Coto Joe Kerr Registers to Vote in Brea, But May Have Left Something Behind

Looks like Coto de Caza millionaire/union executive Joseph Vincent Kerr registered to vote in Brea at the end of January. Why? Why to carpetbag his way into a political campaign for County Supervisor, representing us in the 4th District. Hmm. Now that’s not very good, is it.

 

 

Who knew “firefighting” paid so well? Well, almost everybody…

Here is Coto Joe’s previous address, a million dollar house that he must be hanging on to since he hasn’t sold it. But if Joe did move, even pretend-like, he may have left an important item behind, namely, his wife. China Kerr, is still registered to vote in the posh environs of Coto de Caza:

Oops. I knew I forgot something…

 

And Joe’s alleged new crib? It’s a rather depressing little box owned by one Douglas C. Martinson, also the name of a jailer for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. So is Coto Joe really even living here? Hard to believe, isn’t it? Just as hard to believe as Irvine McMansion owner Linda Ackerman living in some Fullerton dude’s game room; or Elegant Yorba Estate owner Harry Sidhu, living in the Calabria apartments – behind a pool hall and bowling alley.

Like his carpetbagging predecessors, Coto Joe is wisely hanging on to his real estate – the big house in the swanky community behind guard gates, where his wife is still registered to vote. It’s not even listed for sale, although Joe declared his new abode, under penalty of perjury, ten weeks ago.

 

Joe Kerr Lives Where?

Always look for the union label…

We have recently been introduced to Mr. Joe Kerr, former fireman union honcho who claims to be running for 4th District Supervisor.  That’s a problem.

Joe and China Kerr have lived at 29 Palma Valley since 1999. The address is in Coto de Caza, a very wealthy enclave in South County – being a “public safety” union boss must pay real well. Unfortunately, Coto de Caza is in the 5th Supervisorial District.  Mr. Kerr chooses not to run against the incumbent 5th District Supervisor, Lisa Bartlett. Instead he wants to run for the 4th District seat, obviously because there is no incumbent.

Here’s Joe’s house.

Over the past eight years many people living in comparatively rich places have tried to carpetbag their way into the hearts and minds of North Orange County. All failed dismally when a concerted effort was undertaken to share their shameless carpetbag hustle with the public, no matter how they tried to fluff up their resumés. Here is a list at the bottom of which Mr. Joe Kerr, of Coto deCaza, will soon find himself:

2009 Linda Ackerwoman – State Assembly (Irvine)

2010 Harry Sidhu, 4th District Supervisor (Anaheim Hills)

2010 Lorraine Galloway, 4th District Supervisor (Anaheim Hills)

2016 Sukhee Kang, State Senate (Irvine)

While it’s true that each of these losers carried quite a bit of baggage, the fatal flaw right out of the gate was their carpetbaggage.  Because who, really, wants to vote for someone whose first communication with would be constituents is a fraud, a lie, a perjury, or a deliberate omission of fact?

Kerr’s press release announcing his candidacy omits any reference to where he has lived for the better part of 20 years, instead mentioning that he grew up in La Habra and Cypress(!) the slenderest filament of a link to the 4th District and a completely irrelevant one at that. I can’t find a record of Joseph V. Kerr anywhere near the 4th district.

I have no idea how much money Kerr’s “public safety” union pals will be willing to unleash on his behalf – probably a boatload. But member what all that union money got “Hide-and-Seek” Sidhu? Two humiliating losses in just one year.

So come on in, Joe.

The FFFF Welcoming Committee is firing up the barbecue.

We Get Mail: What Is a “Repuglican?”

Okay, there seems to be confusion about the term “repuglican” as often used here on FFFF. The term does not refer to a political party, but rather a personality type within the GOP. The Dems have their own version, no doubt, but since we are a red county we are stuck with the ‘pugs. Please read the following post from October 2009.

Repuglicanism has always been a target of our blog because it seeks to empower, and enrich the grifters who put imbeciles like Bankhead, Jones and McKinley in charge of doling out government welfare to the high rollers. It also seeks to defend the all-important status quo above all else.

– Joe Sipowicz

This morning we received the following e-mail from a Friend:

Dear FFFF, some of your posters keep using the term “Repuglican.” I am not sure if this is simply a typo or if you mean to use this unusual term. Can you please clarify? Thanks.

Sure. Be happy to. This locution is no accident. It is a fusion of the words Republican and repugnant, from which you may draw the obvious conclusions.

Here is a definition from the Urban Dictionary:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=repuglican

We apply the term to describe local Republicans of the same ilk, although the issue of “neo-conservativism” is largely irrelevant here. These individuals are people who pursue the politics of partisan affiliation for its own sake, but also for what they can get out of it. The main thing, the only thing, really, is to stand for the Party (as a convenient vehicle for self-promotion, of course!), and of course to oppose the Other Party. Issues themselves mean almost nothing except as way to promote themselves in the wider context of promoting the Party. Inner conviction means little; philosophical beliefs mean little – except for getting and hanging on to the strings of political power in order to pull and persuade them in your direction.

Repuglicans love big business interests because those are the guys with the money; the high-rollers who will enable your “conference” in Maui.

A red bastion in a blue state, OC is chock-full of Repuglicans – who use the local municipal and County governments for their own advancement and enrichment. The Legislature is hopelessly Democrat, but this does not mean that the doors to fun and profit are completely closed to Repuglicans. Especially if they hang around long enough.

This is a Repuglican:

Ackerman
Hell, I'm really doing you guys a big favor...

And so is this:

AckermanHead
We never let go...

Here’s another one:

You gotta work the angles...
You gotta work the angles...

And here’s one of the best examples:

My lips are moving...
My lips are moving...

Additional examples of the species are welcome!

Green Party to Hold State Convention in Fullerton

The Green Party, which declares independence from influence of special interest money, will unveil a slate of candidates at State Convention in Fullerton this weekend.

FULLERTON – Billing itself as the most “independent” political party in the state – in stark contrast to Democrats and Republicans, who voters are increasingly shunning – the Green Party of California will hold a pre-election state convention here Saturday and Sunday.

A PRESS CONFERENCE featuring many of the party’s state and congressional candidates will be held at 12:30 p.m. SATURDAY at the Fullerton Dancesport Center/Imperial Ballroom (114 E. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton).

Thirty-four Greens are on the ballot throughout California Nov. 2, including seven up for state offices from the Governor to State Treasurer. One Green is running for U.S. Senator, five for the House of Representatives, five for State Assembly (all in Southern California) and the remainder for school boards, rent boards and other local offices.

About 40 Greens hold elected office in the state, including five mayors (Gayle McLaughlin is running for re-election in Richmond, a city of more than 100,000), and Greens dominate several city councils in the northern part of the state, including Fairfax and Sonoma.

“The Green Party is truly different. It’s independent of special interests. The two ‘Titanic’ parties are mired in big money influence, and govern according to those special interests, and not in the best interests of the people,” said Laura Wells, the Green candidate for Governor.

“Real issues like healthcare, campaign finance reform, renewable energy and our failing economy need to be solved without the corrupting influence of corporate and big union money,” said Jane Rands, Green Party candidate for the 72nd Assembly District, which includes Fullerton.

Jane Rands

The Green Party of California General Assembly will address proposed platform revisions, announce positions on state ballot initiatives, and hold a strategy session entitled “2011 & Beyond”.  The meeting is being hosted by the Green Party of Orange County.

The Green Party’s platform is guided by the principals of Grassroots Democracy, Environmental Wisdom, Social Justice, and Nonviolence.  For more information visit www.cagreens.org.

More On The Duvall Saga: The OC/Sacto GOP Angle

Mike Duvall

After my meeting with Mike Duvall the other day, I decided to see If I could learn anything more about the events of last summer that led to Mike’s ultimate resignation as the 72nd District State Assemblymen.

One of our good Friends happens to know a well-placed legislative aide who works in Sacramento and who, I was told, could help fill in some of the gaps. So I called this person.

According to this individual, it is not at all unusual for legislative staffers to request audio records of committee meetings; in fact it is a fairly standard practice. Thus, the fact that Jeff Miller’s aide requested a record of the meeting doesn’t signify any sort of prior conspiracy by Miller – or anyone else for that matter. My source logically pointed out that Miller, to a lesser extent, ended up getting painted by the same brush as Duvall.

Instead what this person says happened is that the embarrassing audio record did end up in the wrong hands – at least as far as Duvall is concerned. My source indicates that Duvall’s personal enemy Jon Fleischman did indeed come to possess a copy of the tape; and sometime between July 2009 and late August 2009 orchestrated the leak of the information to KCAL’s Dave Lopez and the OC Weekly’s Scott Moxley.

Fleischman. Painful public humiliation for Duvall is said to have been his motive.

Although Fleischman’s motives were said to be personal, others such as OC Republican power broker Mike Schroeder were also aware of the impending ambush, according to my source, although Schroeder’s motives for participating in Fleishman’s scheme in some way or other were not made abundantly clear.

Schroeder and Fleischman. Who knew about the impending ambush ahead of time?
Schroeder and Fleischman. Who else beside Fleischman knew about the impending storm?

As with my interview with Duvall, I can not immediately confirm the veracity of my source’s information, and the journalists in question will surely not reveal their source(s). Still, our insider is indeed well-placed to know what happened and I confer a certain level of credence to the story.

What is still unknown is what other high-level Republicans knew of the tape, it’s impending release, and the obvious political fallout from that release. If indeed Fleischman was the mastermind of the Duvall ambush, it is very hard to believe he would dare to do so without the consent of at least some of the OC Republican ruling party bosses – folks such as Schroeder, Dick Ackerman, and even Party Chairman, Scott Baugh. Why these party worthies would prefer, or even allow a public scandal instead of a quiet resignation by Duvall is something we may contemplate at our leisure.

However, as I noted yesterday, discussion of the Linda Ackerman candidacy on the integrity platform seemed to appear on cue, if way out of left field, before the ink had even dried on Duvall’s letter of resignation.

My Lunch With Mike. Mike Duvall, That Is

UPDATE: I HAVE POSTED A FOLLOW-UP STORY HERE, ABOUT THE SPECIAL OC ANGLE OF THE STORY.

It must be tough when just about everything anybody says about you is prefaced with the words “disgraced former assemblyman.” But that’s what Mike Duvall lives with every day.

On Wednesday I had lunch with Duvall.

Now, I’ve known Mike for a long time and thought that it would be interesting to hear his take on the events of last summer that led to his resignation and replacement as our State Assemblyman by Chris Norby. And he seemed eager to tell his side of the story.

Duvall has lost a lot of weight and looks pretty good. He attributes this to getting exercise and is benefiting from being away from the non-stop Sacramento smorgasbord provided courtesy of all those lobbyists. Well, I guess every cloud has it’s silver lining.

We met at Mike’s office and later moseyed on out for lunch. As our meeting progressed, Duvall shared his thoughts about what happened last summer.

Duvall said  that he had become well known in Sacramento for “rocking the boats” of other legislators, and that fact may have been at the root of the events that transpired. He was known, he said, for his unorthodox attitude to Sacramento, even upon one occasion, introducing some of his biker buddies into the Capitol.

Although he can not fully explain their motives, Duvall stated that he believe the likeliest scenario is that he was set up by a conspiracy involving Jeff Miller, the assemblyman from Corona, and his aide.  He believes the whole thing was either orchestrated or exploited by Republican operative Jon Fleischman, likely in retaliation for the forced resignation of Fleischman’s wife, a former employee in Duvall’s local office. He claimed that Fleischman had become extremely hostile to him personally.

According to Duvall the “hot mike” on the day his comments were recorded was Miller’s, not his; that in retrospect Miller seemed to coach the conversation into its lewd direction; and that Millers aide almost immediately went to retrieve a copy of the recording. Duvall stuck to his story that his comments were not a true revelation of anything that actually happened, and in fact he was just repeating stuff told to him about another legislator altogether.

When I asked him what Jeff Miller’s motive was to cooperate in the alleged set-up, Duvall speculated that it might have been done, at least in part to take heat off of him from the KFI John and Ken team who had been mercilessly attacking Miller, and who subsequently appeared to have stopped their attacks.

What still remains a mystery, except to the participants, and not explained by Duvall, are the events that transpired between July 2009, when the recording was made, and late August, 2009 when the story finally broke. Almost two months passed.

I have previously wondered about the on the role of Ackerman, Inc. in events of July-September 2009, since on September 10th Linda Ackerman received and responded to an almost immediate communication from the Register’s Martin Wisckol about her possible candidacy – while she was vacationing in Europe. It struck me as very odd that Linda Ackerman’s name would suddenly occur to Wisckol out of the blue without previous coaching. Duvall couldn’t shed any light on that.

But when I asked Duvall if he thought his support for the OC County Fair last summer might have played a role in the motive of someone trying to get rid of him, he acknowledged the possibility.

Is Duvall telling the whole story? Was he really set up, or was it simply the case that his unfortunate comments, true or not, were exploited by political enemies after the fact? The passage of the two month period and then the sudden revelation has all the earmarks of an orchestrated attempt to get rid of him.

The story about a conspiracy to set him up certainly sounds plausible. But without any real evidence to support his claims, Mike Duvall is going to have a hard time convincing a skeptics of his innocence.

The Scott Baugh Manifesto

Me 'n Ronnie say so!

Last week the OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh addressed his cohorts at the periodic Republican Central Committee meeting.

His speech was much anticipated and much commented about the next day in such venues where anybody gives a damn about what Baugh has to say. I waited a few days to display my disdain for such antics.

It seems Mr. Baugh tried to channel some of the angry energy of the “Tea Party” movement to  zap some life into his team.

Baugh unloaded on RINOs; on candidates who get the GOP endorsement and then take public union money; on the “slick consultants” who call the shots. It must have sounded pretty good to the true believers in the audience; but the Repuglican cadre that has turned Orange County into its own little plantation – people like John Lewis and Ackerman, Inc. must have rolled their eyes a bit. Electeds in the audience who gladly took money from police and fire unions were no doubt (quietly) offended and/or frightened, depending on their dispositions, and this includes just about every Republican city councilman and Supervisor in the County.

I’ve got four problems with Mr. Baugh’s manifesto.

First he coughed up a speech very much like it last year in the wake of the epic McCain disaster and a year of Democrat rule. Apparently not much came of that one; so why expect anything else from the ‘Pugs?

Second, he seems to have failed to address the virus of office seeking that infects the party and that has been manifested in the Ackerwoman and now Harry Sidhu strains.  In fact, Baugh was a supporter of Linda Ackerwoman and her fraudulent campaign of deceit in the 72nd – which pretty much tells you all you need to know about him.

Third, the idea that a candidate can’t take the money of a public employee union and still represent the public interest is curious. By the same logic these folks would be unable to resist the blandishments of corporate lobbyists who donate to their campaigns. Hmm.

Finally, Baugh ignores the wider problem of Repuglicanism – the malady of being a Republican for fun and especially profit. Calling for ideological purity seems to ring hollow when it’s pretty evident that the game is being played for one’s own pecuniary interest. Will we ever hear Baugh denounce Curt Pringle’s 50 billion dollar high speed idiocy? Probably not. Baugh uses his own political connections to  lobby here and there, including a highly lucrative contract awarded by fellow ‘Pugs on the Board of Supervisors to lobby in Sacramento.

So in the end, to quote the Bard, here’s what I see in Baugh’s address: a tale told by an idiot; full of sound and fury and signifying nothing.

Longshots Have Surprise Up Sleeve?

Just keep going 'til you get to the bottom.

In today’s Register our old amigo Martin Wisckol cobbled together a piece about, well, hard to say exactly what it was about, but among other things it contained some gems from OC Democratic Party boss Frank Barbaro.

Of course it's all bullshit!

It seems Frank is having buyer’s remorse after the singularly humiliating asswhipping Fred MacMurray had laid down on him by Chris Norby in the 72nd Special Election. Now, it seems Barbaro is wishing Sharon Quirk had stayed in the race.

“If we’d have had Sharon Quirk, I think we would have had a different result,” said Barbaro, a model of perseverance and optimism already looking ahead to the reelection Norby will seek later in the year. “We might have some surprises for him in November.”

Might have some surprises? Hell, the Sun might collapse in on itself, too.

To surprise Norby in November means the Dems have to have a credible candidate on board almost any day now. But who?  Galloway now claims to live in the district, but is tied up elsewhere; Quirk-Silva? Maybe, but the last bug out seemed a bit, well, unusual. Hey, how ’bout Pam Keller? Nope; running for re-election. Rosie Espinosa? See Galloway comment, above.

So the Dems got nothin’. Just whistlin’ in the dark. All Norby has to do is make sure the mike is off.

Election Night Parties For Chris Norby & Jane Rands

Chris Norby would like you to join him, his friends and supporters  tonight for an election night party at Cherch Lounge in downtown Fullerton at 7:00 pm.


If hobnobbing with the Republican establishment isn’t your thing, you may also consider joining the Jane Rands campaign to hear election night results at nearby Frati Gelato, 8:00 pm.

Not sure where John McMurray is having his party tonight, but when we find out we will be sure to let you know.

Chamber Star: Norby Elevates Self to Statesman Status

Friends, we have just received this communication from our old pal Chamber Star, who, although absent of late, has returned to share some breaking news. Although we can’t vouch for it’s reliability, we reproduce the CS e-mail, verbatim:

Dear FFFF,

I have just learned that Chris Norby, the Republican candidate in Tuesday’s 72nd District Special Election has asked for, and has received, the endorsement of his primary opponent Linda Ackerman.

This is great news! It was a rough and tumble election and a lot of negative things were said on both sides; so it is especially gratifying to see old adversaries patch up their differences and move ahead in unity and harmony.

I know some people on this blog will criticize Chris. They will ask how can he possibly want the endorsement of someone who accused him of so many vile things? They will ask how can he possibly want the endorsement of an opponent that he accused of fraudulent residence and profiteering off her husband’s campaigns? They will no doubt argue that Norby won so convincingly that he does not need Linda’s endorsement at all.

To this I respond by saying that it’s politic to let bygones be bygones; to pull together for the common good; to work together! And let’s not forget that Norby has two more elections this year alone. Norby can only benefit from party unity both in gaining votes and fundraising.

It’s obvious that Chris is being guided by wise counsel and the kind of pragmatism that gets real results in Sacramento. He is following the course of the true statesman.

And I for one, say “Bravo!”