Setting The Bar Low

February 20, 2012February 20, 2012Chronic Failure

Here’s a fun Doc HeeHaw campaign flier from 2004 sent to us from a guy named Baxter. It’s interesting because it shows how little you had to do to get re-elected in Fullerton: send out a couple mailers with a few hollow platitudes and specious claims about how you kept Fullerton safe.

And this document provides lots of exciting bonus material.

jonesbullshit — Working hard, or hardly working?

Gag. Let’s start with the part about keeping Fullerton safe. We now know that was a crock o’ the BS. But really? Fullerton was safer because it had more six-figure paramedics? Really? And our streets were safer because of money poured into an overpriced police annex and and some stupid, unspecified Homeland Security “Program.” Pathetic. Nothing mentioned about Pat McKinley hiring one-eyed cops rejected by the LAPD. Hmm.

Speaking of McPension, the fact that this toady permitted his picture to be used in a campaign mailer for his boss is really pretty bad and should have caused him to be disciplined by his…oops.

Over on the right it gets even better. Responsible planning, Dick? You mean the proliferation of massive, high density apartment blocks built by your campaign contributors that are choking downtown Fullerton? You mean the Jefferson Commons behemoth? The idiotic Transportation Center Master Plan? And what major transportation projects were you talking about, Dick. The streets of Fullerton were falling into disrepair then, and haven’t gotten any better in the last eight years of your neglect. Also thank you Dick for improving “our” quality of life by revitalizing local parks, although I doubt if you wanted anybody to know about the Poisoned Park that has been virtually useless since the day it opened in 2003.

Oh, and fiscal responsibility? Oops, goofed again. No mention of balancing the budget by imposing a hidden and illegal 10% tax on our water. I would call that raising taxes, each and every year! Now that’s not very good, is it?

And now for Jonesy’s “public safety” gold seal of approval. Jones omits to tell folks what that endorsement cost the citizens of Fullerton: the notorious retroactive pension benefit formula of 3%@50 for cops and firemen that,with the stroke of Dick Jones’ pen, caused an immediate and massive unfunded pension liability that will be dangling over Fullerton taxpayers’ heads for decades, if it ever goes away at all.

February 16, 2012February 16, 2012Dead heads

The Mighty Peculiar Tale of Officer Joe Wolfe

by Mr. Peabody195 Comments

By now everyone is at least casually familiar with the personage of FPD cop Joe Wolfe, who along with Manny Ramos, happened to be the first to confront the homeless schizophrenic man, Kelly Thomas, in the Fullerton Transportation Center, on the sultry night of July 5th, 2011.

Allegedly responding to a call claiming somebody was breaking into cars, Wolfe and Ramos were near enough to get to the scene first. Some folks think this was not a coincidence.

According to the DA, Wolfe searched Thomas’ backpack at the rear of a patrol car as Ramos hovered over Thomas around front – a mere 10-15 feet away. The fact that this implausibly lengthy “search” took place during Ramos’ physical and verbal intimidation of Kelly gave the DA his justification for Wolfe’s subsequent behavior.

What happened next (according to the DA) is that Kelly, who finally realized he was being queued up for an ass kicking one way or another, got up, and backed away from Ramos, hands and palms up; Ramos had pulled out his baton. And who was there to meet Thomas with drawn night stick, having circled around behind the patrol car and who suddenly seemed very much aware of what was going on?

Right. Officer Joe Wolfe.

This corpulent cop, who was so thoroughly engrossed in picking through Thomas’ scant belongings that he supposedly had no knowledge of what was happening a few feet away, suddenly became as nimble as Nijinski, allegedly slamming Kelly in the leg with his night stick, and with Ramos, tackling Thomas. As Ramos held Thomas by the neck and punched him, Wolfe was on top too, kicking and punching as the beat down and the pile on began.

We are asked (by the DA) to believe that Wolfe was completely unaware of Ramos verbally threatening Thomas, and donning his latex gloves; and that he was merely coming to Ramos’ rescue. Could it have happened that way? I guess so, but it really strains credulity to believe that Wolfe was not aware of the provacative behavior of Ramos, even if there were no pre-arranged set up of Kelly involved. And the DA provided no credible explanation for the sheer violence of his physical assault: we are left with the inevitable conclusion that Wolfe meant to do Kelly great bodily harm.

How many times did Wolfe hit Thomas before the one-eyed cop Jay Cicinelli arrived on the scene to finish him off? Only those privileged cops (and city councilmen) who have seen the video know.

Many questions remain unanswered about the role of Mr. Wolfe on the night in question, and despite the DA’s effort to absolve Wolfe of complicity in the killing, many observers, including me, remain unconvinced.

One thing we do know for sure: Joe Wolfe joins an ever growing list of Fullerton cops who can’t be let loose on the street or trusted to testify in court. He has been on paid leave since August. And until the Gennaco report on the Thomas killing comes out, there he will stay.

February 16, 2012March 14, 2012Law N Disorder

What is a Brady Cop? And What Did Vince Mater Do to Become One?

by Travis132 Comments

Update: When you’re trying to pierce the veil of secrecy in a police department bent on concealing its officers’ misdeeds, some of the details come through a little fuzzy. I recently received some corrected information on officer Mater’s role in the arrest, highlighted in red below. Note that Mater is still the officer who (allegedly) destroyed his audio recording and was later fired.

I’ve also noticed that almost an entire year has gone by, but Officer Mater has not been charged with destruction of evidence. The DA is reportedly still “working on the case.”

A Brady Officer is a cop with a sustained record for knowingly lying in an official capacity. A Brady cop’s testimony in court is almost worthless, which makes you wonder why a police department such as Fullerton would bother to employ one.

But on to the story. Remember that odd Fullerton jail suicide of Dean Francis Gochenour last year?

The word was that the ~~jail~~ arresting officer by the name of Vince Mater had broken apart his audio recorder and smashed the chip containing a recording in the immediate aftermath of the suicide. Whatever was captured on that recording before ~~and during~~ the arrestee’s suicide, we’ll never know.

Dean Gochenour died in the Fullerton City Jail on April 15, 2011

A few months later, Officer Mater was quietly fired.

Well, now we’ve found new state court docs revealing that the DA had also declared Mater to be a “Brady officer.”

We don’t know how Officer Mater earned his status as certified liar, but if it was so bad that even the FPD couldn’t look the other way, well…it must have been pretty bad.

Mater’s name did appear in an OC Register story in November 2010 about the wrongful incarceration of Emanuel Martinez at the hands of the FPD, in which Mater was johnny-on-the-spot with a gang tag that helped send the wrong guy to jail.

Fast forward to 2011, when the FPD ends up with a dead guy in jail, a smashed recorder, another cop on paid leave and presumably another set of lawsuits.

Oh, and one more thing: for all the City’s talk of transparency and its employment of several highly-compensated Public Information Officers, all of this information was kept from the public until…well, today.

February 15, 2012February 15, 2012Chronic Failure

Pat McKinley vs. The FBI’s Crime Stats

by admin60 Comments

Barry Levinson had his microphone cut off on Tuesday before he could finish his exposé on Pat McKinley’s boldfaced lie about crime under his watch. That’s OK, because we can just reprint it here for everyone to see.

By Barry Levinson

I recently saw Councilman McKinley appear on a PBS TV show that originally aired last October, called Inside Orange County hosted by David Nazar.

The Host asks Councilman McKinley: Should you be recalled and is it fair?

McKinley responds: No, I shouldn’t and it is not fair

Host: Why?

McKinley responds: Well I really don’t understand the, the allegations. The allegations I hired some people.

McKinley continues: I am very proud of the agency (i.e. the Fullerton Police Dept.) and what we accomplished over the 16 years I was there .

McKinley: We reduced crime every year I was there.

I had heard the comment about reducing crime by Candidate McKinley many times during his campaign for city council.

Here are the facts: The FBI statistics for the City of Fullerton from 2005 through 2009, the last 5 years that McKinley was Chief of Police are as follows:

Pat McKinley, I find it reprehensible that you would intentionally and repeatedly mislead the people of Fullerton and the country about the actual level of crime committed in our great city under your stewardship. Repeatedly you have reminded us that being a police officer has been your life’s work. Yet you cannot even tell the truth about your own record as chief of police.

You have disgraced this city with your misinformation campaigns. You have disgraced this city with your stating that Officer Rincon was not guilty of sexual assault, and allowed him under your command to continue assaulting more and more women after the 1st ladies reported it to your department. You disgraced this city by hiring Jay Cicinelli, who did not meet the minimum standards to be a police officer in Fullerton or for that matter anywhere in these United States of America. Officer Cicinelli ended up beating an innocent man to death while he was lying motionless on the ground with a Taser gun that is supposed to save lives not take them.

FOR ALL THESE REASONS AND MANY MORE, PAT MCKINLEY MUST BE RECALLED. And the only thing that is not fair about this recall is that you had the honor and privilege to be our police chief for 16 years and our councilman for another 2 years. The damage you have caused this city, emotionally, ethically, legally and monetarily will take us literally decades to recover from. That is the real injustice here!

February 13, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

Why Does Dick Ackerman Hate Fullerton?

by Grover Cleveland29 Comments

I want to know why Dick Ackerman hates Fullerton so much. You may wonder at the question, but to me the fact that he does is inescapable.

The Dickster used to live in Fullerton many years ago, and sat on the city council. His claim to fame was excluding Democrat Molly McClanahan from the mayorship year after year.

Subsequently Ackerman has never seemed to want to let go of Fullerton, possibly because he saw the opportunity to ascend the political ladder on our backs. After getting elected to the State Assembly and then the State Senate, Fullerton was ever on his mind. When the Legislature redrew district boundaries in 2001, Ackerman’s 33rd Senate District shifted way south, which was convenient for Ackerman who had already moved to Irvine. And Fullerton made the trip south, too.

dicks-monster-417x500 — Dick's appendage..

Notice how Fullerton was gerrymandered into a district that extends into south county – virtually to the Pacific Ocean, connected by the thinnest of geographical tendons a few hundred feet wide. It would appear that Dick just couldn’t bear to be separated from his pals in the Fullerton Rotary and the long series of political clowns like F. “Dick” Jones that he helped to foist on us.

After a dismal Sacramento career that included self-serving budget deals and courting lobbyists in Hawaii under cover of a fake charity, Ackerman was mercifully termed out. But the Dick was a long way from finished with Fullerton.

AcknFlack4-430x500 — Forget the fact that my only job experience was to siphon personal income from Dick's political funds.

In 2009 an embarrassing opening occurred for the 72nd Assembly District. Not one to let an opportunity for political greasing to pass him by, Ackerman set up his wife Linda to run in a special election to represent Fullerton. Forget for a moment that Linda A was less qualified than a ling cod.

There was a bigger problem: the Ackermans lived in a secret, gated community – in Irvine! No problem for the ethically challenged Dick, who found a compliant stooge in Fullerton willing to pretend the Ackerman lived in his spare room! A rancid collection of repuglicans including Ed Royce, Don Bankhead, Dick Jones, and Pat McKinley, lined up to endorse this cheap fraud.

ackerman-swig-500x340 — Nothing says F-U like a beer in the face!

During this campaign Ackerman even tried legal intimidation against Fullerton citizen bloggers on FFFF. Off course we told him to shove it up is lower alimentary canal.

After the saddest, sleaziest campaign imaginable, the Ackerwoman got her posterior kicked by Chris Norby, and the Ackermans almost immediately re-registered to vote, citing as their address the Irvine mini-mansion they never left.

After this attempted swindle, any man with an iota of shame would have left Fullerton forever, but possessing an iota of shame precludes The Dickster. In 2010 Dick was back meddling in Fullerton politics on the Pat McPension bandwagon. Was it a quid pro quo? Who cares? It was definitely a way to create a solid council majority which could be lobbied hard for his new client – St. Antons Partners – that eyed the huge pile of cash the Three Tree Sloths had lined up for Ackerman.

In August 2011, the lobbyist Ackerman called in his markers and got his client jumped from number eight on the list to the top spot for a hyper-dense, massively subsidized public housing project of the type Ackerman railed against when he was seeking election in Fullerton. What a difference 20 years makes.

Comically, at almost the same time Ackerman was also tagged as a defender for inept and corrupt stasis everywhere as he taught a seminar on how to handle people like the good folks in Fullerton who had finally had enough of their government selling out to special interests like him.

And finally, Ackerman continues to wage war against the people of Fullerton, against competent government, against accountability and responsibility; he protects his investment by organizing to fight the Recall of his Three Dim Dinosaurs.

But Ackerman’s ship has sailed. His anti-recall campaign has been an expensive and unmitigated disaster. And when the Recall succeeds, Ackerman will finally be finished in Fullerton. His endorsement will be less than useless and his lobbying for government subsidies will fall on deaf ears. He can spend the rest of his days around the bar, telling anybody who will listen about how important he used to be.

February 11, 2012February 11, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

Why Are Larry Bennett and The Three Dead Batteries Afraid to Debate?

by Joe Sipowicz71 Comments

3 Dead Batteries — First the bulbs began to dim...

Back in November the Fullerton Recall proponent Chris Thompson issued a challenge to anti-recall spokescloaca Larry Bennett to a debate. Bennett claimed that he had to wait for his superiors (presumably “Dick” Ackerman and Dave Ellis) to get back from Thanksgiving Break.

After that, crickets.

Crickets – until the Recall signatures were validated by the Registrar of Voters and the Fullerton Is For Sale Gang knew it was in deep shit. The very next day Bennett appeared out of the blue, just dying to “debate.” But not live, no, but in a creepy, censored, on-line environment in which he could get nonsense written by Ellis and Ackerman in front of the public. Any one, really.

jones-gone-wild1 — Anger management failed...

As Dick Jones would say: Nuh, uh!

Bennett it’s time you stood up in front of a live audience and explained all the lies on your pathetic website and your dopey mailers. Then you can explain to the people of Fullerton about the record of the Somnolent Sloths you are so proud of. You can explain all about the Culture of Corruption in the FPD – well documented by one case of malfeasance after another, culminating in the death of a man. You can explain the land giveaways your boys made to campaign contributors, and the the illegal attempt to expand Redevelopment. You can tell them all about the illegal 10% water tax that they have imposed on the water rate payers of Fullerton for 15 years.

Better yet, Larry why don’t you thaw out one of your boys to do the talking for himself? Bankhead? Jones? McKinley? You claim these three are experienced, wise, honorable men. Surely such paragons of virtue can speak up for their own record, right?

February 11, 2012February 11, 2012Law N Disorder

Pat McKinley’s Selective Silence

by Mr. Peabody83 Comments

McCueball — Um, let me think about it...

A few days ago, OC Register employee Lou Ponsi scribbled an article here quoting Pat McPension “that because the City Council may have to ultimately decide the employment status of the officers, both on unpaid leave, remaining silent was the correct decision.

We remained silent because that is the rule,” McKinley said. “We were told by the (city) attorney, ‘Don’t say anything.’ … A lawyer tells me what to do and I follow his lead.”

Silent? Yeah, right Pat:

Pat was pretty quick to peddle his damage-control and try to downplay Kelly Thomas’ injuries as not life-threatening. His statement that the Coroner couldn’t determine the cause of death was the old flat-foot desperately clinging to the insinuation that there was some medical reason (i.e. maybe drugs) Kelly died – apart from 1400 lbs. of cop meat sitting on his chest after they had bashed his face into his brain.

We’ve also just raised the question as to whether or not Mr. McKinley may have blabbed about the employment status of Fullerton PD officer Kelly Mejia to his pal and anti-recall spokesorifice, Larry Bennett.

February 9, 2012February 10, 2012Dead heads

Fullerton Cop Cops Plea in Clumsy Computer Theft Caper

by Joe Sipowicz73 Comments

Fullerton cop Kellly Mejia finally had her day in court and pled guilty to swiping an iPad in a Miami airport TSA security check point. She got a slap on the wrist from the judge: a “theft class,” a dinky fine, some community services hours and best of all will get this expunged if she she keeps her nose clean for a whole year.

Lou Ponsi of the Register cites FPD spokessphincter Andrew Goodrich who claims Mejia was fired at the end of October after being on paid leave since May. Ponsi is obliging in pointing out that Mejia is a former Fullerton cop, glossing over the fact that she was a Fullerton cop when she committed her crime.

Of course we peons are not permitted to know what she was actually fired for, since the public is not privy to police personnel matters no matter how egregious a cop’s offense may have been; whatever Mejia was canned for, presumably it wasn’t for committing larceny in Florida, since she hadn’t pled guilty of anything yet on October 28th. Was there something even worse the we shall never know about?

Andy?

Court Case No.: F11011505	State Case No.: 132011CF0115050001XX
Name: MEJIA, KELLY JANETH		Date of Birth: 04/10/1986
Date Filed: 05/09/2011	Date Closed:	Warrant Type:
Assessment Amount: $603.00	Balance Due: $0.00	Stay Due Date: 02/07/2012
Hearing Date: 02/07/2013	Hearing Time: 09:00	Hearing Type: R
Court Room: REGJB – JUSTICE BUILDING, ROOM No.: 2-3
Address: 1351 N.W. 12 ST
Previous Case:	Next Case:
Judge: COLODNY, YVONNE	Defense Attorney: AMSEL, ROBERT
Bfile Section: F021	File Location: COURT	Box Number:

Charges:

Seq No.	Charge	Charge Type	Disposition
1	GRAND THEFT 3RD DEG	FELONY	FINDING OF GUILT

Additional Info:

Probation Start Date:	Probation End Date:
Probation Length:	Probation Type:
Defendant in Jail: N	Defendant Release to: CASH/NOEMY MEJIA DE FERNANDEZ,
Bond Amount: $5,000.00	Bond Status:
Bond Type: CASH BOND	Bond Issue Date: 05/03/2011

Dockets:

Seq. No.

Date

Book/Page

Docket

02/08/2012

TRIAL PROS. ASSIGNED: GRIFFIN, HEATHER

02/08/2012

DEFERRED PROSECUTION AGREEMENT & SPEEDY TRIAL WAIVER

02/08/2012

MEMO RE: DEFERRED PROSECUTION PROGRAM ACCEPTED

02/07/2012

COURT FEE PAYMENT 603.00 RECEIPT # 3480008

02/07/2012

REPORT RE: (BY) CLERK SET FOR 02/08/2012 AT 09:00

02/07/2012

MOTION TO VACATE JUDGMENT AND SENTENCE FILED 02/07/2012 ORAL SET FOR 02/07/2012 AT 12:30 GRANTED

02/07/2012

REPORT RE: SENTENCING SET FOR 02/07/2013 AT 09:00

02/06/2012

REPORT RE: PLEA SET FOR 02/07/2012 AT 09:01

02/06/2012

MEMORANDUM OF COSTS AMOUNT 603.00

02/06/2012

STAY GRANTED – DUE 02/07/2012

02/06/2012

DESCRIPTION	ASSESSED	PAID	BALANCE
CRIME STOPPE	20.00	20.00	0.00
ADD’L FINE/F	225.00	225.00	0.00
CRM COMP TR	50.00	50.00	0.00
STATE LETTF	3.00	3.00	0.00
COUNTY LETTF	2.00	2.00	0.00
ADD’L COURT	65.00	65.00	0.00
REPLCMNT SUR	85.00	85.00	0.00
CRIME PREV F	50.00	50.00	0.00
TEEN COURT F	3.00	3.00	0.00
PROSECUTION	100.00	100.00	0.00
TOTAL:	603.00	603.00	0.00
LAST ASSESSED: 02/06/2012		LAST PAYMENT: 02/07/2012

02/06/2012

CLOSING JUDGE GLICK, LEONARD E

01/09/2012

E-SUBPOENA: TORRES, HECTOR ID: 030-02366 FOR: TRIAL ON 02/06/2012 AT 09:00 ISSUED BY: CJIS
SENT: 01/09/2012 RECD/NOTFD: 01/09/2012 ACKN: 01/09/2012 S

01/09/2012

E-SUBPOENA: CORREA, GILBERT ID: 030-02120 FOR: TRIAL ON 02/06/2012 AT 09:00 ISSUED BY: CJIS
SENT: 01/09/2012 RECD/NOTFD: 01/09/2012 ACKN: 01/10/2012 S

01/09/2012

E-SUBPOENA: JACOBS, DAVID ID: 030-01666 FOR: TRIAL ON 02/06/2012 AT 09:00 ISSUED BY: CJIS
SENT: 01/09/2012 RECD/NOTFD: 01/09/2012 ACKN: 01/09/2012 S

01/05/2012

TRIAL HEARING SCHEDULED FOR 02/06/2012 AT 09:00

11/21/2011

MOTION FOR CONTINUANCE FILED 11/21/2011 SET FOR 11/21/2011 AT 14:09 GRANTED DEFS

11/21/2011

REPORT RE: TRIAL DATE SET FOR 01/05/2012 AT 09:00

11/21/2011

REPORT RE: PLEA SET FOR 01/05/2012 AT 09:00

11/16/2011

MOTION TO/FOR: TO CONTINUE

11/15/2011

NOTICE OF HEARING 11/17/11

10/24/2011

E-SUBPOENA: TORRES, HECTOR ID: 030-02366 FOR: TRIAL ON 11/21/2011 AT 09:00 ISSUED BY: CJIS
SENT: 10/24/2011 RECD/NOTFD: 10/24/2011 ACKN: 10/24/2011 S

10/24/2011

E-SUBPOENA: CORREA, GILBERT ID: 030-02120 FOR: TRIAL ON 11/21/2011 AT 09:00 ISSUED BY: CJIS
SENT: 10/24/2011 RECD/NOTFD: 10/24/2011 ACKN: 10/24/2011 S

10/24/2011

E-SUBPOENA: JACOBS, DAVID ID: 030-01666 FOR: TRIAL ON 11/21/2011 AT 09:00 ISSUED BY: CJIS
SENT: 10/24/2011 RECD/NOTFD: 10/24/2011 ACKN: 10/24/2011 S
SENT: RECD/NOTFD: ACKN: 10/24/2011 S

08/29/2011

MOTION FOR CONTINUANCE FILED 08/29/2011 SET FOR 08/29/2011 AT 09:31 GRANTED STIP

08/29/2011

TRIAL HEARING SCHEDULED FOR 11/21/2011 AT 09:00

08/23/2011

MOTION TO/FOR: TO CONTINUE TRIAL

08/01/2011

E-SUBPOENA: TORRES, HECTOR ID: 030-02366 FOR: TRIAL ON 08/29/2011 AT 09:00 ISSUED BY: CJIS
SENT: 08/01/2011 RECD/NOTFD: 08/01/2011 ACKN: 08/01/2011 S

08/01/2011

E-SUBPOENA: CORREA, GILBERT ID: 030-02120 FOR: TRIAL ON 08/29/2011 AT 09:00 ISSUED BY: CJIS
SENT: 08/01/2011 RECD/NOTFD: 08/01/2011 ACKN: 08/02/2011 S

08/01/2011

E-SUBPOENA: JACOBS, DAVID ID: 030-01666 FOR: TRIAL ON 08/29/2011 AT 09:00 ISSUED BY: CJIS
SENT: 08/01/2011 RECD/NOTFD: 08/01/2011 ACKN: 08/01/2011 S

06/02/2011

TRIAL UNIT ASSIGNED: FELONY DIVISION 21

06/02/2011

TRIAL PROS. ASSIGNED: ABRAMS, IVAN

06/01/2011

DISC EXHIBIT: STATE’S DEMAND FOR DEFN DISCV/DEMAND FOR ALIBI

06/01/2011

TRIAL HEARING SCHEDULED FOR 08/29/2011 AT 09:00

06/01/2011

INFORMATION FILED

05/09/2011

BOND RECEIVED POWER/RECEIPT # 46776

05/06/2011

DEMAND FOR VIEW OF EVIDENCE

05/06/2011

DEMAND FOR DISCOVERY

05/06/2011

WRITTEN PLEA OF NOT GUILTY

05/06/2011

NOTICE OF APPEARANCE ROBERT G. AMSEL

05/03/2011

INTAKE UNIT ASSIGNED: FSU – CASE SCREENING

05/03/2011

INTAKE PROS. ASSIGNED: BETTENDORF-PL, KRISTI-KF

05/03/2011

ARRAIGNMENT HEARING SCHEDULED FOR 06/01/2011 AT 09:00

05/03/2011

CAB AMT/ 5000 ISSUED 05/03/2011 POWER/46776

Well, just another in an embarrassing series of black eyes for the FPD who steadfastly maintain that there is no Culture of Corruption in the FPD, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Good luck with that “theft class,” Kelly.

February 3, 2012February 3, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

Sidewalk Hijackers Support The Dinosaurs

by Joe Sipowicz59 Comments

florentinesquatsoncorner — Caution - ethical behavior narrows ahead...

And why not? Life is good when you can get away with grabbing a public sidewalk and build a building on it. “Are you crazy, Joe?” I can hear you saying. No. FFFF shared the story, here.

The sidewalk grabber was Mr. Anthony Florentine, proprietor of the Tuscany Club. Here he is chipping in to save the Three Dithering Diplosaurs:

And the guy that let Florentine get away with the heist was none other than former Fullerton Development Services Director F. Paul Dudley, whose incompetent tenure caused harm to Fullerton that will probably never be fixed. A member of Fullerton’s $100,000 pension club, Dudley makes extra cash lobbying his former employers on behalf of developers. So he’s working to keep the Old Boys in office, too:

Of course Dudley had help in brushing off the sidewalk scam, and then papering it over. And he had help in the persons of Don Bankhead and “Dick” Jones, previously beneficiaries of Florentine’s campaign largess.

What nice people.

February 2, 2012February 7, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

So Who Do Downtown Developers Support?

by The Fullerton Shadow27 Comments

Update: Gentle Friends, I forgot to remind you that Pelican Ontario was also shaken down, er, contributed $300 to Pam Keller for her Fullerton Collaborative just ’cause they care so darn much for Fullerton.

Here’s a snippet from the anti-recall Protect Fullerton Form 460 – indicating a healthy contribution from Pelican Ontario LLC.

What is Pelican Ontario? Why that’s the partnership proposing “Amerige Court,” that god-awful downtown Fullerton monstrosity in which millions of dollars worth of land is to be given to the developer for free. What’s that you say? Free? Of course. Because to people like McKinley, Jones, and Bankhead giving public resources to private interests without due consideration isn’t a gift of public funds, it’s being pro-business. We get stuck with the traffic and they get the campaign contributions.

You have to admit it takes a lot of nerve to attack Tony Bushala as a downtown developer when he isn’t, and at the same time take the money from people who have millions of reasons to prop up the Three Dyspeptic Dinosaurs. But these worthies are not bothered by ethical nuisances like hypocrisy.