Friends For Fullerton's Future
FFFF supports causes that promote intelligent, responsible and accountable government in Fullerton and Orange County
Yes, we know the cops and their family members love the FPD. But you know who else loves the Fullerton police enough to chip in for those blue shirts?
Take a look at the most recent donations to the FPOA political committee for the period ending 6/30/12. It includes some familiar names.
Manuel Ramos
Jay Cicinelli
Albert Rincon
Sound familiar?
I am still struggling to get over the images from last week’s city council meeting in which one city councilman donned an “I ♥ Fullerton Police” t-shirt while another declared proudly “I support the Fullerton Police Department.” Another incongruous image also hard to clear from my mind: a city council chambers and adjoining room spilling over with people sporting the same t-shirts with the same baffling message.
Mr. Chafee and Mayor Quirk-Silva, I hope you don’t mind me telling you why I find these statements so inexplicable.
The Fullerton Police Department is an institution – an organization which hires individuals to enforce laws. In the last 16 months or so the number of reports of incidents of police misconduct and resulting lawsuits grew exponentially. The Kelly Thomas killing represented the brutality and savagery of out-of-control police, not merely locally, but globally. The brutally damaged face of Kelly dying in the hospital became an iconic image showing the depth of depravity to which law enforcement in our country has stooped. This was then followed by report after report of other victims of Fullerton police brutality: assaults, battery, false imprisonment, sexual assault, false arrest, perjury. Few if any of these crimes by the police were prosecuted, as if police officers in the City of Fullerton were far above the laws they ostensibly enforce. It wasn’t that long ago. OC Weekly did a whole cover story on “The Bullies in Blue.” Do you remember? You should. Your police force was the shame of the nation.
I’m sure you remember the name Kelly Thomas, because the citizens have insisted that you don’t forget. Do you remember the following names? Veth Mam. Andrew Trevor Clarke. Edward Quinonez. Emmanuel Martinez.Christopher Spicer Janku. How about the nameless victims of Albert Rincon, Vincent Mater, John Cross, and many others whom you “support” and now publically ♥?
Mr. Chafee and Ms. Quirk-Silva, do you know there were others brutalized by the police who were too afraid to talk, even to us? That they told us stories of being randomly assaulted but refused to go public because of fear that they would be falsely accused and charged if they did? How many others are out there, severely assaulted, beaten, and tortured by “our” police?
These crimes were committed by individual members of the Fullerton police, but the lack of investigations, adequate disciplinary measures (would anything less than firing be appropriate when you look at the details of these cases?), or reports on what the department leadership is going to do to prevent these things from happening again has NOT been forthcoming. All we have as evidence that the department has supposedly reformed – righted these wrongs, fired the brutalizers, implemented mechanisms to ensure that none of this can happen again – is their word. Is that word really good enough, given the severity of the crimes?
We need some type of law enforcement in Fullerton, but we need law enforcement that does not commit harm against the public. This is not a political stance, this is a public right – as basic and elementary a right as we have. The public’s right to safety from its own police comes before loyalty to an institution of government, before political alliances, before personal friendships with officers or officials, before the considerations of endorsements or campaign contributions or ideology or anything else. As elected officials you must serve the public and serving us means protecting us – in this case, from our police department who have shown that they are fully capable of inflicting grievous harm upon vulnerable citizens.
I do not understand how one can in good conscience embrace, love, or unconditionally support an institution that has a history of violently committing harm against the public. Voting your conscience or your beliefs on the issue of soliciting a bid from a rival law enforcement institution is one thing. Expressing love and support for an institution that has repeatedly hurt innocent members of the public, in front of a room swarming with police officers and their supporters, is a slap in the face to the victims and to the citizens of your city.
Friends, here’s a repeat post by our esteemed JFD from last November. It is even more trenchant now that his former mistress has declared war on the only two really good councilmen Fullerton has had as long as I can remember – and that’s a long time.
– The Desert Rat
Whenever my former mistress got into a mood or had a couple too many G&Ts, and picked up that broomstick I always made myself as inconspicuous as possible. Looking down from doggie heaven I can see she hasn’t changed much. It’s good to know she still has that metal rod firmly stuck in there.
Here she is at the Fullerton City Council meeting during public comments handing out some cooked-up award to Pat McKinley.
Notice how she grieves for Fullerton because of the incivility to her “esteemed” councilmen, Sleepy, Dopey, and Doc (I gotta tell ya she never grieved after whacking my orbital bone with that broomstick, but that’s a another story altogether, eye blousing-wise).
Obviously she has set a rather low bar for estimation; if Old Doc HeeHaw can haul himself over it, I guess almost anybody can.
Apparently my former mistress doesn’t give much thought to the $350,000 settlement that a hand-picked McKinley cop cost the taxpayers of Fullerton because he sexually assaulted women in the backseat of his patrol car; or that McKinley thinks that it’s okay for a certain kind of woman to be so victimized; and that, according to Big Mac “it’s just touching. Not a good thing, but it ain’t a dangerous thing;” or that her esteemed councilmen turned over Fullerton to the cops to do with it as they liked – theft, beatings, perjury, false arrest, a killing.
Mrs. Flory somehow got an extra seven minutes to ramble on and on about all sorts of bullshit, whereas others get the microphone shut off after three. Looks like there really is a double standard there.
Anyway, there you have a fine representative of what’s left of Fullerton’s Old Guard liberals: stubborn, frightened, clueless, self-righteous, dwindling fast.
Here’s something that ought to give Fullerton voters pause as they contemplate the upcoming election in November:
The bitter bag of bile that got up and harangued the council the other night, Jan Flory, is running to resume a job she was fired from ten years ago. Mrs. Flory seems to believe that her election will be “a cruise” because she will have the backing of the police union. She is as wrong as she can be, and that’s saying a hell of a lot.
You see, Mrs. Flory has had her head stuck in the sand the past year as her pals in the FPOA have been exposed in one humiliating crime after another. Where Flory sees sweetness and light, reasonable citizens (not the claque of union stooges in the audience the other night) see a Culture of Corruption.
Will Mrs. Flory ever expound upon the doings of Albert Rincon the serial sex offender; or Kelly Mejia, the computer thief; or Vince Mater, destroyer of evidence; or April Baughman, property room thief; or Miguel Siliceo who sent the wrong man to jail for five months; or any the various cases, already filed, of physical abuse of citizens by cops in downtown Fullerton? Don’t count on it. Accountability is not one of Mrs. Flory’s long suits.
Which brings us to Flory’s own record on the Fullerton City Council, an eight year reign of error, characterized by an impressive effluvium of paranoia and vindictiveness.
During her tenure on the council she backed boondoggle after boondoggle as FFFF has painfully detailed on our pages. She approved massive development projects that included giving away air rights and streets that were bought and paid for by the public. For six years she approved an illegal 10% tax on our water to pay for the salaries, pensions and perks for her union allies and herself. In 1994 she stated publicly that she wished the completely unnecessary utility tax were doubled. She voted for the disastrous 3@50 pension benefit that has created a massive unfunded pension liability.
Fullerton voters will most certainly be reminded of her record, real soon.
In 2002 the voters had seen enough and drove this harridan out of office. Will 2012 be a cruise for Mrs. Flory?
The Voice of OC(EA) is reporting here about the protest held in front of the Old Courthouse by NOW, the OCEA and others demanding that the State’s Attorney General look into the sexual mistreatment of female County workers at the hands of Carlos Bustamante and his superiors.
You’ll notice that one of the “others” was our own Mayor Sharon Quirk. Well, okay.
But wait! Almost immediately the name Albert Rincon sprung to mind. Who is Albert Rincon? He is the stand-up Fullerton cop that none of the FPD apologists ever want to talk about; the creep who was accused of serially molesting women in the backseat of his patrol car and who cost the taxpayers of Fullerton $350,000 to settle two of the cases.
Remember that these assaults took place during Quirk’s tenure on the council; and that Rincon, in response to numerous complaints from abused women, was merely required by his superiors to take patdown training classes; and that after the settlement was announced, Rincon was quietly permitted to walk away from the FPD – for entirely different reasons.
And what did the outraged Quirk do to investigate an institution that not only permitted, but virtually encouraged this predator? What did she do to bring justice to all the victims?
What’s that Sharon? We can’t hear you?
Next time she goes looking for female victims to stand up for, I humbly submit Quirk doesn’t have to look quite so far afield.
The Boys in The White Van have just intercepted this vital communication from former Fullerton Spokesholetress, Sylvia Mudrick to a whole gaggle of Old Guard acquaintances. Hmm. The Bushala Three? Right on! Check it out:
Hi – I have a big favor to ask! As you probably have heard, at the Aug. 7 Council meeting, the Bushala Three, encouraged also by Shawn Nelson, will direct Joe to get a quote from the Sheriff’s Department to take over law enforcement in Fullerton.
I’d like to ask you to – if you agree with keeping the FPD – contact
people on your email list and ask them to either call (714-738-6311), email (council@ci.fullerton.ca.us), or attend the meeting to voice opposition to the Sheriff being asked to take over the city.
Nothing is to be gained by bringing the OCSD on board, while much
would be lost – less manpower in the field and lack of the FPD’s familiarity with the city and its people. Also, the OCSD has had its own hefty share of controversies.
I’ve never felt compelled in my nearly 27 years with the city to send
out this kind of appeal, but Fullerton is in a dire situation and needs help. Hope you agree with the urgency here.
Thanks so much!
Sylvia Mudrick
Interesting that Sylvia thinks nothing is to be gained by gathering information about police service costs. But this sweet lady probably never cared a whit for the people that were paying her own inflated salary and benefits during her 27 year stint with the City, as she peddled mindless PR pabulum to the likes of Lou Ponsi and Barbara Giasone.
Well, we here at FFFF believe that knowledge is power, and that the City Council would not only be remiss, but would be derelict in the duty to the citizenry if they didn’t explore options and collect information.
Well, here ya go: the last gasp of Fullerton’s Yellowing Observers? Could be. As my old friend Don Carlos Marx once said: History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.
Below is a fun clip that includes a robocall sent out by the FPOA to try to whip up the Old Guard into an ignorant froth of fear and loathing.
The subject? Tony Bushala’s maniacal attempt to rule Fullerton demonstrated by his latest effort to solicit a cost proposal from the OC Sheriff Department; the campaign’s motto: Fullerton Is Not For Sale! Now where have we heard that before?
If you stuck through the whole 2:30 of that drivel you will have been struck by a few things. First, Ackerman’s continual reference to “we.” Ackerman has lived in Irvine for the past 12 years so that’s a hoot. His ramblings about George Amerige are some idiot consultant’s idea to tie the FPD into Fullerton’s folksy past. That explains all the historical pictures on the website. That might have worked before the Culture of Corruption took hold of the FPD. Then there’s the very strange strategy of fighting the last war, a war Ackerman and the Three Dead Batteries lost by a landslide. But really?
Of course the biggest question people will ask is why not solicit information from the OC Sheriff’s Department? Who will be harmed except the FPOA leaders Coffman and Kirk and the stratum of upper echelon of officers rendered redundant in the event of a contract with the OCSD? Such an eventuality could save the taxpayers of Fullerton $10,000,000 each and every year. It’s an option that any councilmember would be completely derelict in his duty not to explore.
The sad spectacle of Ackerman being pimped out by a public employee union, shouldn’t really surprise anyone anymore; just when you thought there was no farther this pustule could sink, he always seems to sink even lower.
Check this out:
The streets of Bagdad or Kabul? No, this occupying force is all dressed up with no place to go – except the mean streets of Anaheim, where the police department has done just about everything possible to take a bad situation and make it worse.
But what’s with all the paramilitary bullshit? Camouflage? Really? What the Hell have we let out country become? Why did we let a bunch of neo-conservative chickenhawks and cowardly statist liberals turn our nation into a place where the local street cops are parading around with all the latest military hardware Homeland Security could buy for them?
I don’t know about you, but the thought of a Cicinelli, a Wolfe, a Ramos, or a Hampton decked out like GI Joe, gives me nothing but apprehension. In Fullerton our new council needs to start scrutinizing this militarization of the flatfoots, and PDQ.
Once and a while I do a Public Record Act request search, ya know, just to see who’s been digging into Fullerton’s records.
And look what I found:
Some person named Greg Diamond, who lives in Brea, is interested in a report about a domestic dispute incident involving State Assemblyman Chris Norby. This issue is not new and quite some time ago FFFF tagged former police spokeshole and union boss Andrew Goodrich as the most likely leaker of the now discredited insinuation of spousal abuse that was helpfully passed along to the public by a union-sponsored blog.
Good news. Hopefully the City will hand over any internal documents on the topic, and especially the possible external communications sent by a helpful PIO to the Voice of OC(EA). Perhaps our new council will make sure that happens.
I am informed that this drone is working for Sharon Quirk in her cardboard cut-out bid to beat out Norby for the new 65th Assembly District seat in the Assembly.
If she thinks this sort of dumpster diving is going to help her campaign, she’s got another think coming. Instead, I hope in the coming months Quirk will expend her energy articulating her positions on increasing taxes in California, explain why the schools are so screwed up, how JCs and state universities squander billions every year with ridiculous bureaucracies and opine on the idiotic environmental master planning embodied in AB32 and SB 375.
Do I hope in vain?