But we’ve had almost 12,000 visitors in the past 30 days! Do the math. And we’re just a humble Fullerton blog!
By taking the more generous retirement plan that was presented to him as a County employee, Supervisor Shawn Nelson has created an onslaught of Internet outrage from the Blue and Red blogs.
Nelson says it was an accident. Was it? County policy requires that all new employees sign up for one of two plans: the old 2.7 @ 55 or the new 1.62 @ 65 that so far, almost nobody has signed up for at all. If you don’t choose, they will choose for you – 1.62 @ 65. Every single new hire in the County government is presented with this scenario.
In any case, Nelson’s decision highlights the dismal failure of Orange County’s alleged pension reform. When presented with two disparate retirement choices, what rational human being would pick the lesser?
If a guy like Shawn Nelson won’t do it, why would ANY public employee go for the option that is ultimately less generous – except, most likely, long-time employee pension abusers?
When union leaders originally hatched this goofy alternative plan, pension experts warned that new employees would not select a 401(k) style plan when offered alongside a traditional, elaborate government pension. Boy, were they right. But the unions and the supervisors went along with it anyway, just so they could notch pension reform in their pathetic pistol grips.
The bottom line: nobody wants a lesser benefit when they can choose a better one. Orange County’s much ballyhooed pension reform has completely failed because employees can simply avoid it altogether. What a joke.
But back to Nelson. He was presumably elected to represent taxpayers in union negotiations. I do not recall Nelson making any promises regarding his own pension. That would have been nothing more than a distraction from the real issue, as evidenced by Supervisor Pat Bates. Bates promised to not take a pension and followed through with it, but subsequently has done nothing to stop the real problem: runaway entitlements for every employee in the county! All 20,000 of them.
Despite their enormous operating budgets, school boards rarely receive the attention and oversight they deserve. Perhaps the public is disheartened by the realization that school boards operate under behemoth state bureaucracies that leave little room for local input and control.
But in the next few years our schools will have a good shot at making serious improvements that affect the classroom. While they will continue to be challenged with budget cuts, there will be new opportunities to renegotiate bad union agreements and eliminate wasteful programs in favor of putting resources directly into the classroom.
Let’s hope voters decide to make some changes. Here are the starting lineups:
Fullerton School District – vote for 3
Board members Minard Duncan and Ellen Ballard decided not to run, which means there are three available seats and only one incumbent in the race. The candidates are:
- Beverly Berryman, Incumbent
- Janny Catlin Meyer, Retired Teacher
- Aaruni Thakur, Children’s Court Attorney
- Chris Thompson, Fullerton Businessman/Parent
Fullerton Joint Union High School District – vote for 3
All three incumbents are running for reelection. The candidates are:
- Marilyn Buchi, Governing Board Member, Fullerton Joint Union High School District
- Vicki R. Calhoun, Educator/Scholarship Administrator
- Robert N. “Bob” Hathaway, Governing Board Member, Fullerton Joint Union High School District
- Nadia Sanchez, Student/Care Provider
- Robert A. “Bob” Singer, Governing Board Member, Fullerton Joint Union High School District
Looks like Anaheim’s Mayor-for-Hire, the slippery elm repuglican par excellence, Curt Pringle, has been getting some free trips to Europe courtesy of the French and German guvments.
Hmm.
Trips to Europe to “study” high speed rail by Herr Pringle. Paid for by socialized governments who are evidently competing on behalf of their socialized industries with the good old US of A.
And wine. Did I forget to mention the freedom-loving Anaheim Haupt-burgermeister loves his wine?
We just received this message from Madusha, who filed papers to run for Fullerton city council last week but failed to qualify because a few of her signatures were invalid.
Hi! Friends of Fullerton and all Fullerton residents and everyone in my case. I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank all of the signers who signed my nomination papers. Although I had very enthusiastic signers from other cities and registered voters not from Fullerton. I learned the democratic 20 signatures are more important than outreach to the public to know how we could serve them and getting to know their concerns. I thank everyone for the feedback and will be reaching out to Fullerton residents so that their voices can be heard. I will publish my blog later on sometime.
For anyone who does not know me, I was brought up my whole life in a political environment which my father was a very involved public service official. I love law and wanted to be a lawyer. My father wanted a lawyer in the family. But things changed and I studied Business Administration, and started a computer manufacturing company and went in to computer services. We are the pioneers of underground data vault off site back up services. And started supply teas to major grocery stores which got halted due to the lack of resources and unable to keep up with the demand.
I have a passion to serve and a compassion to help. Though not perfect, I believe as a person I thought of serving the people and seeing how we could improve our city with the people who live and do business in Fullerton. I serve the Technology Working Group for the City of Fullerton and am involved in many things that I could serve.
Hearing that I want to run, someone from the church told me why I want to be a politician. His exact words were “Why you need to be a politician? You are a good person.” I thought about what he said. And I promise to serve without that politician frame of mind. That was what I wanted all along. Will I be successful with that frame of mind? I don’t know. I hope people who truly and honestly have the ability and the knowledge should be able to serve the good for the fellow men.
Again, thank you all. And sorry if I let down anyone in the process. I did not want to run for the 4 year seat even though I considered it but decided otherwise. I may consider running in two years or not. But running for the city council certainly was a heavy responsibility in my heart and I took it very seriously and with great passion to serve. But next time I know better to pay attention to that 20 democratic way of doing business and get those signatures before reaching out to my fellow people.
Madusha Palliyage
As of 5:00 pm today, the nomination period for Fullerton city council is now closed. There was one addition to the four year race and and one disqualification for the two year seat.
As of 5:00 pm, the nomination period for the 2 year city council seat has closed, with the following candidates filing papers to enter the race:
| Name | Occupation | Registration | Age |
| Bruce Whitaker 1918 W. Baker Fullerton, CA 92833 |
Planning Commissioner | R | 55 |
| Aaron Gregg 2840 Altivo Pl. Fullerton, CA 92835 |
Small Businessman | R | 57 |
| Anthony “Tony” Fonte 2252 Cheyenne Way Fullerton, CA 92833 |
Local Attorney | R | 78 |
| Roland Chi 3156 Highlander Rd. Fullerton, CA 92833 |
Businessman/Non Profit Director | R | 31 |
| Madusha Palliyage Nomination papers did not qualify with 20 signatures |
Inventor/Entrepreneur | DTS | 42 |
Because incumbent Pam Keller did not file, the nomination period for the two 4-year seats has been extended to next Wednesday. The following have filed papers for the four year seats:
| Name | Occupation | Registration | Age |
| Don Bankhead 1231 W. Valencia Mesa Fullerton, CA 92833 |
Council Member/Mayor | R | 78 |
| Gregory Sebourn 1824 Rosalia Dr. Fullerton, CA 92835 |
Land Surveyor/ Educator | R | 37 |
| Doug Chaffee 315 Marion Blvd. Fullerton, CA 92835 |
Attorney | D | 67 |
| Patrick McKinley 2722 Ashwood Circle Fullerton, CA 92835 |
Retired Chief of Police | R | 69 |
| Barry Levinson 609 Lake Terrace Fullerton, CA 92835 |
Financial Consultant/Auditor | R | 58 |
| Jesse Latour 114 W. Wilshire #A Fullerton, CA 92832 |
Educator/Art Gallery Owner | D | 31 |
| William Martin Burbank 3074 Primrose Lane Fullerton, CA 92833 |
Family Business Attorney | R | 46 |
| Johnnie Atkinson 1500 W. Valencia Dr. Fullerton, CA 92833 |
Campus Security |
Fullerton voters will soon be deciding if they’ve had enough of the jurassic councilmen Don Bankhead and Dick Jones. Sharon Quirk-Silva has championed Measure M, which puts the enactment of term limits up to voters.
Term limits are a practical countermeasure against the momentum of dimly lit incumbencies and perpetual perpetrators of barely-passable mediocrity.
In other words, Bankhead and Jones have been on this boat for far too long. We’ve shown you video after video of incoherent ramblings, procedural blunders and pharma-induced outbursts as these two men bask in the early stages of senility. Decades on the dais have made them callous to the concerns of Fullerton residents, proven by their constant bullying and dismissiveness during public meetings. And while we’re watching this sideshow, they have been cluelessly steering our city directly into boondoggle after boondoggle, at our expense.
Enough already.
When you think things can’t get any screwier at City Hall, look out! According to this story in the Voice of OC, the Fullerton Fire Department will save Brea taxpayers about $220,000 per year by sharing a battalion chief position that is now vacant.
Who would have guessed that Fullerton would come to the rescue of Brea , especially considering our serious budget problems and the deep cuts felt by many? Apparently, Fullerton Fire Chief Wolfgang Knabe must be feeling some brotherhood kindred spirit howling from the mall next door and has taken it upon himself to experiment at Fullerton ’s taxpayer’s expense. According to Knabe, maybe it will work and everyone will save money, or maybe it won’t and we all lose. Makes you feel good, doesn’t it!
In all fairness, let’s hear him out and see what our City Council had to say about Knabe’s plan… (deafening silence) It would appear our own City Council didn’t know we were bailing out the City of Brea and their Fire Department. In fact, no one except a couple of Fire Chiefs seems to know anything about this experiment.
According to the Voice, we will be sharing a battalion chief which will help both cities fill their respective vacancies with the same person who can be in two places at once. Neat trick; I’d like to see it though.
I hear sirens coming and they sound like the Orange County Fire Authority! Ok, here is a trick question for you. Brea citizens and the Brea Fire Department staff wanted to have the department “disbanded”, as the Voice calls it, and have the OCFA take over. Why? Sure the taxpayers save money, but what’s in it for the would-be disbanded employees?
…well you know the rest.
Here is Mr. Hypocrite J. Cunningham extolling the virtues of Kris Murray, a candidate for Anaheim city council, and heavily promoted by Anaheim’s Mayor-for-Hire, Curt Pringle; some woman he elevated from obscurity to occupy a six-figure sinecure at OCTA:
I, for one, am wholeheartedly supporting Kris. There are several stand-out individuals running for city council seats in Orange County this year, and Kris is one of them. She is smart, conservative, principled and experienced in both the business sector and government. She will make an outstanding member of the Anaheim City Council.
Ah! Smart, conservative, principled, experienced. Smart? Who knows? Her experience is with the big government Business Council and a giant government bureaucracy – OCTA – which is squandering hundreds of millions on Pringle’s slimy insider ARTIC and High Speed Rail deals. Principled? Well, Hell, we know what principle Cunningham and Pringle hold dear. There’s always a dollar sign in front of it.
Now, enjoy this snippet from the comment thread in which Cunningham extols the virtues of Big Chief repuglican Curt Pringle:
Curt has been an outstanding Mayor of Anaheim, and poll after poll confirms that. He has very high positive name ID in Anaheim, and if he were on the ballot again, he would be overwhelmingly re-elected.
Kris is and ought to be proud to have Curt’s endorsement.
Uh, yeah, right, whatever you say Jerb. Poll after poll? What polls would those be?
See, for a guy who posed as a social conservative, yet who behind the scenes pulled down mega-bucks shilling for the dopey, big guvment Rob Reiner Children and Families Commission, making a fortune off of government influence peddling, like Pringle has done, is some sort of badge of honor. And of course Pringle may very well hold the key to Cunningham’s economic future now that his 1st Five plug has been pulled.
Nothing wrong there, of course. If Pringle hadn’t latched on to all this gravy some evil, unprincipled Democrat would have scooped up all those simoleons.
Todd Warden wrote in to tell us how the unsightly drainage ditch along Malvern/Chapman avenues is becoming further uglified by the city without regard for the surrounding neighborhood or the health of the landscaping.
He awoke one morning to find that the city had ordered the 30 foot tall trees hacked down to about 6 feet, while randomly selected shrubs were cut to the stump. The fully developed trees had been shielding motorists view of the ugly flood control channel and it’s rusty chain link fence for years.
“In the past they have always just trimmed the trees back and kept the height leaving a swell green belt and noise buffer in contrast to other areas of the Malvern/Chapman eyesore,” wrote Todd. The city told him that they had no money to replant new trees and shrubs, but the mature trees were taken out anyway.
I’m no arborist, but hacking a 30ft tree by 80% seems like a great way to kill it. If the city doesn’t have the funds to replace prominent landscaping features, they ought to just leave them alone or trim them as reasonably necessary. Together, Malvern and Chapman form one of Fullerton’s main east/west arteries, and it’s a disgrace for our city to destroy what little aesthetics it has left.
It’s worth nothing that Fullerton frequently boasts about its 29-year title of “Tree City USA” as bestowed by the Arbor Day Foundation.
As for the future of the flood control channel, Todd has some ideas:
“What about replanting the entire strip of the canal that literally splits the entire city from Buena Park to Harbor Blvd. Tall palms or low water use flowering hedges would beautify the city for residents and visitors that use the artery. Another idea would be to cover the ditch for a bike path that would allow residents and visitors to reach downtown and the Buena Park Metrolink station.”