The Orange County Association of Cities is an organization of repuglicans who just can’t stand the thought of big, authoritarian government unless they are milking it for all it’s worth. So it is fitting indeed that this operation should employ former Fullerton City Councilman and State legislator, Dick Ackerman, to teach its members how to “manage” a lynch-type mob (us). Such management presumably means deception, flattery, cajoling, bamboozlement, and ultimately doing nothing.
The choice of Ackerman cannot have been accidental, for he is one of the biggest enemies of government transparency in the State. You may remember some of our posts on Dickie Boy. We busted him cooking up a fake address in Fullerton so his old lady could carpetbag her way into the Assembly and perpetuate Dick’s cozy relationship with big lobbyists. Speaking of lobbyists we also uncovered the Ackermans’ scam non-profit, a gig run by lobbyists to pay for Hawaiian vacations for Dick and his slimy pals in the Legislature. And then of course there was the OC Fair scandal in which Ackerman illegally lobbied his former colleagues in Sacramento. Ackerman’s own billings did him in when exposed by our friends at the Voice of OC(EA). (Parenthetically, the latter incident was the subject of a DA whitewash – hmm).
Ironically, Ackerman has been on of the biggest supporters and promoters of the immensely incompetent and arrogant Three Blind Mice, who presumably, can be relied upon to trek down to the Tustin Ranch Golf Club and hobnob with their repuglican kinfolk and learn from the Dickster all about “shocking crises and what went wrong.”
Come to think about it, maybe Bankhead, Jones, and McKinley should be teaching this course; that is, if they are capable of learning anything at all.
We all know there’s laws for us and there’s laws for cops. The sort of stuff Fullerton Police Department members have been busted doing lately, or accused of in court proceedings would land you or me in jail. For a long time. It’s hilarious to listen to the FPD apologists bemoan the “lynch-type mob” of protesters that want answers before the official cover-up, er, investigation is over, thus denying our fine officers “due process.”
The latest example of the double standard that exists is the revelation that the Kelly Thomas killers were permitted to view (and review, and review again, one surmises) the taxpayer-owned video that shows the killing. This is just fine and dandy according to interim Chief Kevin Hamilton because it helps our boys in blue refresh their memory as they cook up and orchestrate plausible accounts of what they did. But it is not okay for for the public to see the video because it might color the recollections of eye-witnesses!
The same crapola is going on with the request to hire one Michael Gennaco to come into Fullerton and have a look around. Forget the fact that this is going to end up costing the taxpayers the better part of $100K. The real issue is why the City is embarking in this direction when the so-called investigations by the FPD, the DA, and the FBI are ongoing!
We are not permitted to seek answers while these alleged investigations are ongoing, and yet the Three Blind Mice (hopefully Whitaker and Quirk-Silva are smart enough to vote no) are willing to instigate yet another “investigation” at the same time.
It seems very clear to me that the Gennaco hiring, and the attempt to make it appear as both an emergency and some sort of reform action is nothing but a PR gimmick to make the City look like it is finally doing something proactive in the wake of the Kelly Thomas homicide. Of course it’s nothing but a cheap trick to try to stem the tide of public relations disasters that have befallen Fullerton since the image of Kelly’s battered face and crushed neck went globally viral.
Okay, Friends this one is a bit convoluted so stick with me.
The latest State budget deal takes about $50 million away from Orange County. How come? Best I can figure it out is this: after the bankruptcy of 1995 the County sold recovery bonds and the State sequestered about $50,000,000 annually to pay off the bond holders from part of the Vehicle License Fee that was distributed to the County. Later when the VLF was swapped out for property tax income the payoff to bondholders still came from the VLF. When OC refinanced it’s debt in 2006 it started taking the VLF money directly from the State even though no other county got any of it.
Confused? In 2006 County Supervisor Bill Campbell said he wasn’t, but he failed to do anything about the money hanging out there according to Voice of OC (EA)’s Norberto Santana, here. It seems he didn’t want to address the issue and hoped everybody would forget about it. That lame strategy worked for about 5 years. Now the State is laying claim to the dough.
1. Shampoo and rinse. 2. Lose $50,000,000.
The worst malefactor here is County CEO Tom Mauk who has yet another catastrophe to lay claim to. Following swiftly on the heels of the disastrous Human Resource Department audit in which Mauk was busted giving his cronies huge raises and promotions, this latest calamity may prove to be the final nail in Mauk’s coffin.
Will three supervisors finally perform self cranial-rectal extraction and get rid of this bozo? They aren’t very bright but sooner or later…
Image stolen from the Register who borrowed it from the OC Sheriff Department
Today The OC Register (see Jim, we know how to do it right) did a story on former Fullerton policeman Todd Majors who was busted for credit card fraud and is doing easy time taking out trash at Theo Lacy and going home every night.
Of course we already reported about Majors, here. Kimberly Edds of The Register actually did do some investigation to discover that Major allegedly has an addiction to pills and was hired by the Fullerton Police Department even though he had a drunk driving bust. Supposedly his drug addiction caused him to lurch into a life of crime.
Writes Edds: While internal affairs continued its investigation, Fullerton police asked themselves whether they missed any signs about Major or how they could have done to prevent a good cop from becoming a criminal.
Well, I sure hope they figure that out real soon.
Edds’ story concluded with the obligatory police cry for sympathy for one of their own – as some sort of pathetic victim.
Word has it that Diamond Bar’s Gary Miller wants to run for Congress in our newly minted 40th Congressional District. Remember Gary? He’s the same guy who endorsed Harry Sidhu the Carpetbagging Crash Test Dummy last year. Here’s Gary:
It’s funny how true the old saying, “birds of a feather flock together” really is. I just received this video clip from a Friend who remembered that Harry Sidhu was recently crowing how he had received the endorsement of Congressman Gary Miller. Watch this video and decide for yourself if you believe Gary Miller is as corrupt as CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) believes he is.
Sound familiar? It should. Harry Sidhu also used to list Municipal Water District Director Brett Barbre and County Treasurer Chriss Street as his proud endorsers. We busted Barbre getting a $48,000 do-nothing payoff from Tom Daly, and then kicking back $1000 to Daly’s campaign; and Street recently got busted by a judge for misusing a bankruptcy trust fund. See a trend?
Both Barbre’s and Street’s names have mysteriously disappeared from Sidhu’s list of “honorable” supporters. How long will it take for Gary Miller’s named to be scratched? And will we soon discover that Sidhu has no ethical followers, at all?
Worst Vote 2010. For sheer, wasteful incompetence you’ve really got to hand it to Chris Norby. The judges were horrified by the deed. Politicians get so few chances to do the right thing without fear of reprisal of some sort. And when confronted with the opportunity to tell Janet Nguyen to take her stupid memorial and shove it up her Midway City, Norby gave her a big, wet $350,000 kiss. Ugh.
You want a monument?
Best Image of 2010. Was there ever any doubt? The selection committee didn’t even pause for another bong rip. You knew, too, didn’t you. Here it is:
The assclownery was complete. The deal was done. The ink was dry.
Engaging Political Mailers. This one was tough and the committee labored long and hard. And by long and hard I mean, hello bankrupt Aaron Gregg; and good-bye to any chance of winning anything:
Well, there goes the campaign. Too many consonants in all the wrong places!
Best Campaign Sign. Another no-brainer for the selection committee who by now was totally fried. In a year of outstanding campaign sign outstandatude, one entry blew the others away. And you you knew it was coming, dintcha? Bad Chi. Bad, bad Chi!
Roland's cookie toss.
Wackiest Political Stooge of the Year. Yep, the dark horse took the bait and takes the brass ring. And by brass ring I mean a coveted Fringie. And by dark horse I mean the nominee originally set up just to round out the field. The humorless, brain-washed oddball 4sd Observer, re-emerged to remind us all of the hollow Sham that was Pam and the various cretins who actually bought into her scam and continue to defend it.
Is your weiner a Collabricorn?
Most Embarrassing Political Endorsement. Hopefully you caught on by the time you reached the end of the squalid list. And if u dint u r not 2 brite. All these miscreants, dingbats, and airheads endorsed the same bozo – Hairball Sidhu. And he in turn was only too eager to publicize their support. And that means they all deserved each other – a way down there at the bottom of the slimy well.
Well, there goes the wet dream!
Worst Political Candidate. Yes, Hairbag Sidhu is an inveterate office-seeking, perjuring assclown. Lorraine Galloway is a blithering idiot. But neither of them actually poisoned anybody. Neither had to give their DNA to the DA to dodge a stay at Theo Lacy; neither’s old man was busted, in flagrante delicto, stealing campaign signs. And so the winner must be obvious. It was to the committee. Cue Roland Chi theme song.
Spit and acquit. I did!
The Committee believed it would be remiss without recognizing special contributors to the North OC Scene, and so it deemed Special Fringies to be in order. here they are:
The 2010 Don’t Know Whether to Laugh or to Cry Special Fringie goes to this collection of crooks and scammers who seem to understand the bathos of the June 2010 election night situation. All except the buffoon in the middle, of course, who seems to find the whole thing humorous:
What went wrong?
The 2010 Do As I Say Not As I Do Special Fringie Hypocrisy Award goes to none other than Matthew J. Cunningham, who rails about big government and nanny states, as well as all the other repuglican moralistic bugaboos, but who actually makes his living, such as it is, on the government crumbs his ‘pug bosses brush off their table. In 2010 we busted this fine, upstanding “conservative” gentleman for being the publicist of the Rob Reiner tax-and-redistribute OC Children and Families Commission where he was making $200 an hour handing out toothbrushes, listening to the radio, having lunch with Steve Greenhut, writing op-ed pieces for Democrats, and even filing his obscene invoices in his garage (Suite C) file cabinet.
Suddenly all of his previous behavior made a lot more sense.
It really paid off. For a while.
Best New Phrase of Invective 2010. The judges weren’t even going to award this Special Fringie in 2010. And then just last week one of the Friends coined this sparkling gem: Fullertonions. Was it intentional? Was it just a typo? The judges didn’t give a damn. The term just seems so right to describe the dismal, vegetative state of an electorate that would elevate fellow vegetables Pat McPension and Don Blankhead. And onions make you cry.
Best Hope for Fullerton’s Future. This Special Fringie goes to Bruce Whitaker and Chris Thompson, two dudes who seem to get it. In two years you will have a chance to build on these 2010 success stories. Will you? Or will you let the onions have a free ride?
Well, Friends, them there’s your 2010 Fringies. It’s been one helluva a year for you Fullertonions down there, and all I can say is you got what you deserved. But what do I know? I’m just a deceased canine and just damn glad to be up here in Dog Heaven.
In a year full of idiotic boondoggles, the nominating committee had a real challenge coming up with the best, or worst, depending on your point of view. The committee considered size, because it matters, but also pure, unfiltered nonsense, too.
I do not have a shoe fetish!
1. The Hall of Shame. County Clerk-Recorder paid a campaign supporter named Brett Barbre $48,000 to “study” an OC Sports Hall of Fame. Forget the fact that this has nothing to do with Daly’s job, or that Barbre was nothing other than a cash conduit. Just remember that the guy didn’t do anything. As Daly succinctly put it: Barbre was paid for ideas not long reports, and of course Daly got neither. Too bad it was our money. Oh, yeah -the media snoozed.
Maybe that copper is worth something...
2. The Money Pit. Chalk up another one for Tom Daly. He talked the County Supervisors into sinking $2.1 million into a tear-down derelict building in Santa Ana to house his archives and his defunct Sports Hall of Fame (see above). The Board was lied to and crucial information about the true cost of making the building habitable was withheld. To this day collective amnesia reigns, especially with John Moorlach who ordered an investigation and later went along with the cover-up. Yep, the media snoozed.
We had to destroy the village in order to save it...
3. The Megalopolis. Yet another plan for downtown Fullerton, Der Transporation Center Meisterplan anticipates the final destruction of any remaining authenticity in Fullerton and its replacement with every master planner’s wet-dream. Albert Speer would be proud. Fortunately it will never come to fruition. But millions will be wasted and lots of damage done trying. Be sure to thank Bankhead, Jones and Keller next time you see them.
Mistakes were made...
4. Pringle’s Folly. High Speed Rail – LA to Anaheim. Not needed and not wanted except by Anaheim’s ex-Mayor-for-Hire and recent tongue bath recipient Kurt Pringle; Pringle was recently busted by the Attorney General for holding incompatible offices, and Jerry B. now knows what Orange County has known all along: Pringle is in it for Pringle. Big Time. FFFF has shared the record of foreign junkets, cover-ups, faked ridership numbers, etc., etc. I don’t even have the energy to do the links. I get tired just thinking about it.
The damage done by this monster to the fabric of the cities it would pass through and to the public purse is incalculable. But hey, Kurt’s gotta pay his bills, too, right?
Well there you have it, Friends. Four embarrassing boondoggles of varying shapes and sizes. Who will the selection committee go with? Stay tuned…
Oh, Ye Cruel Amethyst Plasticine Gods above! In a year full of wacky political campaigns this category just screams out “potential!”
Now, the Nominating Committee wasn’t interested in the typical collection of paid-to-blog courtesans that whore themselves as part of their quotidian life’s work: creeps like Dan Chomolungma and Matthew J. Cunningham. Oh, no no no!
This category embraces the brief shooting stars who, in their trajectories across the local political firmament, burn with an incandescent glow before vanishing into the irrelevance of lifelong mundane hackery. And by burn with an incandescent glow, I mean make utter jackasses out of themselves shamelessly bending over for cretinous political bosses. Here we find political ambition, lack of character, stupidity, and brainless tenacity sticking with people or ideals that weren’t worth sticking up for.
Motivation is not the sole factor in the category; comic spectacle is what we’re after, too.
And your nominees are:
Hey, nice shirt!
1. Thomas Anthony Gordon. This econo-size chowderhead popped up on a local blog attacking Shawn Nelson for being a defense lawyer and therefore soft on crime. Which was funny because Gordo had had his own brushes with the law!
Will work for food.
Since this goon lives in Santa Ana it wasn’t hard to surmise that he was working for somebody who had an interest in the 4th District campaign. At first we thought he was working for John Lewis and the Tom Daly Team. Well, maybe he was. But then he appeared as a petition circulator for Hairball Sidhu and we then knew whose payroll he was on.
Gordon even played victim card wackily claiming to have been intimidated by us for outing his tooling for Sidhu.
After we busted him for making anonymous comments on our blog he mercifully vanished from our radar screen.
A little man in a little crowd.
2. Little Billy Turner. ‘Lil Billy popped up last February at a Fullerton Tea Party event passing out fliers for Hairbag Sidhu. Unfortunately he ran into Chris Thompson to whom he admitted that Sidhu was going to lose and noted that he had tried to get in touch with Shawn Nelson. Not knowing that his attempted double-cross in search of a winning candidate would end up as blog fodder he passed along his name and address to Thompson.
Later, we were told that Little Billy had been ensconced in Sidhu Fake Address #2 so that it would appear lived in. And we were informed that Little Billy had also turned into a sign thief. That sure seems in character.
It didn’t seem to have occurred to Little Billy that getting an honest job in one of Sidhu’s Pollo Locos would be more honorable than working for such a creep’s bogus scampaigns; but then given his own propensity for double-dealing, maybe part-time jobs in politics is the only kind of work he will ever have, or ever want. There will always be ‘pugs looking for cheap labor so Billy may find employment once every couple of years.
Oh, well. If working for Sidhu doesn’t scare you straight, nothing can.
Find 4SD Observer. Then look for Waldo.
3. 4SD Observer. This sad Grendel-like creature emerged in 2010 to defend the indefensible – the serial miscreance of Pam Keller. 4SD withstood a systematic dismembering from the regs, continually coming back for more. There was no hypocritical, stupid, lying, featherheaded thing that her Pam could say or do that could cause this devoted acolyte to cease soldiering on.
Hilariously, the series of quotations from The Manchurian Candidate by some of our Friends went zipping right over his/her head, every time. An irrational love for budget-busting public safety union members, hatred for Supervisor Shawn Nelson and a weird fixation on cooking harmless bunny rabbits sealed the deal.
In short, 4SD Observer was the quintessential intellectual face of the Keller years: sanctimonious, humorless, and confused; but mostly just brainwashed.
In the world of politics endorsements are held to be a big deal. A long list is supposed to be impressive, no matter the character (or lack of same) of the people on the list. And in Orange County there are plenty of elected officials whose names you would be a lot better off without. This obvious fact seems to have escaped many politicos whose background research on some of their endorsers is often lacking.
Conversely, whom one chooses to endorse is also a true reflection of one’s moral or intellectual fiber and backing a crook, an idiot, or an ass clown can cause some embarrassment.
Anyhoo, here’s your list, with a little commentary added:
You weren't using that $48,000, were you?
1. Brett Barbre. This embarrassing tool stole $48,000 of your money pretending to “study” an OC Sports Hall of Fame. He was aided and abetted by County Clerk Tom Daly whom he endorsed and to whom he contributed. But that’s not why he’s here.
No script? Boy am I pissed off!
2. Janet Nguyen. The semi-literate and wholly embarrassing County Supervisor whose communication skills are perfectly representative of her grasp of issues.
Yay-haw!
3. F. Richard Jones. Fullerton’s own crazy funny Doc Cracker Barrel, whose down home, lunatic ravings are only superseded by total ignorance of anything more complicated than a southern fried chicken wing.
You are becoming very sleepy...
4. Kurt Pringle. The pay-to-play, former Anaheim mayor for whom no string is to long or slack to pull. And man did he try to pull a slack string. Recently got busted by the AGs office for holding incompatible office, which he did for three years to promote his own client’s interests in Anaheim.
Time to call in a favor...
5. John Lewis. Former State Senator and chief OC repuglican who started out the 4th Supervisorial District race pimping out a Democrat. As a lobbyist you can bet that whomever he endorses will be expected to pay up, later.
6. CRA. The California Republican Assembly. A more worthless collection of losers and oddballs you will not find. Also, you can sign up as a member one month and vote to endorse your own family member the next! What a deal.
That's me. On the left.
7. Chriss Street. The County’s outgoing Treasurer who was recently busted by a judge for ripping off a company placed in his trust. His behavior was so egregious that the Board of Supervisors stripped him of his investment authority. He also got caught dodging County procurement rules so as to remodel his offices without any oversight. He also tried to get folks to believe he has an MBA from Stanford. He doesn’t.
Hey, jerkoff, whatever happened to Grandma's house?
8. John S. Williams. Public Administrator/Guardian currently being investigated by the Board of Supervisors for malfeasance. He’s supposed to be taking care of people’s estates. Looks like he’s been taking care of his own estate.
Mmm. Pizza.
9. Jeff Miller. State Assemblyman who was the recipient of Mike Duvall’s “open mike” chat and whose own dealings in an attempt to create a Corona public utility while on that city council had many Inland Emperors scratching their heads.
Wrap your hands around this...
10. Gary Miller. Yet another repuglican slimer in the US Congress. Redevelopment pimp and whore for Big Ed Roski, the biggest Redevelopment free loader in the State of California.
Gone. Almost forgotten.
11. Cynthia Coad. Former 4th District Supervisor and quite possibly the stupidest person in Orange County.
Richard Faher, tax fighter.
12. Richard Faher. Alleged “Placentia Taxpayer Advocate.” Now this guy’s just downright creepy, referring to himself in the third person. But his pathetic and weird clown-campaign brought one iridescent, shining jewel – the pronunciation of the 2nd District Supervisor’s name: John Moor-latch.
There's a whole big world outside my garage. The city manager told me so.
13. Rosie Espinosa. La Habra’s dim-witted councilmember whose grasp of policy ended with the use of her automatic garage door opener. Mean people likened her to a sack of rivets. Mean people were right.
Please stop using that picture.
14. Pam Keller. Fullerton’s outgoing council sweetheart, whose batting eye lashes and fake “I’m just a dumb girl” routine,…oh, wait. She is just a dumb girl.
Another innerleckshul for Jesus.
15. Alexandria Coronado. This dim-witted queer-basher who claims to be a doctor finally got her reckoning last June after faking endorsements and was thrown off the OC Board of Education.
Well, there’s fifteen names to choose from, but really, the potential list is virtually endless; there seems to be a dumb Dem and a crooked ‘pug on virtually every street corner peddling his or her dubious wares.
Cherry-flavored, glow-in-the-dark, radioactive Jebus! Who could have supposed that 2009 could have been topped when it came to really awful and horrific political candidates? But it was. By 2010. And it wasn’t even close.
2009 brought us the spectacle of Chris Norby running for County Clerk to preserve our birth certificates from the silverfish; and the hideous Linda Ackerwoman, an Irvine claim-jumper whose appalling repuglican candidacy for State Assembly resembled a jail break though a swamp more than a political campaign.
Well, Hell! They were just getting us warmed up.
In the category Worst Political Campaign 2010 we roll out the following rogues gallery of nominees:
2. Lorri “Lorraine” Galloway. Another Anaheim Hills denizen who created at least three fake abodes (2 illegal) to run for the same seat as Sidhu. Her manifest idiocies, including the unintentionally hilarious “Lorri in 4th gear” video series (and the now world-wide youtube sensation “Poor Bella”) identified this brain-dead clothes horse as the utter lightweight she is. Her checkered past revealed all sorts of scams that would have made Elmer Gantry weep bitter tears of envy. Oh, Anaheim! I lift my leg on thee!
