When I was a kid, liberals were all about civil rights, social justice, anti-police corruption, women’s rights, etc., etc., etc.
Maybe professorial tenure, home mortgage interest deductions, and appointment to a City Community Service Commission or Bicycle Committee tends to make one complaisant. I don’t know.
In the wake of the Kelly Thomas murder at the hands of the FPD, and the revelation of a potential serial sex offender in FPD uniform, Fullerton’s liberals have been silent as a graveyard. A great letter to the Fullerton Observer by a guy named Steve Baxter sums up the situation to perfection.
Maybe this silence marks the difference between a statist liberal and what is now being called a “progressive.” I don’t know.
But one thing I do know: the first category includes our esteemed Congressional She-Bear, Loretta Sanchez, whose district includes south-central Fullerton, as well as some of the locations where women allege they were sexually assaulted in the backseat of an FPD patrol car!
Here’s an e-mail from one of the recall petition signature gatherers who re-enforces the ugly truth that Ed Royce isn’t our only congressional problem.
I was at the Stater Brothers today with my recall petition and I had an interesting conversation with a 50-ish red-headed woman who happens to work for Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez. I asked her if she was interested in signing my petition to recall our City Councilman and Mayor and was sort of shocked when she declined. As she was putting away her groceries I asked her what Ms. Sanchez position was on the recent events that had occurred in Fullerton, and she told me that Ms. Sanchez was staying out of the matter because it didn’t involve her constituents. I said that that was odd because I had voted for her in the last election and that I live in West Fullerton. She said that Loretta’s district only encompassed a sliver of Fullerton and that where Kelly Thomas was beaten to death was out of her district!
I sort of left it at that, however when I got home and checked the district map for Loretta Sanchez I saw that not only is my home in her district, but the site where Kelly Thomas was beaten to death is maybe 200 feet from the boundary.
Is there any way that you guys can inspire this champion of women’s rights to engage in what’s going on here in Fullerton? I got the distinct impression that Loretta Sanchez was looking to stay out of the fray and distance herself from what’s going on in her district, and I think that it’s important that she get involved or make a statement on what her position is pertaining to violations of Kelly Thomas’s civil rights, as well as the violation of the these recent allegations of sexual assault under color of authority by members of the the Fullerton Police department.
Best Regards,
p.s. I’ve changed my political affiliation to “decline to state” on my voter registration so there is no love lost on Loretta.
It’s pretty obvious that Ms. Sanchez has seen her main chance in trying to ignore things in Fullerton and hope like hell that no one will ever associate her with what was done, or in her case what hasn’t been done. Comically Ms. Loretta found time from her busy schedule to attend the Fullerton Library re-opening – a building also not in her district – while 500 feet away people of good will were protesting the murder of a helpless homeless man at the hands of the FPD.
Disgustingly, Sanchez seems a lot more interested in the civil rights of Vietnamese women (who live eight thousand miles outsider her district) than with her own constituents.
Sanchez could get the Department of Justice fired up with a phone call. But even that smallest of gestures would require a modicum of courage.
A couple nights ago KTLA served up a two-course menu with back to back stories on FPD disgraces. First they dove into Officer Albert Rincon’s sex assault case, where David Begnaud discovered that the city was planning to settle the Federal rights case with two of the seven women who say Rincon sexually assaulted them during wrongful arrests; followed by the report that somehow accused FPD murderer Manny Ramos was out on bail. Yay! More good news for the people of Fullerton.
You would think the folks over in City Hall would be getting just a little bit tired of all the horrific news coverage they’ve been getting, and start to clean up the mess they’ve made.
However, if you thought that you would be wrong. That is because nobody is in charge in City Hall. The monkeys have been permitted to run the zoo.
There’s a new filing in the Officer Rincon sexual assault case, and it’s not looking good for the city.
Federal Judge Andrew Guilford turned down the City’s request to throw out the case, and he offered his pointed thoughts on the Fullerton Police Department’s policy of ignoring officer misdeeds:
The Judge chastised the city for “tacit authorization” of Rincon’s despicable behavior.
Then the judge was shocked at the city’s failure to appropriately discipline the officer for his sexual assaults on multiple women.
Finally, the judge conveyed his dismay that Rincon is still on the loose with a gun and a badge.
Of course, the man responsible for puting, and keeping loverboy on the streets of Fullerton to prey upon unsuspecting women was none other than former police chief and current city councilman, Pat McKinley.
I wonder what Chief Pat has to say about the Judge’s comments? I wonder what his defenders – who like to call Fullerton a “family community” – have to say.
Lookin' out for the ladies. Oh, yeah!
And of course I wonder how many of the people that voted for this screw-up last November would have done so had they known of the extensive culture of corruption that was cultivated by McKinley in the Fullerton Police Department; a cultivation that is only now blossoming into a full, noxious bloom.
For months FPD spokeshole Andrew Goodrich has been telling the public that Kelly Thomas fought with the police, that there was an “altercation.” That was the Big Lie of course, but the lazy cowards who still work for the OC Register were only too happy to pass that along in their cavalier description of what we knew happened all along: a cold blooded murder. At first they characterized it as a scuffle and a tussle. Then they decided that “fight” was just about right.
Here’s a vide that captures some of the chilling truth about what happened. But not all of the truth, because that is still being withheld from us, and that is why the public should see the video for themselves, with no more self-serving interpretations from the cops.
Friends, we just received this e-mail from a gentleman named George Marshall Thompson who asked if we would publish it. Yes, we will, George. ‘Cause that’s how we roll. And thanks for the submission.
Dear FFFF,
We all saw Fullerton councilman, former police chief and architect of the culture of corruption within the FPD, on CNN. After his cavalier and insulting comments about facial injuries he indicated his belief that it was probably just two cops involved in the murder of Kelly Thomas. He also denied seeing the video.
And after the DA charged only Ramos and Cicinelli with crimes, I’m starting to get a picture in my mind. And that picture ain’t pretty.
We can speculate all day about whether or not McKinley saw the video and then lied about it; or simply read the doctored reports; or received “unofficial” briefings from his pals in the department and the FPOA to which his colleagues on the council were not privy. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if something tumbles out of McKinley’s closet when he is deposed by Garo Mardirossian. But something else is disturbing: the fact that McKinley’s ostensible “speculation” about two cops mirrored anonymous troll comments on this site and ultimately neatly corresponded with the DAs charges.
Is it conspiratorialist to suggest that it McKinley himself participated in the plan to hold Ramos and Cicinelli under the bus as a form of damage control for the other four cops, and more importantly from his perspective, for the good of the whole FPD? Maybe, but it sure is weird that McKinley seemed to know what was going to happen six weeks before it did. And McKinley isn’t psychic. He isn’t even very smart.
Throughout this whole affair I’ve picked up the vibe that it was McKinley who was calling the shots for the City of Fullerton as disaster after disaster piled up; that it was he who told Sellers and Praet to try to buy off the dad, and that he was receiving inside information, perhaps not even shared with the City Manager, and certainly not with Whitaker or Quirk.
Maybe someday we’ll know McKinley’s role throughout the so-called “internal investigation” that never even started until Gennaco was hired. In the meantime one thing remains crystal clear to me. It was McKinley’s total lack of oversight of his own police department that led to the horror show that’s been unfolding the past few months, and that keeps unfolding as more and more Fullerton cops are busted for one crime or another.
The reputation of the Fullerton Police Department is unreveling before our very eyes. And the people of Fullerton are going to pay dearly for the corruption therein.
Watch as the DA explains how the other four officers involved in the Kelly Thomas murder did not mention excessive force when they wrote their reports of the incident.
Also recall that those reports were supposedly written (and even more importantly, rewritten) to the satisfaction of “The Management” who watched the tape.
Put it all together and you’ve got the makings of a full-fledged cover up.
Who were the FPD managers who orchestrated the collusion and the falsification of what they all knew to be true? We’d like to know Mssrs. Bankhead, Jones and McKinley, if it isn’t too much trouble!
Officer Manuel Ramos will be charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Cpl. Jay Cicinelli will be charged with involuntary manslaughter and use of excessive force.
As is evidenced from the comments tonight, the comments from the last few city council meetings, the FPD protests, and the current city council agenda which is full of lawsuits which will cost the city millions of dollars, it’s obvious that there is a great deal of anger and mistrust towards the Fullerton Police Dept and the City of Fullerton.
A large number of negative incidents involving Fullerton police officers continue to come to light, ranging from alleged sexual misconduct of officers towards women whom they have stopped, to officers allegedly committing theft, to charges of false arrest, and so on. Our family experienced a mistaken raid on our home by armed undercover vice cops who were looking for the home next door.
Clearly, it is in the best interest of everyone for the FPD and the city council to work hard to win back the trust of people. In doing so it seems obvious that it would be Wise to Avoid Doing Things That Unnecessarily Increase Distrust.
THE CURRENT UNACCEPTABLE SITUATION
There is a situation in the FPD that can be corrected. Making this correction should take away some of the distrust.
Your current FPD Spokesperson / Public Information Officer has had, and still has, a major role in the Fullerton Police Officers union. (FPOA)
Here are three examples of his significance to the union:
RECENT—On behalf of the police union, Mr. Goodrich was 1 of 3 signers of the 2009-2011 police union contract. (Signatures are found on pg 45 of the “ Fullerton Police Officers Association (FPOA)-Police Safety Unit” labor agreement, http://www.ci.fullerton.ca.us/depts/pers_serv/labor_agreements.asp
CURRENT—On behalf of the police union, Mr. Goodrich is on the small negotiating team for the current police union contract. As a member of that team he would be trying, of course, to get the highest salary and best benefits possible for the union members. To do so, you would assume that he would be trying to put the officers in the best light possible.
IN THE PAST— In 2003, Mr. Goodrich wrote a how-to article for union members entitled, “The Value of Political Involvement-Your Association’s Role in Local Politics.” This piece explained effective ways for the union to get their choice of candidates elected to the city council and WHY it is in the union’s best interest to do so. (Goodrich’s document is located within this article, “Peer into the Thought Process of the FPOA,” www.fullertonsfuture.org)
I think it is absurd for someone in a significant role in the police union to be the spokesperson for the Fullerton Police Department. This situation obviously causes distrust by many in the community and it makes the leadership of the FPD, the city manager, and the city council look foolish.
In his “union role”—Mr. Goodrich’s union task would be to put police officers in as positive of a light as possible.
In his spokesperson role”—when he is speaking on behalf of the FPD—putting police officers in as positive of a light as possible should not be his concern. His concern should be honesty, accuracy, and transparency.
HERE’S MY SUGGESTION:
The current FPD Spokesperson/Public Information Officer (Mr. Goodrich) should be reassigned to a different position and he should be replaced by an officer who has not had a major role in the Fullerton Police Officers Union.
At Saturday’s protest of the hapless Fullerton Police Department, some perceptive folks espied a character who immediately drew suspicion, sore thumb-like, as some sort of plant. Of course they challenged this individual, who, thoughtfully provided a business card.
FYI, an aardvark is a homely creature that roots through the dirt for bugs which seems aptly descriptive; the use of the name could also be a tactic just to get to the front of the phone book.
Our Friends discreetly followed Mr. Fury for several blocks down Commonwealth Avenue before he doubled back and wandered into – the FPD HQ! So what gives? Did the cops employ this clown to spy on peaceful protesters? If not why was he there?
Yes, we carry the full line of Pat McPension gear...
I note that on their website that Aardvark “featured partners” include Safariland, the company that McKinley worked with (on the taxpayers dime) developing his special vest that was later purchased by the Fullerton Police Department. Aardvark is an “authorized dealer” of Safariland equipment. Did McKinley and the anti-recall drones employ this guy to take pictures of scary members of Kelly’s Army? If not why was he there, and why the loop-de loop?
Aardvark explains himself
Aardvark pretends to leaveAardvark sneaks back into the station
I think somebody in authority (now who would that be?) needs to inform the police that the FPD facility is owned by the taxpayers (us) and that they had better stay out of politics on public time (ours) and in a publicly owned facility (ours).
