Category: Victory

You win some, you lose some.

Posted onBehind Closed Doors

A Colorfully Gesticulating Norby Loses The Skirmish, But Wins The Battle

by 3 Comments on A Colorfully Gesticulating Norby Loses The Skirmish, But Wins The Battle

Who will win the war? Follow the money.

The GOP Initiatives Endorsement Committee met this past Saturday to debate whether it should recommend to the State GOP to endorse Proposition 22.

Watch and see what happened during the questions and answer period. The proponents for Yes on 22 focused their argument on misdirected “local control,” and the fear that if it doesn’t pass Arnold Schwarzenegger will raid the cities’ Redevelopment funds and give them away to the schools. Hooray! The only problem is that by the time this is voted on Arnold will about as lame a duck as Daffy, and probably already reading the script for Terminator 5.

Did the most vocal Yes on 22 proponent, Jon Fleischman (hot dog alert @ 3:18), really think the voting members  in the room would be dumb enough to buy that “Arnold will cook up a bad budget” line? Well, they did – the vote was 9 Ayes and 8 Noes.  However, good news came on Sunday when the recommendation of the Initiatives Committee was tossed out by the GOP party who gave a thumbs down to the Prop 22 proponents.

Check out Chuck Devore, one of the few non-repuglicans in office. He gets it.

And yes, I really do have to wonder if Fleischman was on the Yes on 22 payroll. The Howard Jarvis group was no doubt bought off by the purchase of a slate mailer.

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Posted onBehind Closed Doors

Bankhead Forgot to Submit an Argument Against Term Limits

by 13 Comments on Bankhead Forgot to Submit an Argument Against Term Limits

Weather's gettin' colder...

Measure M will be on the ballot in November, but the arguments presented in the official voter materials will be a bit one-sided.

Nobody submitted an argument against the measure to enact term limits against Fullerton city council members.

Was anti-term limit incumbent Dinosaur Don Bankhead asleep at the switch, or was he actaully smart enough to disassociate him self with that position during an election campaign? Who knows?

I really like spinkles on my frogurt...

Sharon Quirk-Silva authored the opinion in support of the measure, which summarizes them as:

  • Term limits increase the number of competitive elections
  • Term limits bring in more opportunities to serve in public office
  • Term limits disfavor seniority
  • Term limits promote fresh ideas

Of course, she missed the most important purpose of term limits: they will end the seemingly endless political careers of staff yes-men: folks like Don Bankhead and Dick Jones, who have tormented taxpayers for decades by voting for almost every single boondoggle and corporate welfare project put in front of them.

Whadya know. A promise was kept...

And for that we thank SQS for sticking by the promise she made way back in January of 2009.

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Posted onMSM Falls on Face

Observer Smacked Down

by 9 Comments on Observer Smacked Down

Nobody told us about the depth charges.

Previously we noted the Fullerton Observer’s legal maneuvering in an attempt to add itself to the city payroll. Last week we found out that Sharon Kennedy’s court filing had been met with objections by both the Orange County Register and the City of Fullerton.

The City’s objection is based on the same points we brought up a few weeks ago – namely, the Observer is not printed within the city, it is not printed weekly and it doesn’t have a bona fide list of paying subscribers as required by law. That’s three strikes for the Observer.

City of Fullerton’s Objection

The city calls into question Sharon Kennedy’s own filing, where we learn that the Observer boasts a whopping 598 paid subscribers and a monthly online distribution that rivals FFFF’s daily hits.

Next we have an objection filed by OC Register attorneys, which finds fault with the notice that Kennedy filed for her own hearing. The Register sums up the problem by saying “It is ironic that the Petitioner [Fullerton Observer] is seeking to publish important legal notices, yet cannot even publish its own Notice correctly.”

OC Register’s Objection

Kennedy pushed out her hearing to the end of July. I suspect she will drop it all together rather than suffer further embarrassment.

Bottom line: Kennedy’s dying cause here is to get the Fullerton Observer onto the city payroll. We’ve already demonstrated the paper’s inability to criticize city staff, engage in any kind of investigative journalism within city hall or participate objective reporting all while claiming that it is a legitimate newspaper. It’s hard to imagine any of these conditions improving should Kennedy’s paper wind up on the taxpayer’s dole.

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Posted onHarry Sidhu

You Can’t Dig A Hole With A Rubber Band

by 11 Comments on You Can’t Dig A Hole With A Rubber Band

That’s a saying my grandfather had to suggest the futility of trying to do a job with the wrong tool. And in this case the tool in question is Mr. Hide and Seek Sidhu, the bogus 4th District candidate with the fake addresses, the gibberish, the all ’round assclownery.

All new episodes coming in the fall!

By now you may have heard that Sidhu got his clown’s ass handed to him last night By Fullerton’s Shawn Nelson in the 4th District Supervisor’s election. It was a solid 12% margin for Nelson – after the unions had spent $1.5 million to smear him and promote the lame Sidhu.

But the Sidhu product was, and is so worthless that it can’t be peddled at any price. The more money pumped into it, the worse it looked. As we predicted all along, Sidhu’s campaign managers have soaked poor Harry and will continue to do so all long as he keeps writing checks that don’t bounce. But come September union bosses Wayne Quint and Nick “Bullhorn” Berardino will have to ask themselves whether they want to waste any more of their dough trying to sell a car that has no wheels and no engine.

Well, it’s true they’re not the brightest bulbs on the tree, but as the Good Book says, the writing is on the wall. And then Harry will have to go it alone; and all the money squandered will be his.

Oh, and we’ll be checking up to see if he’s actually living at Lucky Way.

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Posted onOC Register

The OC Register Editorial Board on the Fourth

by 6 Comments on The OC Register Editorial Board on the Fourth

Today the print edition of the OC Register contains two endorsements of Shawn Nelson. One is in their list of all ballot and candidate endorsements. The second is part of a piece called “Ten things that matter in this election.”

We agree with this statement from the Register: “The two most important issues, we believe, are public employee union pension reform and continuing a lawsuit that challenges a retroactive pension spike for sheriff’s deputies. If the lawsuit prevails, it will have implications in California and nationwide. Mr. Nelson is the only candidate to pledge to pursue both issues.”

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Posted on72nd Election

The Ackerwoman for Assembly Hall of Shame

by 22 Comments on The Ackerwoman for Assembly Hall of Shame

On another thread Fullerton School Board member and seemingly clueless Ackerwoman supporter, Minard Duncan, popped up like a milk weed to question our apparent dislike of his fellow Ackerwoman cheerleader Mimi Walters.

This jump started an earlier idea to publish the names of all the lackeys, stooges and repuglicans who signed onto Ackerman Inc.’s Big Lie Tour of 2009.

This is a list of the elected officials that decided their best interests lay in the endorsement of Linda Ackerman for the 72nd Assembly District. Enjoy the asinine quotations at the bottom of the page and be sure to pick out your favorites on the list for special attention. We have helpfully highlighted in red the names of politicians in whose elections Fullerton voters will get to participate.

I supported Linda, a great American...
Members of Congress
  • Congressman Ed Royce
  • Congressman Dana Rohrabacher
  • Former Congressman Bill Dannemeyer

Statewide Elected Officials

  • BOE Member Bill Leonard
  • Former State Secretary of Education and Mayor of Los Angeles Richard Riordan

State Senators

  • Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth
  • Former Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte
  • Former Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman
  • Former Senator Marian Bergeson
  • Senator Mark Wyland
  • Senator Mimi Walters
  • Senator Bob Huff
  • Senator Bob Dutton
  • Senator George Runner
  • Senator Sam Aanestad 
  • Senator John Benoit 
  • Senator Abel Maldonado
  • Senator Dave Cox

State Assemblymembers

  • Former Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines
  • Assemblyman Jim Silva
  • Assemblyman Joel Anderson
  • Assemblyman Ted Gaines
  • Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher
  • Assemblywoman Diane Harkey
  • Former Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher
  • Former Assemblywoman Sharon Runner
  • Former Assemblyman Tom Bordonaro
  • Former Assemblyman Openmike Duval
  • Former Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer

Orange County

  • Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens
  • Orange County Supervisor Pat Bates
  • Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell
  • Orange County Supervisor Janet Ngyuen
  • Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas
  • Former Orange County Supervisor Cynthia Coad

Anaheim

  • Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle

Fullerton

  • Fullerton Mayor Don Bankhead
  • Fullerton Councilmember Dick Jones
  • Former Mayor of Fullerton Buck Catlin
  • Former Mayor Leland Wilson
  • Former Mayor Peter Godfry
  • Former Mayor of Fullerton Jerry Christie
  • Former Mayor of Fullerton Linda LeQuire
  • Former Fullerton Police Chief Pat McKinley

Placentia

  • Former Placentia Mayor Scott Brady
  • Placentia Councilmember Jeremy Yamaguchi

Orange

  • City of Orange Mayor Carolyn Cavecche
  • City of Orange Councilmember Mark Murphy
  • City of Orange Councilmember Jon Dumitru

Yorba Linda

  • Yorba Linda Mayor Mark Schwing
  • Yorba Linda Councilmember Jim Winder

Villa Park

  • Villa Park Mayor Pro Tem Bill Mac Aloney

Brea

  • Brea Mayor John Beauman
  • Brea Councilmember Roy Moore

La Habra

  • La Habra Councilmember James Gomez
  • La Habra Councilmember Steve Simonian
  • Former La Habra Mayor Juan Garcia
  • Former La Habra City Councilmember John Holmberg

Elected Leaders

  • Tustin Mayor Doug Davert
  • Tustin Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Amante
  • Laguna Hills Mayor Joel Lautenschleger
  • City of Covina Mayor Walt Allen
  • Newport Beach City Councilmember Steven Rosansky
  • Capistrano Unified School District Trustee, Anna Bryson
  • Fullerton School District Trustees Maynard Duncan, Ellan Ballard, Hilda Sugarman, Lynn Thornly.

“Having called North Orange County her home for over 30 years, Linda is by far the most experienced and effective candidate for Assembly. She is a respected leader who will restore dignity to the office while fighting for Orange County values.”- Former Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher

“Linda has been a steadfast conservative leader in Orange County for many years. She will be ready to lead on the important budget issues facing the region and the state on day one.”- Assemblywoman Diane Harkey

“I am proud to stand by Linda in her campaign to promote conservative leadership and higher standards to the California State Assembly.”

– State Senator Mimi Walters.

“Linda Ackerman is an experienced leader who has proven her dedication to the community time and time again, I am proud to support her campaign for State Assembly because I know she will be ready to lead on the issues our state faces on day one after being elected.”- Senator Bob Huff

“Linda Ackerman has always done what is right for the sake of the community, not political gain. She is a proven leader who will help solve California’s budget crisis and bring Orange County values to the State Assembly.”- City of Orange Mayor Carolyn Cavecche

“Linda Ackerman is an experienced businesswoman and community leader who I trust to help balance the budget and rein in out of control spending in Sacramento. North Orange County needs Linda in the Assembly fighting for real budget reform.” – Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle

“We need an experienced leader who will fight for North Orange County. That’s why I’m supporting Linda Ackerman for State Assembly,” Fullerton Mayor Don Bankhead

“When it comes to the safety of our children, Linda Ackerman will never back down.”- Former Fullerton Police Chief Pat McKinley

“I wholeheartedly endorse Linda in her campaign for Assembly. As a businesswoman and community philanthropist she has been an active leader in North Orange County and is by far the best person to represent us in the Assembly” -Yorba Linda Mayor Mark Schwing

Paid For by Ackerman for Assembly 2009, FPPC ID #1321372

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Posted on72nd Election

72nd Election Recap: Validation & Valediction

by 17 Comments on 72nd Election Recap: Validation & Valediction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKm65xLpwIM

Over at the otherwise dreadfully tedious Red County blog, our Friend Allan Bartlett opines on last night’s impressive Norby victory over Ackerwoman in the 72nd Special Election Primary. He almost gets it completely right.

He correctly points out that Norby’s 17% margin of victory over the Ackerman, Inc slime-peddlers is a bad sign for all of the establishment Repuglicans who happily climbed onto the carpetbagging, truth challenged bandwagon, believing  (erroneously) that money would trump experience and actual political accomplishment.

But tucked into Allan’s post is this admonition to Ackerman, Inc.:

We’ll give you a few days to lick your wounds and get over the bitterness that you and Dick are probably feeling towards Chris right now, but it’s time to finally end this ugly chapter in OC political history and endorse Chris for the runoff.  It’s the right thing to do.

Nice sentiment, perhaps, but a not at all necessaryof gesture of Republican solidarity. In the first place, if they believed half of the trash they peddled against Norby to the voters the Ackermans (if they had any integrity, oops!) would want Norby locked up “e-mmediately” as their flunky Dick Jones would say. But, neither Norby nor the people of the 72nd need anything from the OC Repuglican apparatchicks. On the contrary, Norby’s victory proves that one can win, and win convincingly (although being outspent 2-1) over forces that have treated OC government like their own little plantation.

At the end of his post Allan rightfully chastises all of the Republican elected drones who circled their wagons of self-interest around the Ackermans after hearing Dick’s do-re-mi siren song (with the emphasis on “dough” and “me”). Good for Allan. His was the the only voice on that blog that wasn’t making a full-time job of avoiding Ackerwoman’s deceitful residency and her contemptible smears.

Ah well, victory, as Allan trenchantly observes, is the best admonition to those who are more interested in money and power than they are doing what’s right. If all those folks who endorsed Linda Ackerman because of her “inevitability” (despite the fact that she didn’t live in the district, and completely misrepresented her business experience) think that this craven behavior will be soon forgotton, they may be in for a rude surprise.

And now, the task of this Grover Cleveland, having been completed, and satisfactorily so, we pass on the name to a new (and no doubt improved) Grover. Adios Amigos! And lets hope the times are really are a-changin.’

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Posted onFullerton City Council

Victory for Outdoor Music in Downtown

by 16 Comments on Victory for Outdoor Music in Downtown
we play for food and drinks
If you don't like our sound you don't have to listen

On Tuesday night, July 7, 2009 the Fullerton City Council finally concluded the issue of Live Outdoor Amplified Noise.  With a 4-1 vote (Pam Keller in opposition for some reason), council members decided that our current sound ordinance will suffice, moving forward into the future. Currently, acoustic music is allowed outside and louder live amplified music is not.  Jones, Bankhead, Quirk and Nelson all voting that the outdoor use of acoustical instrumentation (without amplification) is A-OK, but the use of louder live amplified noise on downtown private  patios on a regular basis is not the best thing for Downtown Fullerton.

It was stated in the sound study that was produced for the city at a cost of $16K that it is very unusual for cities to allow loud live amplified music outdoors on a regular basis. This obviously doesn’t include special events which are permitted under the current city code.  It’s so unheard of that only 3 cities in the whole country where cited as allowing some kind of routine outdoor noise, 2 of them out-of-state. The vast majority of cities allow acoustic (non-amplified) music outdoors while the loud music belongs inside. What a great idea!

We do our best work indoors...
We do our best work indoors...

Cheers for the Council for making a wise decision and preserving the peace in Downtown!

Cheers for the Council for having the foresight to see that over the long run this will encourage positive development in the downtown and promote a healthy business climate for all types of diverse shops and residential dwellings to thrive in downtown.

If you think about it, some types of music just aren’t conducive to being peace and quiet, yet others are. So by sticking with the current ordinance, acoustic music like folk, jazz and blues are encouraged outside while the louder harder stuff is only allowed indoors.

Makes great sense—Good job City Council!

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