Posts Tagged Anaheim
Birds of a Feather…
Posted by Grover Cleveland in Dead heads, Repuglicanism, Setting The Bar Low on August 9, 2010
…well you know the rest.
Straw man says: With the thoughts I’d be thinkin’, I could be another Lincoln, if I only had a brain…
Here is Mr. Hypocrite J. Cunningham extolling the virtues of Kris Murray, a candidate for Anaheim city council, and heavily promoted by Anaheim’s Mayor-for-Hire, Curt Pringle; some woman he elevated from obscurity to occupy a six-figure sinecure at OCTA:
I, for one, am wholeheartedly supporting Kris. There are several stand-out individuals running for city council seats in Orange County this year, and Kris is one of them. She is smart, conservative, principled and experienced in both the business sector and government. She will make an outstanding member of the Anaheim City Council.
Ah! Smart, conservative, principled, experienced. Smart? Who knows? Her experience is with the big government Business Council and a giant government bureaucracy – OCTA – which is squandering hundreds of millions on Pringle’s slimy insider ARTIC and High Speed Rail deals. Principled? Well, Hell, we know what principle Cunningham and Pringle hold dear. There’s always a dollar sign in front of it.
Now, enjoy this snippet from the comment thread in which Cunningham extols the virtues of Big Chief repuglican Curt Pringle:
Curt has been an outstanding Mayor of Anaheim, and poll after poll confirms that. He has very high positive name ID in Anaheim, and if he were on the ballot again, he would be overwhelmingly re-elected.
Kris is and ought to be proud to have Curt’s endorsement.
Uh, yeah, right, whatever you say Jerb. Poll after poll? What polls would those be?
'Pug role model
See, for a guy who posed as a social conservative, yet who behind the scenes pulled down mega-bucks shilling for the dopey, big guvment Rob Reiner Children and Families Commission, making a fortune off of government influence peddling, like Pringle has done, is some sort of badge of honor. And of course Pringle may very well hold the key to Cunningham’s economic future now that his 1st Five plug has been pulled.
Nothing wrong there, of course. If Pringle hadn’t latched on to all this gravy some evil, unprincipled Democrat would have scooped up all those simoleons.
Little Billy Jumps SS Sidhu, Swims For His Life
Posted by admin in Harry Sidhu on June 21, 2010
You can run, but you can't hide
Hide and Seek Sidhu’s campaign groundhog and sign thief, “little” Billy Turner, has abandoned the S.S. Sidhu and landed safely on the Tom Tait for Mayor bandwagon.
While I happen to like Tom Tait, I am suspicious of the real reason why he’s running for mayor of Anaheim. But I digress.
I have a few suggestions for you, little Billy: First off, a rich old wise man (and Friend) once told me that it’s better to be poor and happy than rich and sad. Second, keep your trap shut. And finally, leave other people’s campaign signs alone.
City Clerk Under Fire: Anaheim Covers for the Sidhu Campaign
Posted by Travis Kiger in Behind Closed Doors on May 27, 2010
Today the city of Anaheim is taking heavy criticism for its failure to providing open public records. Today’s story from the Voice of OC reinforces my own experience in the lack of transparency, accountability and compliance with state public records laws within Anaheim city hall.
A little while back the city of Anaheim was asked for copies of six months of telephone logs for Harry Sidhu’s campaign manager, Annie Mezzacappa, who also happens to be a city employee. There was reason to believe that Mezzacappa was doing campaign work for Sidhu while on the clock for the city. That’s a big no-no.
After 24 days of stalling by City Clerk Linda Andal, the city sent back a list of three phone calls made on the same day back in January.
That doesn't seem right...
Three phone calls in 6 months. We can either conclude that either Annie Mezzacappa doesn’t know how to use her telephone or the city of Anaheim is covering for her by violating the public records act. So which is it?
Nothing to see here, move along please.
When questioned about the missing records, Deputy City Attorney Bryn Morley did not seem to think there was anything unusual about an employee who only makes three phone calls in six months. The city attorney had no excuse for the missing records and declined to give any further explanation.
Delaying, denying and obstructing public records requests is a hallmark of a government with something to hide. Apparently that’s the way it goes in Anaheim.
Who Is Craig Hunter?
Posted by Travis Kiger in Big Brother, Orange County Government on March 16, 2010
Sometimes it’s nice to know you’re not alone.
Last week we were alerted to a mysterious new blog called “Who is Craig Hunter,” which claims to reveal the true power structure behind the candidacy of the Anaheim Deputy Chief for County Sheriff.
Drink it up
The blog seems focused the connections between political heavyweight Mike Schroeder and Hunter, who is called Schroeder’s protegé. Hunter was hand picked to fill in the void left by ex-sheriff Mike Carona’s felony conviction, alleges the author who goes by the pseudonym “V”.
A few ancillary players are introduced into the picture on a page called The Players, including Jack Anderson (Carona’s own pick for successor), Carona apologist and OCCCWS member Greg Block (that name sounds familiar), DA spokesperson Susan Kang Schroeder and GOP Chairman/lobbyist Scott Baugh.
Motives are questioned, empires are sketched out and historic similarities are drawn. What emerges? A sketch of a picture that isn’t very pretty.
I’ve also heard rumors that the site was created by Friends for Fullerton’s Future, citing a humorous yet biting style that is similar to many of our own posts. For what it’s worth, nobody here knows where this blog came from or where it’s going.
But we’ll be watching.
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.
Anaheim Police Admit to Wrongful Arrest of Craig Hunter’s Most Vocal Enemy
Posted by Travis Kiger in Big Brother, Orange County Government on February 10, 2010
A recent internal investigation at Anaheim PD concludes that several officers wrongfully arrested an activist who frequently speaks out against OC Sheriff candidate Craig Hunter.
Anaheim PD questions activist before the arrest
James Robert Reade is a civil rights activist from Anaheim with a long history of publicly speaking out against abusive Anaheim police officers. For years, Reade has been making accusations specifically against Deputy Chief Craig Hunter, who is now a candidate for OC Sheriff.
Back in October, weeks before Craig Hunter was to announce his candidacy, James Robert Reade claims that he was assaulted by Anaheim PD and arrested on based on false accusations of drug use. Before the arrest, Reade says that the officers specifically brought up Craig Hunter and asked if Reade was going to be speaking out at any more city council meetings.
Anaheim PD pleads guilty
The letter above shows that an internal investigation determined the drug accusations to be completely false and that the offending officers would be disciplined and re-trained after being “discourteous” to the victim.
James Robert Reade has relentlessly documented the entire saga on his website at whiteroseanaheim.com
After the results of this investigation, it’s difficult to believe that the arrest of an innocent activist was just a coincidence. Why would these officers unlawfully harass and detain the most vocal anti-Hunter civil rights activist only weeks before Craig Hunter would announce his candidacy?
The actions of the Anaheim PD reek of political intimidation under the authority law enforcement. Did Hunter himself order the officers to harass Reade? Or were the officers merely acting out a culture of cronyism that has infected other police agencies in Orange County?
We may never know the truth, although Mr. Reade’s website is threatening a federal lawsuit against the department. If he follows through, perhaps some light will be shed on the disturbing activity inside the Anaheim police department.
Craig Hunter: The Beatings, the Whistleblower and the Cover-up
Posted by Travis Kiger in Big Brother, Orange County Government on January 19, 2010
Should Orange County replace Mike Carona with another cop tainted by the stench of abuse and cover up?
Let’s take a look at the career history of Anaheim Deputy Chief Craig Hunter. Back in his day as the head of the gang unit, Craig earned himself the nickname “Head Hunter”, and it wasn’t for respecting the rights of those he served.
The Beatings
Court testimony indicates that Craig Hunter was involved in several senseless beatings of handcuffed teenage suspects after they were safely in police custody. There were two incidents involving Hunter on court record from the 90′s:
The first beating was 16-year-old robbery suspect named Jorge Alvarado. After arrest, the kid was turned over to two of Craig Hunters’ gang unit officers John Kelley and Mike Bustamante for a ride to the station. By the time they arrived at the station, the suspect had been severely beaten. When the witnessing officer complained to the unit commander, Craig Hunter, he was told to shut up.
Another beating happened a few months later after a teenage suspect named Jerry Sanchez was captured on the roof of an apartment by officers Craig Hunter and John Kelley. In testimony that we just received, officer Steve Nolan claims that “Craig Hunter actually cracked Jerry over the head with his flashlight while Kelly kicked him as he lied on the ground”. Later, while the suspect was bleeding severely from the head, Hunter and his partner allegedly taunted Sanchez in a stereotyped Latino accent.
In a later interview, the youth said “I was handcuffed, then hit in the head with a metal flashlight and kicked. I was bleeding all over and felt dizzy and dazed. My whole shirt was bloody.” The suspect’s account of the beating matched officer Nolan’s claims.
The Whistleblower
Officer Steve Nolan claimed to witness both beatings. He was so appalled at Craig Hunter’s behavior that he finally reported both incidents to a superior.
In response, Hunter launched an all-out assault to discredit Steve Nolan. False accusations were made against him, which were later rejected by an arbiter and then a jury. Nolan eventually won a $340,000 lawsuit against Hunter and the department for wrongful termination.
During the arbitration, the whistleblower received anonymous death threats from what he believed to be his former coworkers at the Anaheim Police Department. Shortly after he filed the lawsuit, someone shot at his wife while she was driving down the freeway near Anaheim.
Were Craig Hunter and his officers retaliating against the whistleblower for breaking the infamous code of silence? The jury said “yes”.
The Cover-up
After the allegations of police abuse surfaced, the department was forced to launch an internal investigation. As expected, the department soon announced that all officers involved were innocent.
"Well done, Sir."
So why did the young suspects so frequently arrive at the station bloodied and bruised?
The internal investigators were never able to solve that mystery. In the age before in-car cameras and personal recording devices, officer oversight in the Anaheim PD was lax. Allegations of suspect abuse were frequently shoved under the rug, according to a local civil rights group called United Neighbors, an activist group that formed in response to the allegations of police brutality.
In the wake of the scandal, Hunter’s department was subjected to investigations by both the US. Commission on Civil Rights and the US Department of Justice. With the feds breathing down his neck, Craig Hunter orchestrated “the biggest cover-up I’ve seen in my life”, according to officer Nolan. The feds were never able to gather enough evidence to file charges against Hunter, although California Supreme Court Justices eventually acknowledged that Nolan had brought to light a legitimate problem within the Anaheim PD.
In the end, the whistleblower was threatened, intimidated and pushed out of the department, eventually moving on to become the Mayor of Corona. Meanwhile, the accused officers were promoted up the chain of command at the Anaheim Police Department. One of those officers was Deputy Chief Craig Hunter, and now he wants to be the elected Sheriff of Orange County.
As the Colony Turns; Is Lorri Galloway’s New “Home” Even Legal?
Posted by Joe Sipowicz in Dead heads, OC's Fourth District, Setting The Bar Low on January 16, 2010
You can get there by bus...
UPDATE: THIS ISSUE IS GETTING EVEN MORE FUN. ONE OF OUR FRIENDS HAS INFORMED US THAT ON BOTH THE RED AND BLUE BLOGS A FELLOW NAMED BILL TAORMINA POPPED UP TO DEFEND GALLOWAY. APPARENTLY HE OWNS THE PROPERTY IN QUESTION AND CLAIMS THAT IT IS “MIXED USE” THUS ALLOWING SOMEBODY TO LIVE THERE. HE GALLANTLY OFFERS TO TAKE ALL THE BLAME IF THERE IS A SCREW UP. THE CITY HAS IT LISTED AS OFFICE PROFESSIONAL ZONE.
WILL BILL AND LORRI RECEIVE VISIT FROM CODE ENFORCEMENT? WILL LORRI HAVE TO UNDERGO AN EMBARRASSING RELOCATION ELSEWHERE IN THE COLONY? WILL LORRI JUST PACK UP AND MOVE IN WITH LONELY HARRY AT THE BEAUTIFUL CALABRIA APARTMENTS? STAY TUNED FOR…
AS THE COLONY TURNS…
In what can only be described under the heading “hilarity ensued,” the Red and Blue blog clowns have picked up on our post about carpetbaggin’ Lorri Galloway’s new abode in Anaheim’s historic ”Colony District.”
In our post we noticed the address – 1155 E. Lincoln – was in a odd enclave of relocated old houses. One of our Friends observed that the egregious Paul Kott had a commercial real estate sign on the property. At the eerie Red County blog the Colony’s self-appointed grande dame, Cynthia Ward, observed that the zoning was “light commercial/retail” (whatever that is) and thus Galloway’s “residency” constituted a code violation. Looks like she sicc’d code enforcement on Galloway.
You will soon receive a visit from Code Enforcement...
We’re not experts on Anaheim zoning so whether a “caretaker” type individual is allowed to live on these premises is not known, to us.
Meanwhile, at the Blue County blog, Dan C-somethingorother – an ardent Galloway swain – typed up an “exclusive” response to the question, purportedly from Galloway herself. It came complete with a picture of Loretta Sanchez – a not too subtle trick by Danny Boy. But this post only made things worse, since according to it Galloway claims to have checked into the legitimacy of her new home with 1) the County Registrar of votes Neal Kelley; and 2) with the Anaheim Public Utililties Department.
Now why on earth would anybody check into this with the ROV and think that would mean anything? That’s just strange. And second, why would Galloway believe the Utilities Department would have any authority in the matter? Did it not occur to this simpleton to simply call up her own Planning Department and inquire? How long has this featherhead been on the Anaheim City Council – five years?
Right on cue, Ward dropped into the Blue miasma, now sharing city info that the Galloway parcel is zoned “low-intensity office,” still a seemingly incompatitble use for a residence.
I had the family over for Christmas, so it must be legal!
At the end of the thread Dan C-somethingorother tried to deflect the issue, change the subject, and naturally tried to make it look like the big, bad Republicans were picking on his poor little sweetheart. Newsflash, Dan C.: we’ll beat her at the polls even if she doesn’t belong on the ballot, just like we dealt with Linda Ackerwoman!
Anyway, to us the legality of Lorri’s new home is really just an issue fun for its entertainment value. The real issue for us, of course, is that she, like her council colleague Harry Sidhu, is a carpetbagger from the 3rd Supervisorial District.
Lorri Galloway Honors Anaheim’s History. Takes Up Residence in Colony District
Posted by The Fullerton Shadow in Dead heads, Harry Sidhu, Lorri Galloway, OC's Fourth District on January 16, 2010
UPDATE: One of our eagle-eyed Friends has discovered that Cynthia Ward, aka “Colony Rabble” picked up on this post and shared the news with her fascinated readers over there.
What caught our attention was her statement that we have been deleting her comments over here. That is patently not true. We don’t delete comments here – except in really, really rare instances, and Ms. Ward is far too civil to ever trip our threshold.
- The Fullerton Shadow
Following up on our brilliant post about the carpetbaggin’ Anaheim councilman/billiards aficionado Harry Sidhu taking up residence in the 4th Supervisorial District, we turn our focus on the race’s other carpetbagger – Lorri Galloway, who until recently, lived in the 3rd Supe District along with Harry.
One of our Friends just got an invitation to a campaign coffee klatsch with Lorri “in the comfort” of her “lovely restored historic home” in Anaheim’s Colony District. She seems to have moved into a neighborhood near the busy corner of East St. and Lincoln, in a small enclave carved out by the UP underpass in which the City of Anaheim facilitated an historic preservation petting zoo. Not the greatest neighborhood, to be sure, but a whole helluva lot better than Sidhu’s crib farther west on Lincoln Avenue.
Convienent, Lorri can take the bus
Say, what is it about Lincoln Avenue that attracts Anaheim Hills carpetbaggers?
Harry’s Home in The Hood
Posted by The Fullerton Shadow in OC's Fourth District on January 11, 2010
Our sources have informed us that Anaheim city councilman Harry Sidhu has just re-registered to vote at 2230 W. Lincoln Ave., Apt. 106 in Anaheim. Since he actually lives in Anaheim Hills, he’s obviously going to claim this address in the 4th District as his residence – so he can legally run for County Supervisor to replace Chris Norby.
Gracious living at the Calabria Apartments
Wow, that hideous peach colored apartment block with no landscaping and dubious neighbors sure is a major step down from the “elegant Old Yorba Estate” that sprawls its lush-landscaped way across a wide swath of the 3rd Supervisorial District.
The Sidhu Compound even has an aviary!
We also note that Harry is the only Sidhu that registered at this new address. After a hard day’s campaigning will Harry come home to a cold, empty apartment? Well, not to worry. Besides a pool hall, the neighborhood offers other distractions that may compensate.
How many Linbrook bowlers have their own aviary?
Harry’s new home backs up to the Linbrook Bowl lanes where Harry can hobnob with his would-be kegling constituents!
Oh well. Just another carpetbagger. Ackerwoman, Galloway, Sidhu. They seem to be popping up like weeds lately, and as they pop up we will do our best to apply the appropriate herbicide.
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