“Dick” Ackerman The Moral Weathervane of the Anti-recall Team. Part 2.

Swimming in taxpayer gravy is hard to give up...

Let’s just say you’re a termed-out California state senator who, through the vagaries of a law that requires a two-thirds majority to pass a budget, became a Playah in the capital. Bocce and cigars with the Celebro-Guv.

Well, if you are of a certain mindset, the thought of returning to good, honest toil as a private citizen is probably the farthest thing from your mind. Instead, you look around to see how you can capitalize off of all those political connections you made cutting deals and grinding the uncomfortable corners off of the truth. You recall fondly when the greasers, lobbyists, and bagmen were kissing your skinny ass and funding your campaigns. Lobbying is a lot more fun than real work. You want to become one!

And so it was when Dick Ackerman left Sacramento; and so it was for anybody willing to put Ackerman on their payroll. After all, who wants to hire a 70-year old, small-time lawyer to draw up wills for grandpa? No one, that’s who. And Nossaman, the big law firm that employed Dick obviously wanted him as a lobbyist, despite the website description that comically claims Ackerman is some sort of legal expert in a wide array of issues.

By nature lobbyists are supposed to remain low-profile, operate in the shadows and behind closed doors. What the partners at Nossaman think about Ackerman’s recent embarrassing high profile behavior is anybody’s guess, but it can’t be too good; and apparently Dick ain’t bringing home much bacon, either, which is the worst offense of all.

But so much for the long preamble. The purpose of Part 2 (and of Part 3) of this squalid tale is to relate some of what Ackerman has been up to lately, and to point out to anybody who cares, the low ethical trajectory of the leader of the anti-recall circus.

Termed out in 2008, Ackerman almost immediately latched on to an opportunity presented by his ethical soul mate, Dave Ellis: the Great OC Fair Swindle of 2009, an attempt to convert select members of the Board of Directors into a non-profit entity that would buy the Orange County Fairgrounds from a cash-strapped State, and run it for their own fun and profit. Ackerman’s role was buried in an obscure land-use contract with a company called LSA, presumably so nobody would know what the hell was going on.

Dave Ellis seen soon after emerging from the Fullerton sewer system. The transition to an oxygen breathing life-form was slow and painful...

Part of the deal involved slipping the necessary whereases into the state budget in the summer of 2009, and part of Ackerman’s job was to make sure legislators got the job done. But wait a minute, Dick! State legislators have to wait a full year before they can lobby their former colleagues! That’s the law.

When the details of Ackerman’s behavior became public in the fall of 2009, he twisted and turned the very meaning of the English language in order to squirm off the hook on which he had impaled himself. And it would have been in vain, too, except that our sleepy DA had clearly given instructions to his staff to whitewash Ackerman’s role. Not looking for evidence is a great way of not finding any.

It worked for a while, in 2010. Then in early 2011 Norberto Santana of the Voice of OC broke the story: he had copies of Ackerman’s billing invoices, and Ackerman’s scope of work – documents the DA thought unnecessary to collect, and they clearly revealed the truth about Ackerman – lobbying legislators was part of the contract, and The Dickster had made calls to several members of the Legislature, including locals Solorio and Correa. No bueno!

Although the DAs spokestress Susan Schroeder disingenuously invited anybody to submit new evidence for the DAs lethargic consideration, nobody did. And Ackerman slithered away, probably bragging, like John Mitchell to his cronies, that no one had laid a glove on him.

Stay tuned for Part 3, in which we explore carpetbagging for fun and profit!

84 Replies to ““Dick” Ackerman The Moral Weathervane of the Anti-recall Team. Part 2.”

  1. Obviously the Orange County political toilet is stopped up and the turds are doing synchronized back strokes, grinning up at the assholes who put them there.

    Hopefully FFFF is the plunger that will finally send them to their watery grave.

    1. CackleFoos :Obviously the Orange County political toilet is stopped up and the turds are doing synchronized back strokes, grinning up at the assholes who put them there.
      Hopefully FFFF is the plunger that will finally send them to their watery grave.

      Political poetry?

        1. How about it Admin? Can we have the talented illustrators at FFFF make a cartoon similar to the graphic illustration provided by CackleFoos?

          1. The Recall campaign is similar to the plot in the movie “The Revenge of The Nerds”, so I guess we should sub-title your political cartoon, “The Revenge of The Turds.”

            1. lol! Great title! Here’s a crudely written draft of a screenplay for an imaginary video ad.

              ESTABLISHING SHOT

              Tight shot of the back of an opened newspaper, hands holding sides, obviously being read.

              A raspy cough is heard giving the impression of years of chain smoking and hard drinking.

              Camera pulls back, an obese man is sitting on a toilet reading the newspaper. He gives a sardonic laugh as the camera cuts to an article headline about financial problems of Orange County cities.

              NARRATOR

              “Fullerton is on the verge of bankruptcy. Millions of dollars paid to hide the shocking details of police brutality
              and incompetence by city officials has left the city coffers almost empty.”

              The sound of boistrous flatulance followed by 3 watery noises. (*plunk!*) (*plunk!*) … (*plunk!*)

              BOWL SHOT

              Looking down we see 3 actors dressed as turds fall into water, arms stretched outward, to join 2 other turds who are doing synchronized backstrokes around the bowl.

              Grinning images of Pat McKinley, Richard Jones, and Don Bankhead are photoshopped onto the 3 turds’ faces as they
              begin swimming with the 2 other turds, looking upward to their source. The faces of Dick Ackerman and Dave Ellis
              are seen on the two turds already present.

              NARRATOR

              “So many special interests have convinced enough voters to keep putting the same cronies into elected office that now the entire political process in Orange County has become plugged with incompetence and neglect. It’s time to get out the plunger and flush the special interests and their hacks down to the sewers where they belong.”

              BATHROOM SHOT

              A plumber with a large FFFF logo prominently displayed on his back enters the frame and brusquely forces the obese man off the toilet. The plumber begins plunging forcefully as we hear the turds’ tiny voices scream in agony. The obese man grabs his pinstriped trousers from around his ankles and loudly demands to know what is going on.

              BOWL SHOT

              We see the turds swirling down a whirlpool.

              NARRATOR

              “Vote for the recall of the 3 Fullerton city councilmen Dick Jones, Pat McKinley, and Dick Ackerman. Fullerton deserves
              better.”

              Fade to black.

    2. a disturbing yet amusing thought. I almost feel like I should go out and start painting those warning signs on the curbs that remind you that what goes down the sewer eventually empties into the ocean as a courtesy to the residents of the coastal communities.

  2. Did anyone see the article in today’s la times about a sex scandal involving the contra costa Da’s office? Its a goodie!

    1. Registrar, the statute of limitations have not run out. The statute of limitations is either four or five years. Dicks tit’s in a ringer, haha…

  3. Very revealing Joe.
    This once again demonstrates the incompetence of the DA and the weasely ways of Ackerman and the soon-to-be recalled rejects!

  4. Martha Steward went to prison for lying to federal agentswho were investigating the insider trading issue.

    Hopefully the samething will happen around here when the feds catch the liars in the act.

  5. I just talked to Merijoe, she’s in county lockup taking care of a couple of warrants. She said keep up the good fight. She hopes to be released by Christmas.

    1. So that’s where she’s been. Sorry to hear about that.
      If you talk with her soon, could you send her my best wishes?
      I will be sending her a ‘get out of jail soon’ wish on her e-mail and Facebook account.

      1. The “Why” should have landed after “she’s in county lockup taking care of a couple of warrants.:”

        Really, I have been thinking about her.

  6. Love the aquatic theme of the post.

    Yes, Ackerman and Ellis make quite a team. And too bad for Huntington Beach or Newport: Drains to Ocean!

  7. I’m normally not a fan of a) bathroom humor, b) CackleFoo’s postings.

    Today, however, he made me spit my coffee all over my monitor.

    1. Aw, c’mon! Lighten up!

      Q: What did Spock see when he looked into the toilet bowl?

      A: The captain’s log.

      lol!

  8. I just now saw that. Very creatve.
    Got a visual while reading even, which made me LOL.

    FFFF could probably make an animation video of that.

    Cacklefoo could work as an advertising agent with that detailed creativity!

  9. Here’s another possible metaphore on the disgusting side:

    The anit-recall folks are like a “clogged up anal port.

    The Recall folks are like the enima that’ll get rid of that shit.

    1. Or like dogs (both genders!) that need their anal glands “expressed” (a dirty job, but someone needs to do it)…

      1. It’s funny how the analogies and metaphors for corrupt cops and politicians always goes to bathroom humor. It’s almost instinctive, like the way dogs sniff each other’s butts.

  10. fullerton city council to vote on new rainjackets for the police tonight. It will only cost 17,000 dollors! sounds like a good deal.( compared to the cost of the bullet proof vests.)

  11. Tuco says always mistrust the DA office and Sheriff’s bureaucrats. They always protect themselves and their HUGE pensions. Keep on working, if you call it that, and build up that pension for age 55!
    First, we save the institution, then we save ourselves, then we save the rank and file. Sounds like the Citadel and Penn State!
    Tuco Ramirez knows – when he feels that rope around his neck he can even see the devil!

  12. Speaking of Jan Flory, she put on a show at the council meeting tonight; got lots of “extra” public comment time based on a presentation that she “forgot” to ask to have put on the agenda and for her prior service as mayor.

    Looks like she must have fit right in with the three old guys – she just kept on talking and talking and talking. No respect for the “rules” that apply to the hoi polloi (that’s the ordinary folks) for 3 minutes

    1. That old coot was told to ease back on hard liquor or he’d have a stroke and die, and now he’s going around saying he got a death threat. He’s feeling sorry for himself.

  13. Tuco replies:
    Tuco does not eat tripe he is Kosher! He eats only pigs intestines!
    re:Jones death threat! Who would waste a bullet on that guy? Sheesh! I think the witchdoctor doth protest too much!
    Now that Occupy Oakland has been kicked out, maybe they all come to join me in Fullerton? Occupy train station?

  14. Great job on reporting, Joe. I apologize for getting the focus derailed on bathroom humor antics, will tone it down.

    So what can be done about Ackerman? If the DA refuses to investigate is there a process to force a re-hearing of the evidence? Can the DA be held responsible for nonfeasance?

    1. The disruptive council meeting has apparently sent Fullerton authorities grabbing for the crowd control procedures.

      Typically, in order to neutralize perceived threats authorities will secretly discredit someone by contacting friends and associates with scandalous concocted stories. They never make such accusations publicly because they know they would be sued for libel and character defamation.

      This is how the police state works post 9/11. If anyone on this blog is contacted by any state, local or federal law enforcement agency who makes accusations that are considered defamatory or derogatory against anyone on this or any other blog they should contact the target of the smear campaign either publicly or privately and inform that person of the activity.

      What happened to Kelly Thomas is only one facet of the abuse of power that law enforcement agencies are using against U.S. citizens. Protect the Constitution – report official misconduct!

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