Recall Archives - Friends For Fullerton's Future

January 18, 2021Ahmad Zahra

Ahmad Zahra Recall Clears First Hurdle

The recall against Fullerton City Council member Ahmad Zahra has cleared the first hurdle and the required number of signatures on the “Notice of Intention” have been verified by the Fullerton City Clerk.

Zahra Recall Verification 3

The reasons for recalling Zahra, for those new to the story, are that he lied to his constituents and that he’s charged with vandalism and battery against a woman. From the copy of the Notice of Intention I was sent:

Zahra Recall NOI as Approved — sounds serious…

Soon the question of removing Zahra from office will head to the voters of Fullerton’s District 5. Ultimately they will decide if a man accused of battery against a women should be allowed to continue to serve on Fullerton’s City Council.

Until then our council needs to decide if he should be allowed to represent Fullerton on boards and commissions going forward. Do we want him as our public face right now in light of his pending criminal charges? Or should we look to public servants to have honesty, integrity and to stand up for what’s right?

I’ll leave that for Zahra to answer:

Zahra IBelieveHer — follow the bouncing ethics…

It’s only fair to expect Fullerton City Council man Jesus Silva, his wife and our Assembly representative Sharon Quirk-Silva as well as the rest of the OC Democrats to #BelieveHer in the case of Zahra’s battery charge against a woman of color. It’s what they told us they stand for after all…

There are a few more procedural hurdles before the fine folks of District 5 can sign the official recall petition to force an election to remove Zahra from office.

We’ll keep you posted as to the ongoing progress of this recall effort to save District 5 from the machinations of their current self-serving wannabe politician.

December 3, 2018Josh Newman

Ready to Bring Back Josh?

by Joshua24 Comments

Now that the 2018 General Election is about to be certified (Tuesday in Orange County), let’s start annoying ourselves with predictions of 2020.

I have one for you —

Despite being recalled, by a wide margin, Josh Newman is going to be back in the running for State Senate and he’s going to win. Big.

What makes me say this? Let us look at the evidence:

First we have Exhibit A: LinkedIn

Then we have Exhibit B, the cringeworthy website BringBackNewman.com:

We could dive into financials and campaign committees but from the above info alone it should be clear that he’s running again in 2020. Now why do I think he’ll beat Ling Ling Chang?

(more…)

June 11, 2018Chronic Failure

Sad Clowns and Whiny Bitches

by The Fish6 Comments

There isn’t much worse in this world than a sad clown.

I feel for this clown. Something bad happened to him. He’s a clown! He’s supposed to be happy. He’s not. Clearly this is wrong. This is not his natural state.

One could say the same thing about a man. A man who’s not in his natural state is a sad thing to behold. He’s supposed to be something. He’s supposed to exude something. For some men it’s confidence. For others, it’s strength. For a few men, it’s hope or inspiration. Whatever it is, a man’s natural state is something good.

Whatever it is, be you.

Celebrate.

Unless you’re a whiny little bitch.

(more…)

June 9, 2018Boohooism

Fullerton’s Mixed Primary Results

by Joshua16 Comments

Recall Bull

Bulls**t or not, Josh Newman got crushed by the voters in the mid-term primary which is currently sitting at nearly 60/40 in favor of Recall (though the totals will change slightly). Newman’s supporters seem to be caterwauling about how (D)s only show up in Presidential races and low turnout caused Newman’s electoral demise but to that I say “so what?”.

If your electoral success is predicated upon people who are too lazy to mail back an absentee ballot more than once every four years I don’t have much sympathy in your loss.

Josh Newman could have easily survived this recall had be run as the man I interviewed on my podcast but instead he ran into the arms of Brown/deLeon and got the shellacking he deserved. A little less contempt for voters and a lot more explaining of facts/reasons would have gone a long way but alas that’s not how he rolled. His staff is now unemployed owing to his arrogance.

It is true that I likewise lost in the recall. Current results have me at about 12% of the vote across the 3 counties. Obviously I would have preferred a better showing but if this is the way I go out I’ll take it because removing Josh Newman was more important.

SD29 Primary Results

I’ll suffer through L2 if it means humbling a man who lied to my face at his swearing in ceremony. My bet is that Newman will be back in 2020 but for now he has 2 years to consider this an abject lesson in how Representative Democracy works in California. You don’t raise our taxes and then insult our intelligence without some consequences.

In other election news two of Fullerton’s own, and yet worst, appear to have made it passed the June 5th Primary in contentious races: Doug Chaffee & Young Kim.

In the still being counted Supervisor race, for the seat being vacated by Shawn Nelson, Chaffee is ahead of Kerr by a few hundred votes for Top2. Kerr may still have a shot to knock him out of it but it seems unlikely. It is also likely that provisional ballots could swing left and Kerr/Chaffee could knock Shaw out so I wouldn’t want to be sitting in Shaw’s seat right now.

Chaffee as Supervisor — Really? Doug for Supes?

In the big money race for Royce’s seat we see that Kim managed to absolutely STOMP local boy Shawn Nelson with the help of DCCC attack ads and other (R)s splitting the vote.

Young Kim over Nelson — The End of Nelson?

Young Kim owes Huff and Libertore a round of drinks for their hard work in keeping Nelson out of Royce’s seat and then the (R)s will likely need to apologize to Nelson after Cisneros stomps Kim should she agree to a debate.

There were only two people running for Assembly so they both advance and that race stays uninteresting until November.

Did you vote in any of these races? Are you happy with the election results? What did the voters get right/wrong? What do you think we should expect in November?

September 7, 2017September 7, 2017Chronic Failure

(D)s Prioritize Higher Taxes Over Veterans

by Joshua19 Comments

SQS-Brown Cemtery

Let us talk about priorities. Why has Sharon Quirk-Silva not re-introduced a bill for the Veteran’s Cemetery in Irvine?

Sharon Quirk-Silva introduced a bill into the Assembly for the Veteran’s Cemetery in Irvine (AB409) which never even got a vote in committee.

The (D) Super-Majority outright ignored it. Her bill was later rolled into SB96. SB96 was a budget “trailer bill” which is basically an empty bill that is passed by the Senate with one line to be “Gutted” and a new bill full of legislation to be “Amended” into it by the Assembly before coming back for a vote before both houses. It’s a procedural trick which violates the spirit of the law and the very premise of good and open government.

To complicate matters because the Cemetery was rolled into SB96 with 95 other provisions, one of which is also an appropriations item, it is unconstitutional not once but twice and once specifically owing to the provision for the Veteran’s Cemetery itself. (more…)

August 21, 2017Statewide Stuff

Dissecting Newman’s Recall Response

by Joshua21 Comments

— As I figured the Friends would enjoy this I have cross-posted this piece from my personal site. —

Newman Recall Petition

Enough signatures have officially been gathered to recall CA State Senator Josh Newman. Much to the chagrin of the CA (D)s about 1/10th of the 930K residents of Senate District 29 have added their signatures to the effort to remove him from office.

Senator Newman had the following to say about it: (more…)

June 27, 2017Statewide Stuff

Newman Recall Effort Reaches 85,000 Signatures

by Joshua69 Comments

The effort to recall California State Senator Josh Newman, our local representative here in CA’s 29th District, has reached massive numbers in what is likely record time. The recall effort was initiated after Newman threw his fiscally responsible campaign rhetoric into the circular file and opted to vote with his caucus to raise taxes on the working poor. He knew full well that the voters would never approve such a scheme were it put to a vote but little did he know that voters would retaliate by seeking to remove him from office.

With nearly 85,000 signatures, well above the 63,000 required, having been submitted for the recall it look as if Josh Newman will be facing another vote much sooner than he anticipated.

We’re still waiting on word for how SB96, the budget trailer bill that cynically tries to change the recall laws mid-stream, will play into this whole scenario but expects lawsuits to be filed and candidates to come out of the wood-work to claim credit for something they likely had zero to do with thus far into the process. As things move forward we’ll keep you updated because this is sure to stay interesting.

June 15, 2017June 15, 2017Chronic Failure

Unhinged

by The Worm41 Comments

Last weekend OC Democratic Party official Jeff LeTourneau approached a Newman recall table at the Fullerton Walmart and began shouting profanities. “Which one of you assholes is the gay?” he screams, along with “You are a fucking disgrace to any gay person I know, you piece of shit.”

Video was captured by one of the recall signature gatherers and has just been posted to Fox News.

State Senator Josh Newman and the rest of the CA Democratic party are apparently not returning any calls regarding the incident.

May 9, 2017Chronic Failure

Moonbeam’s Money is Coming to Fullerton

by Joshua73 Comments

That’s right. Governor Brown just announced that he is personally raising money for Fullerton. Not IN Fullerton, mind you.

And well, it’s not for the people of Fullerton either.

Brown is inviting his lobbyist pals to a $4,400 Sacramento dinner in order to raise money to defend Fullerton’s hapless Senator Josh Newman and the car tax Newman helped secure. You know, the one that he recently dumped on Fullerton motorists (along with the rest of California) because the answer is Sacramento to government malfeasance and bad behavior is always MOAR Money.

Here’s the story (contains egregious LA Times popups. Do not click).

Brown is headlining a fundraiser on May 23 at de Vere’s Irish Pub in Sacramento, billed as an event to support Newman’s reelection campaign. Donors are asked to give up to $4,400 to Newman’s 2020 Senate campaign committee, although the money can be shifted to fighting a recall measure if one qualifies.

Give to “Newman’s 2020 campaign committee, although…”. Isn’t that cute? It’s almost as if this isn’t specifically FOR the recall. Once he’s out of office maybe Senator Newman can save some of those $4,400 donations to buy himself another posh vacation in Saint Lucia after the recall is over. If he’s lucky maybe he’ll have the bad news before his trip this time around.

It’s always amazing to watch politicians and their lobbyist friends soak up booze while reaching for their wallets for the sole purpose of being able to continue to pick our wallets clean.

For those of you who cannot afford a $4,400 posh dinner and are actually impacted by this new highway robbery masquerading as a transportation tax feel free to sign the petition to recall Senator Newman. You can pick up and sign the petition if you’re a registered voter in District 29 this Thursday between 2-6pm (1400-1800). KFI’s John & Ken as well as KOGO’s Carl DeMaio will be live broadcasting from the ARCO Gas Station at 519 S. Harbor Blvd here in Fullerton.

April 20, 2017Chronic Failure

Ready to Recall New Senator Newman?

by Joshua15 Comments

Carl DeMaio out of San Diego has been pitching the idea of a recall for our new CA State Senator Josh Newman. Why Newman? Because Newman voted to increase our gas taxes for the dubious claim of fixing our roads. He barely won his seat and without him the State wouldn’t have a (D) Super-Majority with which to tax us into oblivion.

While it’s true that Mah Roads need fixing it is not true that the government needs to steal more money in order to accomplish this task. Sadly Newman, like nearly every (D) in Sacramento (I’m looking at your Quirk-Silva) thinks theft is the only way to combat incompetence and prior graft. The cycle will continue unabated until we get mad as hell and don’t take it anymore.

Will the recall succeed? Considering Newman barely won by a razor thin margin this last November it’s definitely possible that he could get the boot. While Newman’s district covers quite a bit of real estate it’s not as if this would be Fullerton’s first recall rodeo.

For those that support the recall I’d recommend checking our DeMaio’s page HERE. While I’m inclined to give the boot to anybody who saddles the working class with such ridiculous taxes – I remember who our last recall gifted us in this fair town and substituting Newman for a Fitzgerald type would be no win for taxpayers. I’m also of the opinion that if we’re going to boot Newman for being a party stooge reaching for our wallets we should probably aim for a twofer and do the same to his colleague in the Assembly at the same time.