The north part of Orange County has a notorious lack of parks and open space. And while the County of Orange spends millions on its park system annually, including vast tracts of parkland in south county, and even on the Harbor Patrol in the wealthy enclave of Newport Beach, us taxpayers up north get almost nothing. We have Craig Park and Clark Park which total about 130 acres; meanwhile the County controls around 60,000 acres of park and open space counting the new Irvine Company “gift.” Now that’s just wrong.
Former 4th District Supervisor Chris Norby kept talking about this unfairness, but he never actually accomplished anything to fix the inequity. Norby’s successor Shawn Nelson also made this topic a campaign issue. Will he be able to succeed where his predecessor tapped out? Let’s hope so. The opportunity for additional parkland, and even bike trails in utility rights-of-way are there. It may not be easy, but some of us voters expect elected folks to do the hard stuff.
Our $300,000 tax dollars a year working hard for us?
I found this article in the PR Newswire, United Business Media dated 17th June 2010.
“This was an invaluable opportunity for our mediators to experience the common physical and emotional challenges that are a part of the aging process,” said Mike Finkle, Human Relations Specialist for OC Human Relations. “For awhile, our mediators were able to, nearly literally, ‘take a walk in the shoes’ of seniors and others who live with such challenges every day.
To simulate experiencing the difficulties of living with arthritis, for example, program participants were asked to don heavy, clumsy gloves and then button their shirts or open medication bottles and handle small pills. Participants also put popcorn in their shoes and walked around to simulate the feeling of painful joints.”
The Orange County Human Relations Commission, a dinosaur agency foisted upon tax payers for thirty years, again shows how negligible its services are to our community.
Orange County Human Relations Specialist Mike Finkle, an employee of this commission, earns his tax dollar subsidized paycheck by walking around a room with popcorn in his shoes and attempting to button his shirt and open pill bottles while wearing, thick, clumsy gloves.
When will our county government leaders wise up to this sham agency and pull the plug on funding this silly tax dollar subsidized commission and its executive director who pulls down a six figure salary.
Our economic crisis that experts predict will be a double-dip recession, forces our county government to cut needed police and fire protection to Orange County’s residents. Yet, our county’s board of supervisors is afraid to stop funding this piece of fluff called the Orange County Human Relations Commission.
I believe most will agree with me when I say I would rather have more police or fire protection in Orange County than a person walking around with popcorn in his shoes who puts on thick, clumsy gloves to button his shirt.
For our county board of supervisors to have credibility with the voters, they must sensibly act and trim the real fat from government by cutting funding to the Orange County Human Relations Commission.
That was Hide and Seek Sidhu’s campaign mantra. And it seems as if his pals at the OCEA are serious about creating jobs, too. Here is an entry from craigslist a helpful Friend forwarded:
Communications Coordinator
Date: 2010-06-23, 9:07AM
The Orange County Employees Association was established in 1937 and represents many employees of the County of Orange and numerous cities and districts in Orange County. We are looking for a person with creative and organized thinking, excellent multi-tasking skills, outgoing personality and a desire for a career in a people-oriented field. This position requires an enthusiastic individual, self-motivated, who strives to get the job done right, exercises good judgment, pays attention to detail, and is always willing to learn something new. We are located in Santa Ana and would prefer that the successful candidate live within 20 miles of our office.
Job Expectations:
Under limited supervision, provide a wide variety of moderately complex communication services, including but not limited to developing a quarterly magazine, updating website content, writing articles, and administering election campaigns. Required to have an in-depth knowledge of journalism principles and practices and English composition.
• Must have some journalistic experience and be able to demonstrate the ability to write in a clear, concise, creative and expeditious manner.
• In a very fast paced environment, have the ability to be well organized, creative, remember complex tasks and follow through daily, weekly, monthly, and annually.
• Supervise and work closely with Communications Coordinator (Graphic Designer).
• Serve as Senior Editor of the quarterly magazine; plan and produce each issue from beginning to end, including identifying articles, writing articles, and developing and working with others regarding ideas for magazine layout. Work closely with printing company and post office.
• Manage website content. Create content to be posted daily or weekly, ensure that the website is up-to-date. Recommend major changes to website design, direction and content to ensure it accurately represents and communicates information.
• Must be able to work on multiple assignments simultaneously, use common sense and experience to prioritize work and budget time according to the importance of the project and the time available. Assignments must often be completed under tight deadlines.
• Develop and produce presentations, determine focus and format of presentations, research and develop editorial and graphic content, compile necessary materials.
• Be highly skilled in the use of computers and the internet, with quick working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook. Website experience highly desired.
• Establish schedules, strategies and communications methods for providing effective communications and marketing programs that promote OCEA’s goals.
• Consistently follow through assignments to completion, honor deadlines, be detail-oriented and punctual at all times. When needed, work afterhours to get the job done without being asked.
• Be willing to assist others, and commit to placing team and organizational goals ahead of personal ambition.
• Must be dependable and at work each day.
• Must have a positive attitude.
• Work directly with staff, when needed, to proof or write necessary written materials.
• Responsible for the gathering, preparation and control of records for the Communications Division.
• Take photographs of a wide variety of onsite and offsite meetings, activities and events.
• May serve as member of a team on communications-related projects.
If you are interested in this exciting opportunity, please email your resume with a cover letter that includes salary history, and samples of your writing to employment@oceamember.org. We offer competitive salary with excellent benefits. No phone calls please.
Compensation: Competitive salary, paid medical, 12 holidays, sick time, comp time, 401k matching, pension
Principals only. Recruiters, please don’t contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.
Hmm. I got to thinking about this, and a natural candidate came to mind. Aw, come on. You were thinking the same thing, right? Go ahead, admit it:
I can do that...
Of course they will not be paying anybody 200 simoleons an hour, but hey, in this downturn a job’s a job, right?
Us rock-ribbed Republicans believe in lots of transparency and accountability.
It’s true. Ask anybody. Everybody says they want accountability and transparency in government, especially political candidates; but those in authority have a lot of incentive to keep their doings free from risk – the risk of being exposed as responsible for some screw-up or other; and the risk of fighting the inertia produced by institutional dead weight in a gravity-free environment. And of course the ability to pass along lucrative contracts to their pals.
And all this bring me to the point of this essay: it’s time for the Orange County Board of Supervisors to take charge of semi-autonomous agencies that have been operating under the public radar. Two of these “hidden governments” spring most immediately to mind: the Children and Families Commission – that seems to have been operating as a cash cow for the local repuglican machine, and the OC Cemetary District, ditto.
The Children and Families Commission is a poster child for liberal, under-scrutinized government. You may agree with its goals and method of revenue collection. But even if whole-village child rearing and confiscatory income redistribution are your cup of tea, you have to admit that paying a connected political operative like Matthew J. Cunningham $200 an hour to update Facebook and read blogs and hand out toothbrushes must diminish from the resources available to actually help kids. And what’s with all the lobbying? Hundreds of thousands worth in any given year at the State level, with Anaheim’s mayor-for-hire Curt Pringle being the chief beneficiary.
And then there’s the Cemetery District that paid Pringle to find a new graveyard and paid him another $25,000 as bonus for finding a site in Brea. I’m not even sure if Brea is going to go along with this, but let’s hope Pringle’s fee included guaranteed entitlements from the city. But I digress. The real issue here is why the District hired Pringle at all to do the work of a real estate professional whose compensation would have been a partial commission from the seller, not the taxpayers.
Well, we’ve got some new blood on the 5th Floor of the Hall of Administration, and hopefully these guys will start to attend to these and other agencies that need to be examined, made accountable, taken over, and if appropriate, disbanded. Sure, the ‘pugs will squeal and squawk.
And that’s when you know you’re doing the right thing.
In a stunning reversal of fortune, 4th District Supervisorial candidate Lorri Galloway has leaped back in front of now 4th place holder Art Brown by two dozen votes.
“We told you this would happen,” exulted campaign front man Dan Chmielewski. “Third place is great. 4th place would be a disaster. This really proves that Galloway lives in the district and that her heart lies here. I can’t tell you how proud we are of Lorri. This is all about relevance. I gave Lorri two hundred dollars and I am very relevant.
A way back, when her carpetbagging candidacy actually seemed plausible in some circles, Anaheim Hills’ Precious Princess unleashed a video campaign that portended all sorts of unintended hilarity.
It was called “Lorri in 4th Gear” and was supposed to feature the Precious One in meaningful dialog with her would-be constituents. The first video was so comical and so amateurish that there were no more.
Now, Galloway’s efforts have given new meaning to the phrase “Lorri in 4th Gear” as she has now slipped under the vote count tallied by Buena Park’s Art Brown – who barely campaigned at all and is now in third place. Here are the latest numbers posted by the ROV:
SHAWN NELSON
15,269
30.4%
HARRY SIDHU
9,201
18.3%
ART BROWN
8,125
16.2%
LORRI GALLOWAY
8,101
16.1%
ROSE MARIE ESPINOZA
6,231
12.4%
RICHARD FAHER
3,240
6.5%
As you can see, things aren’t looking too good for Lorri’s Legacy. Of course her dollar to vote count isn’t nearly as embarrassing as Hide and Seek Harry Sidhu and his union pals, so there’s always that perspective to fall back on.
The other day we shared this image of Harry Sidhu supporter and Orange County Business Council boss Lucy Dunn leading a gaggle of ‘pug “insiders” in a sing along.
In the final act of the eponymous opera, Tosca throws herself off the prison wall. Is Lucy getting ready for the final aria and the big jump?
Now that the rodents are leaping off the sinking SS Sidhu, word is starting to leak out from former crew members that the non-paid “volunteer” John Lewis, was neck deep in the Sidhu scampaign for county supervisor in a district in which he doesn’t live.
In fact, that way we hear it, The Lewis Group, which consists of John Lewis and his partner Matt Holder, basically took over the campaign. Of course they won’t be bragging about it after what happened.
This news explains a lot. Such as why Matthew Cunningham was doing his level best to promote the hapless and helpless Sidhu while pretending to be objective – as usual.
No, I tell you. I have never even met the man.
But this situation also raises other questions. Such as: will Sidhu be reporting the Lewis Group’s unpaid professional services on his behalf as an in-kind campaign contribution? Hmm.
All that’s left is a chair, a box, and a bag of trash.
Okay, to be accurate we’re not sure that this wasn’t the only stuff that was ever in Hide and Seek’s humming Fullerton HQ – the one from which hundreds of mythical “volunteers” were to fan out, spreading the Sidhu gospel of “job, job, jobs.”
Either way, the forlorn space is a perfect metaphor for the completely hollow Sidhu campaign. And apparently Fightin’ Harry wants even more self-inflicted abuse.
The Voice of OCEA, Norberto Santa penned this gem yesterday about a gathering of useless RINOs, government parasites and supposed “insiders.” The thrust of the story is that these creeps predicted a Sidhu victory. Why?
Just check out this image borrowed from The Voice of OCEA site:
The Tool Bank is now open...
Yep, there’s the useless pension spiker Bill Campbell on the left standing next to another useless pension spiker who actually did it twice, the pathetic Tom Wilson, former Supervisor of the 5th District.
Good God! What a collection of RINOs and repuglicans of the worst kind: the ones who champion Redevelopment, and who use other tools like Matthew J. Cunningham to pitch the delusion that discretionary land use entitlements are some sort of “property right.” Hey there’s Lucy Dunn who backed the Hairball, too.
Of course Campbell supported Sidhu as part of his and John Lewis’s master plan to get rid of both Nelson and Hairball.
Everything is for sale!
Apparently Curt Pringle, Anaheim’s sleazy Mayor for Sale was hand to prop up his tottering boy Sidhu; but talk about too little, too late! Pringle sure took it on the chops yesterday, and making fun of the party chairman Scott baugh ain’t gonna win him any Brownie points for that High Speed Rail merit badge he’s been working on for so many years.
Of course for Santana, a last minute, pro-Sidhu piece tinged with a little gratuitous anti-Nelson shit is par for the course. Poor little Norberto! He wants people to think he’s a real journalist instead of what he really is: a toady to a union boss with no reportorial integrity or scruples.
