Category: Watch Your Wallet

Posted onChronic Failure

The Price of Integrity May Be Lower Than You Think

by 99 Comments on The Price of Integrity May Be Lower Than You Think
What would you do for $5000?

Here is Sharon Quirk heaping praises on her supporters in the FPOA. She is proud of her police force. Why? She doesn’t really say.

Is it the fact that they are one of the most expensive police forces, per capita in Orange County?

Is it the hard work of “Alby Al” Albert Rincon, the serial molester of women detainees?

Is it the hard work of Kenton Hampton who beat up and arrested and had prosecuted an innocent man?

Is it the hard work of Miguel “Sonny Black” Saliceo who through malice or laziness ID’d the wrong man who spen 5 months in jail?

Is it the hard work of Andrew Goodrich who kept spinning half-truths and outright lies during his rancid tenure as PIO?

Is it the hard work of the cops who tried to pin a completely bogus hit and run rap on George Bushala?

Is it the hard work of the on-duty cops who, on 2010 started dumping obscenity laced threats on the FFFF blog?

Is it the hard work of Todd Major who ripped off Explorers to feed hi pill habit?

Is it the hard work of Kelly Mejia who tried to steal an Ipad by hiding under her bag of chicken at a Miami TSA checkpoint?

Is it the hard work of April Baughman who ripped off the evidence room for years without detection?

Is it the hard work of Manuel Ramos, the grossly obese killer of Kelly Thomas?

Is it the hard work of Joe Wolfe, the cop who initiated the assault on Kelly Thomas with his baton?

Is it the hard work of Jay Cicinelli who tased KT numerous times and then beat his face to jelly.

Is it the hard work of Hampton, Blatney and Craig who appeared on the scene long enough to add their weight to the chest compression that killed Kelly?

Is it the hard work of the watch commander, Tom “Tango” Basham who watched the KT killing unfold?

Is it the hard work of Danny Hughes, the Fullerton Six boss who told them they had done a good job and put them back on the street?

Well, that’s enough slime for today.

So what would you do to get the Fullerton cop union endorsement?

 

Read More
Posted onBoohooism

Dead People For Flory

by 67 Comments on Dead People For Flory
Invasion of the body snatchers?

It seems that Jan Flory is bringing a little bit of charming Chicago politics to Fullerton, i.e. raiding cemeteries for supporters. Now you know why we have a category called “Deadheads.”

Here is Flory’s 2012 voter guide:

Opps. Bob Root is dead. So is Gwen Ferguson; likewise Majorie Pogue!

Did you spot any others?

Also of high amusement value are the names of me and my ex-wife! How I got on the list is anybody’s guess since I have never given Flory authorization to use my name for anything.

I believe this is just a matter of utter incompetence, but it isn’t surprising. When Flory says she is ten years older and 10 years better she is half right.

 

Read More
Posted onChronic Failure

The Moral Bankruptcy of Bankhead

by 48 Comments on The Moral Bankruptcy of Bankhead

Somebody captured this campaign sign recently. It suggests one of three things.

Re-elect? How many times does this boob need to be recalled?

1) Don Bankhead is a liar who wants people to think he is an incumbent; or,

2) Bankhead belongs in a memory care unit since he can’t remember that he was recalled four months ago and is no longer on the City Council; or,

3) he is too cheap to buy new campaign signs and is using old ones.

Pay no attention to the dinosaur behind the curtain…

Well, which is it?

Read More
Posted onChronic Failure

Jan Flory’s Poisoned Park

by 60 Comments on Jan Flory’s Poisoned Park
Maybe it was the fumes…

Just the other day Fullerton City Council candidate Jan Flory was heard to remark about needed reform: protecting the poor, underpaid and overworked city staff that used to bring her all those important projects when she was “on council” right after the last ice age.

Well here’s a staff-driven project that her beloved staff dumped on her and which she happily voted for: The Poisoned Park.

Don’t go there…

We did a whole series on this fiasco that you can read about here and here. In a nutshell, the City bought contaminated property from the Union Pacific Railroad on West Truslow for a community park. Forget the basic fact that nobody in the neighborhood wanted a park, let alone a gang hang out; the land was there and a private party wanted to buy it.

Fullerton’s stellar bureaucracy led by Susan Hunt (Parks Director), Bob Hodson (City Engineer), Jaim Armstrong (City Manager), Gary Chalupsky (Redevelopment Director), and Paul Dudley (Planning) just couldn’t get in the way of a pending deal fast enough. The City steeped in and bought the land for over a million bucks, then they built their park. More millions spent. All approved by Jan Flory.

And then disaster. It transpires that there was a toxic flume under the site. A fence was set up around the offending park and it remains closed to this day, over ten years after it was purchased, falling into decay. Nobody had ever bothered to to a proper environmental assessment and make the sale contingent upon its results.

The Poisoned Park may well be the exemplar of an incompetent collection of boobs from whom no accountability was ever demanded and from whom none was ever delivered.

But to Jan Flory’s “lights” these are the “heart of the City.” Hmm.

 

 

Read More
Posted onChronic Failure

Reform? Who Jan Flory Really Wants to Work For

by 90 Comments on Reform? Who Jan Flory Really Wants to Work For

It sure as hell isn’t you. Or any other taxpayer or citizen. Nope. Here she is holding forth on who really matters to her. Her idea of ‘reform” is to place the interests of the City’s workers ahead of yours.

In an era of bloated salaries and, crippling pension burdens on the taxpayer and their great-great grandkids Jan Flory cares first and foremost about the plight of unionized government workers!

Did we put words in this dinosaur’s mouth? Nope. She did it all by herself.

Read More
Posted onBehind Closed Doors

Municipal Redevelopment Arrogance: A Common Scourge

by 55 Comments on Municipal Redevelopment Arrogance: A Common Scourge

Sometimes you don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Like the case in Philly where a local businessman may be sued by the Redevelopment Agency for cleaning up trash and beautifying a piece of blighted Agency-owned property that they willfully refused to clean up. So ths guy spends 20 big ones of his own dough since the City blatantly ignored its own mess, and is now looking at a potential lawsuit – a lawsuit some asshole city bureaucrat says is based on “principle.” Principle. Now that’s a scream.

What’s really funny is that if the city had done the work it would have cost twenty times as much and taken ten times longer.

Of course apologists of Fullerton’s former Redevelopment Agency (you know who they are) would be quick to point out is that this sort incompetence and arrogance  never happened in Fullerton; Fullerton Redevelopment folks were  just so darned…well… you know.

But consider this: Fullerton has had a long and inglorious Redevelopment history that includes building, then demolishing concrete trestles along Harbor, giving away a public sidewalk to a politically connected apaign contributor, subsidizing dozens of boondoggles, supporting architectural design Nazi-ism, stealing an old lady’s property to give to a car dealer, and nasty little sales tax kick backs from Redevelopment funds – all done to promote more tax revenue to pay for pensions, League of City junkets, and all those inevitable step pay increases for the gang.

A final thought: even though Redevelopment is supposedly dead in California you can bet the farm (if they don’t steal it for High Speed Rail) that the lobbyists are busy at work in Sacramento trying to revive it, and that local mall fry politicians and local political wannabes are real eager for it to come back.

Why not? It’s fun and it isn’t their money.

Read More
Posted onA Step in the Right Direction

Wolfe To Get Tuned Up By Grand Jury

by 234 Comments on Wolfe To Get Tuned Up By Grand Jury
Can’t wait to see the booking photo.

It took a year, and some double talk by our esteemed DA, but news reports are saying the OC Grand Jury is convening to day to indict former Fullerton bully cop Joe Wolfe in the death of Kelly Thomas. Originally Tony Rackukas said Wolfe couldn’t have known what was going on between Ramos and Kelly and therefore was excused from any wrongdoing, a yarn so unbelievable that, well, nobody believed it, especially when the video came out and we could see a fully engaged Wolfe take batting practice on Kelly.

And here’s some food for thought: Joe Felz and Acting Chief Danny Hughes  put this cheapjack goon (or so the story goes – and it has the perfect ring of truth) on a disability retirement for throwing out his shoulder beating up on Thomas! In any case Wolfe is gone from the Department, but not ’til afer getting a clean bill of health from our new, reformed police department and its esteemed Acting Chief. Fortunately the Grand Jury is likely to be a lot more discriminating as to who it determines to be Hero. Ad hopefully this Hero will get what he deserves.

 

Read More
Posted onA Step in the Right Direction

Tomorrow: Joe Nation Addresses Fullerton’s Pension Problems

by 109 Comments on Tomorrow: Joe Nation Addresses Fullerton’s Pension Problems

Joe Nation of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research will be visiting Fullerton tomorrow for a special presentation on Fullerton’s public pension and retiree medical liabilities.

Back in July I asked the city council to hire Joe Nation and the SIEPR to produce a comprehensive, independent report on Fullerton’s substantial pension debt and its projected impact on Fullerton’s financial future. While the full report won’t be available for a few more weeks, Joe has agreed to make a special presentation to the council at the Fullerton Public Library on Tuesday at 4:00 pm. The presentation will be recorded and posted online in a day or two. An agent of CalPERS will be on hand to present his viewpoint, as well.

With skyrocketing pension debt affecting cities throughout California and the nation, it’s important for Fullerton to understand where we are headed and what this city will lose if we don’t address these issues head-on. This independent analysis will be an important step towards the goal of reining in our debt and ensuring the city’s financial stability over the long haul.

Read More