Friends For Fullerton's Future

June 1, 2012June 1, 2012Behind Closed Doors

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

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, 2012May 31, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

I Know Awful, And This is Awful

by The Fullerton Harpoon158 Comments

Get a load of the sort of useless crap The Three Bald Tires are wasting their contributor’s money on, accompanied by another thoughtful “press release” by the slouching sloth, Larry Bennett. Hard hitting? How about comically pathetic?

ANTI-RECALL COMMITTEE RELEASES HARD HITTING

AD CALLING OUT SPECIAL INTEREST KING TONY BUSHALA

Fullerton, CA – Today the committee fighting the Tony Bushala funded Fullerton recall released an ad that documents Bushala’s $260,000 effort to buy the Fullerton city council. “Bushala’s special interest money has polluted Fullerton. His rent-a-mob has been disrupting city council meetings for months. Many of the people he paid to collect recall signatures are now regular gadflies at city council meetings. This ad exposes Bushala’s sinister power play – using Kelly Thomas’ death – to advance his political agenda,” declared committee chairman Larry Bennett.

Yes, folks, the blithering idiots who paid for this pathetic video are the same clowns who have been squandering your tax dollars for the past two decades. It all makes sense now, doesn’t it?

May 31, 2012May 31, 2012Dick Jones

Dick Jones Strikes Again. Did He Just Say What I Thought He Said?

by admin133 Comments

I just re-discovered this fabulous gem from February and thought it would be a timely reminder of the caliber of the Three Bald Tires and their Reign of Error.

– Joe Sipowicz

Ah! The gift that keeps giving: the cornpone brayings of crazy old Doc Jones, guaranteed to embarrass everybody in the room. Here’s a fun clip from last night:

This is the loud-mouthed buffoon the anti-recall crowd is defending as an experienced, honorable statesman.

Looks like Dick stepped on his own Jones. Again.

Well, we’ve been listening to this rude, bullying, bloviator for fifteen years and watched as he pushed around people who were afraid to push back. The times they are a-changin.’

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 30, 2012The Fullerton Recall

Apology From Chris Thompson

by admin173 Comments

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 5^th 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

May 30, 2012About Us

Chris Thompson and The Spirit of The Recall

by The Fullerton Harpoon219 Comments

Okay guys, have at it.

May 29, 2012May 29, 2012Chronic Failure

A Picture of FPD Officer Christopher Wren Emerges

by Joe Sipowicz282 Comments

As promised I have uncovered the court documents relating to a case against Fullerton cop Christopher Robert Wren.

Mr. Wren got into a little trouble out in the Inland Empire back in 2009 when he did something bad to somebody named Samuel Ramirez. The details of the case remain sketchy but one thing is obvious: Wren plea bargained “no contest” to a charge of false imprisonment, applied for some anger management (no evidence that he ever got help with that temper), paid some fines, and got probation. And of course he remained on the FPD force, presumably in good standing, given the behavior of his colleagues on the squad.

False imprisonment? That’s sounds pretty bad, especially if a weapon was involved. I’ll be awaiting details of the case.

Case summary

Charging document

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 27, 2012Behind Closed Doors

Who Is Tango Tom?

by admin101 Comments

Not long ago I discovered this anonymous note on my vehicle:

Below is a retirement flyer of a recently retired FPD lieutenant – some guy named Tom “Tango” Basham. Somebody thinks he’s a “top cop.”

Was this the man who was on duty back at the station on July 5th 2011 and who remotely watched the murder of Kelly Thomas? Was he the guy who later let the perps watch the video and write, then re-write reports?

Has this retired cop now been hired back by Acting Chief Dan Hughes as a paid double-dipper? If so, what for, and for how much? In 2011 this valuable piece of manpower pulled in over $148,000, so his pension, of course, is already huge.

So many questions, so few coherent answers!

May 27, 2012May 27, 2012Behind Closed Doors

This Post Is Not About Jay Cicinelli

by Joe Sipowicz219 Comments

Nope. It’s a reminder of how a one-eyed cop was hired by the City of Fullerton to patrol our streets with badge, gun, taser and who knows what else.

It is now pretty common knowledge that Jay Cicinelli was put on a disability pension by Bernard Parks, Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department following a horrific shooting of the six-week rookie cop. Smart move. Among other injuries, Cicinelli lost his left eye.

But Cicinelli’s dream of being a policeman was not to end so quickly. For he had an ally in the figure of Mike Hillman, a gung-ho cop’s cop – the type whose worldview divides people into two groups: cops and everybody else; and Hillman was determined to put the one-eyed cop back on the streets somewhere – anywhere.

Hillman’s thoughts turned to little Fullerton, California where his one-time boss in the LAPD, Pat McKinley, had been appointed police chief. And what followed was a decision so incompetent and self-serving that it eclipses all of McKinley’s other disastrous personnel decisions – and that’s saying a helluva lot.

ArmedJay — Should be considered armed and dangerous...

McKinley hired Cicinelli, gave him a badge, fire arms, and the keys to a patrol car, a decision so reckless and with such blatant disregard for the safety of the public and his own policemen, that he should have been immediately fired.

But he wasn’t, of course, and nobody else seemed to care. And Cicinelli remained on the force, a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. And when it finally did, the result was a dead man and a series of huge civil payouts to the man’s family. The first payout was for $1,000,000. More are coming.

Meanwhile, the miscreant who hired Cicinelli and all the other thugs, goons. thieves, con men, pickpockets, kidnappers, perjurers, destroyers of evidence, and sex offenders is sitting on our city council, voting on the settlements his employees caused, that will have to be paid by us.