The Great Fullerton Recall of 1994 removed A.B. “Buck” Catlin, Molly McClanahan, and Don Bankhead from the Fullerton City Council. The recall arose from citizen outrage against a series of utility taxes enacted during a recession. The rejection of the utility taxes ultimately saved Fullerton residents and businesses over $120 million.
The Fullerton FPD Culture of Corruption just got a new inductee into its Hall of Shame today, as reported by the OC Register’s Sean Emery, here.
It seems that FPD employee April Baughman, 52, is cooling her heels in the County jail, alleged to have swiped cash from the FPD property room for – get this – two freakin’ years!
The money quote comes from our friend “Acting” Chief Dan Hughes who is quoted as saying:
“When there are violations of public trust or actions which result in the reduction of confidence in the police department, disciplinary action will be taken swiftly and decisively.”
Uh, yeah, Dan, sure. Whatever you say. At least we didn’t have to read such inane bullshit as spoken by the otiose Sgt. Goodrich, although he probably wrote it.
Too bad swift and decisive disciplinary action wasn’t taken against the thugs who killed Kelley Thomas until ten weeks after he was murdered.
Just gimme a minute, here.
This latest humiliation begs two questions. One, how could there have been no accounting of property room inventory over this period without the collusion of at least one other miscreant; and two, how much will the Culture of Corruption created by Pat McKinley and tolerated by sleepwalking councilmembers Don Bankhead and Dick Jones end up costing us?
And naturally we are left to ponder the previous assertion of Acting Chief Hughes: anyone who believes there is a Culture of corruption in the FPD is either lying or misinformed.
Newsflash, Chief: we are not lying and we are not misinformed.
A few weeks ago Larry Bennett posted some wild-ass claim on his website that the Recall had broken some rule about reporting expenses . He was threatening to call the Fair Political Practices Commission by February 22. In the words of Doc HeeHaw, it looks like Larry’s a-steppin’ on his own weenie, again.
Our Recall Treasurer, Helen Myers, called the FPPC, and here’s what she learned:
Dear Tony,
As per your request I reviewed the assertions made by Larry Bennett on the anti-recall website and discussed them at length with the FPPC. As per my initial beliefs I confirmed that we are in compliance in all matters raised by Mr. Bennett’s post.
Obviously we are aware that we did not launder funds or misreport income and expenses, but the claim that we’re in violation of an election code by not reporting payments made by Tim Whitacre to his people is incorrect according to the FPPC. All expenditures, large and small, were correctly reported on form 460 and form 461. It is pretty clear to me that Mr. Bennett was reaching rather desperately, which was made even more obvious by the fact that he would have simply filed a complaint had he truly had legal basis. In case you care to read for yourself, According to the FPPC Campaign Manual 3, page 7-19; you will read:
The names of individuals paid to collect signatures (petition circulators) are not required to be disclosed on the campaign statement. However, a business entity, including a sole proprietorship, that contracts with a committee to obtain signatures must be identified. For example, if Hector Gonzales is an independent contractor that contracts with a ballot measure committee to obtain signatures in Sacramento County and he does not personally ask voters to sign petitions, but contracts the work to college students, the names of the college students are not required to be disclosed. Hector Gonzales must be identified as a vendor to the committee.
I correctly issued to Mr. Tim Whitacre a 1099-misc. form in the amount of $64,177. And he, in turn, issued 1099-misc. forms to those persons who collected signatures through his company. I also verified with the FPPC via telephone that these expenses were, indeed, properly reported. Frankly, Bennett’s comments are simply foolish.
As a side note, it amazes me that somebody like Larry Bennett is working so hard to keep such persons in office. Does he somehow have his snout in the pig trough?
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.
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.
In Fullerton the mayor succession is just about the only political intrigue we usually have, with the upper tier repuglicans like Ed Royce Jr. and Richard “Dick” Ackerman calling in markers for their previous endorsements, in order to keep some hapless lady Democrat from getting the largely ceremonial job.
Her luck was about to change...
In 2010 the deal went down right on schedule as the Three Tired Retreads voted in install Dozing Don Bankhead as “Mayor Pro Tem” instead of Sharon Quirk-Silva whose turn it was. Well, since the Mayor Pro Tem is traditionally next in line to be Mayor, the proverbial handwriting was on the wall.
And then in 2011 the damnedest thing happened in sleepy Fullerton. All Hell broke loose.
With the murder of Kelly Thomas by members of the FPD, with an entire Culture of Corruption finally exposed, with Redevelopment subsidies to campaign supporters uncovered, with an illegal, hidden 10% tax on water laid bare, with the subsequent Recall of the Three Stripped Gears, things took a turn for the weird.
In November, with the Recall signature campaign gathering steam, it suddenly became a matter of conjecture whether it could be business as usual for the Fullerton Old Guard. We said as much, here. And what we asked about is exactly what happened as we reported here.
Heh, heh. I've got these three beauties, here. Sure the mileage is a little high, and the tires are bald, but they'll get you where you want to go!
But never let it be said that Tricky Dick Ackerman missed a trick. I’ve got it on excellent authority that the Three Blind Brontosauruses didn’t elect Q-S without first proposing The Deal: in exchange for making her mayor for 2012, she would have to promise to oppose the Recall of The Three Dim Dealmakers!
To her credit Sharon Quirk-Silva saw what we saw: that her outbound colleagues had no choice but to make her mayor and were in no position to try to cut deals with anyone. When you’re out of chips the poker game is over.
And now the recall is qualified, an election will be scheduled for June, and the ‘pugs get to watch Quirk-Silva run for re-election with the title Mayor of Fullerton. Best of all they got nothing out of it.
Gummint makes problems; gummint makes problems worse. QED.
Yesterday Grover Cleveland posted on how the Fullerton City Council’s creation of a boozy mess downtown that led to the emergence of an FPD goon squad to quell the crime wave that the council, including Recall targets Jones, Bankhead and McKinley, had created.
The only problem was that the FPD goon squad didn’t solve anything; it actually added to the crime wave!
Here’s a reminder video: a late night confrontation between a thug and some thugs in uniform. An innocent bystander was beat up and arrested. His offense? Capturing the event on video. Later he was put on trial for assaulting a cop, to which Fullerton cops Kenton Hampton and Frank Nguyen swore on oath in a court of law. It never happened, but that didn’t stop the FPD and the DA from trying to put an innocent man in prison. Now we have two more Brady cops, if they weren’t Brady cops already, and a nasty, expensive law suit waiting in the wings
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.
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!
There’s just no doubt about it. Fullerton is at least twenty, maybe thirty years past needing new leadership. Well, hell, really any sort of leadership at all.
Thanks to the generosity of Tony Bushala and the hard work of the Fullerton Recall team, the once seemingly impossible is going to happen: The Good Old Boys Club is going to be unceremoniously shown the door. For good.
So who do you think should run to replace the Three Tired Tree Sloths?
Share your preferred candidates and be sure to explain why. Good, clean fun for all!
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.
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.
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.
Yes, I am more qualified...
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.
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.
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.
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.
Luck ran out a long time ago on Smilin' Larry, used, used car salesman...
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?
