Grover Cleveland, Author at Friends For Fullerton's Future

September 5, 2024September 5, 2024Behind Closed Doors

Fake MAGA Candidate Scott Markowitz is a Democrat

UPDATE 09/05/24 : It turns out that Scott Markowitz is now registered as a Republican, having re-registered after FFFF was notified as his status as a Democrat. This doesn’t make anything better for Markowitz, who is up to his eyeballs in this deceit perpetrated on 4th District voters, and sanctioned, apparently by the Democrat establishment. Next time you hear some Dem bleating their typical moral superiority, please direct them to our Scott Markowitz posts.

Of course he is.

We could have guessed that by the solid Democrat infrastructure behind his fraudulent campaign. His handler is the former Executive Director of the OC Democrat Party – Ajay Mohan – who has pulled the same stunt in Fullerton before. Markowitz’s nominators are liberal Democrat members. One, Diane Vena, has already endorsed another candidate in the 4th District race, who stands to benefit from the Markowitz fraud.

And the Markowitz ballot statement is in direct contravention of what you would expect from a Democrat. As a reminder, here is Scotty’s campaign manifesto:

It’s pretty funny how he mentions failed leadership, to stain the name Whitaker, since Linda is outgoing councilman Bruce Whitaker’s wife; then he launches into pure Republican exhortation to “reign(sic) back spending.” Then it devolves into a pure MAGA rant about America First, patriots, individual liberty and strong law enforcement, the antithesis of the sort of statement you would expect from a Democrat.

Yeah, this is another Mohan Shuffle to draw votes away from one candidate, Republican Linda Whitaker for the benefit of Vivian Jaramillo – the one and only person interviewed for the Democrat Party endorsement, and endorsement that occurred even before nominating papers were taken out. It’s corruption pure and simple. It’s election fraud.

August 22, 2024August 22, 2024Behind Closed Doors

Is Jaramillo Paying Herself?

by Grover Cleveland25 Comments

Many politicians get in the game for self-aggrandizement – the opportunity to be known and if not respected, at least have people pretend to respect your opinion and laugh at your jokes.

Higher office offers the opportunity to make better money and benefits than most elected office holders could possibly attain working in real jobs. But local office doesn’t offer much in the way of remuneration; and campaigns for office offer nothing. Or so I thought.

Most candidates running for office lend their campaigns money with the expectation that if they win, they can leverage their new job and pay off their debt – to themselves. So did Vivian “Kitty” Jaramillo, who lent herself $3000, and no doubt expects a victory would provide a windfall from the Long Beach marijuana cartel to pay herself back.

But I I can’t remember a candidate actually paying him or herself out of funds raised for a campaign. Look at this this entry on Jaramillo’s form 460 for her current campaign for the Fullerton City Council:

I’m not sure what “Agent Payment” means in this instance, but you’ll notice there’s no entry in the “CODE” column to tell us what this is for. So Kitty made a $750 payment…to herself? Campaigning for fun and profit? A little short on the rent that month? Who knows? But if Kitty is paying herself back for some expense or other, she’s dodging the requirements of the California Fair Political Practices Commission and is inviting official scrutiny.

Hopefully, one of Jaramillo’s contributors like F. Paul Dudley or Jan Flory will ask Kitty why she’s reimbursing herself out of campaign funds.

August 21, 2024August 21, 2024Bruce Whitaker

Who is Jamie Valencia?

by Grover Cleveland35 Comments

I have to admit, I don’t know who Jamie Valencia is. But I know what she wants. She wants to be Fullerton’s 4th District Councilmember.

She is a serious candidate. Real serious. Here’s her website: https://www.jamievalencia.com/

There isn’t much to go on, issues wise, but according to her website Ms. Valencia has the endorsement of Fullerton’s power police union and the influential carpenter’s union. Because of the latter, I’m assuming she is a Democrat, and if so, is going to cause some real problems for the OCDEM establishment that went out of their way to slide Vivian Jaramillo into this office, even going so far as to create a fake candidate, Scott Markowitz, to help her do it.

The Old Guard has chosen…ethics are no obstacle…

Another candidate with a Latino name is the last thing they could have wanted.

Ms. Valencia is a registered nurse, a profession that garners respect; Jaramillo is a retired Fullerton municipal employee, a code inspector and a writer of parking tickets. The comparison is stark. Ms. Valencia says she is 41 on her ballot statement; she looks a lot younger. Jaramillo is at least 70 and looks her age. In an election where age and its attendant difficulties have become a big deal this could be really significant.

Can Nurse Jamie make Fullerton feel better?

But even more significantly, Valencia has raised a startling amount of money for her campaign in a few short weeks. Somewhere between 15 and 20 grand, based on the 497 forms posted by the City Clerk. That borders on the fantastic, and it’s only the third week in August. She must know some important people who believe in her.

In a race that looked shaped up to be between the establishment Democrat and the wife of the well-known and well-like outgoing councilman, Bruce Whitaker, a whole new dimension has opened up.

The new dimension is name is Jaimie Valencia. When FFFF leans more about this newcomer we’ll be sure to share it.

August 10, 2024City Council Election 2024

Council Election Field Set. Who’s Who in The Zoo

by Grover Cleveland19 Comments

The Fullerton City Council election race slate of candidates was completed yesterday. So we know who’s running and what they are calling themselves these days. The candidate statements on the City Clerk website are somewhat revealing.

It looks like the most interesting race is in the 4th District where the incumbent, Bruce Whitaker is termed out. His wife, Linda, is running to replace him. She has name recognition, for sure which has no doubt caused alarm in the dungeons of OC DEM headquarters.

The DEM Central’s endorsed candidate is someone we know – Vivian Jaramillo, a retired purveyor of parking tickets and a code enforcement busy-body. She calls herself a “Retired Preservation Officer” (but admits in her grievance statement to be a “code enforcement officer”) which is meant to convey nothing except that maybe she was some sort of cop instead of what she really was.

Another candidate is Jamie Valencia, a “Registered Nurse” which is doubly good: a Latino name and a profession that requires training, diligence, and patience. I don’t know anything about her, yet, but this could be a real surprise candidate. In her rather jumbled statement she claims to be endorsed by the FPOA which is a big deal. It will be interesting to find out how that happened and to find out who the paramedics are endorsing.

The fourth candidate is named Scott Moskowitz who popped up at the very last minute out of nowhere. That’s not nearly as interesting as his ballot statement, which is wild.

Two things we know for sure. First, there’s something suspicious about this guy’s presence at the last minute, and something seems off here. The reliance on Trumpian talking points raises suspicions, such as the idea that this is a phony candidacy by an unknown just meant to attract white voters away from the other non-Latino named candidate – Linda Whitaker. And that cynicism would be very much in keeping with the recent OC Democrat Party playbook. I’m going to do a little research on this Moskowitz chap – as in who his pals are and to what party he’s registered. Maybe he’s kosher, maybe he isn’t.

The second thing we know about Moskowitz is that he can’t write or spell well. But, were these foibles intentional to enhance the redneck appeal? That would be unusually clever for the political small fry.

The 1st and 2nd District races face off incumbents Fred Jung and Nick Dunlap, against, respectively, some guy named Matt Truxaw and Jan Flory. Truxaw can be dismissed out of hand as some clown dredged up to make Jung spend some money out of his vast campaign account. That’s it. The other race features the three-time retread Jan Flory, whose mind-set is firmly locked into the 1970’s. She isn’t just antiquated, she’s mean spirited, arrogant and seems to genuinely dislike her constituents.

Flory’s ballot statement wisely omits her age since she must be an octogenarian, or very close. She touts her “experience” and mentions her esprit de corps, but omits her complicity in letting the infrastructure crumble, her dedication to taxes, and her role in approving unbalanced budgets – then lying about it.

Well, that’s story, for now. FFFF will pass along more information about Ms. Valencia and Mr. Markowitz when we learn more.

July 25, 2024July 27, 2024Ahmad Zahra

NEW COMPETITION IN THE 1st DISTRICT RACE

by Grover Cleveland23 Comments

A candidate has popped up to challenge Fred Jung for the Fullerton District 1 city council job.

His name is Matt Truxan.

I’ve never heard of this cat before but judging by his various facebook posts he is an old guard liberal. Here’s a recent post:

I can’t find much about this guy other than he wrote some sort of science fiction book and he likes to post “humorous” pictures of himself.

Probably not the best look for a candidate…

I think it’s a fair assumption that this person has been recruited by the far left in Fullerton to challenged Jung, who, as a Democrat hasn’t always pleased them. Ahmad Zahra can certainly be considered the prime mover of this rather hopeless campaign. As Truxaw himself points out, Jung is better funded than he is. At last count Jung was nearing $200,000 in his campaign account, a rather breathtaking amount. The goal here is probably to make him spend down his account, but Jung can still saturate the district with campaign promotion while spending a small part of the contents of that treasure chest.

I personally thought the lefty Dems would find somebody with a Korean name to make Jung spend his money. Maybe they still will.

July 24, 2024July 24, 2024Boohooism

New Competition in the 4th District Race

by Grover Cleveland21 Comments

I was perusing the list of candidate committees on the Fullerton City Clerk’s website today and noticed a brand new committee.

The committee is called Valencia 4 Fullerton City Council D4, and belongs to someone named Jamie Valencia.

I am not familiar with this person. I don’t even know if it’s a man or a woman. I quick search tells us that there is a Jamie Valencia on the Fullerton Infrastructure and Natural Resources Advisory Committee (INRAC) so maybe this is the same person. The basic fact of having a committee in the works is a good indication of Valencia’s seriousness as a candidate.

So now there are three committees formed for candidacy in the 4th District. The other two are owned by former Fullerton parking ticket hander-outer, Vivian Jaramillo; and outgoing Councilmember Bruce Whitaker’s wife, Linda. The Democrat establishment is behind Jaramillo, a good sign for the tax and spend crowd.

It’s not clear who would support Mrs. Whitaker, beyond name recognition, a fact she is capitalizing by using the same campaign sign design as her husband, but with her name on them. Both women are comparatively old – in their early 70s, I believe. That’s not a great sign given Fullerton’s history of failed gerontological leadership.

I don’t know anything yet about Valencia – age, gender, party, profession, or issues, but anybody with a Latino surname name in a heavily Latino district would be bad news for Jaramillo, but we shall have to wait to see what sort of resources and energy this third candidate will bring to the race.

May 21, 2024May 21, 2024Ahmad Zahra

Just How Muslim is Ahmad Zahra?

by Grover Cleveland59 Comments

The other day I found a communication in the FFFF In Box. It was a note and a picture.

Apparently Fullerton’s District 5 Councilman Ahmad Zahra was seen at a recent fundraiser for some kids’ art program drinking the red wine that was being proffered to paying guests. And maybe even non-paying guests, since tickets went for $75. Anyway, I always believed drinking alcohol was a violation of Islamic Law.

Zahra has peddled his “first gay Muslim elected official” brand and I’m wondering if he is even practicing the tenets of Islam at all. Word from City Hall sources is that he was seen serially violating the fast mandates during Ramadan – Sawm – observation of which is one of the 5 Pillars of Islam.

Of course Mr. Zahra’s religious beliefs, or lack of same, should be his own business, but like the Christian politician who uses his/her faith as an instrument of electoral salesmanship, we are justified in wondering about the veracity of the claim.

Zahra has made up a lot of stories about himself, and has left out some pretty interesting facts about his ever-morphing origin stories – like having a (female) wife in Arkansas, and the people he represents have the right to know if he ever tells the truth about himself.

May 12, 2024May 12, 2024Ahmad Zahra

How Hard is it to get a Green Card in Arkansas?

by Grover Cleveland41 Comments

About a week and a half ago FFFF linked to a story in the venerable Orange Juice Blog, documenting how our Fullerton D5 Councilmember, Ahmad Zahra, a visiting tourist from Syria, headed to Little Rock, Arkansas and got married to a woman.

Those facts alone would be enough to warrant a sideways glance toward a man who says he gave up a career as medical doctor to live in his car in Hollywood while pursuing his dream: a film-making career.

Zahra’s narrative quagmire gets stickier because of his own origin tale in which (according to his own bio) he always knew he was gay.

So why would a gay man, aware of his gayness, marry an Arkansas woman whom he says he “liked?”

The obvious answer, bolstered by subsequent events, is that our young visitor was looking for a foothold for permanent residency in the United States.

In case you think getting this marriage to do the residency trick might be a real hurdle, a frightful bureaucratic undertaking, a rigorous examination conferring validity, consider the following tale told by a young woman named “Amanda” to the Arkansas Traveler about her Arkansan marital experience with a Middle Eastern immigrant. After their marriage, the immigrant needed to get his status as a permanent resident established:

The couple sits in front of a USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Service) agent and answers a series of intimate questions.

“I heard horror stories about the interviews where people are dragged away from each other,” Amanda said. The penalty for getting caught is five years in prison with a $10,000 fine for the American and permanent deportation for the foreigner.

“I had never been so scared before in my life,” Amanda said. They sat there in a large pale waiting room surrounded by other couples with a pile of paperwork and photo albums on her lap – their entire marriage legitimized.

But instead of the expected – “What are his favorite colored socks? What kind of toothpaste does he use?” – their interview took only five minutes. “OK, you’re both Jewish, good. Are these your names? Good. Your address? OK, thanks.”

Five minutes. Rubber stamp.

April 16, 2024April 17, 2024Bruce Whitaker

Whitaker for City Council

by Grover Cleveland39 Comments

Yes, Friends, you read that correctly.

Bruce Whitaker is serving his final term this year representing Fullerton’s Fourth District, and apparently his wife, Linda Whitaker, has decided to carry on the family tradition.

Here’s her recipient committee listing on the California Secretary of State’s website:

Mrs. Whitaker has been around politics alongside her husband in Fullerton and the County for 30 years, and so has institutional knowledge of how things go (or don’t go, as the case may be), and would be bound not to take staff bullshit at face value. The extent to which she shares her husband’s political philosophy remains to be seen, but I’m sure we could expect a conservative, anti-tax mindset.

She has the Whitaker name going for her. Bruce Whitaker has been on the Council for almost 14 years and won the inaugural Fourth District election in 2020. In politics, name recognition is a big deal. Just as importantly, she will have access to County Republican resources to help her, directly; or, just as likely, in the form of independent political action committees.

This bad news for Vivian “Kitty” Jaramillo, the choice of the Democrat officialdom in the Fourth District, and someone who has allegedly accused Linda Whitaker’s husband of racism. If she had been thinking about an easy path to victory, she’ll have to think again.

I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the OC Democrats try the same ploy they rolled out in District 5 in 2022; namely, creating a fake candidate to draw votes away from Mrs. Whitaker. On the other hand, this is a heavily Latino district and a Latino candidate or two would certainly have the same effect on Jaramillo.

September 5, 2021September 5, 2021Bruce Whitaker

Tommy Lasorda Day; Mayor Whitaker Hits Stride!

by Grover Cleveland38 Comments

If you are one of those people who believes the City of Fullerton has its priorities all screwed up what with The Worst Roads n’ OC® and the most precarious of budget situations, FFFF has damn Good News. The City, under the proud guidance of Mayor Bruce Whitaker has proclaimed September 22 a day of tribute to the late Dodger manager and Fullerton resident, Tommy Lasorda. Lasorda maintained a Fullerton house for many decades, it seems.

Of course a mere Council meeting proclamation wouldn’t be nearly enough to honor the legendary Dodger, nor indeed, fill up a whole morning of festivities. So the day almost designed itself! Here’s the press release detailing the stuff that’s going on. There’s even going to be a movie!

What’s that I see? “Inaugural Tommy Lasorda Day?” You mean there’s going to be one every year? Awesome!

The roads built by the Romans are even better than ours!

The scenario plays out in such a way that cynics are bound to snicker: a Sister City arrangement with Tollo, Italy, original home of the Lasorda clan, replete with a tree planting. But these special relationships matter to a city’s prestige and it’s important for our mayors to be able to make trips to represent our interests abroad.

Tommy Lasorda will be smiling from Dodger Heaven…

Someone spent a lot of time and effort to bring this day to fruition. City Hall insiders are effusive in their praise for Mayor Whitaker who has spearheaded these efforts. And those who have followed his political career for many. many years will find satisfaction in this accomplishment.