Watch Your Wallet Archives - Page 58 of 86 - Friends For Fullerton's Future

June 7, 2012June 7, 2012Law N Disorder

A Message Of Doom and Gloom

Here is a fun e-mail sent out Wednesday by Fullerton cop union boss Barry Coffman. Yes, indeed, Barry is singing the blues, as well he should be. On Tuesday he discovered that the city he thought his union had bought and paid for just wouldn’t stay bought. Here’s Barry’s sob story:

Dear FPOA Member,

Last night we witnessed that the City of Fullerton can be bought. The citizens of Fullerton, or a least a small percentage of them, have spoken and decided that a change was needed. By now I’m sure you’re all aware of the city council recall and know what I’m talking about.

I suspect that besides the changing of the guard on the city council, there will be many other changes that will affect the city’s employees from the top all the way down to the bottom of all the bargaining units. The new city council will want to establish some sort of reform with us to save money.

Of course it’s still too early to tell what these changes will be but there are some ideas that are floating around that aren’t out of the realm of possibility of happening. First and foremost, our contract takes us through 2014.
Remember we added an additional 1 year extension that only WE can choose to utilize if we so desire that would make us safe through 2015. My guess is that we will probably pull the trigger on the extension but we’ll wait and see how things are two years from now.

The city could also ask us to re-open our current contract and renegotiate. I’m fairly certain their reason wouldn’t involve us getting a raise or some other increased benefit. I would always be open to hear what the city has to say but we signed a contract and I feel the city should honor its end of the deal as we would.

I spoke with our attorney Rob Wexler about the city trying to null and void our contract before it expires. He said that the only way for this to happen is if the city declares bankruptcy. This very thing happened in 2008 with the City of Vallejo, CA. They filed Chapter 9 bankruptcy citing one of many reasons being employee contracts and their inability to pay them along with retirees. Their POA took the city to court stating the city purposely created a fiscal crisis to break their contracts with the association. The POA lost and now has a new contract with fewer employees.

Could something like this happen here in Fullerton? Maybe, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

There has been a lot of talk about the Orange County Sheriff’s Department coming in to take us over as a contract city. It’s my understanding that the sheriff’s department would want to have a legitimate city council vote or city manager requesting a cost pricing for their services. They will not do a pricing just because someone asks them to. Again our contract will come into play since they would not want to interfere with it and get involved with what would surely be a fight between our association and the city.

Another issue would be the City of Fullerton trying to become a charter city. I don’t know all the pros and cons or intricacies of a charter city but my understanding is the rules change somewhat when it comes to local versus state control regarding local affairs. The City of Costa Mesa has been trying to become one. They want to be able to control their employee’s wages by outsourcing much of their city services to private companies or other agencies at usually lower cost.

Could something like this happen here in Fullerton? Maybe, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

If you haven’t been following the news in San Diego and San Jose, you probably should. The voters in San Jose successfully passed a measure that would help curb retirement cost. Employees would be required to contribute significantly more towards their current retirement formula or choose to opt out to a retirement plan which would offer fewer benefits. San Diego voters passed a ballot initiative that would replace guaranteed pensions with 401(k) style plans for most new hires. I’m sure both ballot measures will be challenged in the courts and we’ll have to wait and see how they turn out.

Could something like this happen here in Fullerton? Maybe, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

No one really knows what will happen over the course of the next few years. A few of the soon-to-be city council members have made it perfectly clear that they want to put our associations in check and have us pay more towards our retirements and anything else they can. Depending if they want to play by the rules and meet and confer as required, we could see ourselves tangled up in a legal battle like many associations across the state.

So as I close this message of doom and gloom, I don’t want to create a panic. We are a professional organization and we still have a job to do. Let’s keep up the great work we do and not fuel the argument that we are just running amuck out there. We know that’s not true and no other agency would be able to provide the same level of service to the citizen of Fullerton.

If you have any questions or concerns, you know how to get a hold of me.

Be safe out there,

Barry
fpoapresident@gmail.com
—
Barry Coffman-President
Fullerton Police Officer’s Association

Reform of a corrupt police department? Could something like this happen here in Fullerton? Maybe, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

June 7, 2012Law N Disorder

Barry Coffman Says We Are Misinformed

by Mr. Peabody91 Comments

Echoing the sentiments of his boss and apparent mentor, Acting Police Chief Dan Hughes, Fullerton cop union leader Barry Coffman says those who characterize the FPD as having a corruption problem are misinformed. Here are his exact words from a Register article.

“I think they are misinformed,” Coffman said about anyone saying the department has had corruption. “They don’t know what corrupt is. … They take this Kelly Thomas incident and say there has been a cover-up. Just because they didn’t get information when they wanted it, they conclude there is corruption.”

Predictably, Coffman chooses to gloss over the long string of malfeasance perpetrated by members of the FPD, mostly card-carrying members of his own union. See, Barry is suddenly confronted with the very real possibility that Fullerton might consider outside offers to take over policing in Fullerton, offers that could save as much as $10,000,000, annually.

Well, Mr. Excessive Horning has a selective and self-serving memory. I don’t. Here’s what I remember from just the past year:

Albert Rincon – Accused of multiple sexual assaults. City styles two cases for $350,000.

Todd Major – Fraud. Ripped off Explorers.

Kelly Mejia – Grand theft.

Miguel Siliceo – misidentification of suspect. Wrong guy spends 5 moths in jail.

Vince Mater – Charged by DA with destruction of evidence in jail suicide case.

Manuel Ramos – Accused of assaulting disabled man in June, 2011.

Kenton Hampton – Accused of battery and false arrest against Veth Mam and Edward Quinonez. Cooked up story to attempt to convict Mam. Jury acquits Mam.

Frank Nguyen – bogus testimony in Mam case.

Robert “Go home or go to jail” Kirk – Threatens law abiding citizens with jail for watching the FPD at work. Later spotted in the “excessive horning” debacle.

Perry Thayer – accused of roughing up downtown visitor

Cary Tong – ditto

April Baughman – stole from the FPD property room for two years before getting caught. Hmm. No accomplices? No inventory?

Andrew Goodrich – peddled falsehoods about the Kelly Thomas killing that were never retracted.

Barry Coffman(!) – proud participant in Dan Hughes’ excessive horning scam.

Tom “Tango” Basham – allegedly the watch commander the night of the Thomas murder, and player #1 in the subsequent cover up.

Christopher Wren – off the hook in the Rincon assaults, but plead no contest to “false imprisonment” against some kid in the IE – bargaining down battery charges. Anger management took care of his legal problems. Ours are still pending.

Dan Hughes – boss of all the above

Etc., etc.

Of course the “incident” with Kelly Thomas stands in a class by itself for malicious, incompetence, and murderous thuggery. We will always remember the names Ramos, Wolfe, Cicinelli, Blatney, Craig. Oh and let’s not forget our old friend Hampton.

Say, Barry, tell us again who is misinformed?

June 3, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down…

by Mr. Peabody239 Comments

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.

June 1, 2012June 1, 2012Behind Closed Doors

More Bad News For Fullerton Taxpayers; Another Lawsuit Against FPD and Manny Ramos

by Mr. Peabody109 Comments

Manny's Boo boo — 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?

Ca-ching. The Culture of Corruption marches on.

June 1, 2012June 1, 2012Behind Closed Doors

Back Room Deals at the FPD; Hughes Wants Blatney, Craig and Hampton Back on Our Streets

by Joe Sipowicz143 Comments

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.

May 31, 2012Behind Closed Doors

Joe Felz “Streamlines” City Government

by Mr. Peabody162 Comments

The City of Fullerton issued a press release yesterday identifying some job reassignments. Here’s a link to the press release.

How any of this game of musical deck chairs constitutes a real “streamlining” of anything is anybody’s guess, but it sounds good and appears proactive. I remain highly skeptical of people moving into technical jobs like Risk Management just because there may be an opening and a body with which to fill it; likewise the relocation of an Redevelopment “manager” into a completely unrelated area like accounting and payroll to avoid just cutting them and their big salaries and pensions loose.

How someone with a degree in Anthopology becomes an expert in Economic Development is a complete mystery to me.

May 28, 2012Behind Closed Doors

Two More “Aliens” in the FPD?

by Joe Sipowicz187 Comments

Former Fullerton Police Chief and current council recall target “Patdown” Pat McKinley once likened cops Manny Ramos and Jat Cicinelli to “aliens,” meaning, presumably, that the only plausible explanation for bad cops on his force must be a visit from extraterrestrial travelers.

Of course the litany of bad cops in the FPD has now gotten so long that you really have to wonder if McPension ever hired any regular human beings at all.

And now some more potential bad PR for the FPD – an e-mail we received about two more cops who ran into difficulties in 2009, and whose problems may have been swept under the proverbial rug:

Privacy: You may publish this, but protect my identity

Subject: bad cops

fpd officer christopher robert wren, date of arrest 01-30-2009, assault of a minor. case # MCH 900309 ..SH 200900572 .. but he took a deal…got probation and k9 officer………still on patrol….

officer gary potts, dui arrest date 07-17-2009. orange county case # 09cm08352… still on patrol and a corporal………

Christopher Wren, of course, was the second cop originally named in the lawsuit against the sex perv Albert “Alby Al” Rincon. His name was dropped later, but he must have some interesting stories to tell about his running buddy, Rincon. “Assault of a minor”? I wonder what that means.

The name Gary Potts is new; DUI? No bueno, if that’s true.

Naturally we’ll be looking into the these cases, particularly that of Mr. Wren to see if there’s any there, there.

May 26, 2012May 25, 2012Boohooism

Doug Chaffee Gets Serious…

by Mr. Peabody124 Comments

Okay, get beyond the hilariously portentous music and the dyed hair, and choose your favorite phrases.

“A few changes…”

“If we can ever get there…”

“Right now we’re a little short…”

“Community based policing…”

I was standing in the lobby of City Hall last week as Chaffee went to the table there to fill out a speaker card, went outside to make a phone call, and then vanished. He just couldn’t get up there to say anything. maybe he finally realized that the jig was up.

After waiting 11 months and saying zip about the Kelly Thomas murder we’re supposed to believe this limp noodle wants to reform anything?

May 25, 2012May 25, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Are All 6 On the Way Out?

by admin349 Comments

Brandon Ferguson at the Weekly is citing KPCC that cites other media outlets in passing along the news that all six of the Fullerton cops who participated in the beating death of Kelly Thomas last July have been given notices of termination.

This means that Craig, Blatney and Hampton have now joined the list that previously included Ramos, Wolfe and Cicinelli.

Of course official announcements are not forthcoming from the City since we the lowly taxpayers are not to know which cops are fired (if ever) and what for.

Since the sources have been cantilevered out there pretty far, I’ll withhold saying anything else until I can touch base with my source inside the FPD.

In the meantime, reflect on this: after the killing these cops were not disciplined; they were left on the streets by a leaderless department and a chummy city council majority – Jones, Bankhead and McKinley. Wolfe, Blatney, Hampton and Craig have been on paid leave since August, costing us several hundred thousand dollars.

May 22, 2012May 22, 2012Chronic Failure

Ramos and Wolfe Out the Door?

by admin458 Comments

Some folks are now reporting that Jay Cicinelli has been included along with Ramos and Wolfe.

– Joe Sipowicz

A source inside the FPD has just revealed that today Manuel Ramos and Joe Wolfe received termination papers from the FPD. How come? Interestingly, their offense was not provoking and participating in a brutal killing; rather, it was their refusal to talk to the City’s lawyer Michael Gennaco who was hired to do a report on the Kelly Thomas murder.

Hmm. I suppose the Three Tired Turnips will want to promote this as evidence of their hands-on management of the crisis and their dedication to good government. But if the information we have received is true it leaves Patdown Pat McPension and Co. with the awkward problem of Joe Wolfe, whose behavior has now been watched by over 100,000,000 people.

Hopefully it will also give the DA some gumption with regard to charging Wolfe in the killing.