Back Room Deals at the FPD; Hughes Wants Blatney, Craig and Hampton Back on Our Streets

What we have here is failure to communicate...

Acting Chief Dan Hughes has been trying real hard lately to peddle the notion that he is in charge of a new and improved Fullerton Police Department, even though when you get right down to it there really wasn’t all that much to fix – just some irritating communication problems.

Although the scribes at the OC Register have apparently bought into this malarky, others who have seen the veritable conga line of crime perpetrated by the boys and girls in FPD blue, are a long way from being convinced. After all, the first step toward recovery is admitting the problem right?

Which is all preliminary to the point of this post.

Our FPD deep cover source informs us that Hughes is pressing to have three of the cops who ganged up on Kelly Thomas, and who stood around as he gasped his last breaths in the gutter, return to active duty. That would be cops Hampton, Blatney, and Craig. Of course he needs the DAs assurance that these goons won’t be prosecuted for anything. Which is why he came out with all that BS about how he and his boys were part of the “prosecution team” and why Tony Rackaukas praised the FPD for all their hard work for the benefit of Lou Ponsi. Looks like that deal’s done. It’s all about damage control now, and surely the City’s highly paid lawyer Michael Gennaco chipped in to help exonerate the three accomplices though his double top-secret report.

We have also been informed that although he is formally being fired, a back room deal is in the works to reward Joe Wolfe, the thug who started the murderous beat down on Kelly Thomas, with a nice, fat disability claim if he goes quietly. Of course we’ve been told that Wolfie re-injured his shoulder in the “tussle”, most likely bashing Kelly’s face with his elbow. That ought to good for a hundred thou’ of our money, give or take. Nice.

 

I Know Awful, And This is Awful

Get a load of the sort of useless crap The Three Bald Tires are wasting their contributor’s money on, accompanied by another thoughtful “press release” by the slouching sloth, Larry Bennett. Hard hitting? How about comically pathetic?

ANTI-RECALL COMMITTEE RELEASES HARD HITTING

AD CALLING OUT SPECIAL INTEREST KING TONY BUSHALA

 Fullerton, CA – Today the committee fighting the Tony Bushala funded Fullerton recall released an ad   that documents Bushala’s $260,000 effort to buy the Fullerton city council.  “Bushala’s special interest money has polluted Fullerton.  His rent-a-mob has been disrupting city council meetings for months.  Many of the people he paid to collect recall signatures are now regular gadflies at city council meetings. This ad exposes Bushala’s sinister power play – using Kelly Thomas’ death – to advance his political agenda,” declared committee chairman Larry Bennett.

Yes, folks, the blithering idiots who paid for this pathetic video are the same clowns who have been squandering your tax dollars for the past two decades. It all makes sense now, doesn’t it?

Two More “Aliens” in the FPD?

Former Fullerton Police Chief and current council recall target “Patdown” Pat McKinley once likened cops Manny Ramos and Jat Cicinelli to “aliens,” meaning, presumably, that the only plausible explanation for bad cops on his force must be a visit from extraterrestrial travelers.

Of course the litany of bad cops in the FPD has now gotten so long that you really have to wonder if McPension ever hired any regular human beings at all.

And now some more potential bad PR for the FPD – an e-mail we received about two more cops who ran into difficulties in 2009, and whose problems may have been swept under the proverbial rug:

Privacy: You may publish this, but protect my identity

Subject: bad cops

fpd officer christopher robert wren, date of arrest 01-30-2009, assault of a minor. case # MCH 900309 ..SH 200900572 .. but he took a deal…got probation and k9 officer………still on patrol….

officer gary potts, dui arrest date 07-17-2009. orange county case # 09cm08352… still on patrol and a corporal………

Christopher Wren, of course, was the second cop originally named in the lawsuit against the sex perv Albert “Alby Al” Rincon. His name was dropped later, but he must have some interesting stories to tell about his running buddy, Rincon. “Assault of a minor”? I wonder what that means.

The name Gary Potts is new; DUI? No bueno, if that’s true.

Naturally we’ll be looking into the these cases, particularly that of Mr. Wren to see if there’s any there, there.

Doug Chaffee Gets Serious…

Okay, get beyond the hilariously portentous music and the dyed hair, and choose your favorite phrases.

“A few changes…”

“If we can ever get there…”

“Right now we’re a little short…”

“Community based policing…”

I was standing in the lobby of City Hall last week as Chaffee went to the table there to fill out a speaker card, went outside to make a phone call, and then vanished. He just couldn’t get up there to say anything. maybe he finally realized that the jig was up.

After waiting 11 months and saying zip about the Kelly Thomas murder we’re supposed to believe this limp noodle wants to reform anything?

Are All 6 On the Way Out?

Don't get any closer, punk...

Brandon Ferguson at the Weekly is citing KPCC that cites other media outlets in passing along the news that all six of the Fullerton cops who participated in the beating death of Kelly Thomas last July have been given notices of termination.

This means that Craig, Blatney and Hampton have now joined the list that previously included Ramos, Wolfe and Cicinelli.

Of course official announcements are not forthcoming from the City since we the lowly taxpayers are not to know which cops are fired (if ever) and what for.

Since the sources have been cantilevered out there pretty far, I’ll withhold saying anything else until I can touch base with my source inside the FPD.

In the meantime, reflect on this: after the killing these cops were not disciplined; they were left on the streets by a leaderless department and a chummy city council majority – Jones, Bankhead and McKinley. Wolfe, Blatney, Hampton and Craig have been on paid leave since August, costing us several hundred thousand dollars.

Register’s David Whiting Up To Old Tricks

Smarmy and self-righteous only tells part of the story. Sycophatic, craven, and lazy tells the rest.

Whoring for the inept, sclerotic Establishment, that is.

Last fall Whiting was defending the cops that murdered Kelly Thomas and attacking the lynch-type mobs calling for justice.

Most recently he wrote a tribute to “both sides” that was nothing more than a wet love letter to the Three Bald Tires, defending their compassion and objecting to the use of the phrase “kingmaker” in reference to Tony “Bashula.” Brandon Ferguson of the OC Weekly writes about Whiting’s pabulum, here.

(Note: I refuse to link to the Register)

I find the then-and-now quotations remarkably self-serving. Maybe the Three Hollow Logs said something to Whiting in private, because I don’t remember those “before” statements at all. Whatever. What I do remember with crystal clarity these “before” comments:

Dr. HeeHaw (on local TV news): “…I’ve seen far worse injuries that were survivable. I don’t know what killed that man”

Patdown Pat McKinley: (on CNN): “I’ve had my eyes bloused a few times…facial injuries look terrible but they are not life threatening…they heal…”

Just to show you where Whiting’s true sympathies lay, here is Ferguson quoting Whiting’s cuddly description of killer cop Joe Wolfe:

Instead of referring to Officer Joe Wolfe as one of Kelly Thomas’s attackers, which the video clearly shows he is–he was first to strike Thomas with his baton–Whiting clumsily described him as “an uncharged officer and partner of one of those charged.”

Anybody who has ever owned a dog knows they have some nasty habits, including sniffing each other’s rear ends and ingesting their own vomit. But you have to give them credit for loyalty.

 

 

Ramos and Wolfe Out the Door?

Some folks are now reporting that Jay Cicinelli has been included along with Ramos and Wolfe.

– Joe Sipowicz

A source inside the FPD has just revealed that today Manuel Ramos and Joe Wolfe received termination papers from the FPD. How come? Interestingly, their offense was not provoking and participating in a brutal killing; rather, it was their refusal to talk to the City’s lawyer Michael Gennaco who was hired to do a report on the Kelly Thomas murder.

Hmm. I suppose the Three Tired Turnips will want to promote this as evidence of their hands-on management of the crisis and their dedication to good government. But if the information we have received is true it leaves Patdown Pat McPension and Co. with the awkward problem of Joe Wolfe, whose behavior has now been watched by over 100,000,000 people.

Hopefully it will also give the DA some gumption with regard to charging Wolfe in the killing.

Dave Ellis Visits FFFF; Leaves Slime Trail

The metamorphosis to an oxygen breathing life form was slow and painful...

We’ve just traced a string of obnoxious comments to an operation called Delta Partners. What is Delta Partners? It’s a front for the sleazoid repuglican bagman Dave “Dick” Ellis who tried to sell the OC Fair to himself, who hired Dick Ackerman as an illegal lobbyist to grease it, and who was later hired by Ackerman last fall to rip off the Three Dim Bulbs in a useless anti-recall campaign.

What a guy! Here are his comments, a pathetic amalgam of illiteracy and ignorance. Enjoy the wit and wisdom of Dave Ellis, intellectual voice of the anti-recall:

#33 by Cock A Doodle Do on May 21, 2012

Is that the street in front of Bushala’s house? The one where he’s got all the chickens running loose crapping in the street?

#94 by Recall Whitaker on May 12, 2012

Nice move Bruce. Nothing like convicting them before a jury does. Remember you work for all citizens of Fullerton. Your job is to represent ALL citizens. I want my Council Members to make decisions based on FACTS, not things you make up in your head. You still claim there is a cover up by the PD, yet you’ve done nothing to prove it. Why is that? I’ve heard you say the police reports were doctored, yet have you seen them? Can you prove they were?

Stop running your mouth unless you can back it up with FACTS! I want my Council Members to think before they speak. The problem is you can’t speak without Bushala or Thompson putting words in your mouth.

I say the citizens recall YOU.

#28 by Fidel Fullerton on March 10, 2012

I’m worth millions, I’ve had a successful medical career, I’ve served my country with honor, I’ve raised a wonderful family, and I to sit hear and listen to these FUCKING IDIOTS.

#30 by Freaky Fullerton on May 12, 2012

Whitacre you grandstanding fool. Had the video been released when you requested there would have been no audio. Just a grainy indecipherable mess that proved nothing. They audio was added in preparation for the preliminary hearing. When the DA tells you to refrain from stupid publicity stunts he does so for a reason. Let your Legislative buddies do the grandstanding, they’re much better at it.

#45 by Lucky Sperm Club on May 18, 2012

He was born with a Silver Schlong in his mouth.

How Dumb Can They Get? The Answer is Very.

When the esteemed council woke up from their nap, the tongue bath resumed.

Holy Smokes those anti-recall guys are dumb. How dumb? On their lame website some idiot just posted the hilariously funny and self-deprecating video made by Tony Bushala to mock his own critics. Apparently who ever uploaded the video never watched it; or they believe their audience is even dumber than they are. Well maybe they are!

Seriously, can anybody now believe that these people are qualified to run anything more complicated than an ant farm, let alone a city of 150,000 people?

Anyway here’s the video again. And thanks to chucklehead Larry Bennett and his dim bulb crew for giving it free air time.

 

Dan Hughes Has A Problem. So Do We.

During public comments at last night’s council meeting, at least two members of the public remarked that during the protests of the Kelly Thomas killing last fall, then captain, now Acting Chief Dan Hughes told them to wait until the video came out, and then they would see things differently.

Well, now that these people have seen the video, their reaction is not exactly what Mr. Hughes seemed to be waiting for. And this begs a very important question that goes to the heart of both Hughes’ character and the FPD Culture of Corruption.

First let us suppose and dispose the notion that Hughes’ admonition to the protesters was nothing more than a ploy to stall for time. Coming from a department in turmoil that hadn’t got a clue what to do or how to do it, temporizing may be seen as an understandable, if pathetic strategy.

But now let’s give the situation a little more thought. By his own remarkable admission, Hughes had seen the video 400 times. That’s ridiculous of course, but he obviously watched his boys kill an innocent man lots of times. Dozens? A hundred? Enough times perhaps, that he became inured to the unnecessary and inexcusable brutality. In a mental effort to defend the indefensible and picking apart the video like a defense lawyer in order to come up with plausible explanations that would get the killers off the hook, Hughes may well have lost sight of the murder of a human being played and replayed in front of his very eyes. And that’s bad.

But it might be even worse. It may very well be that in watching the video our Acting Chief saw nothing wrong going on, nothing outside of the policy and training that he espouses. After all, there is a reason that the cops went to work the very next day as if nothing untoward had happened. There is a reason that four of the aiders and abettors still remain on paid leave, a weird limbo in which they continue to be remunerated until the Gennaco report can be used to justify some action or other. It’s as if there is no procedural mechanism in place at all to deal with the sort of cops who stand around as the object of their brutality is dying, untended, a few away.

For those who mistakenly believe that Sharon Quirk and Hughes have ushered in some new period of reform in the FPD I suggest you think again. Apart from some alleged sensitivity training I assert that nothing has changed in the FPD’s culture at all, a culture that recently rewarded a loyal purveyor of disinformation with a promotion.