either...

Now does that sound familiar? Oh, yeah, right. The She Bear at the Soroptimists. Maybe we should invite Amnesty International to Fullerton to check up on Chief McKinley and his She Bear.

Fullerton Is Under Attack!

Last night my compadre the Harpoon penned an angry response to words attributed to outgoing “Acting” Chief Kevin Hamilton that Fullerton was “a town under attack.”

It was a good try, but Harpoon missed the point. Fullerton is under attack!

Fullerton is under attack by a rogue police force that couldn’t control its own uniformed hoodlums, even if it wanted to. And apparently it doesn’t.

Fullerton is under attack by a sclerotic trio of antiquated imbeciles who will never take responsibility for their own failure of leadership.

Fullerton is under attack by a bureaucracy that has fraudulently duped the water rate payers for at least 15 years by tacking on a 10% tax on their water bills without a single effort to inform them about it. Every step of the way in this squalid scam the City Council nodded agreement, and said nothing.

Fullerton is under attack from the Redevelopment Army of jobbers, fixers, bag, men, whores, and other assorted camp followers who want to divert funds from necessary public use into the pockets of favored “developers,” consultants, and lobbyists. And our Three Sclerotic Tree Sloths? Bamboozled? Of course not. These supposedly staunch conservatives are hooked on the smack of Central Government Economic Planning  like a street hype is to his junk.Jones even referred to Redevelopment money as candy to be handed out to deserving kids.

Think the threat is false? Even now the Three Dry Wells are pursuing a legal battle to illegally broaden Fullerton’s Redevelopment zone into areas where there is no blight, a basic legal requirement.

Fullerton is under attack by an ignorant, somnolent, rude, self-righteous Turgid Trio that has left the city’s infrastructure a mess, the citizens in fear of their safety, and budget reserves depleted.

Yes Fullerton is under attack. Harpoon got one thing right. We are Fullerton. And we’re fighting back

 

When Sherri Met Bankhead; Close Encounters of The Jurassic Kind

Yes, I am the King!

Say what you like about Don Bankhead, but you have admit the old coot is a treasure trove of Recall campaign material. Here is King Bankhead objecting to having his image and words captured for posterity by Sherri, a Recall campaign stalwart. I guess if I were as dim as the King, I wouldn’t want anybody recording what I said, either.

Two great lines.

First:  “I’m a private person when I’m not working or on duty.” On duty?! He still thinks he’s a cop, which explains where his first misplaced loyalties are. Of course his “duty” is to represent all of Fullerton, even the victims of criminal behavior by the police, not just the public safety unions who support his political campaigns.

Then: I still have public…private rights to live by.” What the hell is that supposed to mean? Bankhead’s sudden shyness never stopped this oaf from approving City spy cameras set up to take our pictures without asking our consent. More nonsense from Mr. Scrambled Eggs for Brains.

And finally, why is Bankhead parked in a handicapped spot? We know all about his fake “disability” scam, but really, his sense of entitlement, even fraudulently come by, is remarkable.