Mr. Peabody, Author at Friends For Fullerton's Future

August 30, 2017August 30, 2017Chronic Failure

Millie’s Mansion

We here at FFFF like to remind our Friends of the sorts of ways our public resources are spent, and we have shown our readers the lifestyle enjoyed by the Presidents of CSUF. (now Fullerton City Councilman) Greg Sebourn documented this dolce vita away back in 2010. Then it was the incompetent old fool, Milton Gordon livin’ large on our dime

Recently we have been introduced to the mind of Ms. Mildred Garcia, current President of CSUF and champion of the downtrodden minorities everywhere. Her record in support of “diversity” is no doubt impeccable and she will surely find a place waiting for her in a properly diverse Heaven. In the meantime there’s that old saying about doing well by doing good.

Forget The Punchy Professor, Mil.’ Next time just hit ’em with your wallet.

President Garcia pulls in a tidy $450,000 per year courtesy of the taxpayers, and not only that, she, as befits her office, gets to live on a palatial estate – the old Chapman “El Dorado Ranch.” Here’s a shot not from the famous FFFF Spook Drone.

Of course the apologists for the social justice crusader will argue that the estate is needed to host fancy parties for all those high roller, big donors.

The caviar and champagne are on ice, come on in. Oh, wait, not you!

It would be interesting to see how Ms. Garcia characterizes her estate living on her income tax forms, but something tells me that this type of quotidian annoyance is taken care of by the taxpayers, including utilities, landscaping and painting that tennis court.

Of course that’s the real point of this post – not Garcia’s tired, old diversity screed pitched at 35,000 gullible kids, half of whom enter her university as unable to read a coherent sentence as Garcia is to construct one. The real point is to remember next time you hear someone boohooing about the underfunded CSU system to point the boohooer in the direction of Millie’s Mansion.

August 17, 2017Bad Cops

While We Were Away: Barry Coffman Stepped On Own Weenie. Didn’t Notice.

by Mr. Peabody3 Comments

The other day FFFF posted an alarming list of FPD malfeasance, misfeasance, and general dumbassfeassance that should be shocking to anybody whose head is screwed on straight. Of course that excludes people like Councilmembers Bud Chaffee, Jesus Silva, and Jennifer “Fullerton Fire Sale” Fitzgerald who got themselves elected courtesy of Fullerton’s cop union.

One of our Friends pointed out this sad tale, as reported in The OC Weekly, a story of brutal gullibility, incompetence and indifference in which once again, the FPD is responsible for the prosecution of innocent people who end up spending a considerable amount of time in the County lock-up. Andrew Goodrich has informed the public, however insincerely, that the FPD really does try to arrest the right people. But when you read the case of Josh Eddleman and Jerrie Harvey, you really have wonder.

The really funny part of this story (for those of us who can possibly find humor in criminal injustice), is the name of the Fullerton “detective” involved, our old pal, corpulent Barry Coffman, whom you may remember from the award winning video “Excessive Horning.”

How this dim bulb ever became a police detective must remain one of life’s grand mysteries. Right up there with the existence of Bigfoot and how sex shakedown creep Ron “My Request Stands!” Bair ever became a police detective himself.

In 2016 FPD still hadn’t pursued the real culprits in this case, most likely because doing so would prove acutely embarrassing for the professional reputation of “Detective” Coffman.

We’ll follow up.

August 9, 2017August 10, 2017Behind Closed Doors

Paying for Todd Spitzer’s Lunatic Behavior

by Mr. Peabody13 Comments

Everyday the people who run the County of Orange blow through so much dough that the amount of waste is incomprehensible to the layman. It’s incomprehensible to the County Board of Supervisors too, because of course, it’s not their money.

Funny plastic handcuffs graphic borrowed from Voice of OC

But then there are the examples, though relatively small, that truly give us cause to doubt the reason and the integrity of our County government. Thus the Todd Spitzer Wahoo’s Fish Taco incident that brought about a lawsuit that the County lost, putting us taxpayers on the hook for the legal fees of the other side. Fees of $121,396 to be precise. Here’s the payout as reported by Voice of OC, who just happens to be the other party in the lawsuit.

Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Todd Spitzer gets emotional while reflecting on an incident more than 5 months ago at Wahoo’s Fish Tacos in Lake Forest. He handcuffed Jeobay Castellano and called police when the man would not stop trying to proselytize even when Spitzer told him he was a Christian.
///ADDITIONAL INFO: – Photo by MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER –

Here’s the backstory: In April, 2015, 3rd District Supervisor (and now DA candidate) Todd Spitzer, took a loaded gun into the aforementioned restaurant and slapped handcuffs on a harmless proselytizer who was annoying him. A few moths later, word leaked out about this bizarre behavior and Spitzer, trying to put a positive spin on his weird behavior engaged the services of the County’s PR person, Jean Pasco to help craft a press release that would make Spitzer look good and (ironically) cast the offending evangelist as mentally unstable. The memos and the PR draft never saw the light of day.

Nelson wears his game face, but the game was already over…

The Voice of OC got wind of the e-mails between Spitzer and Pasco and made a public records act request to get them. Request denied. Then The Voice sued to get the documents and the Supervisors, including our own Shawn Nelson, endorsed the ludicrous idea that these documents could somehow be legitimately withheld from public scrutiny. Voice won in court, got their documents and ran their story. And then this week the taxpayers of Orange County got stuck with Voice’s legal tab – over $120,000. Again the Supervisors, including Nelson, voted to make us pay for their idiotic decision to protect one of their own club from…us.

The politicians are always telling us about their dedication to public service. But if anybody ever needed a perfect example of how they will use our money to protect themselves and their employees, he need look no farther than the Todd Spitzer Wahoo’s Fish Taco Tale.

July 27, 2017July 30, 2017Chronic Failure

Fhern

by Mr. Peabody13 Comments

Quick, get clear of the impending collapse…

Remember Fullerton First? It’s the feel-good facebook fraud created by one Gretchen Cox, and populated by the usual suspects – whose mission is to run interference for the scamology perpetrated by the likes of our former DUI city manager, Joe Felz, the cops who let him go, and lobbyist-councilperson Jennifer Fitzgerald and her campaign contributors – like the construction manager Griffin Structures that “oversaw” the Hillcrest Stairs to Nowhere ripoff. You might recall that the egregious Fitzgerald is also a proud, flag-waving member of Fullerton First. Well, that sure figures.

Here’s a fun reminder of how the folks of Fullerton First deal with the embarrassment of expensive Fullerton government failure. The strategy is to bury legitimate criticism in double talk and obfuscation.

“Fhern” Alvarez brings up the serious problem of the manifest shoddy workmanship on the Hillcrest steps. Notice how Ms. Cox immediately concocts a made-up “report” that allegedly addresses “point by point every construction concern.” Somehow the worst example of a public works f-up is transformed into a “well-done” project where the contractor went “above and beyond contract and safety requirements” – an outright lie.

When Alvarez persists, Cox hilariously tells her (or him) that people might have rolled down the hill anyway before the $1.6 million steps were built and suggests that somehow child safety on these rickety contraptions is a matter of individual responsibility!

Fortunately, Alvarez will not be dissuaded by the bullshit. And so Fhern, FFFF salutes you.

Gretchen Gregory Cox Fhern- I was writing a response to your comment and accidentally deleted it when some wierd thing popped up. My apologies and please feel free to repost it. In the meantime, there is a report that goes point by point thru every construction concern that has been raised since the steps opened in May. It is actually a well done project where the builder went above and beyond the contract and safety requirements at no additional cost to the city- and came in under budget. Just so you know.
· July 8 at 12:46pm

Fhern Alvarez No worries. But I have been there numerous times and there are spots where the boards are cracking and areas where if a kid is left unattended they can fall down a hill. Doesn’t matter if it’s under budget. In the long run it will cost more.
· July 8 at 3:50pm

Gretchen Gregory Cox People could have fallen down that hill long before the stairs went in. At some point when are individuals responsible for not paying attention? Should the city fence off every inch to prevent that- I don’t mean that to be sarcastic…. just asking what people think would work best.
· July 8 at 4:03pm

Fhern Alvarez Gretchen Gregory Cox it is a city project and people now a days are only looking for an easy way to make money. Just saying
· July 8 at 4:05pm

Peggy Jarman Ciley Really 😳
· July 8 at 9:23pm

Kim Wolfe The exposed wires I saw in a photo by the stairs really concerned me
· July 11 at 9:09pm

Fhern Alvarez Kim Wolfe not just the wires, the big gaps left unblocked, concrete cracking, boards cracking and the danger for splinters. Oh well very poor job in general

July 13, 2017July 13, 2017Patdown Pat McPension

Unleashing Your She Bear. Paid for by the Taxpayers of California

by Mr. Peabody8 Comments

Lookin’ out for the luvly ladies, oh yeah!

Remember Fullerton cop chief Patdown Pat “I Hired Them All” McPension and his idiotic, self-published “She Bear” bullshit?

Apparently there is still plenty of political capital to be reaped by unleashing the inner tigress. At least McKinley’s effort was only offensive to those dumb enough to buy his moronic book.

But here is our Assemblyperson Sharon Quirk pitching the same thing on the taxpayer’s dime. Almost anybody who knows about physical training will tell you that 2 hours of martial arts lessons is likely to prove disastrous when attempted against a large, masculine criminal.

But of course the real purpose for this “limited attendance” session, as indicated in the mailer is to get some indoctrination in “women’s issues,” as you get face time with Sharon Quirk Silva.

July 12, 2017July 12, 2017Bad Cops

So Whatever Happened to Dino Skokos?

by Mr. Peabody10 Comments

No, there is no happy cartoon dinosaur in this story…

You remember Dino, right? He was the guy who retired from the LA Sheriff Department with a disability and then took a job as a campus security guard at Fullerton Junior College.

In October 2016 Dino assaulted a student for failing to acknowledge his august authority:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9KyMyo-fcA

FFFF followed up, here, and here to document the remarkable lack of progress in separating this miscreant from his source of employment. Recently FFFF asked the North Orange College Community College District for a list of employees on administrative leave to see what sort of fish might be caught in the broad net. Here’s what we got back:

Fullerton College Employees on Administrative Leave from January 1, 2016 to present:

Robert Smitson – Fall 2015 to January 31, 2016

Jerry Stokes – Fall 2015 to January 31, 2016

Cynthia Wafer – September 2, 2016 to October 31, 2016

Dino Skokos – October 14, 2016 to September 30, 2017

Eileen Anguiano – February 28, 2017 to May 3, 2017

Scott Goss – May 18, 2017 to August 31, 2017

Beverly Pipkin – June 27, 2017 to July 31, 2017

Alan Gonzalez – June 29, 2017 until further notice

For some reason Skokos is not only still on leave, that leave is projected to continue for another ten weeks, meaning that the guy who attacked and falsely arrested that kid will have been on administrative leave for almost one year.

There are still lots of questions that haven’t been answered, and some that have not yet been asked (until now), such as:

What happened to the “independent” investigator, Currier and Hudson?
How much has Currier and Hudson charged us for their “services?”
Has the student who was assaulted and falsely arrested sued the taxpayers, and if so, what are the details?
Was there a settlement when no one was looking?
What happened to the Fullerton Police Department in all of this; did they ever bother investigate this themselves? If not, why not?

The Schulz Factor: simple and happy-looking but not believable

Here’s the choice nugget from the FJC president as quoted in The Hornet, way back in October, 2016, reassuring his workers, educrats and students that FJC is dedicated in settling this matter:

President Greg Schulz promised the college’s full dedication in reaching a conclusion regarding the incident.

And next time you see her clucking and harrumphing about town be sure to ask your NOCCCD Trustee, Molly McClanahan, what the Hell is going on. Good luck getting an intelligible answer!

July 6, 2017July 7, 2017Big Brother

Newly Minted Pool Safety Expert Newman Has No Pool Safety

by Mr. Peabody71 Comments

The state Democrats are desperate to save State Senator Josh Newman from recall, so the tax-and-spend Newman needs to look real busy doing good things for his constituents. So the party in Sacramento has been throwing him all sorts of feel good bills to “author” so he can raise his public profile.

One of those bills is SB442, which requires homeowners to limit pool access with multiple layers of safety. Here’s Newman waxing about the importance of pool protection. As usual it’s all about the children.

But wait! We sent the FFFF spook drone over Newman’s ultra-posh Fullerton residence.

Guess what? It turns out that Josh Newman himself is deficient in pool safety.

Newman’s house on Domingo Road lacks any sort of pool fence or pool cover, which are strictly required by his own proposed law.

“Multiple layers of protection and multiple barriers of protection are critical,” said Newman at a June press conference.

He has a small child. He’s selling the bill on the safety of small children. Typical liberal. At least implement the most effective measures yourself before you legally require them of others.

July 5, 2017July 5, 2017Bruce Whitaker

Our Jacked Up Roads

by Mr. Peabody10 Comments

Remember when FFFF noted the deplorable conditions of Fullerton’s paving – the worst in Orange County? Well that status has snagged the attention of the Big Boss Man at OCTA, Darrel Johnson, as documented in the very diplomatic communication to our $100 per hour Interim City Manager, below. For those savvy in the foamy soft-soap of bureaucrat-speak, the letter is a ringing condemnation of our City’s infrastructure management.

June 26, 2017July 14, 2017Behind Closed Doors

Gretchen Cox and Fullerton First

by Mr. Peabody60 Comments

Quadrangle of Casual Corruption and Fullerton First brain trust. Gretch’ is the one in the middle. The rest you already know.

Apparently Gretchen Cox, reactionary pal of J. Flory and J. Fitzgerald has become weary of “malcontents” wasting everybody’s time at City Council meetings. She seems to think all this attention to city employee malfeasance, misfeasance and dumbassfeasance reflects poorly on our great town, using the usual “blame the messenger” routine always deployed by people who have something to hide: like shoddy construction, unnecessary and mind-blowingly expensive boondoggles, drunken city managers, a corrupt police department and a budget that’s a few years away from going supernova.

Her strategy is to drown out the cries off honest men and women with hosannas of praise for everything Fullerton. But she needs a choir. So she started a facebook group laughingly called “Fullerton First” where she limits the membership to folk of her own stripe. And what a membership list it is. Here you will find a lot of familiar faces, including sad sack stooge Larry Bennett, incompetent planner Paul Dudley, serial liar-cop Andrew Goodrich, and dim-bulb government apologist Jan Flory, who is w-a-a-a-y past her stated expiration date. That alone should tell you all you need to know about Fullerton First.

But that’s not the interesting part. Not surprisingly, lobbyist city council creature Jennifer Fitzgerald is an enthusiastic member of this tribe; but, very tellingly, so is the ethically flexible Matthew Cunningham, whose job is proprietor of “Anaheim Blog” where he runs interference for uber-lobbyist Curt Pringle’s interests, praises Pringle’s political tools, and denigrates Pringle’s political opponents.

You can’t hurt me. I’ve got no moral compass…

And of course Ms. Fitzgerald also “works” for Pringle. She is his “Vice President of Minor Scams and Local Government Taxpayer Ripoffs” where she enjoys mixing business with pleasure.

It’s pretty obvious that Pringle has set his slimy sights on Fullerton now that his Anaheim well is running dry. We are the pigeons he wants to pluck. Just think “College Town” and other possible gold mines where influence peddling moves things along.

And when Curt Pringle says “Fullerton First” what he really will mean is “Fullerton Next.”

May 21, 2017A Step in the Right Direction

Can We Get A Refund For The Stairs?

by Mr. Peabody12 Comments

It happened pretty quickly, just like a UFO sighting, and just as rare: a Fullerton councilperson suggesting accountability. But here you see Greg Sebourn raising the embarrassing subject of the lamentable Hillcrest Park “stairs to nowhere.”

If you’ve been paying attention, you know very well by now that these rickety looking wooden “exercise” stairs are a $1.6 million waste, a genuine Fullerton-type boondoggle that nobody outside City Hall wanted; a mess compounded by what can only be called substandard materials, workmanship and incompetent oversight – and that’s being charitable.

No, Greg, we cannot get a refund and good luck finding anybody to second a motion to do a full and complete audit of this project to find out how and why the whole thing went sideways so badly.