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.
Here is a clip from Rick Reiff’s program featuring our own admin, and the sorry sack of guano known as Larry Bennett. He’s the clown who blew a hundred grand defending the Three Bald Tires from a much deserved recall.
Observe that Bennett is not only a bad loser he is still a liar, which seems to come so naturally. He is still dodging the easiest question of all: if Tony Bushala wanted to control the City Council to further his own mythical development schemes, how much easier would it have been to simply donate to the Three Dead Batteries’ campaigns? The answer of course is a lot. A lot cheaper too.
Did you enjoy how Bennett glossed over the illegal water tax? He still likes it!
Bennett is also still going by the title Planning Commissioner. I wonder how much longer he’ll keep that job.
Yesterday we received this pearl of a comment from Mr. or Ms. Anonymous:
“These paranoid pot smoking hippies put 3 good men outta a job just because they said they wanted to wait until an investigation was complete before commenting on the death of Kelly.
Now these smelly hippies are turning there paranoia on the sidebar which had nothing to do with anything. when will the madness stop?”
You know, I think this person meant to say “Three Bald Tires.” You see, there was simply no tread left. The steel was showing through what was left of the rubber. They were worse than worthless: they were dangerous.
But now they are in a better place – protecting against erosion along a bend in the Santa Ana River. And even though we are all just smelly hippies, we are all in a better place, too.
Libertarian columnist Steve Greenhut wrote a recap on the Fullerton Recall, and put it in the context of people taking their governments back. Steve had lots of good things to say about the Recall and FFFF, and we proudly share his pice.
Chris Nguyen, who runs a blog called OC Political, says recently recalled Fullerton City Councilman Don Bankhead has just been initiated into a very exclusive club. According to Nguyen’s research (and I can’t vouch for that) only two men in American history have ever been recalled twice from the same job.
The first is some guy named James W. Holley who was mayor of Portsmouth, Virginia from 1984-1987 and again from 2008-2010. Each stint was punctuated by a recall. And now, with trumpets blaring and drums rolling, enters the august personage of Donald T. Bankhead, Fullerton City Council 1988-1994 and 1994-2012.
The asteroid was getting ominously close to Earth...
And of course I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that if Nguyen is accurate, then Bankhead is the only office holder in the 162 year history of California to be recalled twice from the same office. And that’s a damn impressive accomplishment.
The day before the election seems like a real good time to replay this sparkling jewel of a video; the one in which Patdown Pat McKinley admits his own failure to lead. It’s got to be real hard for any anti-recall stooges to suck up this one!! When you vote remember this McKinley proclamation: “Council people don’t lead.”
Also, enjoy watching Patdown Pat’s sociopathic neck ligaments strain as he utters the damning indictment “failure to lead.”
– Joe Sipowicz
Here’s an illuminating admission by soon-to-be-recalled Councilmember “Patdown” Pat McKinley. The accusation that he has failed to lead fails to resonate with McPension since he denies that he is on the City Council to be a leader. The snippet below was culled from a long interview with the good folks at FullertonStories, here.
Well, Friends, there you have it. And you have a great example of why it’s almost always a bad idea to elect former staff members into political office.
And out of his own mouth McKinley admits and proclaims his own dismal failure to lead.
I discovered this hanging from my door knob this morning, courtesy of the Fullerton Recall team. Yowzer! Look down there at the bottom of the salary side: Thomas Basham – the alleged Watch Commander who watched his boys beat Kelly Thomas to death. And on the pension side get a load of #2: Former City Manager, and anti-recall contributor, Chris Meyer who pulled in $171K in pension last year. He sure has lots of reasons to back the Three Bald Tires.
Food and drinks all day! Join the fun tomorrow, Saturday, June 2nd and Sunday June 3rd from 10:00AM to 6:00PM to make phone calls to Fullerton voters encouraging them to get out and vote for all of the Fullerton Recalls!
We will be making the calls in air-conditioned comfort at 110 E. Walnut Ave., Fullerton, 92832.
We have a finite number of phones and lines, however you are welcome to use your own cell phone as so many have unlimited weekends on their cell plans. It is our preference that you contact Jessica at (714) 869-8231 or email her at mkbcbellendir@gmail.com to discuss best available times so that we can cover both 8 hour days. Food and drink will be provided to volunteers as well as a tremendous amount of gratitude.
The bloated Ramos. Hard to tell where the cop ends and the night begins.
UPDATE. From KNBC: “Sgt. Jeff Stuart, a Fullerton Police Department spokesman, did not return a call seeking comment.”
Now that’s not very good way to improve communication with the community, now is it?
– Mr. Peabody
Over at the OC Weekly, ace reporter R. Scott Moxley has written a post detailing an incident between Fullerton cop Manny Ramos and a 58 year old disabled guy named Mark Edwin Walker. It appears the gist of the thing is that last June 21, two weeks before he instigated the Kelly Thomas murder, Ramos, without provocation or cause, confronted Walker outside an Albertson’s in Fullerton, threw the man to the ground, stomped on him and tossed him in jail, charged with public intoxication, resisting arrest, or some other such nonsense.
Subsequently a judge threw the case out and Walker lawyered up. Of course this is all Walker’s story and it may be self-serving; but it also sounds a heckuva lot like the Veth Mam case. Who’s a jury going to believe now?
Acting Chief Dan Hughes has been trying real hard lately to peddle the notion that he is in charge of a new and improved Fullerton Police Department, even though when you get right down to it there really wasn’t all that much to fix – just some irritating communication problems.
Although the scribes at the OC Register have apparently bought into this malarky, others who have seen the veritable conga line of crime perpetrated by the boys and girls in FPD blue, are a long way from being convinced. After all, the first step toward recovery is admitting the problem right?
Which is all preliminary to the point of this post.
Our FPD deep cover source informs us that Hughes is pressing to have three of the cops who ganged up on Kelly Thomas, and who stood around as he gasped his last breaths in the gutter, return to active duty. That would be cops Hampton, Blatney, and Craig. Of course he needs the DAs assurance that these goons won’t be prosecuted for anything. Which is why he came out with all that BS about how he and his boys were part of the “prosecution team” and why Tony Rackaukas praised the FPD for all their hard work for the benefit of Lou Ponsi. Looks like that deal’s done. It’s all about damage control now, and surely the City’s highly paid lawyer Michael Gennaco chipped in to help exonerate the three accomplices though his double top-secret report.
We have also been informed that although he is formally being fired, a back room deal is in the works to reward Joe Wolfe, the thug who started the murderous beat down on Kelly Thomas, with a nice, fat disability claim if he goes quietly. Of course we’ve been told that Wolfie re-injured his shoulder in the “tussle”, most likely bashing Kelly’s face with his elbow. That ought to good for a hundred thou’ of our money, give or take. Nice.
After much thought and discussion I have concluded that my email yesterday was inappropriate and I regret it. The copy below will be sent in an email as soon as we can get the logistics worked out to all registered voters in Fullerton who have available email:
Dear Fullerton Voter,
On June 5th you will have an opportunity to improve Fullerton City Hall by voting YES on the recalls of Pat McKinley, Don Bankhead and Dick Jones. Thousands of people supported and worked for this recall and I wish to personally apologize for an email that I sent yesterday as one of the leaders of the Fullerton Recall from fullertonrecall.com. In light of the fact that so many worked for this improvement in our city it was a poor decision on my part to specify which candidates I support in the context of being a Recall leader. That was not right and I apologize to the other candidates and their supporters.
There are 13 candidates running in three races to replace current leadership and all deserve the respect and appreciation from The Fullerton Recall for having the courage to step up and lead!
May the best candidates for the future of Fullerton win!
Sincerely,
Chris Thompson, Campaign Director – The Fullerton Recall
Yesterday we received this pearl of a comment from Mr. or Ms. Anonymous:
