Why Chris Norby Will Be Good For Us, And Good For California

norby1

We’ve taken a bunch of legitimate shots at Chris Norby’s opponent in the 72nd Assembly District Special Election, Linda Ackerman. You know: she’s doesn’t live in the district; has a fake “residence” with another family on Lindendale; has applied the completely phony “businesswoman” label to herself; has been paid by her husband’s political campaign; and has even cooked up a scheme to get free Hawaiian vacations – compliments of lobbyists. The list of negatives just goes on and on. In fact, there’s hardly anything in her campaign that isn’t fraudulent.

We haven’t taken much time to say why Chris Norby would be good for us, and for California. So now we will.

First, Norby is not part of the slimy and incestuous Sacramento culture of corruption that the Ackermans have immersed themselves in for 15 years, and that’s a pretty big deal. Norby actually has informed opinions about State-wide issues like budget reform, education and Redevelopment; and, unlike Ackerman, Chris doesn’t just shovel out hollow platitudes about being a conservative.

Furthermore, Chris has a real legislative record – standing up for the people of Orange County against the perpetual demands of the public employee unions. He has opposed retroactive pension spikes put in place by some of the same dubious cast of characters that have endorsed Linda Ackerman. Over the years Chris has stuck up for the property rights of small businesses and homeowners against the depredations of government. Linda Ackerman chooses this very record on Redevelopment to draw a distinction between Norby and herself. And of course compared to Norby’s long conservative track record, Mrs. Ackerman has no record at all. Zero. Zilch. Just election slogans put in her mouth by her campaign manager.

We like the idea of Chris in the Legislature; with real ability to work on issues, especially the long-overdue reform of Redevelopment. The lobbyists won’t like the idea of Norby coming up to Sacramento, and that makes the idea really appealing to us.

At local campaign events the contrast between Norby and Linda Ackerman has been stark. Chris has been engaged, knowledgeable, and has spoken authoritatively about real conservatives issues. His opponent hasn’t done any of these things.

Although the Ackermans have tried (and will continue to try) to attack Norby’s morality by innuendo and gossip, it is the Ackermans who gave the disgraced Mike Duvall their support. Voters ought to reflect on that when they consider who is qualified to speak about morality with any authority.

Finally, Chris lives, and has always lived in Fullerton, unlikeLinda Ackerman who moved out ten years ago when greener pastures opened up in Irvine. He has never lived in a “secret, gated community” for “the privileged few.” He didn’t have to fake a residency with another family to evade the requirements of the law.

And so we say: Chris Norby for the 72nd Assembly!

“Experienced Businesswoman”: More Unadulterated Bull Shit from Linda Ackerman

If by business you mean monkey business, thaen yes, I am a business woman.
If by business you mean monkey business, then yes, I am a business woman.

In the world of politics it is believed that if you just keep saying the same thing over and over again, eventually people will believe it.

Let’s consider Linda Ackerman’s repeated assertion (and the claim in many of her endorser’s statements that were obviously written for them) that she is an “experienced businesswoman.” Well, we would like to know just what that experience entails. Let’s let Linda’s campaign website help us out with a description of her vast business experience:

An experienced businesswoman, Linda serves as the Vice President of Financial Development for the Marian Bergeson Excellence in Public Service Series and a corporate board member of USCB, Inc., a California receivable and management company.

That’s it. No history, no resume. You’d think if there were any real accomplishments she’d be only too happy to share it with her would-be constituents. Hmm.

The Marian Bergeson blah-blah-blah isn’t a business. It’s a training program to promote female Republican politicians by having them learn the ins and outs of Repuglicanism. According to the Bergeson website, Ackerman is a member of an executive committee (it says nothing about her being a “Vice President” of anything). And in any case, “Development” is a polite way of saying “fundraising from corporate donors.”  No prizes offered for guessing who the targets of any fundraising are: corporate lobbyists! 

USCB is a sort of glorified “Check into Cash” for corporations who have extended credit to people like Ackerman’s would-be constituents. It’s a real business, all right, but being on its board hardly qualifies her as a businesswoman. And of course she got that part-time gig based entirely on who her husband was. The links on the USCB site take you to major health care trade associations, etc. Hmm. More lobbyists.

Of course we have already shared another of Mrs. Ackerman’s board positions, on The Pacific Policy Research Foundation,  a completely bogus 501(c)(3), whose sole reason for existing is to get state legislators and lobbyists holed up together in a five- star Maui hotel for a week. Funny, the Pacific Policy Research Foundation fails to appear in her biography. Come on, Linda, are you suddenly ashamed of the noble goals of the “public purpose” Foundation you created? What’s that? You’re afraid the public might not understand? Bet you’re right!

What is it about Linda Ackerman and lobbyists?

Finally, we have to ask: 

Mrs. Ackerman do you have any real business experience at all? Have you ever run your own business? Have you ever signed the front of a paycheck? Have you ever paid business taxes or fees, or worker’s comp? 

Or could it be your claim to be a “businesswoman” is as hollow as your empty claim to live in the 72nd? Is this claim just more campaign pabulum meant to be sucked up by a careless electorate?

Mickadeit & Wisckol: Useful Idiots in Linda Ackerman’s Phony Campaign

What do I look like? A renter?
What do I look like? A renter?

Just in case you needed any more evidence that the two Register political reporters/bloggers Martin Wisckol and Frank Mickadeit are anything other than tools in the Ackerman tool shed, observe this hard hitting piece by Wisckol in his GOP celebrity column, Total Buzz.

A “granny flat”! How quaint! Linda Ackerman is doing what the Ackerman’s seem to do best – mislead the public; here into thinking they’re actually renting an abode in Fullerton. She claims that she and Dick are renting three rooms, plus “kitchen privileges.” What a load of crap. Granny units have kitchens, Linda.

Instead Mrs. Ackerman is renting an address on Lindendale in order to legitimize a carpetbagging political campaign. Nobody, not even her camp followers believe she is living in the place.

The second funniest part of this sad lie is that she claims that renting an apartment is just soooo hard! How would she know? Did she actually try?

And the funniest part is how the sycophant Wisckol just passes along this tripe, all gussied up for credibility now that a “real” reporter has posted it. Note also that Wisckol says there is a “whisper campaign” that his dear Linda is carpetbagging. WTF?

Listen up Marty:

LINDA ACKERMAN IS AN IRVINE CARPETBAGGER!

Is that loud enough for you, Mr. Wisckol? And just in case you missed it:

We wouldn't be surprised if these didn't sstart popping up along Chapman Avenue...
We wouldn't be surprised if these started popping up along Chapman Avenue...

The Ackerman Hillbillies

hillbillies14
Get ready y'all, we're a-comin', we're a-comin'!!

(Sung to the tune of “The Beverly Hillbillies” theme song.)

Come and listen to a story ’bout a man named Dick,
A rich senateer, with a veneer just like brick.
Then one day when he’s shootin’ for a blog,
His current zip code blew away all the fog.

Nice house…
Garden’s well-tended…
Don’t look like the 72nd…

While up in Sacramento a feller named Duvall,
Did some heavy breathin’ in the microphone for all,
To hear how he’s been rulin’ for the public right,
And spankin’ those lobbyists long into the night.

Gotta keep on top of ’em…
Give ’em an inch…
They’ll still want more…

Well the first thing you know Dick’s wife has dyed her hair,
Their neighbors said, “Linda, move away from there!”
Up north in Fullerton’s the place you ought to be!”
So they’re packin’ up their bags, getting ready to flee.

Far north OC…
BBQs…
Pork and beans…

Seems his wife wants to pick up where old Dick left off,
Livin’ high in Fullerton, feedin’ from the trough,
They’d like another house, if their landing can be soft,
A mansion, a bungalow, or even a loft.

Anything will do…
Don’t need much…
Just more votes…
Bring ’em on in…

So think about these tales when it come time to vote,
Makes it hard to swallow, like something in your throat,
If Dick and Linda try to make a power grab,
Let’s send ’em back to Irvine with their velvet carpetbag!

Y'all don't come back now, y'hear?
Y'all don't come back now, y'hear?

Dick Ackerman’s Legacy: a Hideous Monster

Oh my God! Kill it!
Oh my God! Kill it before it reproduces!

UPDATE: SINCE THIS POST WAS FIRST PUBLISHED ON JUNE 11, A LOT HAS HAPPENED. AS AN ONGOING PUBLIC SERVICE TO HIGHLIGHT THE BEHAVIOR AND HABITS OF THE ACKERMAN FAMILY WE RE-POST THIS ITEM. WE NOTE THAT IT PRESCIENTLY DESCRIBES THE ACKERMAN FAMILIES EXODUS TO IRVINE.

Some observant folks might inquire as to why a map of the 33rd State Senate District is such an ungainly looking thing. Why is Fullerton attached to the rest of it by the narrowest of territorial filaments?  Who thinks that the constituents of Fullerton should or want to be represented in the State Senate by the same person representing people who live in Laguna Niguel and Ladera; or vice versa, for that matter? Our old friend Dick Ackerman, that’s who.

Wikipedia diplomatically describes the cause of the 33rd’s odd shape as redistricting – driven by “population growth” in South Orange County. Frankly, this description is just too idiotic to contemplate. The entry omits the key member of that southward population growth – Dick Ackerman – former Fullerton Councilman and State Assemblyman, who ran for the old 33rd senate seat in 2000 after he had already moved out of Fullerton. Can anybody believe the inclusion of Ackerman’s old Fullerton stomping grounds in what is otherwise an eastern and southern county district, is the result of an objective redistricting? Or could it be that a lot of deal making was going on in the cut and paste creation of AB632 that established the new senate districts?

He looks a little better with soft lighting...
Dick's district looks a little better with soft lighting...

Also of note is that upside down wedge of the 34th District that intrudes north of the 91 with an odd little projection that stretches up to Raymond and Chapman. A coincidence? Maybe, if you believe in such fantasies as tooth fairies and political coincidences. Here’s a map you Friends can zoom in on:

Live and learn.

Interestingly enough, if Dick A sought to warn off challengers through these district boundaries, he needn’t have bothered. He won election in 2000 with about 65% of the vote; in 2004 he got 69%. We got fellow district denizens in the Capistrano Valley. Well, maybe Dick just liked visiting his old pals in Fullerton while toting an impressive job title. Who knows? The upshot is that we are now represented by one Mimi Walters who hails from South County.

By the way, Loyal Friends, here’s how the pros did it in the old days:

The original gerry.mander
The original gerrymander. Are you our daddy?

Linda Ackerman Announces Candidacy for 72nd Assy District; Federated Republican Bluehairs Run Wild in Streets of Raymond Hills

Yes. It's Naturally Blue.
Yes. It's Naturally Blue.

UPDATE: A WISE GUY COMMENTER MADE A SNIDE REMARK ABOUT THE SIZE OF THE IMAGE ABOVE. BUT RATHER THAN BE OVERLY SENSITIVE, WE HAVE UNCOVERED ANOTHER IMAGE THAT WE THOUGHTFULLY SHARE BELOW.

Is this better?
Is this better?

Well, it’s official. Linda Ackerman the wife of our former State Senator and Assemblyman, Dick, has decided to run in a special election to replace the Ackermans’ old pal, disgraced perv Mike Duvall, for the 72nd Assembly seat now vacated by the latter.

Mrs. Ackerman has a few things going for her, including a lot of contacts with big money and a husband who knows a lot of people; and she made it pretty clear to Martin Wisckol at the Register that she intends an amicable relationship with all those Redevelopment interests. She also has zero political record so that it would be pretty hard for an opponent to go negative on her record – she hasn’t got any. And as a woman – possibly the only woman on the Republican ballot – she could get a gender boost.

But she’s got some practical problems, too. First off, she doesn’t live in the 72nd District and although she doesn’t seem to think living in Irvine for the past decade is an encumbrance, we’re not too sure that many north countians won’t resent a carpetbagger. So she’s gotta move – presumably to Fullerton – and set up a temporary residence, at least through a primary. Second, her strength of no political record is also a liability: no experience either. Third, any ties with Duvall’s sordid 72nd career are bound to come out. Fourth, her opponent is none other than Chris Norby, a sitting County Supervisor who already has a lot of money in the bank and has pretty high name recognition in the district – in which he actually lives.

Behind all the ifs and buts is one solid truth. Mrs. Ackerman’s spouse detests Norby with a weird passion, and obviously sees his wife’s candidacy as an opportunity to do his enemy a bad turn. Ackerman went out of his way to endorse an unknown ribbon clerk for the County Clerk job when Norby had his eyes set on that dubious prize. And now Ackerman’s plan is perfectly transparent: suck up all of Norby’s money advantage in a special election primary for the 72nd, beat him, and then watch with satisfaction as a tapped out Norby is bested by a politcal novice for the Clerk job. Sayonara Norby, Sacramento here we come. Again.

Another Ackerman For Fullerton?

CA_ackermanphoto
You people remember my husband, right?

Martin Wisckol over at the Register wrote about the possibility of Mrs. Linda Ackerman, wife of  former State Senator, Assemblyman, Fullerton Councilman, and gerrymanderer par excellence , running in a special election to replace disgraced Mike “the Big Dripper” Duvall in Sacto. You can read about it right here .

Several thoughts spring immediately to mind. First, Wisckol reached Mrs. Ackerman while she and Dick were vacationing in France at the home of the Marquis de Sade. We’ll just let that one go except to add that that’s a pretty apt place to announce you’re might just replace Mike “Spanky” Duvall.

Second, Mrs. Ackerman doesn’t live in the district. She and Dick decamped a while back when his field of operations permitted him to move south. We don’t care for carpetbaggers even if they used to live here and we care even less for the spouses of politicos who trade on their mates political connections. Mrs. Ackerman’s political star has ascended in a not-so-curious trajectory, as her husband’s career wound down. She’s on the MWD board and that gives one cause to pause lately.

Third is the great irony of immediately placing yourself in the discussion about replacing a degenerate that was handpicked for office in the first place by your hubby and his “in crowd” GOP hacklings. Look how that one turned out!

Come on over to my ranch, and I'll tell you about the time I got famous.
Come on over to my ranch, and I'll tell you about the time I got famous.

Fourth, we read in Wisckol that Mrs. Ackerman claims she is conservative, but does not share Chris Norby’s anti-Redevelopment stance. In other words, she likes government intruding into local development and business, she likes affordable housing set-asides, she digs corporate subsidies, and she admires all the other big-government baggage that Redevelopment brings with it; hardly conservative at all, really. Well, hooray! Now we know what the Ackermans mean when they use the term conservative.

Finally, we note the possibility of a Norby-Ackerman rematch of the 1995 assembly election between Chris and Mrs. Ackerman’s husband, a spectacle in which Dick proved just how low he could go. Ackerman loathes Norby with a undisguised passion that has long since crossed over the threshold of obsession. Although the match would be highly entertaining, fulfilling a brain-dead family vendetta is a poor reason to do much of anything, let alone run for public office. Mrs. Ackerman should stay in Irvine.

Norby Throws Hat In Ring

Norbyphoto

The word of Mike Duval’s resignation has spread like a wildfire. I just got off the phone with soon to be termed out Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby and according to Chris even though he’s only had 30 minutes to think about this he told me, “I believe this is an opportunity I have to take”! “Opportunity”? Hell, this is the Red Sea parting.

Everyone who knows Chris’ avowed principles knows that he would better serve the public by being in Sacramento and advocating for Redevelopment reform than by hanging around Civic Center Drive and Broadway recording “vital” records. There’s no better place to advocate for Redevelopment reform than in Sacramento.

Goooo Norby, we’re behind you 100%.

Norby for State Assembly

With the disgrace and unavoidable collapse of our State Assembly-zit Mike Duvall of Yorba Linda, a perfect opportunity has arisen for our termed-out 4th District County Supervisor Chris Norby to step into the picture.

Whoo-hoo! The best part is it'll drive Ackerman crazy!
Whoo-hoo! The best part is it'll drive Ackerman crazy!

Chris has taken some heat here from some of our fellow FFFF bloggers for his County Clerk campaign which to some of them gave off an aroma of desperation for a job. Well, the politico gods seem to have placed a job right in Norby’s lap – a job at which he would excel – statewide policy – particularly Redevelopment reform. Do it Chris!

Duvall Drops Pants; Calls Attention To Fact

What a Guy!

The rather gross story that has emerged about our State Assemblyman Mike Duvall the insurance salesman from Yorba Linda will not be retold here. It is related in disgusting detail by the relentless Scott Moxley at the OC Weekly here.

We’re not so much offended by this clown’s infidelities, which are his business, as by the utter lack of tact in bragging about them, and the stupidity of doing so in an open mike. Why can’t the GOP find better representatives? And why does the same cast of characters – including Dick Ackerman and Ed Royce – keep foisting these nitwits on us?

PS – JC, I believe this is the thread you may wish to comment on.

Here’s another source for the Duvall video: http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2009/09/ca-assemblyman-mike-duvall-resigns.html