admin, Author at Friends For Fullerton's Future

May 18, 2010May 18, 2010Harry Sidhu

News From The OC GOP Central Committee

We’ve just received a message from our good Friend and former Red County blogger Allan Bartlet.

Hello FFFF readers. It’s nice to write for a blog that appreciates independent thinking. It’s nice not to be told what they can and can’t write about or what stories they can and can’t link to…but I digress. It’s official. I am no longer going to be contributing anything else to Red County as long as the taint of Matt Cunningham shilling for the ultra liberal bureaucracy Children & Family Commission is still over there.

I come before you today though to report excellent news from OC Republican Central Committee. Last night was Scott Baugh’s finest hour as Chairman of our party. It was a short meeting as Central Committee meetings go, but what it lacked in duration, it made up in substance. Chairman Baugh started by making some remarks about how great it was that the party has been vindicated for
endorsing Shawn Nelson last month. He put up on a projector for all the members to see, the over the top/lying hit pieces paid for by the county employee and sheriff unions on behalf of Harry Sidhu & Lorri Galloway. He then proceeded to have an impromptu fundraiser for Shawn right there during the meeting! Someone from the audience shouted he would match the first 30 $50 donations to get the ball rolling. For the math challenged, that’s $1500. It then started feeding off of all the energy in the room to fight back against the government unions. By the end of the night, Scott told me that we had raised and gotten commitments for almost $100k for Nelson for the party to do member communications on his behalf.

I couldn’t help but notice that he kept looking at Matt Holder during his presentation as if to say…”game, set, match Matt”. I think it’s fair to say that the gloves came off last night. You see as everyone knows, John Lewis & Matt Holder are running interference behind the scenes to help Harry Sidhu. If Harry gets elected, L&H and the unions will have one more friendly vote for all their lobbying business, which BTW is very substantial. The campaigns they work on are more or less “loss leaders” for them. They make their money on the back end. If Nelson gets elected, that’s two solid votes against them for any business they wanna try to get through the BOS. They would have to be perfect with the remaining three votes. We know they have Janet & Bill Campbell in their back pocket, but Pat Bates has endorsed Nelson. You see where all this is going? Like someone once said…”follow the money”.

Anyways, I just wanna thank Chairman Baugh for his efforts last night. It’s not been often that I publicly give him props, but I definitely wanna praise him when he deserves it.

Thanks for that, Allan. We’ve been pretty tough on both Baugh and the GOP Central Committee in the past. But it looks like things are really changing for the better and an expression of appreciation is in order!

May 17, 2010May 18, 2010Behind Closed Doors

Watchdog Growls

by admin4 Comments

Teri Sforza at the Register’s “OC Watchdog” bureau has posted a truly alarming story about three graduate students who’ve done some great digging on the compensation allocated to OC City Managers. The figures are astronomical and the publication couldn’t come at a worse time for these Miraculous Mandarins who do so well at our expense. Here’s the compilation:

CityMangerPayola — Please try not to gag.

Be sure to check out the Fullerton row.

Thanks to Sforza for sharing. But the real thanks go to the kids who assembled the data – the real watchdogs.

May 17, 2010May 17, 2010Dead heads

When Harry Met Jennifer

by admin5 Comments

Those rascals in the white van have done it again. After a night of hard binge drinking that included shots of denatured alcohol and grapefruit juice, the FFFF Surveillance Unit sprang into action and arrived outside the State College/Katella Denny’s in time to capture part of the conversation between Hide and Seek Harry Sidhu and OC Register’s intrepid reporter, Jennifer Muir, that we reported on here.

The following transcript has been deciphered from the somewhat poor quality sound recording, and the written notes submitted by the crew, although the handwriting is a bit jittery. Invest any amount of credence in this that you think it deserves.

Jennifer Muir: …so in other words you did not live at the Calabria?

Harry Sidhu: Yes. I mean no. There was a refrigerator.

JM: Excuse me, what?

HS: A refrigerator was delivered and even plugged in. But I had to go skiing. In Colorado. Uh, no in my opinion it was Utah.

JM: And so you signed your name to that voter registration form thinking that you were going to live there, but you never did?

HS: Yes. Yes, indeed. I was always meaning to live there, of course. And may I say you are looking very attractive this morning?

JM: Um. Thank you. What about the DA investigation?

HS: Oh, let me tell you all about that. Politically motivated! I have been cleared of all wrong doing. I came out of that smelling like a daisy.

JM: Uh huh. So then what happened was your wife refused to live in a stucco box behind a bowling alley?

HS: Yes. Such a wonderful woman. You know, we are still sweethearts after all these many years. Sometimes we will hold hands for no reason at all as we walk along the path. Maybe you saw the picture? She even voted for me at the CRA nominating meeting.

JM: Why did you tell people that you had bought a house in the district?

HS: Well, you know, I don’t know anything about that. I will get back to you. By the way, I am very fond of your shoes.

JM: The fact is that up until December you lived in the 3rd District. The issue of carpetbagging has dogged your campaign. Any comment?

HS: In my opinion I have represented 40% of this district for so many years I have forgotten, so I am not only qualified but the people of the 4th District deserve to be having me represent them. In my opinion I truly believe they have been calling for me. I hear the the voice of those people. I am responding to their many calls.

JM: Right. Well. Let’s move on. Some of your critics point to your lack of knowledge about County issues. What would you say to them?

HS: I will be learning all about that later. For now I would say we need jobs. Jobs. Jobs.

JM: Yes, but how, exactly would you create any jobs as a Supervisor?

HS: I am a businessman, not a politician. I know all about creating jobs. I have a plan. We will have a big jobs fair! I will be turning “The OC” into one giant jobs fair.

JM: Excuse me?

HS: There are many fast food franchises that are hiring. In these hard times people eat more fast food than ever. It is a well known fact. I did very well during the last recession. We need to match them up with people looking for jobs. It’s very simple. A jobs fair.

JM: (Unintelligible gurgling sound) Uh, um, how does that tie in with the supervisor’s duties, exactly.

HS: Jobs, of course. We need jobs.

JM: You say you’re not a politician, but you seem to keep running for different political offices. Why is that?

HS: Uh, why is what?

JM: What?

HS: What?

JM: Why all the political campaigns?

HS: Well, this is because I am not a politician, of course. I am running these races because people need me because I am not a politician!

JM: What would you say to (sounds of crashing dishes) to the critics who complain that you always seem to be running for office?

HS: Well those are people who don’t know me because…

Unidentified female Voice: Can I warm up that cup for ya, hon?

HS: …if they knew me they would know how important it is to be electing me to something. Soon. It’s really all about a job. I mean jobs. Jobs for everybody.

JM: Hoo-kay, then. At the GOP Central Committee meeting you seemed to be a little fuzzy on the subject of defined benefits. Have you cleared up that point?

HS: Well, let me tell you, that was a trick question by my good friend Mr. Scott. I have been in deep consultations. And it is my opinion that in my opinion, I have not yet looked into the impact on that and will continue do so in the future.

JM: That’s a pretty important issue. Don’t you think the voters will want you to understand that?

HS: After the election I will try, but of course there will be many, many things to be getting on with. I will hire only the best people to explain these things to me. Mr. John Lewis has promised to help me with that.

JM: Your website takes credit for the High Speed Rail project but at the WAND forum you specifically claimed you have not made up your mind. Care to comment?

HS: Ah, Jennifer I have so much respect for your journalism ability, let me tell you.

JM. Thank you. How about answering the question.

HS: Well this is a very delicate matter because you cannot be for something without understanding all of the complications and implication. Implications are very tricky. And you cannot be against something until you have thoroughly examined all the details. As I say, the devils is in the details. Well, it’s all a great muddle in my mind, really…

JM: So is that a yes or a no?

HS: Please repeat the question.

JM: Let’s move on.

HS: Okay, jobs.

JM: Pardon me?

HS: Jobs. Jobs Jobs. Oh, I see that white van again. It is becoming quite a bother and now I must be pushing off…

(at this point intelligible audio was lost)

May 15, 2010May 15, 2010Behind Closed Doors

Gordo Gets Greedy

by admin18 Comments

Andy Warhol once famously said that everybody gets 15 minutes of fame. Apparently Thomas Gordon got his when he popped up on the Red County blog a couple of months ago with a semi-literate attack on Fullerton’s Shawn Nelson. Gordon is a low-grade goon from Santa Ana who is evidently acting as some sort of flunky in the Hide and Seek Sidhu jailbreak. Whether he is being paid in cash or El Pollo Loco chicken has never been made abundantly clear.

Naturally, we had some fun with Gordo here, here, here and of course, here.

Later we ran into Gordon at the NUFF blogger’s forum when he tried to intimidate one of our bloggers and ended up with a face full of Chris Thompson.

Apparently these brushes with notoriety have not provided sufficient celebrity for Gordon. The other day he started making obnoxious and gratuitously obscene comments here under the name “Major Nelson.” Busted. Well, hell we tolerate all sorts of stuff here, even the rantings of a useless nutjob and Sidhu stooge.

Apparently a sense of desperation is setting in on the three-wheeled Hairball Handcart, and with a fourth place finish looming on June 8th the small fry are getting agitated.

Sidhumobile — What kind of mileage will it get?

But seriously Thomas, if you want attention you’re going to have to start using your own name again, even if it results in another shower of ridicule. And another tip: if Sidhu is going to pay you to rip on Nelson you’d better be smart enough not to get busted. Of course intelligence is not an attribute widely ascribed to the Sidhu team members.

May 14, 2010May 14, 2010Dead heads

NICK – WHY NOT SEND A MAILER TELLING VOTERS ABOUT FREE-SPENDING, INCOMPETENT CAREER POLITICIAN CLERK-RECORDER TOM DALY?

by admin25 Comments

Last week Nick Berardino and his goons at OCEA sent out mailers alleging that 4^th District Supervisor candidate Shawn Nelson voted in his own business interest to and that he did something for the campaign contributor who owned the Fox Theatre in Fullerton. All nonsense, of course.

These were really lame pieces and probably got Nelson a lot more votes than they cost him. But this effort was quite revealing in that it demonstrates the utter hypocrisy and self-interest of “Bullhorn” Bernardino and his crew.

bernardino — What? I can't hear you, Bullhorn.

While this guy is making up stories about Nelson, he has turned a blind eye to a real government miscreant, County Clerk, Tom Daly whom we have busted giving jobs and no-bid contracts to friends and relatives of contributors, as well as pitching over two million bucks into the worthless property at 433 West Civic Center Drive. Oh yeah, and then there was that $48,000 contract given to another campaign contributor to “study” a sports hall of fame.

The OCEA has watered Tom Daly campaigns with more than $4000 over the years, no doubt hoping the investment would some day flower into something that looked like a county supervisor. Instead it helped create an incompetent little emperor that has no accountability, no oversight, and whose fiefdom is rife with cronyism and kickbackery and wasted millions.

Daly Really2 — I guess he's talking about me.

I would love to believe that Berardino meant to put Tom Daly’s name on those mailers because I would love to believe that Berardino was venting his righteous anger at the wrong candidate. Yeah, right! The County’s public employee unions are going after Nelson because they are terrified of a real Board majority that will institute permanent and meaningful pension reform and conduct responsible contract negotiations.

But who knows? Someday maybe the OCEA will stand up to real corruption – even on the part of a Democrat. If they ever do they know where to come to get all the info they need. But I’m not holding my breath.

May 13, 2010May 13, 2010Harry Sidhu

So What Did Jennifer Muir and Harry Sidhu Talk About Over Breakfast?

by admin12 Comments

Harry'sFriend — I'll have one Grand Slam, please!

I had it on pretty good authority that OC Register reporter Jennifer Muir was spotted brekfasting with Harry Sidhu this morning at the Denny’s at State College and Katella.

What on earth could they have been talking about? Carpetbaggery? Perjury? Jobs, jobs, jobs? Clown make-up? C’mon Jen, spill it!

Well, whether she does or not I’ll probably have something for you. As soon as I heard the news I immediately dispatched the FFFF surveillance crew in the non-discript white van that has been spotted all over Anaheim, recently. The boys were still a little groggy from the denatured alcohol/grapefruit party last night, but I think they got there in time.

Van — Harry promises jobs. Well, he's sure provided employment for the guys in the van.

We’ll be reporting back what we have learned.

May 13, 2010May 13, 2010Harry Sidhu

Barney Wewak Condemns Carpetbaggers

by admin6 Comments

Dear Readers, we have just received a communication from our old Friend – 1974 Troy High School exchange student and Papuan Highlands tribe Headman, B’rni “Barney” Wewak, who opines on the subject of political carpetbaggers. The text has been faithfully translated from the original Sepik dialect, as ever, by the FFFF Australo/Oceania Languages and Linguistics Department .

Barney Wewak shares the wisdom of his ancestors...

Greetings, dear friends in beautiful Southern California, where a beneficent sun shines warmly upon the succulent bosoms of your beautiful womenfolk and luscious orange fruit is plucked freely from every tree!

News has reached me that in your upcoming election for County Headman, the people of my wonderful adopted Fullerton have been plagued by a swarm of outsiders pretending to be your friends and who want to lead you. Do not be fooled for an instant! These people are like the flies on an open wound. Parasites! Interlopers! When they are done feasting on your harvest of taro and your reserve of tapir flesh, they will certainly move on, seeking other choice banquets and leaving your tribe starving and bereft.

And so I urge you to reject these foul miscreants and send them back to their own wretched tribes wherever those may be. Be always mindful to protect your honor and the honor of your ancestors who ever look down upon your deeds.

And so farewell, Friends. May the tree bark grubs fall effortlessly onto your banana leaf; may your women remain fertile and generous; and may the sweet mangoes be always plentiful.

Barney Wewak D. Lit, Cantab.

May 13, 2010May 13, 2010Dead heads

The Killer Attack of The Black Magic Marker

by admin17 Comments

View the full invoice

A while back I became curious as to what exactly Renee Ramirez did as County Clerk Tom Daly’s #2. I had heard lots of unflattering things about her not really doing any work and I thought would avail myself of the Public Records Request process to take a gander at some of her records, including phone calls made and text messages. We provide a typical sample of her phone records, above.

We were warned ahead of time by the County that personal phone numbers would be redacted. But never did I expect what I got: page after page after page of blacked out phone numbers.

Good God! These people want us to think Ramirez made hardly any business calls during the course of a month? During one period of several days all the numbers are blacked out. And who were these people she was talking to? That must remain speculative for unless Renee tells us we shall never know.

So what gives? Are they trying to hide something?

Tom-Daly-and-Renee-Ramirez-3-300x236 — The Clerk-Recorder brain trust.

P.S. As a point of interest I note that for a brief shining period Ms Ramirez was Tom Daly’s hand-picked successor. Guess who was squiring her around the OC GOP Central Committee, making introductions: our old pal Brett “Hall of Fame” Barbre. Coincidence? I think not.

May 12, 2010May 12, 2010Behind Closed Doors

Water District Appears to Be Stonewalling For Disgraceful Director

by admin11 Comments

On April 14, I made a public records request of the Municipal Water District of Orange County to get the travel related expenses of Director Brett Barbre. You remember this fine fellow, don’t you? He’s the guy who was paid $48,000 by Tom Daly to “study” the idea of a sports hall of fame. He also kicked back $1000 into Daly’s campaign kitty. Now that doesn’t look very good does it? Especially for a Republican. Or for any honest man, really.

Part of Barbre’s supposed labors for Daly included a trip to Boston to visit some sports museum there (he never even bothered contacting the folks who started the first one right here in OC!). In his ‘report” he documented a side trip to Fenway Park. Barbre’s later plaint to Jennifer Muir that he paid for that Boston trip himself seems to have made an impression on the lassitudinous journalistic curiosity of Ms Muir, but not on mine. I wanted to find out if maybe the Boston junket itself wasn’t some sort of side trip already paid for by the Water District. I’ve just become so darn cynical when it comes to repuglicans.

And so I asked for Barbre’s travel expenses for the district.

Two week later on April, 28th (four days late) I got the District’s response from someone called Darcy M. Burke, Director of Public Affairs. I received no documents at all. What I got was an e-mail that attached a simple spreadsheet tallying Barbre’s expenses into periodic totals, presumably assembled by Burke. Not a single bit of specific information did I receive although I did get an unsolicited commercial about how much Director Barbre’s junketeering brings home to the Water District. Hmm.

Okay. So now I was really really curious about why they’re not releasing documents – just regurgitated, masticated, and useless pabulum.

Since April 28th I have left several messages and sent several e-mails following up with a demand for the specifics that should have been provided in the first place. All my efforts to communicate with the Water District’s Director of Public Affairs were met with a stony silence, until yesterday when Burke informed me that these things take time. And that only makes me more curious than ever about why she might be stonewalling.

Think they’re trying to hide something?

May 12, 2010May 12, 2010Orange County Government

Tom Daly Finally Has a Website, And Boy Is It Lame – Real Lame

by admin14 Comments

tom — Complete with photo of Tom - taken 15 years ago.

Friends, by the time I got around to posting this piece, Daly had modified his website, but not before I culled the quotations below. Notice how those generic accolades have been tweaked to the actual circumstances. Now they make the endorsers like Jordan Brandman look ridiculous. And boy is that par for Daly’s course.

If you thought that our Clerk Recorder Tom Daly was arrogant and lazy you were right. Get a load of this crappola straight from his website:

“I am proud to support Tom Daly to be Fullerton’s next representative on the County Board of Supervisors. The people of Fullerton can count on him to listen to our concerns and deliver results for our community.”

Fullerton City Councilwoman Sharon Quirk

and there’s this:

“No candidate for 4th District Supervisor offers the proven record of success that Tom Daly has achieved as Orange County Clerk-Recorder, Mayor of Anaheim and member of a local School Board. His experience will make a difference for all of our communities.”

–Molly McClanahan
North OC Community College Board Trustee

and this:

“Tom Daly is a passionate and effective advocate for our schools. He will be a strong voice for education as our next County Supervisor.”

– Jordan Brandman Anaheim Union High School District Board Member

Oh, brother! Daly quit on the supervisor gig several months ago, but apparently he is still confused about which office he is running for. Or he really wants to fool people. Or he’s really lazy. Or something.

Let’s see how long it takes before Daly does something about his lame ass website.