Last week we presented this hilarious dialog between a distraught taxpayer and a union firefighter, which became an instant hit across the country. While the clip had no problem making it onto the workstations of public agencies far and wide, we also had many requests for a G-Rated version.
Despite our concern that self-censorship may inhibit the fine directorial talents of our anonymous Oliver Stone, he was happy to oblige:
Of course, most will probably prefer the original profanity-laced version here: Stop the Madness Now!
After reading the Desert Rat’s pithy and mordant post about the likelihood of having three antiquated and liberal repuglican geezers on the Fullerton City Council, I felt compelled to respond with my own message – a message of hope and good will to those who can only contemplate Ed Royce’s RINO triad with a sense of gorge-rising horror.
No, I will not dwell upon the morbid actuarial statistics for the American male. Rather I invite the Friends to contemplate, along with me, the New Reality. My grandfather Frank always admonished us to seek out the proverbial silver lining in bad news; and so we shall. The Economic Recession that has hit so many in the private sector, and that so far has barely affected the public sector at all, will, in 2011, deliver its overdue bill to government employees.
Can Obama keep cranking out money fast enough to preserve all the government jobs it has protected so far through the comically named American Recovery and Reinvestment Act? The answer to that is likely no. Not after the November election. And even if he could, California had received barely 10 billion through the end of the last fiscal year – not nearly enough to grease all the bureaucratic skids in our dysfunctional state at the various levels. The presses just can’t print that fast.
The chances of raising local taxes, like Don Bankhead did (and McKinley and Jones would have likely joined him) in 1993 seems dim. Nobody’s going to stand for it. Not even the ignoramuses who voted them in.
And this leaves us with the spectacle of the public employees fighting among themselves for their share of the diminishing fiscal pie. And to that I say: Amen! Competition is good. It causes us constantly to assess our priorities. It’s true that the cops and emergency service providers will have the advantage, standing, as they already do, at the head of the line. But will the public stand for library or park closures in order to fund these people? The RINO mantra of “public safety” can only take its chanters so far. Sooner or later reality demands a check.
And hovering in the back of the room, like the chorus in a Greek tragedy is the specter of municipal bankruptcy, Vallejo-style – the game changing possibility that all public administrators and employees should want to avoid like a plague. But the public may have reason to be more ambivalent about that prospect.
Out here on Screech Owl Road, east of Twentynine Palms you can see things pretty clearly. Sometimes the heat causes shimmer mirages; sometimes the wind kicks up some devilish sand storms – the kind that can strip the chrome off your Hummer. But most of the time you get used to seeing a long way. Even as far away as my former home, Fullerton.
Pudding cups!Banacek called. He wants his clothes back.
The City Council race of 2010 is already over. You will re-elect the brain dead sea cucumber known as Don Bankhead – pension spiker, staff stooge, abysmal decision maker. And you will also elect Pat McKinley – poster boy for pension abuse, supporter of the hideous Ackerwoman, repuglican de-jour, and yet another retired cop. And it won’t even be close.
Bankhead, Dick Jones, McKinley; please contemplate that triumverate of septuagenarian, lint-headed, RINO back washers and tell me why you aren’t in deep shit. Can anyone say gerontocracy?
In the two-year seat Bruce Whitaker has a chance, but let’s face it: he’s up against a bankrupt and a carpetbagging food poisoner. Really, I don’t see how he can pull it off.
Aw, none of those folks died...
Fullerton, the Education Community, has a special knack for electing the weak, the feeble-minded, the incomprehensible. Jeez, do I have to draw you a diagram? Molly McClanahan, Buck Catlin, Julie Sa, Peter Godfrey, HeeHaw Jones, Mike Clesceri, Leland Wilson, Pam Keller. This rougues gallery of incompetence even starts to make Jan Flory look good. Well, no, cancel that.
Plenty of bad ideas were tossed about at the candidate at the forum on Monday night, but this one from council hopeful Doug Chaffee takes the cake:
So according to Chaffee, doubling the hotel tax in the middle of a recession will bring more hotels and visitors into the area. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of logic behind his idea, but perhaps that’s why he calls it “magical.”
Chaffee pushes the idea further by suggesting that Fullerton should “generate” (aka subsidize) a new hotel to compete with Disneyland, the most famous theme park in the entire world.
Gee, another one?
Of course we’re later reassured by Chaffee that the tax would only be tacked on to “other people” who make the mistake of taking brief refuge in our city. That’s the old divide-and-conquer tax scheme that’s plagued California businesses for a long time: levy heavy taxes against each industry, one at a time. Who’s next?
Hey Doug, a tax is a tax, and there has never been a worse time to raise taxes. And quit trying to convince us that we should be more like Anaheim.
This press release just came over from the Greg Sebourn campaign:
With a 2/3 margin, the Orange County Republican Party’s Central Committee voted to give Greg Sebourn the Party’s endorsement. The vote came after a 5-0 recommendation from the Endorsement Committee just two weeks ago.
“The Orange County Republican Party stood up and spoke. Clearly they want to further advance the Party’s platform which speaks of limited government, lower taxes, and the power of the entrepreneur,” says endorsed council candidate Greg Sebourn. “The Party has recognized that being a Republican In Name Only, or RINO, does nothing to advance the conservative movement. RINOs are what have turned off so many good conservatives from the Republican Party.”
The endorsement comes just days after Sebourn received endorsements from the California Republican Assembly (Fullerton), the North Orange County Conservative Coalition, and the Fullerton Tea Party. Greg Sebourn is also endorsed by Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, Assemblyman Chris Norby, and Supervisor Shawn Nelson.
Greg Sebourn has distinguished himself from the other 4-year candidates with his promises to not take the City’s pension and medical benefits, to close down the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency, and reform the City’s broken and unfunded pension system.
If you would like to meet Greg Sebourn, please attend the grand opening of his new campaign headquarters, Tuesday, September 28, 5:30PM, at 511 S. Harbor Blvd. , Fullerton 92832 . The headquarters is being shared by Assemblyman Chris Norby, Bruce Whitaker (candidate for the 2-year seat), and Chris Thompson (candidate for the Fullerton School Board) all of whom will be on hand to speak with.
More information about Greg can be found on the campaign website at www.gregsebourn.com.
The charges leveled by the OC DA Tony Rackauckas against Roland Chi were as long as your arm, and stemmed from the tsunami of flagrant and persistent health code violations at a Garden Grove market. The case appears to have finally culminated in a plea agreement reached last April.
The dining experience was not world class...
An alert Friend calling him/herself Vic Tayback noticed that our hapless DA, just a few short months later, has lent his name to the Chi Fullerton Council campaign as an endorser! Wow, that’s setting the bar pretty low, even for Rackauckas, and of course not only makes you wonder what T-Rack’s endorsement is worth, but also to contemplate the composition of the man’s moral fiber – if any exists.
Jesus, it's not like he actually killed anybody...
Rack has been criticized in the past for his inability or unwillingness to pursue political corruption in OC – like Harry Siduh’s blatant perjury. Now it appears he is willing to endorse just about any kind of misfeasance.
When you put your name on the ballot, you’re asking voters to trust you with hundred million dollar budgets and the power of a government office. Therefore, it is a duty of the public to make sure that each candidate is qualified to handle this burden of responsibility. Anybody with a financial history that cannot stand up to basic scrutiny should not put themselves out in front of the voters.
On that note, Aaron Gregg should not be running for Fullerton City Council.
Okay, creditors to the back of the line!
You see, attorney Aaron Charles Gregg filed for a $107,000 bankruptcy about 10 years ago, discharging over $75,000 in federal and state back taxes and $30,000 in other debts to individuals and businesses, all while claiming $8,000 a month in income from his business.
It’s all laid bare in these papers that were filed in federal bankruptcy court, which show that Aaron Gregg neglected to pay his taxes for most of the years from 1992 through 1998. When the debt piled up, he hired an attorney and let it all go.
Among the more curious items in the filings, Aaron Gregg listed assets of $25 dollars cash, $200 in clothes, $75 wrist watch and some office supplies. Times must have been tough for this professional attorney of 21 years. Fortunes were about to change, however, when he realized that he would be able to dump his debt but keep his leased $5,000 Savin copier. I bet that will come in handy some day.
I'll need that when I run for city council.
The documents also show that halfway through the bankruptcy process, Aaron Gregg discovered that he might also owe money to a family in San Pablo City, Philippines. What could that be for? Well they’re never going to vote in Fullerton. Might as well get rid of that debt too.
It was a bad investment.
In the end, it looks like Aaron was able to dump over $100,000 owed to nine different creditors, two of which were government agencies. When the tax man doesn’t get his revenue, guess who gets to make up for it? That’s right, you and me. And somehow I have a feeling that Aaron Charles Gregg made it out of this financial mess and has been doing just fine ever since. But that’s no reason for him to think he’s a valid candidate to run our city.
On second thought, Aaron’s keen ability to get himself out of unwieldy financial commitments may come in handy when it’s time for Fullerton to escape our massive redevelopment and pension debts. But it’s probably safer to just call him in as a consultant.
California Fair Political Practices Commission reports show that Fullerton City Council candidate Roland Chi contributed $1,000.00 to the Friends of Mike Carona during the first quarter of 2006. Carona was barely re-elected to a third term in June of that year.
Yes, it’s a big list of contributors, but you won’t find the name of Bruce Whitaker on it.
How about a big round of applause for Roland Chi, recently of Garden Grove, for helping now convicted felon Mike Carona to squeak by with 50.9% of the vote, enough for Carona to avoid a runoff in November of that year. Carona was indicted while in office the next year, exposing the OCSD to needless upheaval and Orange County to national ridicule.
What does this contribution say about Mr. Chi’s ability to judge character? Do we want someone willing to fall in to line with Mike Carona on the Fullerton City Council?
The latest Mickadiet column gave Fullerton candidate Barry Levinson a chance to tell us what he really thinks of mayor Don Bankhead, and Barry did not disappoint.
See, Barry contacted the mayor when he learned that a sex offender was about to move into his neighborhood, which should have been protected by Jessica’s Law due to it’s proximity to Laguna Lake park.
Barry Levinson
The way Barry tells it, Bankhead did nothing to solve the neighborhood’s sex offender problem. Well actually, it’s worse than that. Bankhead launched a typical delay and distract strategy to avoid facing the issue, doing nothing while telling Barry that he was working on it. In Levinson’s own words:
He said Bankhead “assured us he was ‘on our side’ and would get back to us within a few days with more information.” Ten days went by, “no call from Mayor Bankhead.” When they finally talked, he says, Bankhead “had no answers for us but assured us he was still working the problem. That was the last time the mayor ever spoke to us … He did absolutely nothing. This mayor always touts his police background … What a total disappointment.”
What?
City staff told Bankhead that Jessica’s Law had no teeth, so there was nothing that the police could do about it. Great. Responsibility absolved, right? Rather than pursue the issue by pushing for a new ordinance (a task that Levinson ended up taking on himself), Bankhead opted for the do-nothing-and-hope-Barry-the-citizen-goes-away approach.
Major backfire. Now Barry is challenging the Burger King’s 22-year rule.
Proud to call Fullerton home. Said the same thing about Garden Grove two years ago.
Living in Garden Grove, apparently.
Okay, first things first. Never heard of Roland Chi, before? There’s probably a real good reason for that.The Fullerton City Council candidate running to replace Supervisor Shawn Nelson has lived in Fullerton for less than three years. At most. Here’s a snippet from the minutes of the Garden Grove City Council that was thinking about a replacement for Janet Nguyen:
April 16, 2007: It was moved by Mayor Dalton, seconded by Council Member Nguyen, that Roland Chi be appointed to fill the vacancy on the City Council. Council Member Nguyen spoke about Roland Chi’s many achievements at a relatively young age, including the Garden Grove Farmer’s Market. Council Member Broadwater moved a substitute motion to appoint Steve Jones to fill the vacancy on the City Council. Council Member Nguyen seconded the motion. Council Member Rosen commented that Mr. Chi is too young, needing real life experience that comes with age.
As Roland coyly puts it on his own website: During this time, he was appointed to a city planning commission and later chosen by his peers to serve as Chairman.
Well that’s pretty sneaky, not informing his readers that he never served on Fullerton’s Planning Commission. It was in another city, and less than three years ago.
But Roland’s a real climber alright, and has recently joined up in the right Fullerton Rotarian/Chamber crews. But will it make up for no real accomplishment?
Hmm. A candidate pops up out of nowhere looking for a political future.
I love you all...
And who does this remind you of? How about Julie Sa, who popped up like a weed in 1992, bought the election, embarrassed the City for eight years, and who finally pulled out in 2000 when it was discovered that she was actually living in Chino Hills?
Well, Hell, anybody can legally run for office in Fullerton so long as they actually live here; but has the political process become so cynical that some guy with almost no history of residency here is willing to put his name on the ballot alongside people who have served the community for years?
