Don’t feel so bad. The consultants, lobbyists, con men, and other assorted rip-off artists are pushing the multi-billion high speed rail in other places, too. Here’s an article from the Fresno Bee that tells all about how the local gentry are trying to grab their share of the HSR gravy that they think will be a big deal for the raisin capital of the state.
You are becoming very sleepy...
The common denominator, of course, is Anaheim’s termed-out Mayor-For-Hire, the irrepressible Curt Pringle who figures to make big bucks as a “consultant” for this boondoggle when his days as a conflicted politician are over. The Fresno crowd wined and dined hizzoner and he was clearly impressed with the show of unanimity – much more than he’s getting down south these days. He even promised them a 2012 start for the project.
Come December Pringle will be out of office, and will no longer be able to pull the strings at OCTA either, although it sure looks like he’s getting his ducks in a row, puppet-wise there and at Anaheim’s City Hall.
Our $300,000 tax dollars a year working hard for us?
I found this article in the PR Newswire, United Business Media dated 17th June 2010.
“This was an invaluable opportunity for our mediators to experience the common physical and emotional challenges that are a part of the aging process,” said Mike Finkle, Human Relations Specialist for OC Human Relations. “For awhile, our mediators were able to, nearly literally, ‘take a walk in the shoes’ of seniors and others who live with such challenges every day.
To simulate experiencing the difficulties of living with arthritis, for example, program participants were asked to don heavy, clumsy gloves and then button their shirts or open medication bottles and handle small pills. Participants also put popcorn in their shoes and walked around to simulate the feeling of painful joints.”
The Orange County Human Relations Commission, a dinosaur agency foisted upon tax payers for thirty years, again shows how negligible its services are to our community.
Orange County Human Relations Specialist Mike Finkle, an employee of this commission, earns his tax dollar subsidized paycheck by walking around a room with popcorn in his shoes and attempting to button his shirt and open pill bottles while wearing, thick, clumsy gloves.
When will our county government leaders wise up to this sham agency and pull the plug on funding this silly tax dollar subsidized commission and its executive director who pulls down a six figure salary.
Our economic crisis that experts predict will be a double-dip recession, forces our county government to cut needed police and fire protection to Orange County’s residents. Yet, our county’s board of supervisors is afraid to stop funding this piece of fluff called the Orange County Human Relations Commission.
I believe most will agree with me when I say I would rather have more police or fire protection in Orange County than a person walking around with popcorn in his shoes who puts on thick, clumsy gloves to button his shirt.
For our county board of supervisors to have credibility with the voters, they must sensibly act and trim the real fat from government by cutting funding to the Orange County Human Relations Commission.
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.
Us rock-ribbed Republicans believe in lots of transparency and accountability.
It’s true. Ask anybody. Everybody says they want accountability and transparency in government, especially political candidates; but those in authority have a lot of incentive to keep their doings free from risk – the risk of being exposed as responsible for some screw-up or other; and the risk of fighting the inertia produced by institutional dead weight in a gravity-free environment. And of course the ability to pass along lucrative contracts to their pals.
And all this bring me to the point of this essay: it’s time for the Orange County Board of Supervisors to take charge of semi-autonomous agencies that have been operating under the public radar. Two of these “hidden governments” spring most immediately to mind: the Children and Families Commission – that seems to have been operating as a cash cow for the local repuglican machine, and the OC Cemetary District, ditto.
The Children and Families Commission is a poster child for liberal, under-scrutinized government. You may agree with its goals and method of revenue collection. But even if whole-village child rearing and confiscatory income redistribution are your cup of tea, you have to admit that paying a connected political operative like Matthew J. Cunningham $200 an hour to update Facebook and read blogs and hand out toothbrushes must diminish from the resources available to actually help kids. And what’s with all the lobbying? Hundreds of thousands worth in any given year at the State level, with Anaheim’s mayor-for-hire Curt Pringle being the chief beneficiary.
And then there’s the Cemetery District that paid Pringle to find a new graveyard and paid him another $25,000 as bonus for finding a site in Brea. I’m not even sure if Brea is going to go along with this, but let’s hope Pringle’s fee included guaranteed entitlements from the city. But I digress. The real issue here is why the District hired Pringle at all to do the work of a real estate professional whose compensation would have been a partial commission from the seller, not the taxpayers.
Well, we’ve got some new blood on the 5th Floor of the Hall of Administration, and hopefully these guys will start to attend to these and other agencies that need to be examined, made accountable, taken over, and if appropriate, disbanded. Sure, the ‘pugs will squeal and squawk.
And that’s when you know you’re doing the right thing.
JUNE UPDATE: I’ve spoken with another police officer who wants to know why we haven’t posted any more information on this story, as there were many witnesses to the alleged act. Rest assured, we are not going to stop digging until we get to the bottom of this.
FEBRUARY UPDATE: I spoke yesterday with the officer in question who has stated unequivocally that an incident did in fact occur, and that Councilman Jones has mischaracterized his innocence. The officer has been instructed by City Human Resources Department to avoid further communication with us.
We all know that Christmas parties are notorious for bad behavior on the part of some of the participants. When you are an elected official maybe you believe you can get away with some extracurricular activity without reproach. And maybe you are a just a bigger target for nasty accusations that aren’t true.
Jones Denies Story
Which is the case with Councilman F. Richard “Dick” Jones?
We have been informed by separate sources, both in the Fullerton PD and in City Hall, that Jones slapped a female Fullerton police detective on her buttocks at a police union Christmas Party on December 18th at the Summit House restaurant; and that the physical assault was followed up with a dismissive slur regarding Dick’s perception of the officer’s sexual orientation.
Yesterday we sent Dick Jones an e-mail asking him to respond to this allegations. Here is what he said:
I just learned of this allegation this weekend. This is completely untrue and I have no idea why or how this rumor was started. People who know me, know I would do no such thing to anyone. Thank you for asking me. Such an accusation is very upsetting as there is no truth to it!
So now we have an accusation and a denial, and as yet no response from the officer in question. So the real question is why anybody in the Fullerton PD would attempt what would evidently be a smear on Jones? That’s a good question and one we will be pursuing.
In any case, difficulties arise, including the possibility of a cover-up of this alleged incident within both City Hall, as well as in the ranks of the police union itself. Apart from the issue of a typical hush-up for a politician, there remains the subject of other parties who may have a stake in making sure that news of the alleged incident doesn’t get out. The City Manager is a close personal friend of Mr. Jones, and would certainly render any investigation problematic. Meanwhile, the police union is apparently in the process of bargaining a new agreement and may very well be in need of Jones’ vote.
If true, the incident would certainly center on the behavior of Jones, of course; and also the rights of the officer in question who may be feeling pressure from her bosses and also from her union brethren to let the matter go – at least for now.
Alternatively we are confronted with the possibility that someone within the Fullerton Police Department has concocted and sold a story in order to make Jones look bad. But what for? Who knows? In any case, the timing may be poor. Angering a potential vote during labor negotiations is probably not the best idea.
We’ll stay on top of this as best we can. Particularly to make sure that this situation doesn’t end up playing a part in a labor agreement negotiation.
There will be 3 open seats (and maybe 4) for Fullerton’s city council this November.
For those that are interested or considering running for any one of those seats, our Friends would really like to know your opinion about the following issues:
1. What’s your opinion about Redevelopment in Fullerton and the recent council vote to expand Redevelopment?
2. What’s your opinion on the roll the city manager plays with the city council?
3. What is your opinion about public employee pensions?
4. What is your opinion about holding people accountable for their actions?
5. What is your opinion about Zone changes and General Plan Amendments; are they ever justified and if so, why and when?
6. What is your opinion on the High Speed Rail coming through Fullerton?
7. What is your opinion about the way things are going in Downtown Fullerton?
8. What is your opinion about the proposed Fox Block development?
9. What is you opinion on future development in West Coyote hills?
In a stunning reversal of fortune, 4th District Supervisorial candidate Lorri Galloway has leaped back in front of now 4th place holder Art Brown by two dozen votes.
“We told you this would happen,” exulted campaign front man Dan Chmielewski. “Third place is great. 4th place would be a disaster. This really proves that Galloway lives in the district and that her heart lies here. I can’t tell you how proud we are of Lorri. This is all about relevance. I gave Lorri two hundred dollars and I am very relevant.
It’s time for something new. Every now and then we’ll devote a blog post to an interesting photo from around Fullerton. If you’ve got a shot of something worth seeing, send it to info@fullertonsfuture.org. Good, bad or ugly, we’ll probably post it.
