Where Is Albert Rincon?

The police unions in California have become so powerful that they have paid for legislation that makes it virtually impossible to find out anything about individual cops, including the ones that shame their badges and violate their oaths.

In Fullerton we have seen how this curtain of secrecy immediately descended when Kelly Thomas, a homeless man, was bludgeoned to death by several members of the police department. Well, okay, some of these goons were eventually brought to the bar of justice, and they get the same rights as the rest of us, even if it takes a veritable act of Congress to get crooked cops charged with a crime.

Of course the difference between them and us is that if they arrest us for something, our pictures can be plastered all over the evening news, and forensic evidence be damned.

So let us now consider the case of Albert Rincon, poster boy for the FPD Culture of Corruption, and the creep you will nevermore hear McKinley, Jones or Bankhead or Lou Ponsi talk about. Over several years, Rincon serially violated department policy by turning off his DAR and then, according to numerous complaints, sexually assaulted women in his patrol car. Rincon was given “pat-down” training as a corrective measure and sent back out on the streets of Fullerton to molest more females.

The City was upbraided by Federal Judge Andrew Guilford, for its years’ long tolerance of Rincon’s behavior as he denied a summary judgment in a civil suit brought by two of Rincon’s victims. The City immediately settled with the two women for a massive $350,000. And here’s where it gets even sicker, if that’s even possible.

Sometime in October, Rincon left the department. But we are not permitted to know the details. And for that matter we know nothing of the separations of the iPad thief, Kelly Mejia, or the Brady Cop, Vincent Mater.

Were these people fired? Were they permitted to quit? Are they still, or can they become cops someplace else? These things we shall never know – unless they continue the behavior cultivated under the corrupt chiefship of Pat McKinley, and get caught again.

But the case of Albert Rincon deserves special attention. We cannot see what this perverted sociapath looks like, nor know where he went, although such behavior by a civilian would certainly have resulted in a conviction and a life-long sex offender tag. That civilian’s name would be in an index the rest of his life; but not Rincon’s.

For all we know Rincon may already be a police officer in some other jurisdiction, fulfilling his life-long dream of being a cop.

Such is the ridiculous shroud of secrecy and special protections the cops’ politicians have erected for their patrons; the shroud protects all cops, good and bad. And that’s the way they want it.

Joe Felz Sighs

Why can't they leave me alone?

Poor, put upon Fullerton City Manger Joe Felz is getting frustrated. And so he sighs to a reporter.

He’s frustrated that people are holding him accountable for his promises. Last year he stalled the Howard Jarvis Tax folks by clamming that the illegal 10% water tax would be addressed by March; well, March is here and it ain’t. In the meantime the City has collected $200,000 per month and continues to hide the tax from the water rate payers.

Here is an article in the Register all about how gosh darn tough it is for Felz to : 1) tell the truth; 2) do the right thing; 3) obey the law.

It'll cost you...

The truth is that the illegal tax has nothing to do with with the water rate study; it is a stand alone issue that should have been fixed at least 15 years ago. And the fix is easy. The Water Fund already pays the General Fund for work done other city departments for work done on its behalf. The 10% tax is an outright scam that needs to be killed.

Felz Blows Off the HJTA. Illegal Water Tax Ripoff Continues. Lawsuit Imminent.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association fired off another pithy letter to city manager Joe Felz last week, accusing him of intentionally delaying the termination of the illegal 10% in-lieu water franchise tax while continuing to collect over $100,000 per month from Fullerton residents in violation of the state constitution.

The letter states that Joe Felz verbally admitted to the illegality of the fee and promised action within a certain timeframe. But honesty is not a virtue within city hall, and nine months later Felz and his trusted council majority of Bankhead, Jones and McKinley still allow the city to continue its theft without comment or remorse.

Mr. Bittle closed out his letter with a threat of a class action lawsuit that would seek a refund on behalf of all Fullerton water users. As one of the 135,000 ripped-off residents, I’d say that’s a great idea.

 

A Congruency of Interest; Defender of Killers Defends Jones, Bankhead and McKinley

Just in case you thought the Fullerton Recall was just some sort of power play by a mythical “downtown developer” against fine, honorable men who refuse to be bought and sold like cheap swamp land, consider this inconvenient fact: last fall an organization called PORAC poured thousands of dollars into the anti-recall campaign to save the useless, dessicated hides of Jones, Bankhead and McKinley.

So what is PORAC? It stands for Police Officers Research Association California and it appears to be heavily into lobbying for ever greater benefits for cops – regardless of the fiscal impact on the people whom the cops have sworn to serve and protect. It is also a massive fund cops pay into to pay the for the legal defense of bad cops caught doing bad things.

Both of these PORAC goals intersect in Fullerton.

PORAC is paying to defend the suspended-without-pay cops Manny Ramos and Jay Cicinelli, who have been charged with murder and manslaughter, respectively, in the beating death of the homeless man; Kelly Thomas was bludgeoned to death by FPD cops last July.

Dead batteries need defending, too.

But get this: PORAC also contributed to defend the Tuckered Out Triumvirate of Jones, Bankhead, and McKinley. The Fullerton cop union chunked $19,000 into the anti-recall water hazard, too. So what does that tell you, other than organized police labor sees its main chance in the continuation of Fullerton FPD’s Culture of Corruption, a culture where any sort of malfeasance will be swept under the rug, even the death of a harmless man; a culture where there is no accountability, no responsibility, and no apparent discipline.

The same people who are defending the killers of Kelly Thomas are also defending Jones, McKinley and Bankhead. And the Three Dead Batteries are proud of their support.

The choices in the Recall election couldn’t be clearer.

Chris Meyer Gets His

Just when you thought you’d seen every kind of gluttony, along comes former City Manager and Recall opponent, Chris Meyer to give new meaning to the concept of pigging out.

 

Here is a summary of Meyer’s final day payout as he bid the taxpayers of Fullerton adios:

Yes, folks you read that right. Almost $110,000 of unused sick days and vacation days racked up by Meyer in our service. Well, really in his own service. And that one massive payday on January 7th put Meyer into the Fullerton high roller club for the entire year of 2011.

The worst part, of course, is that Mr. Meyer presided over Fullerton for about ten years – as the disastrous 3@50 pension was enacted, as the FPD Culture of Corruption went into full swing, as Downtown Fullerton became a boozy free-for-all, as the City illegally added a 10% tax to our water bill each and every month, and as the City’s infrastructure began falling into a massive sinkhole.

It'll take decades to fill that in.

And had not Shawn Nelson blown the whistle on him in 2008, he would have gotten away with another pension spike for the paper pushers – himself included.

The Meyer regime passed on a financial and infrastructure legacy of debt to future generations without an apparent pang of remorse. In his world we are just there to pay the bills and keep our mouths shut.

$6,000 Bonuses Part of Fullerton Water Rate Hike

As the Fullerton City Council prepares to hike water rates as “pass-through increases” I thought it would be good to share the sweet deal MWD employees get on April 1, 2012 (no, its not a joke) and see just what is being passed through to us.

Come April 1st the employees of MWD get a $6,000 bonus as part of their contract.

9.3 Effective the first day of the pay period that includes April 1, 2012, each employee in the bargaining unit shall receive a one-time only payment of $6,000 which shall not be considered part of the employee‘s regular pay.

If that wasn’t bad enough, July 1, 2013 MWD employees will get a 0.25% raise.  And if you think 0.25% isn’t much of a raise, consider what else gets slipped in.  How about creating “higher steps” for employees who have hit the salary ceiling and giving them raises as well?

9.4 Effective the first day of the pay period that includes July 1, 2013, there shall be an across-the-board salary increase of 0.25%. In addition, all bargaining unit classifications shall be moved two (2) salary grades higher (approximately 2.75% for each grade), and placed at the equivalent salary step in the new grade (e.g. an employee at step 11 on June 30, 2013 would be placed at step 9 of his new salary grade).

All bargaining unit employees will be place on the same evaluation date, and will receive a performance evaluation for the period ending July 1, 2013. Employees will be eligible for a merit increase pursuant to ARTICLE 65—MERIT INCREASES.

These generous employee benefits are being passed along to Fullerton water customers in the form of “pass-through” rate increases.  When the City Council pushes for a rate hike this year, be sure to speak up in opposition.  The City Council will be happy to pass the buck so long as we sit quietly and let them.

You can read the MWD employee agreement here.

Transient Involved in Physical Altercation with FPD Cop

Jeez, I think I’ve seen this movie before. Lot of the same actors, too.

A homeless guy named Mark Charboneuax was suspected of burglary and got into “fight” with cop – who bumped his head and got a free ride to the hospital. Charboneaux got a free ride to St. Jude’s, too, supposedly with minor injuries, but we’ll see about that, later.  He’s wearing a neck brace and that may mean more work for Garo Mardirossian.

I note a few interesting things. Apart from Andrew Goodrich’s statements that we can now immediately discard as self-serving trash, another cop, this time a ranking officer is quick to point out the cop’s injury is minor and he’ll be fine.

The point of this post is that even random interaction between the FPD and the public are now scrutinized and the statements issued by Goodrich & Co. are rightly subjected to skepticism and cynicism.

Fullerton’s Jim Blake Is A TV Star

The Water Boy

Well, the Fullerton Culture of Corruption is in the news again, and, naturally, not in a good way. The star of the show is Fullerton’s own Jim Blake. Here is a CBS undercover report on Metropolitan Water District board members wining and dining themselves on our dime – even as they keep jacking up the commodity cost of water to us, a cost to which our wise City Fathers then tack on an illegal 10% tax!

Jim Blake has been the choice of Fullerton’s establishment to represent our City on the MWD since the Third Day, when God gathered the waters.

Of course this is no news to us here at FFFF. We reported on Blake and Linda Ackerwoman running up huge “travel” tabs a long time ago, here and here. Blake has been reappointed by Bankhead and Jones over and over again. Why?

Well, Blake is supposedly calling it quits at MWD, but not before causing Fullerton more embarrassment.

Don’t Get Your Hopes Up. I’m Not.

Today Fullerton will be favored with the first installment of reports produced by Michael Gennaco. The one tonight is supposed to deal with the FPD PR apparatus and the way it disseminated information in the wake of the Kelly Thomas killing by members of the FPD.  We’ve editorialized plenty on what was said (self-serving claptrap), and not said (the truth) by FPD spokesopening Andrew Goodrich. I do wonder what Gennaco would have to say about the City using a police union boss as its official spokesman – if he addresses it at all, which I think is doubtful.

I have a feeling that the reports issued by Gennaco will be little more than expensive PR for the City.

This might be a good time to remind everybody that the offical sounding “County of Los Angeles Office of Independent Review” is actually a private law firm for hire by anybody with the dough to pay. It’s a small law firm with half a dozen lawyers and a logo that just happens to look like a city seal.

City Seal

Gennaco is really no different than Jones and Mayer or Rutan and Tucker, hired to limit the damage caused by the serial misdeeds of the FPD and limit liability.

Does that sound harsh? Remember, as an attorney, Gennaco’s main concern is to protect his client and gin up more business in the future.  Does that sound like a formula for reform?

Color me skeptical.

 

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.