Bill Hunt on CCWs and the 2nd Amendment
Posted by Greg Sebourn in Orange County Government on March 12, 2010
As part of an ongoing report, March 1, 2010, FFFF’s Travis Kiger, Fullerton businessman Larry Lazar and myself sat down with Bill Hunt, 2010 candidate for Orange County Sheriff. The round table discussion was an opportunity to ask some important questions that we think are on the minds of voters. No topic was off-limits.
We had some questions about concealed weapons permits (CCW’s) for the man whose slogan has been “The Sheriff should be in the business of protecting people’s rights, not restricting them.”
We asked Hunt how his stance was different from his opponent’s. Hunt told us that he is a constitutionalist and believes that the current system lends itself to corruption. Hunt believes that statistics from than 39 “Shall Issue” states are proof that CCW’s lower crime rates. Further, he believes that an armed citizenry will help keep the peace at a time when the Sheriff’s Department is looking to lay off sworn deputies.
We also asked Hunt to lay out the process that a permit applicant can expect if he is elected Sheriff. Hunt said, “If we have someone come in and they are a range owner and maybe they have one of these reciprocal CCW’s that’s good in thirteen states, and they’re in good standing in those states, then I think we need to shorten up that process. We need to verify that the permit is legitimate and have had backgrounds on them, and then do an updated background to make sure there have been no problems in the interim. Then we check their training. If they’re proficient, we have our range master check them out. If they’re proficient, sign them off. If it’s a new person with no current CCW then we need to do the full background check, send them through the full NRA familiarization course, and get them through the process!”
Hunt also wants to waive or at least reduce fees for low-income applicants. The logic is simple: low-income areas have higher crime rates thus more victims. Lowering fees would put the odds back in the hands of citizens rather than the criminals.
View the transcript
A cookie-cutter approach is the wrong way to handle it. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to CCW’s, crime victims, and high propensity targets.
“When seconds count, cops are minutes away!” – Bill Hunt
The Sad, Shrinking World of Tom Daly
Posted by Grover Cleveland in Dead heads, Orange County Government, Repuglicanism, Setting The Bar Low on March 11, 2010
Our Friend Allan Bartlett passed along our post about Tom Daly’s $10,000,000 real estate disaster for the edification of the good government advocates who read the “Red County” blog. Or maybe he did it to annoy the Republican supporters of crazy spendthrift Democrat Tom Daly.
And as I predicted in my original post, a couple of Tom Daly sycophants popped up to defend the indefensible. And here’s what Cynthia Ward, AKA Colony Rabble had to say:
Tom Daly bought a piece of real estate that staff reveiwed (sic) and approved and the Supes voted for? Oh no! Whatever will we do? String up the varmint! The Fullerton boys are real sleuths. I told you in the Barbre post that Tom was expanding the Archives and looking at other space. His real estate may not have been the best deal? Well welcome to the world the rest of us live in!
Tom Daly is a fiscal conservative. Tom Daly is a fiscal conservative.
Apparently the idea of wasting $2,100,000 for a completely worthless piece of property is of no concern to Ms. Ward. Not the best deal? Jesus H., this miscreant flushed 2.1 million tax dollars down the toilet! The world the rest of us live in? Is that supposed to be a joke? Does Cynthia Ward routinely blow millions on worthless real estate? Do her friends? Do her neighbors?
Well now we know what kind of a conservative Ward is. And if we ever needed confirmation that her job at the Mauve County was to do anything other than promote the egregious Daly (and now, it seems, to try to talk away his mammoth incompetency), now we have it.
CITY COUNCIL FAIL? THE LEAGUE OF CITIES
Posted by admin in Behind Closed Doors, Dead heads, Dick Jones, Don Bankhead, Fullerton City Council, Pam Keller, Setting The Bar Low, Sharon Quirk, Shawn Nelson on March 11, 2010
The Fullerton City Council held a special meeting the other night to address the City’s projected budget deficits. It ain’t pretty.
Man, that's a big ugly hole...
But even uglier was watching the discussion unfold on what to whack and what to keep when the discussion turned to the City’s membership in the California League of Cities - a do nothing operation run by bureaucrats for the purpose of promoting their own policies. The annual membership cost is something like $75,000 – not an inconsiderable sum.
To their credit both Shawn Nelson and Sharon Quirk-Silva recognized the elective character of this annual expense and are willing to dispense with it – a gesture both symbolic and practical. And then into the breach to save the day leaped council members Don Bankhead and Pam Keller, relating how important membership in this organization really is. Looks like Dick Jones is the swing vote on this.
Mmm. Shrinp cocktail and Jack Daniels.
Hmm. Bankhead and Keller. League of Cities. Now why does that ring a bell?
Oh yeah, now I remember. And here. These two spendthrifts attended the October 2008 League of Cities conference in Long Beach, a mere 25 miles from their front doors and racked up $400 per night waterfront hotel bills. Keller’s total was an embarrassing $1200+. Not even her die-hard posse could defend that profligacy.
Party hats extra?
The League of Cities is wonderful metaphor for government that can’t be bothered to control its spending and is accountable to no one. The real purpose of this operation is to give bureaucrats and ambitious local politicians a chance to hobnob, network, self-promote, and eat, drink and be merry on our dime. In some circles it is being claimed that Keller is using the League to wangle a seat on the OCTA, where her mission will be to promote Curt Pringle’s HSR agenda.
As long as free spenders like Bankhead and Keller promote this expensive joke we know we are not being properly represented.
And thanks to Nelson and Quirk-Silva for being accountable to the people of Fullerton.
The Word Is Getting Out
Posted by Mr. Peabody in Dead heads, OC's Fourth District, Orange County Government, Repuglicanism, Setting The Bar Low on March 11, 2010
I was driving through a blue-collar type neighborhood in the flatlands of Anaheim this morning, not all that far from Hide-N-Seek Sidhu’s fraudulent voting address at the Calabria Apartments, and look what I came across.
Not wild about Hide and Seek Sidhu
The Princess Diaries – Scary Phone Call Edition
Posted by Joe Sipowicz in Lorri Galloway, OC's Fourth District on March 11, 2010
The other day I noted how some guy named Dan C-somethingorother at the Liberal OC blog was trying to blame FFFF because some anonymous guy left “harassing” phone calls at Lorri Galloway’s house. We don’t know which house that would be since she actually lives in Anaheim Hills – but that’s a bit beside the point for now. Come to think of it, I don’t even know if the call was made to anybody’s house. Still, Dan says so and Dan is an honorable…oops. Actually the guy’s a self-important prick. But I digress.
I thought it was pretty bad for Dan C-somethingorother to blame FFFF for the actions of someone not connected to our blog – as if ridiculing the vapid, carpetbagging airhead that is Lorri Galloway would make us responsible for anybody calling her. Dan and his pal Chris Prevatt (no, I will not inflict that image on the Friends anymore) love making fun of people they don’t like – such as Chris Norby – whose marital status has been a point of humor for Dan. Would he accept responsibility for calls to the people he ridicules? Of course not.
Anyway Dan C-somethingorother has helpfully posted a youtube clip of the horrible harassment so that we can all share the horror.
Actually it turns out there was one phone call. On February 16th. The second message of March 2nd is obviously a call back to a number left on the dude’s phone – Galloway must have dialed the guy’s original number and left a message! He says he recognizes her voice. Good for her. Dialog! Now maybe she can use that interpersonal skill in her lame videos.
You will soon receive some bad news...
Comically, Dan C-somethingorother tries portentously to amp up this episode ’til the end – referring to the “series” of phone calls when really there was initially only one. And then subsequent return of a Galloway call by the mystery man two weeks later. And at the end of the video be sure to enjoy the pompous and self-righteous Dan’s “reporting” sign off. Too funny! Gosh. Are we in the presence of a real reporter?
Now lest it be said by our Muave and Blue pals that we here at FFFF condone rude phone calls to politicians, we do not. However, that doesn’t mean we’ll let the lazy and biased posts by Dan C-somethingorother get a pass, either. At least not when he is accusing us of some wrong doing.
And maybe Precious Princess better not call the cops in just yet.
New Brutality Claim Filed Against Hunter’s Anaheim Cops
Posted by Travis Kiger in Big Brother, Orange County Government on March 10, 2010
Not again...
Earlier FFFF noted the story of an Anaheim activist who says he was wrongfully arrested after speaking out against OC Sheriff candidate Craig Hunter at Anaheim city council meetings. James Robert Reade claims that several officers questioned him about his anti-Craig Hunter speeches shortly before arresting him on false premise that he was under the influence of narcotics.
Yesterday Reade took his accusations a step further and filed an $85,000 claim against the city of Anaheim, saying he was “attacked and brutalized by two Anaheim officers under color of authority.”
In the claim Reade presents drug tests from both the OC Crime Lab and St. Jude hospital that show there weren’t any narcotics in his system on the day of his arrest. Reade further asserts that he has never used drugs in his life and should never have been detained.
The city dropped all charges against Reade after determining that the officers made a misdiagnosis of Reade’s behavior. Officers were disciplined and sent to additional training for mishandling the incident.
At best, we could consider this another example of the culture of abuse coddled by decades of poor leadership at Anaheim PD under the control of Craig Hunter. That certainly lines up with what courts and civil rights activists have said over the years.
On the other hand, the officers’ prior references to Reade’s political activities suggest something far more malicious may have happened. If the department intended to silence an outspoken activist as Hunter was about to begin his campaign for Sheriff, that would be an inexcusable abuse of authority.
Obviously Mr. Reade is very serious about pursuing this case against the department. We’ll see what happens.
Tom Daly’s $10,000,000 Headache
Posted by Grover Cleveland in Behind Closed Doors, Setting The Bar Low, Tom Daly on March 10, 2010
Take two aspirins and call me in the morning...
Well, no that’s not quite right. Headache would imply that County Clerk Tom Daly cares he blew $2,100,000 of public money on a real estate venture and that it could cost another $7,600,000 to fix the problem; or that he is in any way worried about it. And why should he be? When there’s no accountability you never even have to say you’re sorry.
433 W. Civic Center Drive. The jewel in Tom Daly's crown.
Here’s the background. In 2007 Daly urged the purchase of the small office building at 433 West Civic Center Drive, in Santa Ana. The ostensible purpose of this acquisition was the expansion of the County Archives. Negotiations were approved by the Board of Supervisors in September, 2007. After several months of dickering and alleged property inspections, the County CEO and RDMD staff recommended that the Board of Supervisors approve the purchase for $2.1 million. Staff recommended an “as-is purchase” with the caveat that the County Clerk would be paying for “minor repairs” and interior improvements; they noted blithely that the purchase price was below their appraised value for the building. Nothing was mentioned about inadequate space or building deficiencies. In fact the staff report claimed the building had been well-maintained.
An almost comical selling point was an alleged annual savings of $26,000 for parking paid by the County to private parking vendors. No one seemed to calculate the lost opportunity costs or even the interest value of $2,100,000.
The Board voted 3-0 to approve the purchase in January, 2008. Norby, Moorlach and Nguyen put their fingerprints on the deal.
Two years later the building still sits empty across the street from Daly’s office. And the archives still sit where ever it is they sit, presumably more crowded than ever.
What happened? Could it be that the County Clerk is now wrestling with the embarrassment of how to deal with a massive boondoggle?
It turns out that the building in question was not fit for public occupancy. Apart from ADA issues, the structure is deficient, the basement is going to leak, and all of the building systems are all obsolete. It also turns out that the building is too small to do what it was bought to do.
In other words, the building is practically worthless; and plus demolition and paving costs, the County is now the proud owner of a $2,100,000 parking lot for a few dozen cars.
How and when did this painful realization occur? We’re not real sure about the chronology, but sometime in 2008 Daly hired a firm called Kishimoto Architects to look at the building and produce a feasibility report, after the building was purchased, with cost estimates for various alternatives. The report, dated January 12,2009, proposed 3 approaches:
1. 2.8 million to remodel the building to make it usable; ADA, structural, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roofing, replacement, etc.
2. 5.7 million to remodel as above, and expand the building to accommodate the proposed use.
3. 7.6 million to demolish the building and start over again.
Say what? $2.8 million to remodel a $2.1 million dollar building?! Option two – that included a remodel and expansion – seems highly unlikely given the price tag, the schedule delays and the embarrassing admission that nobody ever bothered to do a space/needs assessment in the first place. And of course #3 was even worse: starting over would jack the price up to nearly $10,000,000, and add years onto any occupancy schedule.
So there the building sits.
Is any of this really Daly’s fault? His few remaining adherents will argue that poor Tom was just the victim of staff incompetence. Blaming the staff that recommended that this turkey proceed is easy because they were obviously derelict in their appraisal and physical assessment of the property. And the two remaining supervisors who voted for this (Moorlach and Nguyen) have a responsibility to the taxpayers to answer for their employees and the waste of over $2,000,000; after all, they are “Supervisors.”
I was gonna put the sports hall of fame in the basement.
But ultimately Tom Daly is the chief architect of this fiasco, and to those who know how elected politicians apply pressure to the staff to get the recommendations they want, there can be little doubt that the County Clerk was likely pressing and probably pressing hard for his imperial expansion. The money had been budgeted and needed to be spent. So the staff either intentionally looked the other way or didn’t bother looking at all. In the final analysis Daly is an elected official and answerable to the voters.
It’s hard to say what will happen to this real estate jewel. It’s too expensive to knock down and too deficient to use. The site is too small to do much of anything with. In other words it’s a real headache. And it’s all ours.
Blue County Passes Along Comical Sidhu “Hit” Piece
Posted by Mr. Peabody in Behind Closed Doors, Dead heads, Harry Sidhu, OC's Fourth District, Orange County Government, Repuglicanism, Setting The Bar Low on March 10, 2010
Ouch. Did it hurt a lot?
Some dude named Chris Prevatt at a blog called “the Liberal OC” has decided to pass along that ludicrous piece of spam mail “hit-piece” we posted about yesterday – sent all the way from India!
It seems Prevatt is taken with the fact that Sidhu’s Mumbai Marauders have discovered the horrible truth about Nelson: he’s gotten three traffic tickets since (gasp) 2003! Prevatt seems to think he deserves his own wing at Corcoran State Prison.
All tentacles and no brains
A little digging uncovers what’s going on here. Prevatt is a County worker who once had his computer taken away for blogging on company time. He is also what is known as a “Jannie,” one of the pathetic creatures that Janet Nguyen discovered under some rock or other and put to work in her PR salt mine.
Here’s the connection: Nguyen has recently endorsed the completely unethical carpetbagging scampaign of Harry Sidhu, fake addresses and all; and we’ve been questioning why Nguyen is putting on additional staff in Norby’s former office where there is no supervisor. The Register’s Jennifer Muir picked up on this and started asking questions. Nguyen is no doubt pissed off at being outed.
Prevatt leaps into the breach by passing along Sidhu’s comically pathetic attempt to attack Nelson for traffic tickets! Hoo boy! Petty and silly? Stupid and ineffectual? Of course. What do you expect?
Say, what is the Democrat equivalent of a “repuglican?”
Monday Haiku (Late Edition)
Posted by Yoshii The Bushido Poet in Arts & Architecture on March 9, 2010
A wind swept morning
Earth rises to greet the sky
Serendipity
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