Fitzgerald Wants Fullerton to Suffer More

Good News Friends!

The paid lobbyist leach that is Jennifer Fitzgerald is officially running for Fullerton City Council again in 2020.

Do you love having a council member who is bought and sold more than a penny stock in a bull market? Here’s your chance to own a stake just like all of the downtown bars.

Prepare for sad face Fitzy as she complains about Sacramento and blames everybody but herself and her own voting record for why we’re broke with crap roads.

Unaccountable police perving on your daughters in the High Schools? Don’t fret, she’ll promise them raises and higher pensions as long as we get no accountability in return.

Fullerton may run out of property to sell to pay for her cronyism and mismanagement, but she’ll never run out of integrity to sell for a few votes and to feather her own nest.

So get ready for Fitzgerald 2020 where she’ll be towing child actor and chronic crony cuck Chris Gaarder along in the VP spot the same as she tried to do with Larry Bennett in 2016.

Could Fullerton do better? Obviously. But the real question is do we deserve better?

Obviously I Applied for Council

To quote Larry Bennett from 2016, “It’s Political Silly Season” and thus of course I joined the barrage of people (20 and counting?!) who applied to the open council seat in this ludicrous appointment process. My Application is HERE for those interested in the lulz and my 400 word-vomit blurb is as follows:

In order to fill this position the council needs a majority to approve an applicant. Not the voters, mind you. The voters get short shrift here and are told that in our representative democracy it’s good enough to be told who represents them.

In reality, this whole process – from our gerrymandered districts to our inability to vote upon our own representation – is sad and rather pathetic.

Our council has run up our pension debt while crying that Sacramento mismanaged the money we keep shoveling their direction year in and year out. When warned that a problem was coming we citizens were laughed at, ridiculed and ignored.

Worse than ignoring us malcontents and gadflies, our council has ignored our infrastructure, sat idle while we were illegally taxed and over-charged on our water bills, resisted any form of police oversight or accountability, all but abandoned the Hunt Library, caused a lawsuit over Coyote Hills and on and on and on.

We call ourselves “The Education Community” but we refuse to learn from our mistakes. We refuse to be honest, we refuse to be knowledgable and forward thinking unless it lines the right pockets or benefits the rights constituencies.

And yet here we are waiting for our historically negligent and pompous council to tell us who is worthy to join them up on the dais.

To make it worse here I am offering myself up as tribute. I’m not adding my name into the veritable Goblet of Fire because I think I can win over the council or because I think I’m a good choice – I’m doing it because I want to highlight how ridiculous of a process this is in the first place.

When I ran for Council in 2016 I had to get 20 people to sign papers saying they supported the idea of me running to represent them. Today I don’t need even one. Not a single citizen has to support me to throw my name into the mix, not a single person has to walk for me or talk me up to their neighbors and worst of all not a single person has to vote for me.

I can’t get 1, let alone 3 votes from council, but neither should anybody else.

To paraphrase Denis from “The Holy Grail”, You can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just ’cause some watery tart threw a council majority at you!

No, I don’t expect to be appointed or even interviewed. Yes, I’m aware that this is transparency theater. See you all at the NUFF event on Monday.

Let’s Play WHEEL OF REPLACEMENT CANDIDATES!

UPDATE 1/14/2019

This item is back on the agenda for tomorrow. You gotta spin it to win it!

 

With Jesús Silva big win in Fullerton’s District 3, Fullerton is abuzz with potential names for who the Council might pick as a replacement.

So, who’s it going to be? Here’s some gossip for you to discuss. Feel free to nominate your own darlings for consideration on the WHEEL . . . OF . . . CANDIDATES!

Updated 11/27 with reader suggestions

Free Play– Current Councilman (odds 1:1)

Greg Sebourn

Seems like the easiest option. Someone familiar with the current issues and has existing relationships with city staff and council, and isn’t eligible to run in District 1, 2, or 4 in 2020. Let the voters spin again in 2020.

Lose a Turn– Leave it Open (Odds 1.5:1)

If three votes can’t be found to put a warm body in a cold chair, Council could choose to leave the vacancy open. The vacancy could last through 2020 or until a Special Election gets called.

Bonus Round– Former Members of Council (odds 2:1)

Still can’t come up with an answer to the riddle? Bring back some former contestants for another crack at solving the puzzle.

Jan Flory, Fullerton City Council (twice)

Chris Norby, Assemblyman, Supervisor, Fullerton City Council

Shawn Nelson, Supervisor, Fullerton City Council

Leland Wilson, Fullerton City Council + Fox Theater Point Person

Pam Keller, Fullerton City Council, Ex-Fullerton Collaborative

Buy A Vowel– Current and Former Fullerton Officials (odds 3:1)

Get some help with those neighboring consonants from people who’ve helped reveal a simple phrase to  Council before.

Chris Meyer (Former City Manager)

Joe Felz (Former City Manager)

Wolfgang Knabe (Retiring Fire Chief)

Pete Beard (not a former employee, but Fullerton’s current Metropolitan Water District Representative)

Paul  Dudley (Former Dev Services Director)

Ed Royce (No way in hell, but hey, we’re listing everyone on the wheel)

Luxury Resort Vacation– A Bar Owner (Odds 7:1)

Relax and let all your troubles float away as you blissfully drift from lane to lane down Commonwealth Avenue…

Tony Florentine

Jeremy Popoff

Toss Up– Former Candidates (odds 9.5:1)

Just like an Olympian disqualified by a post race drug test, let the title go to the runner-up!

Paulette Marshal-Chaffee

Vicky Calhoun

Larry Bennett

Jane Rands

Jose Trinidad Castaneda III

Kitty Jaramillo

Joe Imbriano

Mystery Wedges– Other Notables(odds 10:1)

Marty Burbank (Infrastructure Review Commission)

Nick Dunlap (Chair, Planning Commission)

Christopher Gaarder (Vice-Chair, Planning Commission)

Patrick McNelly (Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Ad-Hoc Commissions)

Arnel Dino (Infrastructure and Water Ad-Hoc Commissions)

Rusty Kennedy

Tony Package

Gretchen Cox (Parks, Energy, and Water Ad-Hoc Commissions)

Erik Wehn (Parks Commission)

Kathleen Shanfield (Planning Commission)

Kevin Pendergraft (Planning Comission)

Ryan Cantor (Planning and Library Commissions)

BANKRUPT Anyone Associated with FFFF (odds 100:1)

Sure would put is in a pickle. What would we live for? Criticize ourselves?

The inevitable self-loathing may morally bankrupt us, if it doesn’t destroy us first.

Good Bye and Good Riddance

Ed Royce, holding forth to a mesmerized audience. (Image pilfered from Voice of OC)

The Voice of OC is reporting that our congresscritter, Ed Royce has had enough congresscrittering and is quitting his seat next January. This will be seen a great news for the Democrats who were targeting this seat due to a recent increase in their own party’s registration, and who believe that the S.S. Trumptanic vortex will suck all sorts of Republicans down to Davey Jones’ Locker.

I don’t know about that, but I do know it will be wonderful to get shed of Ed. Set aside Royce’s dutiful loyalty to our new, budget-busting  security state and his willingness to vote for tax bills he hadn’t read. Instead let’s focus on his dismal record meddling in the local political affairs of Fullerton.

For almost 25 years he has backed city council (and Legislature) candidates of the worst Republican stripe – dimwitted and vapid RINOs like Pat McKinley Leland Wilson, Julie Sa and Mike Clesceri; creepy slouches like Larry Bennett; sleepy nincompoops like Don Bankhead; a useless carpetbagtress like Linda Ackerman;  and let’s never forget: Dick Jones, Doc HeeHaw, the clownish donkey from Galveston who seemed to take joy in bullying his constituents and braying utter nonsense. Royce could not have cared less about sticking us with this parade of non-entities. He obviously didn’t care if Fullerton developed no new generation of real conservative leadership. What mattered was to elect hollow shelled Republicans that posed no threat to him, and to keep potential Democrat challengers from becoming potential in the first place.

Well, so long, Ed.

Gretchen Cox and Fullerton First

Quadrangle of Casual Corruption and Fullerton First brain trust. Gretch’ is the one in the middle. The rest you already know.

Apparently Gretchen Cox, reactionary pal of J. Flory and J. Fitzgerald has become weary of “malcontents” wasting everybody’s time at City Council meetings. She seems to think all this attention to city employee malfeasance, misfeasance and dumbassfeasance reflects poorly on our great town, using the usual “blame the messenger” routine always deployed by people who have something to hide: like shoddy construction, unnecessary and mind-blowingly expensive boondoggles, drunken city managers, a corrupt police department and a budget that’s a few years away from going supernova.

Quick, get clear of the impending collapse…

Her strategy is to drown out the cries off honest men and women with hosannas of praise for everything Fullerton. But she needs a choir. So she started a facebook group laughingly called “Fullerton First” where she limits the membership to folk of her own stripe. And what a membership list it is. Here you will find a lot of familiar faces, including sad sack stooge Larry Bennett, incompetent planner Paul Dudley, serial liar-cop Andrew Goodrich, and dim-bulb government apologist Jan Flory, who is w-a-a-a-y past her stated expiration date. That alone should tell you all you need to know about Fullerton First.

The closer you look, the worse it gets…

But that’s not the interesting part. Not surprisingly, lobbyist city council creature Jennifer Fitzgerald is an enthusiastic member of this tribe; but, very tellingly, so is the ethically flexible Matthew Cunningham, whose job is proprietor of “Anaheim Blog” where he runs interference for uber-lobbyist Curt Pringle’s interests, praises Pringle’s political tools, and denigrates Pringle’s political opponents.

You can’t hurt me. I’ve got no moral compass…

And of course Ms. Fitzgerald also “works” for Pringle. She is his “Vice President of Minor Scams and Local Government Taxpayer Ripoffs” where she enjoys mixing business with pleasure.

An unbreakable chemical bond

It’s pretty obvious that Pringle has set his slimy sights on Fullerton now that his Anaheim well is running dry. We are the pigeons he wants to pluck. Just think “College Town” and other possible gold mines where influence peddling moves things along.

And when Curt Pringle says “Fullerton First” what he really will mean is “Fullerton Next.”

 

2016 Fringies© – And The Winners Are…

Friends, the time has come to hand out this year’s Fringie© Awards. I know what you’re saying. You’re saying, but JFD, in this short period after the FFFF resurrection how can we have Fringies©?

The broomstick wasn’t short, but it sure was hard…Arf!

The answer, my ever slow human Friends, is that first, you had quite a bit of nutsy goings on since the second week of November including Joe Felz’ Wild Ride, Danny Hughes’ obstruction of justice, the election recap, and some fun with your downtown vodka, vomit an vehicular mayhem culture – a culture whose tentacles reach deep into City Hall and has repercussions as far away as Glenwood Avenue. Second, you deserve the annual abuse of the Fringies©, because after all, the culture of arrogant secrecy, of complaisance, of mismanagement can be laid at the doorstep of the electorate. And that’s you, lowly humans.

And so the Awards Committee sat in deliberation. And by deliberation I mean ingestion of substantial amounts of peyote, cough syrup and Mountain Dew – the elixir of Award Committees everywhere. They toiled away far into the evening hours to entertain and enlighten you. Here is what they belched up.

Poor Sappy

Rookie of the Year.  Although the Committee discussed the merit of awarding this Fringie© to a non-human, it was trenchantly observed that many non-humans have indeed won Fringies© in the past. And by non-human in 2016 I mean the late, lamented Sappy McTree, cut down at the beginning of a promising life by none other than our former City Manager, Joe Felz in the wee hours of November 9th, 2016. Both are now departed. Felz has been spotted around town trying to peddle whatever influence he thinks he has left, while poor Sappy has been run through the chipper at the City’s corporate yard and is now ground cover at Byerrum Park. RIP, Sappy.

The simpering smile became a trademark

Worst Politician of the Year. The very name of the category begs the question as to whether such a thing as a good politician exists. However we leave that questions for greater minds to ponder as we award the Fringie© to the most deluded, self-important, boob anybody has ever seen in these parts – Irvine’s own Sukhee Kang. True, Fullerton’s Larry Bennett offered up one of the lamest candidacies imaginable, but we didn’t have to imagine anything more: for here before our very eyes was the very real spectacle of Sukhee Kang, self-anointed carpetbagger with the dismal record in Irvine, who moved to Fullerton just to run for office, and who bought a McMansion on a golf course to show how much he had in common with his would-be constituents.  The Committee was again, unanimous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9KyMyo-fcA

Best Most Outrageous Cover Up. Even though there were only two nominees in the category, the Committee spent hours debating the merits of each. There was much disturbance, confusion and argumentation, and the Committee finally came to blows. In the end there was a split decision, the majority believing that even though the cover-up of Joe Felz’s Chaotic Wild Ride certainly constitutes an abuse of power and privilege, the NOCCCD cover up of Dino Skokos’ felonious and unprovoked assault on a  student not only represented the usual arrogance of bureaucratic stonewalling, it was actually performed in the full light of the existing video that had been viewed by thousands and thousand of people.

No comment

Best/Worst Image. One of our Committee members actually felt that Joe Felz has endured enough ridicule for his careening caper and subsequent departure. This individual was severely beaten about the head and shoulders and sent out into the night. Nevertheless the image of Gigglin’ Joe hoisting a glass of cheap chardonnay never had a chance. Instead, the image of my former mistress, Jan Flory rendered into a completely believable gorgon, positively captivated the Committee. And by captivated I mean like watching a train wreck. And so the Fringie© goes to Medusa Flory.

We didn’t do it!

And finally, The Ghost of Fullerton Past. All of the nominees were eminently qualified to take the brass ring. And by brass ring I mean recognition of past horrors inflicted upon the residents of Fullerton, and new contributions, too. In the end the Committee chose the inevitable: The Three Bald Tires, collectively recalled four years ago, who believe, somehow, that they are still wielders of influence. They are not. The worst aspect was them bringing along their spouses to share in one final electoral humiliation – pimping Lost Cause Larry Bennett’s political career.

And there you have it Friends the 2016 Fringies©. Now please excuse me while I tend to my nether parts.

2016 Fringies© – Worst Political Candidate

I pee on you…

The thing about human elections in a democracy is that you get the winners you deserve. You also get the candidates you deserve since once you winnow out the crackpots and the perennial also-rans you are left with a class of political grifters who see an opportunity based on past victories for their ilk.

Since our revivification came the day after the 2016 election, the nominating committee used our post-election coverage to determine the potential winners in this special category of loserdom. The committee therefore did not address some of Fullerton’s more colorful electoral flame-outs, with their confusing, crackpot, or just embarrassing displays.

Somewhere along the line slouching became a permanent posture…

Larry T. Bennett. Ol’ Larry had everything going for him if this had been 1984. Well it isn’t 1984, and all those endorsements from brain-dead repuglicans and brain-dead boohoos didn’t help. Not even a leg up by the FPOA and hard pimping by our lobbyist-mayor could get this inert sack of lethargy over the obstacle course wall.

looking for the exit…

Ling Ling Chang. This empty suit was the hand-chosen candidate of the old Redevelopment mob to be our State Senator. It was believed that her Asian-ness would counteract the Asian-ness of Sukhee Kang. Well, things didn’t work out quite the way the playahs anticipated. A lot of voters saw through her phoniness, including a history of lying about herself to get elected.

No there, there…

Young Kim. Ms. Kim managed to mismanage her way out of the job as our Assemblywoman despite what turned out to be a pretty decent Republican turnout. True, she was hammered by a relentless barrage of attack mail from the state Democrats, but her own effort was feeble, disjointed and smacked of desperation a mile off.

The simpering smile became a trademark

Sukhee Kang. Ah! The Irvine carpetbagger completely misjudged the electorate in the 29th State Senate District and he misjudged his own lack of appeal and ability, including the ability to run and hide from Larry Agran and his own disastrous record in the City of Irvine. Sukhee was so weak he couldn’t salvage his own campaign with a massive infusion of Sukhee Kash. He couldn’t get past the primary. The whole Sukhee Scampaign was a horrendous and embarrassing train wreck.

2016 Fringies© – The Scariest Ghost of Fullerton Past

Woof

And now I present to you humans the nominations in the supremely important category of The Ghost of Fullerton Past. Why is this important? As an expert on the subject of ghosts myself, I can tell you that Fullerton never seems to be rid of hauntings by former inhabitant of the worst ilk. My former mistress was nominated in 2009 and finally took the home the prize in 2012, before she managed to re-materialize in something approximating corporal human form. Usually the nominees are culled from the large stock of horrific departed repuglicans such as Linda LeQuire who revisit you near every election time to promote this or that non-entity propped up on the campaign dais by Ed Royce.

This year was no different: the nexus was largely the misbegotten campaign of Larry T. Bennett, and how the grisly Ghosts of Fullerton Past manifested themselves to support the insupportable. The first five entries distinguished themselves by clambering up onto the rickety Bennettmobile.

Dick FitzBennett

Dick Ackerman. Scam artist and influence peddler who tried to sell the OC fairgrounds to a bunch of pals by illegally lobbying the Legislature. Yes he got a pass from our useless DA, just in time to run his laughable wife as a carpetbagger for the Assembly in 2009, and later lead the  anti-recall campaign in 2012. “Scary” doesn’t begin to describe this lowlife.

Gone, but almost forgotten…

Linda LeQuire. This hideous apparition rises every election cycle even tough almost nobody knows who it is anymore – which makes the haunting sort of tragic. Even worse, she brought along the comical side-ghost of her Earthly husband, Roy, this year. The noxious vapor, LeQuire, has the dubious distinction of winning this coveted Fringie© in 2009, but that in no way diminishes the contemporary horror.

Rebels Fire on Fort Sumpter

Buck Catlin. Buck Catlin is also a former nominee in this category. His claim to fame was getting recalled in 1994 by voting to impose a completely unnecessary utility tax upon the populous.

The Three Bald Tires. Yes, you know them also as the Three Tree Stumps, the Three Dead Batteries, etc. Mssrs. Jones, Bankhead and McKinley were recalled in 2012 for their deplorable behavior in the aftermath of the Kelly Thomas killing, and their die-hard love of the illegal water tax. They re-emerged on the political scene this fall, thinking their estimable reputation would help Bennett. More than likely it hurt, and hurt badly; but no sympathy for Ol’ Schlep Larry – he obviously solicited their endorsements. Pathetically, each of these burned out bulbs brought along his spouse to the party to join in yet another electoral humiliation.

Matthew J. Cunningham. Third tier squealer for the County’s repuglican grifters, this creature is more greasy than scary, and has left a shiny green slime-trail across our pages over the years. Since we saw him last he has been toiling away for Curt Pringles’ influence peddling machine in Anaheim; working against a homeless shelter; and in 2013 he even set up a votive candle to the Virgin Mary next to a mangled teddy bear – on the anniversary of a Latino’s death – shot by Anaheim cops. In November he emerged from his hole on cue to blame Bruce Whitaker for Bennett’s embarrassment.

And finally, a non Bennett-related entry.

A perfect record…

Lou Ponsi. This specter popped up as a writer for the utterly lame and publicly funded Behind the Badge, touting the good works of our cops, specifically in bribing kids with a Thanksgiving dinner to be good little barrio tykes. Nobody involved seemed to pick up on the rather demeaning condescension involved in this display, but FFFF did. Ponsi spent many years regurgitating the lamest and most insipid sort of pabulum for the local Register rag, swallowing everything he was dished out like a hungry little bird, and never asking a single probing question about the behavior of the Fullerton Police Department and its employees. Not one. Ever. None. Nada.

There they are, human Friends. A scarier rogues gallery shall ye never find. Them’s your potential winners. And by winners I mean we all lose.

 

 

 

Repugs Blow Wad on Ling²

Back for more
Back for more abuse…

A while back we shared the musing of one Matthew J. Cunningham, a repuglican ink-dribbler, who falsely blamed Bruce Whitaker for the embarrassing showing put up by repuglican Larry Bennett in Fullerton’s 2016 council election. See, Whitaker is not popular among the “everything must go” repug’ crowd who see government not as too big, but as just not having enough teats.

Better get it while you can...
Better get it while you can…

So here, forthwith, I present another one of this sorry individual’s political ejaculations. This post was supposed to be a wrap-up of the State Senate District 29 election, a district that includes all of Fullerton. Repuglicans loved them some Ling Ling Chang. And why not? Her candidacy was the creation of the noxious Ed Roski bag man, Bob Huff, the perpetual cheerleader for the failed California Redevelopment swindle.

Back to the actual post: see if you detect the wave of wishful thinking intruding upon the shallow lagoon of this flunky’s intelligence:

After yesterday’s OC Registrar of Voters update, it’s highly likely Democrat Josh Newman’s unlikely political journey has come to an end – and it’s time to start addressing Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang as Senator.

SOS sd29 tally 11-16

29,746 ballots have been counted in the last two days, and Newman is not only failing to close the gap – he is falling further behind. At this stage of the game, if you aren’t gaining ground, you’re losing ground because the universe of uncounted ballots is only getting smaller – meaning the percentage the second-place candidate has to capture keeps getting bigger.

Congratulations to Ling Ling Chang, who once again has emerged victorious from a bitter and hugely expensive election battle.

Of course anyone who follows election counts knows very well that the post-election day provisional ballots always lean heavily Democrat in Orange County. They also know that the late VBM ballots likely go Republican – and these were obviously the first post-election ballots counted.

looking for the exit...
Looking for the exit…

A few weeks of sporadic ballot counting have passed, and the final tally has Fullerton’s Josh Newman, State Senator-elect, winning by 2500 votes. He was sworn in today as the State Senator form the 29th District.

Hello, Newman
Hello, Newman

I feel constrained to point out that this “battle” was “hugely expensive” only because of the $6,000,000 pumped into it by the Statewide ‘repugs and their running dogs to smear Newman, who appears to be a thoughtful and decent guy. Is there any need to also point out that Cunningham’s rancid Dave Gilliard-owned blog also participated in that shameful smear effort?

Friends, we may accurately call Ling Ling Chang many things: nakedly ambitious, serial liar, empty suit, air head, puppet, soon-to-be unemployed; but one thing we can’t call her is Senator.

Map 8A Won’t Represent You

map8a-council2016

Well voters have spoken and District Map 8A will be how Fullerton is divided for the next two coming elections. Do you know how it’ll play out?

No. You don’t. You don’t because neither does the city and they don’t because nobody thought to figure it out first. Not even the people on Council when the lawsuits on this issue were settled.

Do you know what districts will be up for a vote in 2018? Nope. That hasn’t been decided yet.

The assumption is that it’ll be districts 2 & 5 because 2 is where Chaffee resides that he’s up for re-election in 2018 with nobody else living in his district and 5 because nobody on Council is a current district 5 resident. This is incumbency, and establishment, protectionist nonsense.

But Sebourn is up for election in 2018 as well so why not put district 3 up for a vote? Oh because that’s where Silva lives and therefore they’d have somebody in their district who is theoretically accountable to them. Therefore if Sebourn wants to stay on Council he’d have to move. Why not make Chaffee move instead? He keeps talking about how great Brea is so maybe it’ll prompt him to finally leave.

(more…)