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

March 16, 2012Behind Closed Doors

New Water Tax: 6.7%? Not a Freakin’ Chance!

Apparently the much-anticipated Joe Felz Water Study is in, and it says that the illegal 10% water tax is…drum roll, please…illegal. But get this: rather than an honest study, the consultants were clearly told to gin up as much plausible reason to keep as much of the 10% as they could. The result? It’s only 6.7%. Yay!

The only problem is that to reach 6.7%, the consultant cooked up the idea that the Water Fund owed the City rent on land where water reservoirs are located! According to Ad Hoc Water Committee member Greg Sebourn, the total annual rent was figured at $1,374,000 – well-over half of the existing tax.

Of course this scam raises all sorts of new issues, as scams generally do. Such as: the reservoir in Hillcrest Park supports a play field on its deck. Does the City rent this back from the Water Fund? Bet not! The reservoir up at the top of Euclid is situated in a cactus patch patrolled by goats. What’s the rental or development value of a nature park? I dunno, but it’s not much. Has the Water Fund been paying for maintenance on these properties that should have been the responsibility of the General Fund? Bet so.

Then of course there’s the issue of whether the waterworks itself paid for fee title to any of these properties in the first place, a way back when. I wonder if the consultant even bothered to check. Bet not.

And there’s the embarrassing fact that there is no arm’s length relationship between the people that impose the rent and the people that pay it. The City Council can demand any amount of rent they want – then agree to pay it. Why not? The proceeds go to pay their own pensions! Now, that’s not very good, is it?

In any case, the public may find it a bit confusing and unseemly that at the eleventh hour the bureaucrats and their hand-picked consultant are burning the near-midnight oil to drum up ways to charge as much for water as they can that they can keep siphoning money into the General Fund.

jones-gone-wild1 — Will you please shut up.

Will the city Council buy into this load? Well, of course they will. The vote will be 4-1, and it will be up to the citizens and voters to rectify the scam at the ballot box.

Our job is to continue to expose the fraud for what it is.

March 14, 2012March 14, 2012Dead heads

The Cover-Up Club

by Mr. Peabody183 Comments

Yesterday, the OC Register did a story about the Fullerton jail house death of Dean Francis Gochenour, and the role played by Vincent Mater, who smashed his DAR against a steel door in order to destroy the evidence it contained.

Our Acting Chief, Dan Hughes, was unusually chatty.

For instance, he shares with trusted police scribe Lou Ponsi the fact that an internal investigation was concluded by June 20, 2011, that discipline was recommended by Hughes, himself, and then Mater quit on August 2: I made recommendations for discipline and in that process, he resigned,” Hughes said.

So let us ponder a few things. Mater destroys his DAR in mid April, and disciplinary action is started over two months later? And what is this disciplinary “process?” Hard to say; it may have included firing the creep, but if so the process is designed to permit the perp to quit first. And that’s a shame because in the case of Mater we already know he was considered by the DA to be a Brady Cop, (i.e. unfit for court testimony due to unfamiliarity with the truth). We also know that he was complicit in some way in the wrongful incarceration of Emanuel Martinez.

Whatever this so-called discipline process entailed (including, no doubt, union exacted rights for appeal hearings, ad nauseam), Mater decided his best option was to walk away, perhaps to try his luck as a cop somewhere else. So Mater quietly went his merry way on August 2, 2011 – curiously, just as the Kelly Thomas murder protests were starting in earnest.

And now, for the $64,000 question: what was going on between the FPD and the DAs office between August 2 2011 and March 13, 2012? Seven and a half months had passed since Mater’s departure; eleven months had passed since the original crime. It would appear to the outsider that nothing was going to happen at all.

And then somebody changed their mind. I wonder why.

March 7, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Jane Rands Files For Bankhead’s Job

by Mr. Peabody136 Comments

Well, somebody has to do Bankhead’s job since he has adamantly refused to do it himself – for almost 25 years.

Bankosaurus — The impeding cold streak was an omen of things to come.

Today, Jane Rands, former State Assembly candidate under the Green Party banner, has filed papers to replace council Precambrian holdover, Don Bankhead.

Jane appears to be somebody who is smart and believes in accountability, and would make an immeasurably better city council person than Bankhead – who has been targeted for Recall because of his dismal leadership failure.

FFFF looks forward to sharing more information about Jane and her platform in the coming days.

March 1, 2012March 1, 2012Behind Closed Doors

Oh, No. Not Again! Another Black Eye For The FPD.

by Mr. Peabody258 Comments

The Fullerton FPD Culture of Corruption just got a new inductee into its Hall of Shame today, as reported by the OC Register’s Sean Emery, here.

It seems that FPD employee April Baughman, 52, is cooling her heels in the County jail, alleged to have swiped cash from the FPD property room for – get this – two freakin’ years!

The money quote comes from our friend “Acting” Chief Dan Hughes who is quoted as saying:

“When there are violations of public trust or actions which result in the reduction of confidence in the police department, disciplinary action will be taken swiftly and decisively.”

Uh, yeah, Dan, sure. Whatever you say. At least we didn’t have to read such inane bullshit as spoken by the otiose Sgt. Goodrich, although he probably wrote it.

Too bad swift and decisive disciplinary action wasn’t taken against the thugs who killed Kelley Thomas until ten weeks after he was murdered.

This latest humiliation begs two questions. One, how could there have been no accounting of property room inventory over this period without the collusion of at least one other miscreant; and two, how much will the Culture of Corruption created by Pat McKinley and tolerated by sleepwalking councilmembers Don Bankhead and Dick Jones end up costing us?

And naturally we are left to ponder the previous assertion of Acting Chief Hughes: anyone who believes there is a Culture of corruption in the FPD is either lying or misinformed.

Newsflash, Chief: we are not lying and we are not misinformed.

February 23, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Fullerton Mayor Wants To Offer Thomas Family An Apology

by Mr. Peabody109 Comments

The Voice of OC(EA) is reporting here that Fullerton mayor Sharon Quirk-Silva intends to issue an apology to the Thomas family on behalf of the people of Fullerton; and apparently she also wants name a small part of Fullerton after Kelly Thomas, the homeless, schizophrenic man beaten to death by members of the Fullerton police department last July.

What’s the apology for? According to the article, it’s not entirely clear if it’s for the deliberate smear campaign against Thomas to help make the cops look justified in their actions, or for the actual killing itself.

If it’s the former, I guess the apology would focus on the FPD/City totally mischaracterizing as a “fight” the horrible beat down that took place on Thomas; for telling the public that cops had suffered broken bones; for insinuating that Kelly was amped up on drugs and had stolen property on his person.

Of course all that nonsense was pitched by FPD spokesdonut Andrew Goodrich who never thought it necessary to correct any misinformation he had peddled in those first days after the crime, which makes it deliberate, obviously. If this will be the gist of it, then the apology will be nothing more than a repudiation of Goodriches’ sad performance trying to defend the indefensible actions of his union brethren.

Personally, I would be happier with an apology for the murder itself, along with a personal apology from Quirk-Silva to the citizens of Fullerton for helping permit a Culture of Corruption in the FPD during her seven-plus years in office. I guess this ins’t too likely.

An apology may make Q-S feel better, but sincere or not, I think it falls under the heading of too little, too late; still, better late than never, I suppose.

Oh, by the way, Ms. Quirk-Silva is letting the City Attorney edit the “apology” and that’s not good sign.

As to the issue of placing and naming a bench after KT, I think that’s not helpful. But I relish the idea of watching Pat McPension vote to recognize the homeless man who was beaten to death by thugs he personally hired and vouched for.

February 19, 2012February 19, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

The Deal That Didn’t Happen

by Mr. Peabody47 Comments

In Fullerton the mayor succession is just about the only political intrigue we usually have, with the upper tier repuglicans like Ed Royce Jr. and Richard “Dick” Ackerman calling in markers for their previous endorsements, in order to keep some hapless lady Democrat from getting the largely ceremonial job.

In 2010 the deal went down right on schedule as the Three Tired Retreads voted in install Dozing Don Bankhead as “Mayor Pro Tem” instead of Sharon Quirk-Silva whose turn it was. Well, since the Mayor Pro Tem is traditionally next in line to be Mayor, the proverbial handwriting was on the wall.

And then in 2011 the damnedest thing happened in sleepy Fullerton. All Hell broke loose.

With the murder of Kelly Thomas by members of the FPD, with an entire Culture of Corruption finally exposed, with Redevelopment subsidies to campaign supporters uncovered, with an illegal, hidden 10% tax on water laid bare, with the subsequent Recall of the Three Stripped Gears, things took a turn for the weird.

In November, with the Recall signature campaign gathering steam, it suddenly became a matter of conjecture whether it could be business as usual for the Fullerton Old Guard. We said as much, here. And what we asked about is exactly what happened as we reported here.

Ackerslime2 — Heh, heh. I've got these three beauties, here. Sure the mileage is a little high, and the tires are bald, but they'll get you where you want to go!

But never let it be said that Tricky Dick Ackerman missed a trick. I’ve got it on excellent authority that the Three Blind Brontosauruses didn’t elect Q-S without first proposing The Deal: in exchange for making her mayor for 2012, she would have to promise to oppose the Recall of The Three Dim Dealmakers!

To her credit Sharon Quirk-Silva saw what we saw: that her outbound colleagues had no choice but to make her mayor and were in no position to try to cut deals with anyone. When you’re out of chips the poker game is over.

And now the recall is qualified, an election will be scheduled for June, and the ‘pugs get to watch Quirk-Silva run for re-election with the title Mayor of Fullerton. Best of all they got nothing out of it.

February 16, 2012February 16, 2012Dead heads

The Mighty Peculiar Tale of Officer Joe Wolfe

by Mr. Peabody195 Comments

By now everyone is at least casually familiar with the personage of FPD cop Joe Wolfe, who along with Manny Ramos, happened to be the first to confront the homeless schizophrenic man, Kelly Thomas, in the Fullerton Transportation Center, on the sultry night of July 5th, 2011.

Allegedly responding to a call claiming somebody was breaking into cars, Wolfe and Ramos were near enough to get to the scene first. Some folks think this was not a coincidence.

According to the DA, Wolfe searched Thomas’ backpack at the rear of a patrol car as Ramos hovered over Thomas around front – a mere 10-15 feet away. The fact that this implausibly lengthy “search” took place during Ramos’ physical and verbal intimidation of Kelly gave the DA his justification for Wolfe’s subsequent behavior.

What happened next (according to the DA) is that Kelly, who finally realized he was being queued up for an ass kicking one way or another, got up, and backed away from Ramos, hands and palms up; Ramos had pulled out his baton. And who was there to meet Thomas with drawn night stick, having circled around behind the patrol car and who suddenly seemed very much aware of what was going on?

Right. Officer Joe Wolfe.

This corpulent cop, who was so thoroughly engrossed in picking through Thomas’ scant belongings that he supposedly had no knowledge of what was happening a few feet away, suddenly became as nimble as Nijinski, allegedly slamming Kelly in the leg with his night stick, and with Ramos, tackling Thomas. As Ramos held Thomas by the neck and punched him, Wolfe was on top too, kicking and punching as the beat down and the pile on began.

We are asked (by the DA) to believe that Wolfe was completely unaware of Ramos verbally threatening Thomas, and donning his latex gloves; and that he was merely coming to Ramos’ rescue. Could it have happened that way? I guess so, but it really strains credulity to believe that Wolfe was not aware of the provacative behavior of Ramos, even if there were no pre-arranged set up of Kelly involved. And the DA provided no credible explanation for the sheer violence of his physical assault: we are left with the inevitable conclusion that Wolfe meant to do Kelly great bodily harm.

How many times did Wolfe hit Thomas before the one-eyed cop Jay Cicinelli arrived on the scene to finish him off? Only those privileged cops (and city councilmen) who have seen the video know.

Many questions remain unanswered about the role of Mr. Wolfe on the night in question, and despite the DA’s effort to absolve Wolfe of complicity in the killing, many observers, including me, remain unconvinced.

One thing we do know for sure: Joe Wolfe joins an ever growing list of Fullerton cops who can’t be let loose on the street or trusted to testify in court. He has been on paid leave since August. And until the Gennaco report on the Thomas killing comes out, there he will stay.

February 11, 2012February 11, 2012Law N Disorder

Pat McKinley’s Selective Silence

by Mr. Peabody83 Comments

McCueball — Um, let me think about it...

A few days ago, OC Register employee Lou Ponsi scribbled an article here quoting Pat McPension “that because the City Council may have to ultimately decide the employment status of the officers, both on unpaid leave, remaining silent was the correct decision.

We remained silent because that is the rule,” McKinley said. “We were told by the (city) attorney, ‘Don’t say anything.’ … A lawyer tells me what to do and I follow his lead.”

Silent? Yeah, right Pat:

Pat was pretty quick to peddle his damage-control and try to downplay Kelly Thomas’ injuries as not life-threatening. His statement that the Coroner couldn’t determine the cause of death was the old flat-foot desperately clinging to the insinuation that there was some medical reason (i.e. maybe drugs) Kelly died – apart from 1400 lbs. of cop meat sitting on his chest after they had bashed his face into his brain.

We’ve also just raised the question as to whether or not Mr. McKinley may have blabbed about the employment status of Fullerton PD officer Kelly Mejia to his pal and anti-recall spokesorifice, Larry Bennett.

February 4, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

How To Burn Through $55,000

by Mr. Peabody126 Comments

We’ve had a lot of fun exposing the waste and incompetence of our three Jurassic councilmen, Bankhead Jones, and McKinley, although the indecent exposure hasn’t been pretty. The Redevelopment scams, the Water Fund fraud, and the Culture of Corruption in the Fullerton Police Department all point to sclerotic ineptitude of Biblical proportions.

But nothing that came before prepared me for the Protect Fullerton expenses identified on their Form 460.

Somehow these dopes managed to spend $55,000 in a few months mounting a pathetic opposition to the Fullerton Recall signature drive. $55,000 spent on a gang of fixers and political prostitutes assembled by OC’s number one bag man, the “Honorable” Dick Ackerman. The childish website, the dumb mailers, the rotten political advice cost the Three Sluggish Sloths plenty. And what do they have to show for it? A handful of recission cards from people who probably never even signed the Recall petition in the first place.

But, lest you feel sorry about the poor boobs who had their hard-earned contributions wasted by these dodos, consider the source: over half the dough came from the Fullerton cop union and a few other police agencies across the state – including the cop slush fund that is fronting the money to pay for Ramos and Cicinelli’s lawyers.

And to wrap the package in a pretty bow, Friends, reflect on this: if the Three Dimwits can throw their money around to such little effect, just think what they have been doing with our money all these years.

January 30, 2012January 31, 2012Dead heads

Speculation Monday, Part II

by Mr. Peabody40 Comments

Okay, my first foray into look-alikes today was pretty feeble.

How about this:

and this:

Now tell me I’m not on to something.