Posted onOrange County Government

The Todd Spitzer Streamroller

by 14 Comments on The Todd Spitzer Streamroller

Word on the political street is that Todd Spitzer, recently fired Deputy DA, former State Assemblyman, and former 3rd District County Supervisor is serious about running for his old job at the County Hall of Administration in 2012. How serious? Apparently he is locking up political consultants in order to dissuade potential opponents who are not already terrorized by Spitzer’s prodigious campaign warchest.

Lobby later...

Two of the consultants are said to be Dave Gilliard who recently worked for Shawn Nelson and John Lewis, who didn’t. You all remember John Lewis, the repuglican who managed the ill-fated Tom Daly campaign behind the scenes. And when that tub went down, he scrambled rat-like up the bow line of the SS Sidhu – that was already taking on water badly. Will Lewis be working for free like he did for Sidhu? Quite possibly. See, Lewis is a campaign guy second and a lobbyist first and foremost.

Say goodnight, honey...

More word on the street has it that ‘pug sweatheart Orange mayor Carolyn Cavecche has already run screaming into the night, with Kurt Pringle and Bill Campbell, her sponsors not far behind. Geez, that didn’t take long.

Will anybody dare take on Spitzer and his precipitous mountain of dough? He’s got a pretty shaky record on pensions and that’s big right about now. Even so, there’s really no chance. See, Spitzer is running to mark time until he can have at our do nothing DA in 2014. If successful the 3rd District seat would open up and the political bowling pins would be reset.

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Posted onBoohooism

The Pam Keller Legacy of Political Whatevers

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One of our Friends observed this banner near the intersection of Harbor and Brea today giving thanks to mercifully soon-to-be former council member, Pam Keller.

How touching. A “job well done.”

But, really? Since we can’t count on the Yellowing Observers and Pam’s Dingbat Posse to give an accurate look back on Keller’s four years in office, I will oblige by helping out a little.

First we’ll give credit where credit is due, and acknowledge her support of Prop 215 and the law of the State while the other four cowards on the council showed their true colors.

And now I’m done reciting Keller’s accomplishments – the wrong end of one 4-1 vote.

And lest you forget, I’ll remind you about some of her dubious activities on the council. How about the lobbyist boat ride and dinner care of slimeball Steve Sheldon and her subsequent support of the completely indefensible “Jeferson Commons” monstrosity? And let’s not forget her support of the equally god-awful Amerige Court, brought to us by contributors to her Colloborative. Both these votes were a total sellout to her supporters and her 2006 campaign promises as she came to realize the challenges of “governing.”

Speaking of the Collaborative, is there really any need to rehash the manifest conflicts of interest, the mobilizing of Collaborative grantees for political purposes, of gad-abouting taking credit for other people’s efforts? There, I just did it.

My favorite Keller self-besoiling was the twelve hundred bucks of public money she wasted going to the 2008 League of Cities meeting in far-off Long Beach, as cavalier a waste of taxpayer dollars as you will ever see.

And only this year Keller crowned her career by supporting the fraudulent, carpetbagging campaign of Harry Sidhu for 4th District Supervisor.

Not much to show for four years work, but of course commenters are welcome to augment the list of any real accomplishment on Keller’s part. Now don’t get me wrong. Keller’s lack of any really achievement is in no way different than any other councilpersons anybody can remember, so at least she’s got that going for her, legacy-wise.

Well, now she can assume her idiotic grin and bat her eyes for the benefit of the Fullerton School District trustees – as they consider renewing her contract and her, ahem, peculiar role as Philanthropist on Our Dime.

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Posted onOrange County Government

OCFA Lights A Match

by 19 Comments on OCFA Lights A Match

As Fullerton is forced to face our own massive pension debt this year, it’s helpful to look around to see what others are doing. And then aim higher. Much higher.

It all started in one careless moment.

The county firefighters’ union just conceded that new members will have to work 5 more years until they reach retirement age, allowing them to retire at 55 instead of 50. OK, so they still get a ridiculous 90% of pay and will retire at least 12 years earlier than the rest of us. But it’s a baby step in the right direction.

To begin addressing the deficit caused by current employees, union members will also pay their own portion of the retirement contributions, building up to the full 9% of pay as required by state law.

Both of these concepts could be applied to Fullerton police and fire contracts. Of course, they wouldn’t come close to solving our pension problems. But if the prima donnas at OCFA will volunteer these concessions, Fullerton should be able to do better. Much better.

Certainly this sets a new minimum for pension reform in Orange County. With soaring pension costs set to take escalating millions out of our budget next year, we must do something NOW.

Of course, we won’t let anyone forget that several of our council members have promised to tackle the issue.

Did I really say that?
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Posted onBehind Closed Doors

Pringle Outed; AG Yanks Open Closet Door, Shines Light on Embarrassing Scene

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"A" is for honorable.

Yesterday the State Attorney General handed out an opinion that, yes, outgoing Anaheim Mayor-for-Hire, Kurt Pringle did indeed hold incompatible offices as the Chairman of the California High Speed Rail Authority. For three long years. And that raises all sorts of questions about the ethics of Der Pringle’s votes on both HSR prioritization issues that benefited him and his clients, and City of Anaheim land use issues that benefited – him and his clients. You can read all about it in an LA Times article, here.

Well, we told you so. What will his mom say?

Interestingly the other day the Voice of OCEA did a story on an e-mail exchange between Herr Burgermeister Pringle and his former Director of the HSR, in which he attacks the “core competence”of the Authority’s engineers. The author misses the point, somewhat, in noting Pringle’s critique of the “experts” like so many others in California have done; but the real point is that his anger was based on their unwillingness to defy engineering realities to deliver the HSR line to his already designated ARTIC boondoggle. It certainly wasn’t lost on the recipient of his e-mail who noted dryly that he wasn’t sure if he was communicating with the HSR Chair or the Mayor of Anaheim.

Well, our boy Pringle is days away from being off the OCTA and out of City Hall (except as a lobbyist to his hand selected replacements, of course). But what about his Chairmanship of the CHSRA? Can the new guv keep him? Hard to imagine why Jerry Brown would keep on the HSR a repuglican who has soiled himself and the Authority so badly, if he had a choice.

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Posted onBehind Closed Doors

HeeHaw, It’s The Law!

by 16 Comments on HeeHaw, It’s The Law!

No, no, no! I ain't a' gonna do it!

Well, not the law, exactly. More like City Council Administrative Policy #37, approved last February. Check it out:

Administrative Policy #37

Here’s the deal: the guy with most seniority since last being Mayor shall be appointed, plain and simple. And that means our Crazy Ol’ Doc Heehaw is line to shoulder the burden of the mayoralty, like it or not. Well, he can shirk his duty again, like he did before, and go to the second spot.

Not time to step up?

That means the next in line to be Mayor is Sharon Quirk-Silva, with Dr. Phogbound as Mayor Pro Tem; and if he declines the second spot, too, that would fall to the highest vote getter in the last election. And that’s our old Friend, Bruce Whitaker.

Now it could very well be that Sharon Quirk-Silva would defer her place until next year to run for re-election in 2012 with the title “Mayor of Fullerton,” in which case our next mayor would be Whitaker.

Could greatness be thrust upon him?

Of course Administrative Policy #37 isn’t worth the TP it was written on or the Sharpie it was written with – despite the fact that it’s the wet-dream of all Fullerton liberals, and ironically could produce the first truly conservative mayor since…well, since anybody could possibly remember.

How will it play out? Who knows? One thing is certain. This is Fullerton and it’s bound to be a confused mess. But the entertainment value should be high.

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Posted onFullerton School Board

New School Board Members Shipped Off to San Fran Indoctrination

by 24 Comments on New School Board Members Shipped Off to San Fran Indoctrination

Even before they were elected, the superintendent let the Fullerton School Board candidates know that tickets had been reserved for them at the 2010 CSBA conference in in the Bay Area, which starts today.

No peeking.

Presumably the California School Boards Association will introduce the new adherents to the ways of the educational bureaucracy. Topics will include unconditional respect, union coddling, collaborating, achievement gapping, revenue generation, tax enumeration and the proper operation of trite awards ceremonies.

Check out the program:

CSBA 2010 Annual Education Conference and Trade Show Guide

It’s loaded with ads for lobbyists and political consultants eager to help young board members navigate the challenges of passing new school bonds and local property taxes.

So will our new school board members drink in the delicious Kool Aid of California’s educational establishment? Or will they withstand the temptation of vacuous adoration from their new group of friends, holding their promises of independence above the cheap thrill of being “liked” by their peers.

I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.

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Posted onFullerton City Council

Chaffee Recounts Chiefee

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According to the OC Registrar of Voters, Doug Chaffee has requested a recount in the election for Fullerton City Council in which he finished 90 votes behind former Po-lice Chief Pat McKinley.

90 votes. A seemingly insurmountable lead, really. After all, any errors in counting are just as likely to go against Chaffee as for him. It sure seems like a fool’s errand, but what the hell, gotta give it that last shot, right?

Not too sure how this effects next Tuesday’s swearing in of McKinley since the recount will not have happened.

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Posted onSetting The Bar Low

Fullerton Observer Hacked

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The last remaining Observers awoke this morning only to discover that the website of Fullerton’s favorite liberal rag had been digitally violated by rogue Internet vandals.

Several years’ worth of error-ridden editorials and retyped city press releases have been replaced with a single web page containing an indecipherable message and some horrible trance music.

The number of readers who will be affected by this outage is unknown, but private documents released by the Observer in a court last summer revealed that the Observer’s online readership is insignificant in comparison to that of its digital neighbors.

It is also unknown how much of the Fullerton Observer’s priceless archives were lost in the attack. Let’s hope SK keeps a backup.

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Posted onArts & Architecture

FFFF Welcomes “Inside Fullerton” to the Blog Roll

by 2 Comments on FFFF Welcomes “Inside Fullerton” to the Blog Roll

What’s going on tonight in Fullerton? I have no idea. But these guys do:

www.insidefullerton.com

Inside Fullerton is a new website that posts the latest happenings in Fullerton’s restaurants, bars, shops, theaters and everywhere else you can think of.

The site seems to update once or twice a day. That’s quite a lot of work. In fact, there’s only one other Fullerton site that can pull that off, and it’s us!

Welcome to the world wide web, Inside Fullerton.

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