Category: Victory

You win some, you lose some.

Posted onA Step in the Right Direction

New Council Kills Illegal Water Tax

by 172 Comments on New Council Kills Illegal Water Tax

They did it.

Last night the new city council killed the “in-lieu” franchise fee that illegally tacked on an additional 10% to our water bills. Redeeming their campaign pledges, Travis Kiger and Greg Sebourn led the charge, along with Bruce Whitaker. Doug Chaffee followed their lead, as did Sharon Quirk-Silva.

So after a year’s dilatory foot-dragging by city staff and a clueless council majority,  the deal is done, effective July 1st, 2012. Future rate increases necessary for infrastructure maintenance will be treated, rightly, as a separate issue, as will any legitimate indirect and overhead costs from the City.

And Bruce Whitaker succinctly summed up the what happens to the money – $2.5 million a year – that is tacked on and skimmed off. 70% went to pay for non-water related salaries, benefits, and pension costs. The scam lasted for over forty years.

I offer my profound thanks to the council for doing the right thing.

Also invigorating was the minor tsunami of requests from councilmen for future agenda items:

Kiger: a study of nepotism in the police department; a fireworks referendum.

Sebourn: an independent audit of City Hall; a report on police disciplinary statistics.

Whitaker: discussion of disclosure to council of public records requests.

Doug Chaffee: discussion of direct council hiring (and presumably oversight) of the police chief.

It was refreshing and exciting to finally see a Fullerton city council take charge, direct policy issues, and deliver on campaign promises.

Well done, and thank you!

 

 

Read More
Posted onA Step in the Right Direction

Freedom Ain’t Free

by 54 Comments on Freedom Ain’t Free

In a democracy the elected representatives work for the people. When they forget that, and when they come to affiliate themselves with the governing class, the results can be consequential. Sometimes it takes a while, but sooner or later their dereliction catches up to them.

The image above symbolizes freedom from tyranny – the tyranny of incompetent, entrenched, befuddled decrepitude.

Happy 4th of July, Fullerton. Have a cold one and congratulate yourselves!

Read More
Posted onA Step in the Right Direction

The Three Empty Pez Dispensers

by 41 Comments on The Three Empty Pez Dispensers
Looking for brains, courage, a heart.

You know, Larry Bennett really could have just left it alone. After dodging a final, humiliating meeting to certify the recall election that drove them out of office, at least one of the Three Bald Tires finally deigned to show up at Fullerton City Hall tomorrow morning to do the deed. It could have been done quietly with as little fanfare as possible. Actually only one of them even needed to show up.

But no.

Bennett seems to think the Three Dead Batteries need a sendoff appropriate to all the wonderful things these men have done for Fullerton. Friday he notified supporters of the Three Tree Stumps that there was to be a special council meeting, and that he hoped everybody would show up to let them know what terrific public servants they have been.

Bennett has likely spent the week-end making phone calls to drum up some folks willing to say kind thing about the Three Pea-less Pods. No doubt some will show up. And others are likely to show up now, too. People who recognize the disastrous misrule of these three characters:

Yes, I was the king.

Don Bankhead: dumb-bell, and self-annointed king of Fullerton, whose somnolent councilmanic career was punctuated with one Redevelopment boondoggle and union give away after another.

Crazy? Check. Rude? Check. Gone? Check.

Dick Jones, the southern fried lunatic and loud-mouthed bully who never came to understand that the authority to give orders doesn’t confer wisdom – or even relevance.

To all appearances it looked a lot like a street gang.

Pat McKinley: protector and apologist for the undeniable Culture of Corruption in the Fullerton Police Department that he himself had created. Those ladies weren’t like you. Aliens. Don’t rush to judgement.

Well, good bye and good riddance.

The sun had been warm and life was good. But all that changed.

And please take Larry Bennett with you. The tide is rising.

 

 

 

Read More
Posted on"Dick" Ackerman

The Dilapitated Dinosaurs Want Their Money Back

by 50 Comments on The Dilapitated Dinosaurs Want Their Money Back
Heh heh. The hardest part of the game is gonna be keeping the score down. Heh heh.

If you think about it, anti-recall managers Bennett, Ackerman and Ellis really screwed the pooch (and I don’t use that phrase lightly).

The Three Bald Ties put their reputations in the hands of Amateur Hour.

The metamorphosis into an oxygen breathing creature was slow and painful…

Remember the stupid rescission cards fiasco? The embarrassing website that just reproduced damning posts from FFFF and nonsense from Fullerton’s delusional gerontocracy?

Rock on!

And the of course there was the idiotic Stop Bushala campaign, ultimately doomed to fail since the name Bushala did not appear on the ballot.

Larry had sacrificed speed for size.

Stupid door hangers, stupid mail piece, stupid signs. Remember that awful video they touted as “hard hitting”?

These assclowns found the Recall team waiting for them with knives drawn around every corner as they kept pitching thousands of dollars into old school repuglican moneypits like Jim Bieber and Adam Probolsky.

And they lost by thirty points.

Need a jump?

True, the Three Dead Batteries put almost none of their own money into this disaster, perhaps showing the greatest wisdom of which they were capable. But even so, somebody should be asking for his money back.

 

Read More
Posted onDead heads

Fun Comments: 3 Good Men?

by 38 Comments on Fun Comments: 3 Good Men?

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.

Read More
Posted onA Step in the Right Direction

So What’s Next?

by 164 Comments on So What’s Next?

As soon as the Fullerton Recall election is certified (which should be comparatively quick) the reactionary Old Guard will be out and the new majority of reformers will be sworn in to join Bruce Whitaker in an opportunity to usher in a new era of accountability in Fullerton City Hall.

What should be the immediate agenda? How about finally (and immediately) revoking the illegal 10% water tax and figuring out how to implement a refund? How about pulling the plug on the last minute (and also illegal) Redevelopment deals handed out by the Three Flat Tires to their buddies like Dick Ackerman? How about initiating an immediate search for a new chief of police from outside the tainted innards of the FPD? How about an immediate jettison of the incompetent and inert City Attorney, Jones & Meyer? How about the demotion or removal of the City manager, Joe Felz, dubbed “Albert Pujols” of city managers by Patdown Pat McKinley, who sat on his ass while Fullerton went to hell?

How about a timely assessment of the labor union agreements that have created a multi-hundred million dollar unfunded liability for Fullerton? How about consideration of a “total compensation” approach in all future negotiations?

Feel free to add your ideas.

 

 

Read More
Posted onA Step in the Right Direction

Do The Right Thing

by 473 Comments on Do The Right Thing

Here’s a great video of  the courageous Marlena Carrillo questioning Patdown McPension for hiring a one-eyed cop retired on disability from the LAPD; and Sharon Quirk, who wants to move up the political ladder leaving lots of unfinished business behind; and the Acting Police Chief  Dan Hughes for leaving a gang of killer cops on the streets of Fullerton after having watched and listened to the video and audio recordings of the Kelly Thomas murder.

The theme? Have you done the right thing? As Marlena points out, quite correctly, doing the right thing is not always easy, but it is what we expect from our leaders. The deafening silence from the dais in instructive.

Today, June 5th, 2012 you can join us in doing the right thing: sweeping out City Hall of the incompetent, sclerotic, unaccountable gang that has failed to lead.

Read More
Posted onHome Town Hero

Shawn Nelson Stops By

by 68 Comments on Shawn Nelson Stops By

OC 4th District Supervisor Shawn Nelson visited our humble blog yesterday to refresh our memories about his calling in the Feds in the Kelly Thomas killing. Here’s what he had to say:

 

  • #22 by Shawn Nelson on May 24, 2012

    So the historical record is clear, I contacted the Department of Justice on Thursday July 21 or 28 (not sure which Thursday off the top of my head). My purpose was to open a case file in the Civil Rights division because I felt an obligation to ensure the citizens of Fullerton everything I could do had been done. While on the telephone with a lawyer at the DOJ, she contacted the FBI and before our call concluded she was able to confirm that the FBI would be taking the lead on the case and that the FBI had, in fact, opened a file as of that monement.

    Confirmation of the FBI’s involvement made the airwaves later that same day and by 8:00 the next day I heard word the officers involved had been taken off the streets.

 

A good reminder that the cops weren’t pulled until after the FBI was notified on July 28th, 2011. A coincidence? I think not.

FFFF originally posted about Nelson’s intervention, here. I also believe it was this action that spurred the DA to do a real investigation, and not one of the usual whitewashes.

 

Read More