Behind Closed Doors Archives - Page 60 of 84 - Friends For Fullerton's Future

November 20, 2011November 20, 2011Behind Closed Doors

Cicinelli LAPD Pension Safe; Too Bad Fullerton Wasn’t Safe From Cicinelli

The guy who pounded Kelly Thomas’ face to bloody jelly (right after he got done torturing him with multiple Taser shocks) won’t lose his disability pension from the LAPD. In fact, the board that oversees such things won’t even review the case. Marisa Gerber relates the story in the OC Weekly, here.

What case is that? It stems from Cicinelli’s getting all shot to hell a few weeks out of the chute back in the mid-90’s. Among other injuries, one of his eyes was shot out. At the time, the pension board granted him a lifetime disability, but of course that decision didn’t contemplate Cicinelli going back to work as a one-eyed cop, which he did in Fullerton a little while later. And apparently nobody from Fullerton bothered to inform anybody in LA of Cicinelli’s new employment status.

So Cicinelli was making $40K a year from LAPD and made about $90K from Fullerton on that hot, sultry night of July 5th, 2011. Equitable? You decide.

Speaking of getting two pensions, I now roll around to the main point of this post. Which is Pat McKinley, the double barreled pension grabber who, as chief of the Fullerton Police Department hired Cicinelli and deployed the one-eyed cop on the streets of Fullerton. It was a favor for an old LAPD crony. In so doing, he placed Cicinelli, the public, and the taxpaying citizenry at dire risk.

He also hired the rest of the FPD gallery of rogues that has made the news lately: the druggies, pickpockets, perjurers, thugs, sex offenders and killers.

McKinley still insists he is proud of all these people (except for “the two!”) and has nothing to apologize for.

See, in Pat’s weird world mistakes are never admitted, responsibility for failure is never taken, and of course, accountability is utterly absent. McKinley won’t acknowledge what everybody else already knows: during his tenure as the head of the Fullerton Police Department his leadership failure created an obvious Culture of Corruption that culminated with the death of Kelly Thomas and the subsequent attempt to hush it up.

Well, I guess since McKinley won’t man up to his own failures, we’re going to have to do it for him

November 17, 2011Behind Closed Doors

15 Years Later….Doc Foghorn Still Has No Clue

by admin138 Comments

Yes, it’s been 15 long years of listening to this bully push people around – always people he doesn’t think will push back.

Enjoy this clip of our own Doc Cornpone as he screams at his constituents and tries to have a public speaker ejected from the City Council Chamber. His offense? He didn’t fill out a speaker card.

Did Jones even have a clue that what he did was illegal and could have ended up with another embarrassing lawsuit? Guess not.

Should we at least be thankful this asinine buffoon apologized at the end?

November 17, 2011Behind Closed Doors

How To Blow $17,000

by Mr. Peabody237 Comments

The Good Old Days — The good old days...

Item #3 on yesterday’s agenda was a request by Acting Chief-Until-Mike-Sellers-Pulls-His-Head-Out-and-Comes-Back-to-Work Hamilton to buy some spiffy raincoats for his lads. 200 to be precise, at a cost of $17,000. That’s $85 bucks a pop, and presumably Hamilton got a great discount for quantity.

These uber-raincoats meet some sort of Federal guideline for work in “federal-aid” highways right-of-ways (weren’t you losing sleep worrying about that?). And naturally the current coats are old and only “water resistant.” Typical. in government resource mismanagement is always used as an excuse for big, new, outlays.

But consider this: right now Fullerton’s entire police force numbers about 140 (give or take, depending on how many are on paid or unpaid administrative leave and can’t work on any highway, federal-aid or otherwise. Then there’s the fact that not all 140 are on duty at any one time. Then there’s the fact that only a fraction of the force will actually be on patrol when it’s actually raining and might be needed to stand around after a car crash. Finally there’s the obvious fact that these people really ought to be able to share a few dozen of the same infrequently used garments.

Please note that because the money is from asset seizure and not General Fund, the requestor is unashamed to make such a profligate request.

So how did our esteemed city council vote? Apparently it passed on the Consent Calendar nod 5-0.

November 16, 2011November 16, 2011"Dick" Ackerman

“Dick” Ackerman Moral Weathervane of the Anti-recall Team. Part 3.

by Joe Sipowicz128 Comments

tricky dick — Heh, heh. When nobody was looking the collection plate went missing.

When you are a moral vacuum like Dick Ackerman, you really don’t stand for much of anything except your own well-being. Public service? Hell, no! It’s all about personal service. Everything else is just platitudes and bull shit.

An indication of Mr. Ackerman’s future career path was clearly established with the creation of a fake charity by his wife that was simply a mechanism to get state legislators (one of whom was Mr. Ackerman) alone on Maui with lobbyists for big corporate interests who actually paid for the whole junket. Ackerman is hilariously quoted as saying how beneficial these get togethers were, as if being lobbied in Sacramento (instead of Hawaii by the same cast of characters) was somehow just so much more darned inefficient. FFFF posted all about the utterly phony Pacific Policy Research Foundation, here.

AcknFlack4-430x500 — I don't even know how I got into the room...

That was just the start of Mr. Ackerman exploiting Mrs. Ackerman for family gain. And it wasn’t enough that The Dickster got the missus on the Metropolitan Water Board where she naturally supported huge water rate increases (true, that bar was already set really, really low).

In the summer of 2009, while The Dick was illegally lobbying the State Legislature in the sordid the OC Fair Swindle, his protege, 72nd District Assemblyman Mike Duvall was caught bragging of nasty sexual accomplishments with a lobbyist; maybe the idea of nasty accomplishments with lobbyists ignited a fire in Dick’s political loins. By the end of September his wife, Linda Ackerwoman was running to replace the disgraced Duvall!

Now people endowed with a normal dose of shame would have simply receded into the background after the man they promoted was busted for moral turpitude. But the Ackermans are not so endowed. Dick’s immediate impulse was to promote the candidacy of the wife, a woman who had, apparently, never even held a job except as a “consultant” raiding her husband’s campaign accounts.

Well, okay. Lot’s of unqualified dimwits run for the Legislature. The real problem was that the Ackermans didn’t even live in the district. The Ackermans live in a top-secret gated community in Irvine! The State Constitution says you have to live in a district a year, but what the Hell, the State Constitution is for losers!

So Dick and Linda cooked up a fake address in the rumpus room of a Fullerton stooge. Well, technically they were carpetbaggers; but since nobody really believed they spent a night living in Fullerton a better word applies: fraud.

Bankhead2 — You mean they never really lived here. I guess I slept through that. Again.

As expected, Mrs. Ackerwoman got the endorsements of the Three Deteriorating Dinosaurs, all the statewide Redevelopment money, and the big corporate interest lobbyists. They ran one of the slimiest campaign anybody could remember. It hardly mattered. The Ackermans still lost to Chris Norby by a whopping 20 points in the Republican Primary. Within a few weeks they had reregistered to vote in the leafy precincts where their Irvine mini-McMansion is located. How’s that for a big F-you, Fullerton?

The point of the story is simple: there is no basement so low that Dick Ackerman & Co. won’t crawl into it in order to pull a string or make a buck. And if you don’t recognize Dick as the moral barometer of the anti-recall campaign, you don’t know Dick.

November 15, 2011November 15, 2011"Dick" Ackerman

“Dick” Ackerman The Moral Weathervane of the Anti-recall Team. Part 2.

by Joe Sipowicz84 Comments

AckermanHead — Swimming in taxpayer gravy is hard to give up...

Let’s just say you’re a termed-out California state senator who, through the vagaries of a law that requires a two-thirds majority to pass a budget, became a Playah in the capital. Bocce and cigars with the Celebro-Guv.

Well, if you are of a certain mindset, the thought of returning to good, honest toil as a private citizen is probably the farthest thing from your mind. Instead, you look around to see how you can capitalize off of all those political connections you made cutting deals and grinding the uncomfortable corners off of the truth. You recall fondly when the greasers, lobbyists, and bagmen were kissing your skinny ass and funding your campaigns. Lobbying is a lot more fun than real work. You want to become one!

And so it was when Dick Ackerman left Sacramento; and so it was for anybody willing to put Ackerman on their payroll. After all, who wants to hire a 70-year old, small-time lawyer to draw up wills for grandpa? No one, that’s who. And Nossaman, the big law firm that employed Dick obviously wanted him as a lobbyist, despite the website description that comically claims Ackerman is some sort of legal expert in a wide array of issues.

By nature lobbyists are supposed to remain low-profile, operate in the shadows and behind closed doors. What the partners at Nossaman think about Ackerman’s recent embarrassing high profile behavior is anybody’s guess, but it can’t be too good; and apparently Dick ain’t bringing home much bacon, either, which is the worst offense of all.

But so much for the long preamble. The purpose of Part 2 (and of Part 3) of this squalid tale is to relate some of what Ackerman has been up to lately, and to point out to anybody who cares, the low ethical trajectory of the leader of the anti-recall circus.

Termed out in 2008, Ackerman almost immediately latched on to an opportunity presented by his ethical soul mate, Dave Ellis: the Great OC Fair Swindle of 2009, an attempt to convert select members of the Board of Directors into a non-profit entity that would buy the Orange County Fairgrounds from a cash-strapped State, and run it for their own fun and profit. Ackerman’s role was buried in an obscure land-use contract with a company called LSA, presumably so nobody would know what the hell was going on.

dave-ellis-91 — Dave Ellis seen soon after emerging from the Fullerton sewer system. The transition to an oxygen breathing life-form was slow and painful...

Part of the deal involved slipping the necessary whereases into the state budget in the summer of 2009, and part of Ackerman’s job was to make sure legislators got the job done. But wait a minute, Dick! State legislators have to wait a full year before they can lobby their former colleagues! That’s the law.

When the details of Ackerman’s behavior became public in the fall of 2009, he twisted and turned the very meaning of the English language in order to squirm off the hook on which he had impaled himself. And it would have been in vain, too, except that our sleepy DA had clearly given instructions to his staff to whitewash Ackerman’s role. Not looking for evidence is a great way of not finding any.

It worked for a while, in 2010. Then in early 2011 Norberto Santana of the Voice of OC broke the story: he had copies of Ackerman’s billing invoices, and Ackerman’s scope of work – documents the DA thought unnecessary to collect, and they clearly revealed the truth about Ackerman – lobbying legislators was part of the contract, and The Dickster had made calls to several members of the Legislature, including locals Solorio and Correa. No bueno!

Although the DAs spokestress Susan Schroeder disingenuously invited anybody to submit new evidence for the DAs lethargic consideration, nobody did. And Ackerman slithered away, probably bragging, like John Mitchell to his cronies, that no one had laid a glove on him.

Stay tuned for Part 3, in which we explore carpetbagging for fun and profit!

November 14, 2011November 15, 2011"Dick" Ackerman

“Dick” Ackerman, Moral Weathervane of the Anti-recall Team. Part 1

by Joe Sipowicz199 Comments

Some of our loyal readers have asked us who Dick Ackerman is, and why is he the leader of the opposition to the recall of the Three Shop Worn Stooges on the Fullerton City Council: Jones, Bankhead, and McKinley.

Good question. After all, Ackerman is a resident of Irvine, and although he used to live in Fullerton a long, long time ago, it’s not immediately apparent why he should care about defending the Three Burned Out Bulbs on the council.

Well, these three did support Ackerman’s utterly unqualified wife when the Dickster tried to get her into the Legislature by cooking up a fake address in Fullerton.

But there’s more, and as you may have guessed, it’s the cash nexus. You see, ever since Ackerman termed out of the Legislature he’s been looking to grease his skids peddling the influence he accrued on the taxpayer’s dime. He is employed for lobbying purposes by a law firm called Nossaman; but rather than bring in business he’s actually become embroiled in embarrassing ethical and illegal incidents (more on that in Part 2). The word on Easy Street is that he’s got to bring in some do-re-mi to Nossaman and PDQ, or he’s out.

Which circuitously brings us to the latest round of “affordable” housing projects in Fullerton, the kind of housing that costs two or three times as much to build as the regular kind, and the sort that Dick Ackerman vociferously opposed on principal when he was on the Fullerton City Council. Well that was then, before Ackerman discovered he could profit handsomely from them. Now he is a lobbyist for one of the so-called developers, St. Anton’s Partners, who, not surprisingly, received the promise of millions of dollars in City Redevelopment subsidies from Jones, Bankhead and McKinley on a project just a few weeks ago. Jones, Bankhead and McKinley were so eager to pay off Ackerman that they actually tried to rush through their vote before the public hearing was even held!

And that’s why Ackerman needs to keep Fullerton’s Three Blind Bobbleheads in office, no matter what. There is no noble purpose, no moral justification, no principle at stake. There’s just a big potential payday for Ackerman and his employer, Nossaman. And if you don’t understand that, you don’t know Dick.

Stay tuned for Part 2, in which we share a little Dick Ackerman retrospective.

November 11, 2011November 11, 2011Behind Closed Doors

FPD Releases Sketch

by Mr. Peabody150 Comments

On Thursday the Fullerton Police Department released a sketch of a sexual assault suspect, according to the Register, here.

The attack occurred on October 12th, on Berkeley, near FJC, one month earlier. A little late. Still, not bad for Andrew Goodrich, who inexplicably (or perfectly explicable if you believe in the FPD Culture of Corruption) remains the face of Fullerton on police matters.

Naturally some of the commenters on the ensuing thread wonder aloud when the Goodrich & Co. are going to release the image of former FPD cop Albert Rincon, who sexually assaulted women in the back seat of his patrol car, with the full knowledge of his superiors in the department.

Oh, that’s right. Former police chief, city councilman and current recall target Pat McKinley has explained all: “it’s just touching. Not a good thing, but not a dangerous thing.” So despite a $350,000 settlement (to date) Rincon is not really a danger to anybody.

mckinley-she-bear — Lookin' out for the ladies, oh yeah!

But if that sets the bar for behavior then it looks like their suspect falls well withing the bounds of propriety established by McKinley.

November 10, 2011November 10, 2011Behind Closed Doors

3 @ 50. What Does It Mean?

by Joe Sipowicz270 Comments

beer break — Jeez, retirement's going to be sweet...

Some of our loyal readers have asked about the 3 @ 50 pension formula that many, if not most “public safety” employees receive. It’s pretty simple. You get to retire at age 50. The 3 is a multiplier applied to the number of years you have been employed. The guy or gal who works for 30 years would get 90% of his or her highest salary as a pension. For life. Pretty sweet gig, eh?

donuts — Go ahead have three. Somebody will pay for them later...

Many public agencies also tack on other benefits as income, boosting pensions even higher. The worst scam of all is foisted on the public by the agencies that consider the taxpayer’s payment of the employees’ share of pension paycheck deductions as income counted toward their pensions. This charming little ripoff is known colloquially as “PERS on PERS,” PERS being an acronym for Public Employee Retirement System.

So, what is the tie in to Fullerton?

Well, let’s start with the Three Dyspeptic Dinosaurs, Bankhead, Jones, and McKinley. Back in 2001, at the behest of Andy Goodrich and his union, these two voted to give the 3 @50 formula for the Fullerton Police and Fire Departments. The decision was voluntary and wittingly done. If that weren’t bad enough, of course the benefit was applied retroactively, meaning that many cops and firemen who had worked for decades under the previous formula were suddenly handed a titanic bonanza of taxpayer confiscated wealth, with the single stroke of Mayor Don Bankhead’s pen. And that single stroke of glaring incompetence has contributed to a massive unfunded pension liability that Fullerton citizens will have to carry indefinitely.

And who is one of the principle beneficiaries of this generosity with the public purse? You guessed it. Former police Chief and current councilman Pat McKinley, who has picked up the moniker “Pat McPension” for his $215,000 a year pension – far more than he ever made working.

3 Rhinos — They may be dumb but they sure are slow...

Now this profligate behavior with public funds is typically the sort of behavior attributed to liberal Democrats. In Fullerton the heist was perpetrated by allegedly “conservative” Republicans who believe wearing stupid lapel pins is what really matters. Well, they sold us out, folks.

Bankhead, Jones and McKinley.

November 9, 2011Behind Closed Doors

Is Pat McPension Voting on Settlements to Cover Up His Poor Decisions as Police Chief?

by The Fullerton Harpoon70 Comments

MCKinley3 — Just give me a year or two. I'll come up with something...

Could be. These things are decided by the City Council behind closed doors in what is called “Closed Session.”

It would be a pretty neat and convenient trick to be able to sweep a whole lot of nasty crap under the carpet that might otherwise be more closely scrutinized during a public trial. And when that nasty crap reflects directly on your own incompetence, ignorance, and misfeasance, so much the better.

So it is with Fullerton City Council recall target and former Chief of Police, Pat McKinley. See, Pat is the guy who personally hired all the FPD goons, thieves, pickpockets, druggies, perjurers and killers who have been in the news lately. He says he is proud of all of them (but two – presumably the “aliens” Cicinelli and Ramos). And he apologizes for nothing

Consider this: as a City Councilman McKinley can get to decide how much money is paid out to the victims of those low-life hires he is so proud of. The conclusion that some of these payouts give off the stink of hush money is inescapable. A $350,000 payout was made just recently in the Albert Rincon sexual assault cases; and new plaintiffs are already forming a considerable conga line. What was McKinley’s role in this settlement? What will his role be in future FPD-caused civil suit settlements?

The most embarrassing issue of all (and potentially the most costly), will be the fact that then Chief McKinley knowingly hired and happily deployed to the streets of Fullerton a one-eyed cop whom the Chief of the LAPD wisely rejected as unfit for duty; and McKinley did it knowingly and happily as a favor to an old crony. Obviously no thought was given to the safety of the very public McKinley had sworn to protect.

This appears to me as a blatant conflict of interest and so, one hopes, it would also appear to McKinley. But unfortunately McKinley’s sense of ethics and sense of self-entitlement are a lot different than mine and yours.

Are you comfortable with McKinley having anything to do with settling a case that would shine a spotlight on his own corrupt misfeasance? The embarrassing details of the sexual predator Albert Rincon will never receive the public scrutiny of a public trial; nor will the fact that this was just another of the many miscreants hired and let loose on the public by McKinley.

Will McKinley recuse himself on the Quinonez and Veth Mam cases? Or the Kelly Thomas case? What about possible employee decisions with regard to Hampton, Wolfe, Blatney, Klein, Mejia, et al? If not, he is putting his lack of ethics on display; if he does it begs the question of how he can serve on the Council at all. See where I’m going with this?

Maybe you would just feel more comfortable if he weren’t in office anymore, at all.

November 5, 2011November 5, 2011About Us

Dithering Dinosaurs Dine Out; McPension Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot. Again.

by Jan Florys Dog105 Comments

RecallRejects — Unfortunately, age did not confer wisdom...

The Old Boy Network of the Fullerton establishment held a fundraiser for their old boys at the Villa Del Sol the other night. We will be sharing our own video later if our boys in the White Van ever recover from their serial ingestion of raw opium poppies that admin now grows in his backyard.

RecallRejects1 — Lookin' good in yellow! (Photo by Marisa Gerber OC Weekly)

In the meantime, here’s a story on the event from Marisa Gerber of the OC Weekly. She mordantly describes the anti-recall attendees:

a rather homogeneous crew of sexagenarians and older — gathered at a pricey fundraiser tonight to support three beleaguered city leaders.

As usual the best quote of the night come from high school graduate and architect of the Culture of Corruption in the Fullerton Police Department, Pat McKinley:

He can handle it, he said, adding that what frustrated him most was hearing people “who probably never graduated high school” bad-mouth the mayor, who used to be a doctor.

Oh, oh. The literary She Bear who gets $215,000 a year courtesy of the taxpayer for doing nothing is taking shots at the academic accomplishments of the recallers. Bad idea Chief. Some folks might start asking about the scholastic level of your police force!