Just in case you needed any more evidence that the two Register political reporters/bloggers Martin Wisckol and Frank Mickadeit are anything other than tools in the Ackerman tool shed, observe this hard hitting piece by Wisckol in his GOP celebrity column, Total Buzz.
A “granny flat”! How quaint! Linda Ackerman is doing what the Ackerman’s seem to do best – mislead the public; here into thinking they’re actually renting an abode in Fullerton. She claims that she and Dick are renting three rooms, plus “kitchen privileges.” What a load of crap. Granny units have kitchens, Linda.
Instead Mrs. Ackerman is renting an address on Lindendale in order to legitimize a carpetbagging political campaign. Nobody, not even her camp followers believe she is living in the place.
The second funniest part of this sad lie is that she claims that renting an apartment is just soooo hard! How would she know? Did she actually try?
And the funniest part is how the sycophant Wisckol just passes along this tripe, all gussied up for credibility now that a “real” reporter has posted it. Note also that Wisckol says there is a “whisper campaign” that his dear Linda is carpetbagging. WTF?
Listen up Marty:
LINDA ACKERMAN IS AN IRVINE CARPETBAGGER!
Is that loud enough for you, Mr. Wisckol? And just in case you missed it:
We wouldn't be surprised if these started popping up along Chapman Avenue...
The Fullerton Harpoon did a post yesterday about an article that the Register’s Frank Mickadeit did about the Ackerman/Norby feud. Frank didn’t bother to tell his readers that he pals around with the Ackermans socially – just like he did with Mike Carona. But we know. Mickadeit proceeded to pass along a truck load of horseshit peddled by Dick Ackerman, including 25 year-old recollections about Norby as a sexual harasser that he suddenly just remembers. Of course his corroborating witness is dead as a doornail.
Well, yesterday afternoon the Harpoon re-read the Mickadeit piece and a light bulb snapped on. As the helpful Frank tells it:
Ackerman says the two had a friendly beer at Elmer’s after Norby won. “I said, ‘Hey, things are going to be good. We’ve got five conservatives.’ But the votes kept coming out 4-1,” with Norby dissenting.
In a post update the Harpoon unloads:
PROOF THAT ACKERMAN IS A LIAR – OR HAS A REAL, REAL BAD MEMORY. MOLLY McCLANAHAN WAS ON THE CITY COUNCIL THEN. THERE WERE NEVER 5 CONSERVATIVES. C’MON DICK. YOU REMEMBER MOLLY DON’T YOU? YOU KEPT HER FROM BEING MAYOR FOR 6 YEARS. YOU OUGHT TO. MAYBE LINDA LEQUIRE CAN HELP. HER MEMORY IS AT LEAST AS GOOD AS YOURS.
So what are we left with? A man whose honesty or memory is rotten. His whole interview with Mickadeit is discredited, and is just typical of everything else in the Linda Ackerman 72nd Assembly campaign: her fake residency, her phony self-description as a business woman, and her contention that people in the 72nd asked her to run. It’s all a tissue of falsehoods – as bogus as her staged photos.
I MISSED THIS LITTLE GEM WHEN I READ MICKADEIT’S PIECE EARLIER:
Ackerman says the two had a friendly beer at Elmer’s after Norby won. “I said, ‘Hey, things are going to be good. We’ve got five conservatives.’ But the votes kept coming out 4-1,” with Norby dissenting.
PROOF THAT ACKERMAN IS A LIAR – OR HAS A REAL, REAL BAD MEMORY. MOLLY McCLANAHAN WAS ON THE CITY COUNCIL THEN. THERE WERE NEVER 5 CONSERVATIVES. C’MON DICK. YOU REMEMBER MOLLY DON’T YOU? YOU KEPT HER FROM BEING MAYOR FOR 6 YEARS. YOU OUGHT TO. MAYBE LINDA LEQUIRE CAN HELP. HER MEMORY IS AT LEAST AS GOOD AS YOURS.
In a piece today the Register’s Frank Mickadeit recounts the history of the Norby-Ackerman feud – talking to both. Ackerman, it seems, has suddenly recovered memories of errant Norby behavior from the 1980s that went by the boards back in the 1995 Assembly campaign when Ackerman dove to the bottom of the campaign swamp and wallowed around there. But really.To mention completely undocumented events relating to sexual harassment, and to cite as an authority a dead man, is low even for Ackerman – and that’s saying a lot.
What makes the whole thing ring completely untrue is Ackerman’s assertion that Norby changed his voting positions on the dais from previously stated positions (actually it sounds like Ackerman is admitting to violating the Brown Act, but we’ll let that pass). He also purports that Norby called him up and threatened him. Pure unadulterated bullshit. But that’s Ackerman for you. Throw up garbage nobody can disprove and see what happens. Right out of the Richard M. Nixon playbook.
The real reason Norby got under Ackerman’s skin (and stayed there for 25 years – how’s that for weird) is that he had the audacity to vote no. Ackerman admits his annoyance with 4-1 votes. No teamwork there – and Ackerman was team captain. See the problem? Also Norby had the good sense to oppose egregious Redevelopment nonsense and Ackerman went for it. See the problem?
The crowning moment of the Mickadeit article is when he uncovered Linda Lequire, Fullerton’s former Queen of Spleen, from under her desert rock. Of course she backed up Ackerman’s story – in eerily identical detail. Since Lequire moved out of Fullerton some years ago we assume Mickadeit got her number from the Ackermans themselves – but only after Lequire had time to be coached on the nuances of the Ackerman strategy.
For those interested in a pyschological take on the Ackerman Obsession we refer readers to a previous post.
A while back Congressman and purveyor of lousy RINO city council candidates, Ed Royce, was overheard bragging about the 800 pound gorilla he was going to be unleashing on Fullerton political scene. Who was this electoral juggernaut? None other than now former Police Chief Pat McKinley.
He's big. He's bad. He's baaaaack!
With McKinley’s endorsement of Mrs. Ackerman to replace her disgraced pal Mike Duvall, the pieces all seem to fit. It looks like McKinley has indeed decided to run for City Council next year and has worked out an endorsement swap with the Repuglican elite.
The choice of McKinley on the part of the Repugs would in no way be surprising. As an ex-cop he could be counted on to secure the law ‘n order vote as well as charm the bluehairs. He’s getting up there age-wise, and in poses zero political threat to the Repug machine. Who cares if he is an ex-city government employee and likely to go along with every staff proposal and boondoggle? He would be following in the proud footsteps of Don Bankhead, Dick Jones, Leland Wilson, Mike Clesceri, Julie Sa, Peter Godfrey, Buck Catlin, and even Dick Ackerman himself. Who knows? Maybe even the Yellowing Observers might go along for the ride. After all they went with Dick Jones, right?
Best of all, he’s not a female Democrat, the hideous monster that inhabits Ed Royce’s closet at night.
We have been making fun of Mrs. Ackerman’s carpetbagging run for the 72nd Assembly seat – up for grabs in November after the Ackerman’s pal Mike Duvall got caught with his pants down and his microphone open.
We're really not as close to the Duvalls as we used to be...
We have recounted Mrs. Ackerman’s bogus Hawaiian vacation “non-profit” corporation, noted the out-of-town fundraising attempt with Sacto lobbyists; and of course we have had some fun with the phony residency – in which they want people to believe they are moving in with another Fullerton family.
What all this really adds up to is a breathtaking arrogance, a sense of self-entitlement that the rest of us have trouble grasping. Just how these OC Repuglican stalwarts grab hold of and hang on to government power to promote and enrich themselves is something that most regular people just can’t quite fathom. Who in the 72nd Assembly District asked Mrs. Ackerman (who has lived in Irvine for ten years) to represent them? Nobody, that’s who! It was the Ackermans’ idea.
And so, ever helpful, we have decided to put the inherent selfishness of these people into a local perspective, personified by our old pal, Fullerton Councilman Dick Jones. Over the years Jones has remained on the City Council with the staunch support of the Ackermans, who endorse this loud-mouthed, ignorant blowhard term after repugnant term. Why? It can’t be because they care about good government in Fullerton. No, it is because Jones fills their bill just perfectly.
But Dick told me I gotta run again...
First, Jones is getting on in years and has no political ambition; second, he mostly does what he is told by the people who put him in office – when they deign to care about something in Fullerton at all, that is. At this point his assignment is principally to stay in office – to avoid a Godless Democrat from getting in, a Democrat whose voting record would be essentially the same as Jones, but who might pose a threat to the Repuglican elite. So what if Jones is really just a RINO? So what if he shoots his mouth off with incoherent tirades? So what if he knows nothing about what he’s blathering about? His job is to keep the seat warm until the next cipher with more ambition than brains can be unearthed, and to avoid soiling himself in public.
What? That guy's nuts!
And so you see, the Ackermans get the prize they like to gloat over – political control – and we get – well you’ve seen the video clips. You know what we get.
“Linda and Dick are renting and occupying a part of our house.”
The high-rolling Ackermans (who are getting thousands in campaign contributions from lobbyists for the Mrs.’ carpetbagging run for the 72nd State Assembly seat) are renting a part of a house in Fullerton’s Raymond Hills. Good thing their amigos have a big house! But seriously, does anyone actually believe they’re going to be living there, despite their “landlord” emphasizing the word “occupying”?
Would there even be room in the driveway?
Actually the whole thing is a bit creepy, if you ask us, and the less we think about it, the better off we may be, although we can’t help wondering whether the Ackermans have taken out renter’s insurance.
But, really: how dumb do they think we are? The answer must be: “very.”
Yes, Friends, our Mobile Surveillance squad is ever vigilant. This time they tapped into another Dick Ackerman phone conversation, this time with none other than Matthew Cunningham, all-purpose GOP fawner and current dilemma possessor: with John Lewis working for Chris Norby and Dick Ackerman working for Dick’s wife, poor Matthew has to tread a fine line. In his efforts to offend nobody he may very well up offending both sides as a brutal showdown looms.
The following is a possible transcript of the phone conversation. You may believe it or not, depending on how gullible you are.
(ringing)
Cunningham: Hello, Pacific Strategies…
Ackerman: (snorting sound) Cunningham, Dick Ackerman here.
C: Well, hello Senator. How was Linda’s fundraising party in Sacramento the other…
A: Forget about that. (snorting sounds) I’ve got a problem and you need to help me. That SOB Norby’s got Bushala and that blog of his attacking my wife.
C: Yes, I know. That Bushala is so fringe. He’s really a lunatic.
A: (growling sound) Shut up and listen. You need to write a blog attacking those FFFF sonsofbitches, you got that?
C: Well, sure. It’ll be my pleasure! I owe that Bushala good. He called me Fart Boy-
A: Heh. heh-heh. Fart Boy. That’s pretty good (multiple snorting and grunting sounds) Good, get on it now. They’re trying to make Linda look bad, like a carpetbager.
C: Don’t worry about that Senator. We’re going to bury that issue. Nobody cares where you live.
A: (a faint snarling sound) We live in Fullerton you little rat, and don’t forget it!
C: Yes, yes, of course. You’re sharing a house with that doctor.
A: (a distinct snarling sound) Who told you that?
C: (barely audible) I dunno, Sir. Guess I picked it up somewhere.
A: You heard it from Lewis. I’ll get him later. Now it’s its that bastard Norby’s turn (more snarls). By the way why haven’t you written anything bad about him?
C: Well, Senator, you see he and Linda are both my good friends and…
A: (multiple low growl sounds) Cut the crap Cunningham. Norby doesn’t have any friends. You’d better fly right, boy, or you’re gonna be real sorry. And what’s this horseshit about your wife running for that Clerk job? I’ve already endorsed someone, goddam it! Nugent. Nuggie (snorting sounds). Something like that.
C: Um…you see…that is…
A: More bullshit from Lewis! Okay. Side up, kid. Decide whose team you’re on. And prove it by writing one of those blog things you do. Hit ’em hard.
C: Yes, Sir! By the way if your car needs washing or if you’ve got cleanning to pick up I’ll be happy to take…
(sound of Ackerman hanging up)
At this point we lost contact with the participants in the conversation.
One of our Friends sent of the tidbit from the Capitol Morning Briefing:
(Linda) Ackerman for Assembly 2009 (72nd AD), reception, donation levels $3900, $2000, 5:30 p.m., Spataro, 1415 L St. Contact: 714 731 2233.
It seems that the carpetbagging object of our disaffection is having a fundraiser tonight at Spataro. Never heard of the place? That’s because it’s in Sacramento – right across from the Capitol building. What a place for the squadron of capital lobbyists to descend, en mass, and start their, er, investment in Mrs. Ackerman.
Okay, if you want milk, you go find a cow (we’ll let you figure out which is which), but really, wouldn’t it have been nice if Mrs. Ackerman held an event in her own district, at least to show the flag?
$3900 buys you a lot of good government!
Oh, that’s right. She doesn’t live in our district, and it looks like she intends to finance her way to Sacramento – from Sacramento; where Dick Ackerman met a lot of monied interests in his tenure up there.
From here you can get a great view of the lobbyists at Spataro!
But, Mrs. Ackerman, sooner or later you will actually have to show up in the 72nd!
We have all heard about multiple families living in a single dwelling – a problem that is increasingly plaguing Orange County. Well, apparently the problem is encroaching “up on the hill” where folks like Doc Jones are doin’ all right.
Who gets to sleep up top?
It seems that the Ackerman clan has finally found itself a suitable address in Fullerton, on Lindendale, that will qualify the Missus to run for the State Assembly in a district where they don’t live. Only problem is that somebody else already lives there! We checked out the address and the abode already has inhabitants. Now, that’s not very good, is it? Bad for property values!
The sham candidate from Irvine who is dodging the clear intent of California’s Constitution is supposedly shacking up with another family. Eeeew! A phony candidacy decorated with a phony residence. That’s consistent, at least. What’s the matter? Didn’t Dick want to spring for a first and last month’s rent?
What's the big deal? it's not like we plan on spending any time there!
One of OCs most prominent political lackeys, John Lewis gofer Matt Cunningham, tried to insult us yesterday by referring to us as the “Fringe For Fullerton’s Future.” Of course he has good reason to dislike us since we were the ones to stick the Fart Boy tag on him – in reference to his general toadying to establishment power structures – wherever they may be found. And we’re happy he is following our blog.
To an individual like Cunningham we appear fringe. And you know what? He’s right!
We avoid the dead political center where everybody peddles his or her ass as hard as they can for some putrid little favor or advancement. We avoid the amorphous mass that always seems to create moist pockets of rank air where the consultant/lobbyist types can burrow in and find a home; where carpetbaggers that you happen to like, or fear, can get a wink and a free pass; where being conservative only means what is typed on a party membership card; where drones like the above mentioned Cunningham are held in anything except contempt for the shills they are; where right and left are just different labels for alternating groups of organized crime rings who treat government like their own private plantation and who are perfectly happy to rob their constituents with the stroke of a pen.
It wasn’t us fringers that brought forth Mike Duvall. Or who protected Mike Carona all those years.
It's nice and well-upholstered here in the center!
We are fringe! And we feel pretty damn good about it. It means we are free from the servility and stoogery that keeps a loud-mouthed imbecile like Dick Jones in office year after year; free from the petty self-interest that supports brain-dead ideas foisted on the populace by an incompetent Redevelopment bureaucracy; free from the fear that governs the other 50% of lackeydom.
Well, hell, there's no profit on the edge!
It’s sort of like swimming in the deep end of the pool. While the Cunninghams of the world dogpaddle around the shallow end in their waterwings and pretend to be fighting big naval battles at sea, we’re actually taking on a real power structure even though it may only be from out here on the fringe. We do it because that’s where the real fun is. And maybe even the best future.
I'm a big boy now!
Yes we are the Fringe For Fullerton’s Future. Bring it on, ring-kissers and lackeys!
