The Culture of Corruption Archives - Page 44 of 49

May 4, 2012May 4, 2012Behind Closed Doors

Hey, I Remember That Name From Somewhere

Ever since the FPD announcement that the oleaginous Andrew Goodrich was being replaced as PIO with a guy named Jeff Stuart, I’d been wondering why I seemed to remember that name.

Then it hit me. Back in March FFFF ran a post about some dude named Ernest Benefiel who apparently tried to commit suicide with booze and pills, and whose reveries were disrupted by an all-out assault by the Fullerton SWAT team; an assault that ended with Benefiel going to jail for years and years – while his conviction was overturned not once, but twice.

And who is listed on page 5 of the civil law suit as one of Pat McKinley’s gun-happy SWAT team members who turned a paramedic call into a neighborhood shoot-out? Jeff Stuart.

Welcome to the club.

May 3, 2012May 3, 2012Behind Closed Doors

Gennaco Delivers Report Part Deux

by Grover Cleveland50 Comments

According to The OC Register, here, the outside “independent” investigative company hired by the City to look into the actions of the cops that beat Kelly Thomas to death last July has delivered its report on the incident. Unfortunately, nobody gets to see the report authored by Mr. Michael Gennaco except Acting Chief Dan Hughes – because it relates to police personnel matters. And, as everybody knows, those matters are shrouded in a veil of impenetrable secrecy. Just the way the police unions like it.

So we are left to guess at the contents of the report and left to guess whether or not our elected officials will be able to see it. Speaking of guesses, my guess would be no, except for Pat McKinley, of course, who seems to get special privileges when it comes to sticking his nose into personnel matters regarding the dubious characters he hired as former Police Chief.

The issues here are particularly interesting given the fact of the impending trial of Mssrs. Cicinelli and Ramos for manslaughter and murder, respectively. Negative findings could have an impact on that case. If, as many anticipate, Mr. Gennaco tends to whitewash the case we can expect a comparatively speedy release of the report with some exculpitory headlines by Lou Ponsi. Gennaco’s undernourished first report was more interesting for what it left out than for what it said,

Also lurking in the back of the room is the potentially costly civil trial and possible Civil Rights charges by the Feds. So if the report indicates that the cops acted way outside policy and procedure look for a protracted release of minimal information, or no release at all.

May 1, 2012May 1, 2012Behind Closed Doors

Finally, An Honest Cop

by admin102 Comments

photo-2 — It may take awhile to get through this...

For the past year we have been waiting for somebody inside the Fullerton Police department to get sick enough and tired enough of the evident Culture of Corruption to come clean. I believe we have finally found our man, and I think his narrative will be instructive to those interested in peering behind the curtain that the FPD has drawn around itself.

Cronyism, nepotism, unprofessional conduct of all sorts is the immediate picture, and far from being isolated from the bad behavior, I think we will discover that the “leadership” of the department has been fully aware of what’s been going on. In some instances the upper echelon itself will be found to be neck deep in the morass as two successive chiefs completely abdicated their responsibility to run a clean, effective police force.

Stay tuned as I learn more.

April 30, 2012April 30, 2012Behind Closed Doors

New Spokeshole Beats Same Tired Drum

by Joe Sipowicz46 Comments

Here’s a telling article from the Daily Tital that addresses the poor, misunderstood FPD. See, the real problem is just that the public needs to be better educated, and of course there was this little problem of transparency that gosh darn it, is just so much better now.

Despite including a good quote from Ron Thomas, the dad of FPD victim Kelly thomas, the author of the piece, Mark Payne steps in some deep FPD bullshit when he adds this gem:

The department has been under attack by various activist groups for almost a year since the beating of 37-year-old Kelly Thomas on July 5, 2011, which led to his death five days later. His death was allegedly caused by Fullerton police officers.

Wrong on all counts. The department is under legitimate protest for its serial malfeasances and crimes. And Kelly’s death was caused by members of the FPD. Nobody “alleges” that. It’s a fact. And the DA has charged two of the cops with murder and manslaughter. That’s just lazy work, there.

But it gets even better. New FPD spokehole Jeff Stuart is permitted a plaintive, last word:

Stuart said the last year has been trying for the Fullerton Police Department, but when you look at their track record versus other agencies, they do a good job.

“We want people to come down. I’m proud of this department … We are a good department,” Stuart said. “If you look at the number of calls we handle every year and the number of complaints we get in relation to those calls, (they) are minute — they’re infinitesimal.”

More pathetic handwringing and denial from the FPD. If the boy reporter had bothered to find out a little bit more about his subject he may well have asked which part of the following list constitutes “infinitesimal” complaints:

Alber Rincon – Serial molester of in-custody women; $350,000 settlement.

Miguel Siliceo – misidentification and incarceration of wrong man who spent five months in jail.

Cary Tong – accusation of battery and civil rights abuse; broken finger and missing cash.

Kenton Hampton – accusation of assault, battery, civil rights abuse, perjury. Wrong man almost convicted.

Frank Nguyen – accusation of perjury (see above).

Ramos, Wolfe, Hampton, Blatney , Cicinelli – murder, manslaughter, civil rights abuse, etc., etc. A dead man haunts the FPD.

FPD Command – allowed the killers to view the video of the killing and rewrite their reports until everybody got his story straight.

Todd Major – abuse of controlled substance, conviction of fraud. Ripping off Explorers? Really, Todd?

Kelly Mejia – conviction of grand theft at a TSA checkpoint. Crooked and stupid is no way to go throughout life, hon.’

Vincent Mater – charged with destruction of evidence in jail custody death. Hey, we banged that corpses head against the bars!

Andrew Goodrich – dissemination of erroneous information never retracted. Too busy to get it right?

Mike Sellers – protracted medical leave punctuated by a disability claim and massive pensioned retirement. Business as usual. La dolce vita!

April Baughman – charged with two-year’s worth of theft from the FPD property room. Okay, who’s the accomplice?

etc. etc.

Well, who knows. Maybe someday young Mr. Payne will have the opportunity to write the right article about the Culture of Corruption in the FPD and quit spinning puff pieces at the behest of kindly, avuncular police spokesmen. We can only hope.

April 30, 2012April 30, 2012About Us

No More MIA “Leadership.” No Doug Chaffee.

by English Major67 Comments

Perusing the latest yellowing Fullerton Observer I noticed how various candidates responded to the question “How Would You have Handled The Kelly Thomas Situation?”

First the Three Bald Tires, poster boys for utter leadership failure, were given the chance to reflect on their actions, or lack of same. They offered up the same old “we were told by our lawyer not to say anything” tripe. On his way out the saloon doors Doc Hee Haw managed to serve up this beaut: “I regret that some have acted to circumvent the constitutional laws of justice,” as if to reassure himself that the whole gol’dern commotion was the fault of some “lynch-type mob” and had nothing to do with his own incompetence and fat mouth.

The candidates were all pretty uniform in their responses with the glaring exception of Doug Chaffee, who spooned out this idiotic pabulum:

“I am a strong advocate of community oriented policing. In a community oriented policing system, police officers partner with neighborhoods to build trust and positive community relationships. The system generates mutual respect between residents and police. Being pro-active, the focus is on preventing crime, as opposed to merely reacting to it, and results in a safer City.”

What?

Not a single word about Kelly Thomas or his family, the brutal way in which he was killed, the conspiracy of silence in the aftermath, the disinformation peddled by Goodrich, the cops who were returned to duty, the disappearing police chief, the sick police chief, the pensioned-off police chief, or the charges of murder and manslaughter brought against the two cops by the DA. No explanation from Doug that Kelly was not committing a crime, and that the only criminals on the scene were members of the Fullerton Police Department.

Some have asked where Chaffee has been for these past nine months. I know. He’s been hiding from his own pale shadow.

It is apparent to me that this man is an empty suit, a coward and a damned fool. On the council he would be hardly better than McKinley himself. The last thing Fullerton needs is another superannuated do-nothing, say-nothing, stand-for-nothing yellow observer in office.

April 29, 2012April 29, 2012Chronic Failure

The Lost Generation

by The Desert Rat70 Comments

Ah, dear me. I was just waiting for a last gasp from the old, die-hard liberals in Fullerton to oppose the political colonic flush Fullerton needs so badly; they didn’t disappoint. Check out this lame ad placed in the Fullerton Observer:

Predictable. We’ve already dispensed with the “recalls are for malfeasance” nonsense, here. Ironically, some might argue that cultivating a corrupt and murderous police force, colluding to keep an illegal tax, and giving away public property to campaign donors all rise to the level of “malfeasance,” but I’ll just let that pass.

What’s interesting in this list of names is that the average age is somewhere between 70 and 70 million, and that would take us back well into the Mesozoic Era.

Jurassic Park — A large meteorite was on the way...

These are the worthies who believe in City Hall heart and soul, no matter what idiocy emanates from it. These people sit on committees and even serve on the council itself whenever the repuglicans can’t stop them. They share a common love for government bureaucracies and processes, and more than anything else they believe in hollow platitudes and meaningless abstractions.

And where were these honorable men and women after a helpless, homeless man was murdered by their own police department? Nowhere near the protests, you can be sure of that. It just wouldn’t look good.

April 27, 2012April 27, 2012Boohooism

OC DEMS SUPPORT RECALL

by Mr. Peabody37 Comments

Believe it or not, the other day the Liberal OC blog actually provided useful information that you won’t find anywhere else. Why? Most likely because the Democratic Party of OC is so lame it can’t maintain a decent website.

According to the Liberal OC the OC Democrats have come out in favor of the Fullerton Recall. Good call, Dems. Although they probably think getting rid of three Republicans is some sort of political accomplishment, the Republicans in question are so addicted to wasting money, giving the public employee unions everything they want, and generally demonstrating the drunken sailor behavior we normally associate with the Dems themselves, it wouldn’t seem like much of an accomplishment.

Still, it could be that the County-level Dems actually want to get rid of the creeps who cultivated a Climate of Corruption in the FPD that has seen a conga line of felonious behavior on the part of the cops, culminating in the beating death of a helpless homeless man last July. And that’s a good thing, especially since the Old Guard Democrats in Fullerton have been tomb-like in their silence in the wake of the Kelly Thomas murder and the series of civil rights abuses perpetrated by the cops that have come to light.

The Dems did endorse replacement candidates, too: somebody called Glenn Georgieff, a Paula Williams (neither of whom I have ever heard of before) and of course Doug Chaffee – the man who has been somewhat humorously referred to as the Fence Sitting, Cardboard Candidate.

April 24, 2012April 24, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

Jerk McPension Opposes “Knee Jerk” Effort To Kill Illegal Tax

by admin37 Comments

No surprise punches from Pat McPension, as he disagrees with Bruce Whataker about what to do with the money that is taken from us via an illegal tax on water. Mr. McPension has become quite fond of this tax since it went to pay his own bloated salary and pension over the years.

McPension wants to keep our money in an “escrow account” so that if and when the “experts” properly educate him and the rest of the council, they can decide what to do with their ill-gotten gains; then, presumably, “they” will let us peons know. McKinley goes even farther claiming that he supports plowing the illegal tax back revenue back into water infrastructure without so much as wondering how the infrastructure got so neglected in the first place.

Well, here’s what I say: a person who has the opportunity to kill an illegal tax and doesn’t is no better than the person who supports an illegal tax in the first place.

Here’s McPension in action:

April 24, 2012April 24, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

We Get Mail: Fence Sitting Cardboard Candidate?

by The Fullerton Harpoon139 Comments

I found this communication in our in-box yesterday:

An Open Letter to Doug Chaffee

April 23, 2012

Dear Mr. Chaffee:

I support the recall effort and will vote in favor of removing all three councilmen on June 5th. I support the statements made on the Notice of Intent to Recall, and I believe any candidate running to replace a recalled councilman should believe the same.

I saw this on Euclid today. The homeowner seems to be on both sides of the fence. It begs the question: Are you?

The rumor mill is spinning around town. It claims that you’re proud to receive Pat McKinley’s endorsement of your candidacy should the recall succeed; and worse publicly stated as much during a fundraising event at the Pint House several weeks ago. If this is true, this is not compatible with the Notice of Intent to Recall. You have to pick a side and you have to do so definitively.

In fact, I demand you take one of four positions immediately.

1) If you have stated that you’re proud to receive McKinley’s backing, you must withdraw your candidacy from the special election on June 5th. This statement does not meet with the spirit of the recall and is insulting to the electorate. Candidates not supporting the spirit of the recall should not be on the ballot. Just because you had some extra campaign signs sitting around from 2010 doesn’t mean you’re entitled to run.

2) If you find it morally acceptable to be proud of McKinley’s endorsement of your candidacy, state so in bold letters on all your campaign literature, website, Facebook account, and during any public appearances you make. Failure to be transparent on this issue is dishonest.

3) If you’re not proud of McKinley’s endorsement, state loudly and often that you’ve signed the recall petition and outline why Pat McKinley needs to go. Demand that those posting propaganda against the recall remove your name from their lawns. Take a stance and make it clear that no supporter of Pat McKinley is a supporter of yours.

4) Do nothing. If you ignore this open letter and succeed in your candidacy, count on being recalled.

Sincerely,

Ryan Cantor

P.S. Dear Friends, just to show what a small world it is, after all, the property above is the residence of one Beatriz Gregg, mater familias of the Gregg clan that includes our old pal Aaron, whose 2010 campaign was, um, something of a personal embarrassment.

April 20, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

Larry Bennett Owes You A Month’s Worth of Water

by The Desert Rat20 Comments

Several months ago Anti-recall lackey Larry Bennett challenged you to find the illegal tax on water on your monthly bill. It was pretty disingenuous even for a slimmer like Larry. FFFF pointed out that the illegal tax wasn’t listed on the bill, which of course is one of the reasons it is illegal!

On Tuesday night good ol’ Larry all but admitted that there was indeed a 10% tax on your water. Of course he tried to diffuse the ugly truth by saying that 1) he likes paying the tax (could be true – he’s a damned fool); and, 2) the tax helps keep his grass green and his flowers happy because he’s a water hog (the first part is a falsehood; the second, yes, I believe he likes to waste water). Naturally, he was just parroting the nonsense of his hero Doc HeeHaw who also claimed some part of the 10% went to water delivery – an outright lie.

Anyway, I think that if he had a shred of honor, Bennett would now make good on his promise to pay your monthly water bill. But if you want to ask him you’d better hurry up. Larry will only pay the first person to e-mail him!