Friends For Fullerton's Future – Page 241 – FFFF supports causes that promote intelligent, responsible and accountable government in Fullerton and Orange County

November 22, 2010November 22, 2010Dead heads

Doc Hee Haw For Mayor?

It’s that time of year again when Fullerton council selects one of its own to preside over the crackpot, klutzy and expensive meetings it holds.

We count on the hare-brain, corn pone braying of F. Richard “Dick” Jones to supply us with the material we need to keep our ratings up. And so to the question of whether the hot-headed Jones should take up the gavel and lead us into the teens we say: Hell yes!

donk — The entire genus Equus, approves...

And let’s not forget that like us, Jones, too, received Weekly OC recognition, but not in a good way.

As a teaser we provide this council-clip of a constituent of marginal competence; it culminates in the inevitable ravings (Ahma Colonel) and crazy gesticulations of Dr. Dick, in response. Rather than let the poor bastard have his say and go away, Heehaw leaps into the breach to defend the honor of…well, of something. He ain’t gonna take no shit from some whacked-out dog face, nuh-uh, noooosirree!

And so we say: Go Doc, go!

November 22, 2010November 22, 2010Fullerton City Council

What Are They Doing Now?

by The Desert Rat9 Comments

biggest-hole — No. You can't dig your way out.

So who really is responsible for Fullerton’s out-of-control “public safety” pension vortex?

Here’s a handy list of everyone in the history of Fullerton who’s ever voted for the public safety 3 @ 50 pension scam, and their current whereabouts:

Don Bankhead (R) – Fullerton City Councilmember, and Mayor.

jones-gone-wild1 — Why not 4 @45? That's prit' near a hunnerd percent!

Dick Jones (R) – Fullerton City Councilmember.

Norbysleeve-500x333 — No, I don't mind dressing up like a goddam idiot...

Chris Norby (R) – State Assemblyman, 72nd District

snoopdog — The bathroom is over there, behind the wig shop.

Mike Clesceri (R) – is rumored to be working security at suburban Chicago mall.

Jan Flory (D) – tries to remain relevant by stirring up neighborhood resentment against kids riding bikes.

And there you have it. A 5-0 vote. Motion made by Flory and seconded by Norby, to go along with the most irresponsible vote in the history of Fullerton.

November 21, 2010November 22, 2010Dead heads

Orange County Fair Morass Gets Morassier; And Ackerman Questions Linger

by Mr. Peabody23 Comments

Last week a judge stepped in to slow down the sale of the OC Fairgounds to a private developer as reported by the Voice of OC(EA). Seems hizzoner wants some time to look into all the allegations of hanky-panky that have been swirling around for the past year.

Tony Rackauckas — I have no evidence that that guy over there lied to me, and I don't intend to look for any.

More allegations of monkey business at the fair that creates a pattern of obfuscation, disingenuousness, and misfeasance that goes back well over a year.

But wait, hasn’t Tony Rackaukas already blessed the doings with his benediction? Yep, but despite our do-nothing DA’s whitewash of the entire 2009 Summer of Fair Love, lots of people have lingering questions about the role of some of OCs leading repuglicans in this whole mess.

Those doubts are fueled by a guy named David Padilla, a Fair trustee who apparently didn’t go along with his colleagues who were busted trying to create their own entity to acquire the property. As reported in the Daily Pilot, here, and the Voice, here, Padilla, who was recently removed from the Board by outgoing Governor Schwarzenegger, still has lots of unanswered questions himself. And even a few assertions.

One of the most intriguing parts of the story was this:

Among the things the board does not know are details of the activities of the law firm of Nossaman LLP through former State Sen. Dick Ackerman as well as the activities of the county’s lobbyist, Platinum Advisors, which has close ties to county GOP Chairman Scott Baugh.

Padilla was the only board member to respond to public inquiries and records requests for information on the role of both individuals. Padilla said earlier this year that he was told Ackerman was only paid $19,000 for his work.

“I have recently determined, after months of inquiry, they were paid over $150,000 for services I have not been able to get answers for,” Padilla said. “It was my intention to continue to press for the details on both these issues.”

AckermanHead — A repuglican warrior does battle on the steps of the Capitol...

We know that the DA has found nothing untoward in Ackerman’s behavior, despite Ackerman’s own morphing tale, but $150,000 grand would pay for a helluva lot of schmoozing with the Guv, and it’s about time the public found out exactly what Dickie Boy was up to in Sacramento during those long hot summer days of 2009, including billings, invoices, and diaries.

November 20, 2010November 20, 2010About Us

Fleischman Puts ‘Pug in Repuglican

by Grover Cleveland15 Comments

You remember a fellow named Jon Fleischman, don’t you? Well, of course you do. He starred in the now historic 2007 holiday visit video to Dick Ackerman at the latter’s house inside a “secret, gated community” in Irvine.

tricky dick — I still owe Fleischberg for that. Heh heh.

An alert Friend just forwarded a post that was published on the completely hackish blog-for-sale, The Flash Report, of which Fleischman is proprietor. It’s a rousing condemnation of the practice of bogus non-profit, public benefit corporations staging legislative love-ins at plush resorts on Hawaiian islands. The things are bought and paid for by lobbyists who get to corner state legislators at fraudulent “conferences” that are nothing more than schmooze fests, golf and cocktails on the veranda. The Sac Bee gives more info on the latest scams, here. At the end you’ll read about “The Pacific Policy Research Foundation” that just perpetrated its annual scam on Kauai.

Sound familiar? It should.

We reported about the scam over a year ago, here. And the biggest offender of course was the hideous Linda Ackerwoman, bogus 72 AD candidate, who participated in the sham front known as the Pacific Policy Research Foundation that got her and husband, Dick Ackerman, annual junkets to Hawaii. And of course Ackerwoman was an officer of the bogus “charity.”

And to close the circle we have to recall that Fleischman was a big Ackerwoman cheerleader. Ackerwoman. No record, no accomplishment, no residence, no sale. What a difference a year makes.

November 19, 2010November 19, 2010Fullerton City Council

Kaboom. One Hundred and Twenty-Seven Million Dollars

by Travis22 Comments

Fullerton’s public safety pension debt just exploded. Numbers from a new report just released by CalPERS pin the unfunded pension liability for Fullerton’s police and fire at $126,843,150.

Cop-with-Kid — Hey little guy. Cash or credit?

The new figures represent a first look at Fullerton’s pension crisis after the market crash of 2007 (yes, CalPERS is that slow.)

Of course these dismal digits are probably optimistic, given that CalPERS is still using the ridiculous rate of return that the unions used to cook up these obscene benefits in the first place. We did, however, take the liberty of removing the absurd “smoothing” calculation that adds a magical $73,000,000 to the fund, even though that money does not exist anywhere.

Warning: 76 pages of boring

$126,843,150.00. Let’s put that number in perspective: it’s enough to fund the entire Parks and Rec department for the next 27 years, re-pave six million square/ft of deteriorating roadway or completely staff Fullerton’s libraries until the year 2058.

Paying that debt (assuming it doesn’t get worse) will require an additional $3,000 from each Fullerton household, above and beyond our current taxes. That’s just for unfunded public safety retirement debt, which allows these public employees to receive 90% of their highest pay at age 50 for the rest of their lives.

November 18, 2010November 18, 2010Orange County Government

Der Pringle Gets Swift Kick In Ass On Way Out Door

by Grover Cleveland35 Comments

You just can’t beat candor at the public podium.

Here is Anaheim community leader Amin David at Kurt Pringle’s public going away party letting Der Pringle know that not all of the Anaheim Volk are happy Volk. Specifically he slams Pringle for his latest Platinum Triangle do-over and deficient EIR.

Did you enjoy the shot at Sidhu as Pringle’s puppet-monkey and Hernandez as a dim-wit? I did.

November 16, 2010November 16, 2010Boohooism

Chaffee’s Choke Cost Him The Election

by Mr. Peabody12 Comments

A lot of people in Fullerton are wondering why council candidate Doug Chaffee permited himself to be a GOP establishment punching bag. Did his natural inclinations lead him to avoid attacking the out-of-control public employee pension mess as embodied in his two GOP and union backed adversaries? Probably.

If so, it cost him the election.

When he finally reached down and grabbed hold of his huevos he produced this devastating comparison piece between himself and his “public safety” union-backed opponents.

Although effective, it was too little, too late. By the time it came out absentee voting was well underway. The oblique admonition to “bullet vote” was already an effort in vain.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

November 15, 2010August 21, 2011Big Brother

Mistakes Were Made: FPD Locks Up the Wrong Kid for 5 Months

by Travis37 Comments

Justice requires both integrity and diligence, but sometimes that’s just too much to expect. And it goes without saying that nobody deserves to be thrown in jail for a crime they did not commit.

It doesn’t always work out that way. According to a Register story pointed out by some of our favorite commenters, this kid just spent five months in jail awaiting trial after the Fullerton police set him up on charges of armed robbery, even though the victim clearly identified someone else!

Luckily for him, the botched line-up was captured on an audio recording which his attorney later reviewed, causing the DA to drop the charges.

So critical evidence, namely the victim’s actual testimony, was completely ignored by Fullerton’s finest. Laziness? Incompetence? Malice? We’ll never know. But when the justice system is subverted, everybody loses.

The sad narrative includes a priceless comment from FPD/FPOA spokesman Andrew Goodrich: “Mistakes are made sometimes.”

Whew! Responsibility averted. All in a day’s work.

It’s a good thing we don’t give criminals that kind of leeway.

November 15, 2010November 15, 2010Fullerton City Council

On the Agenda – November 16, 2010

by Christian17 Comments

Once again we have a City Council Agenda loaded with waste and stupidity.

The November 16, 2010 agenda starts off with a dear friend of ours, Milton A. Gordon. You may remember him from a recent post by Greg Sebourn – or from Daily Titan, where he caught grief from one of his current students and junior reporters, Ally Bordas. Well, he’s back and this time he is slated as Item 1 of the agenda. I’m sure he’ll be handing out some do-gooder award or similar…And we’ll be paying the staff to sit and endure the waste! Just remember, we pay him $302,000 to live in a mansion RENT FREE and hand out awards at City Council meetings.

Item 2 of the presentations is none other than our other old friends, Rusty Kennedy who will be giving the OC Human Relations Annual Report. I just can’t wait to hear it…

Moving on t o the consent calendar, let’s see what mischief the council would like to sneak in:

Insurance contracts are up and it looks like Blue Cross, CaliforniaCare, Kaiser, Delta Dental, Vision Services Plan, and CIGNA all win with staff approval. I knew I should have bought a few shares!

Item 3 is the water rate study at a cost of $67,500. How many gallons of water will consumers need to purchase to cover the cost?

There is a NO PARKING ban for a portion of Valencia Mesa Drive just west of Harbor Boulevard. Read more under Item 4.

An update on the building and fire codes is worth looking at. I would be willing to bet more than a few of these changes will come back to bite taxpayers. The changes include a green building code and energy code.

Item 6 is an appointment by the Council of the Fire Marshal and an alternate to the Orange County-City Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Authority (OCCHMERA). The City of Fullerton is a subscriber to the Authority since we do not have our own Haz-Mat team.

More NO PARKING/NO STOPPING is slated for Casa Blanca Drive between Fern and Barris during school hours as Item 8.

Item 9 is an amendment to the agreement between the City of Fullerton and the Fullerton Museum Association. In the end, it looks like the Museum Association gives up their “profits” from the gift store and membership from 10% to 25%.

Item 10 is another Fullerton Redevelopment Agency boondoggle in the making. In the back-up documents for this action item you find that the City “purchased” 34 parcels (each with multiple units for low- and very low-income residents) that are being demolished and replaced with 34 moderate-income homes. How does this help the City of Fullerton with the alleged deficiency in low-income housing? It doesn’t. Unfortunately, you voted for more of the same on November 2^nd.

Item 11 is a real gem. It is titled “REALLOCATION OF PROCEEDS FROM 2005 TAX ALLOCATION REVENUE BONDS”. It sounds harmless enough; much like pulling money from a savings account to cover a checking account. Ah, but it’s so much more. It is a huge shell game of millions of dollars to hide the fact that we borrowed against certain funds to cover certain pet projects. Unfortunately, it just shows more mismanagement of tax dollars. Read it carefully and keep one of those airplane bags handy when you read the fine print.

And that was just the consent calendar! Now we get into some really good stuff.

Item 12 proposes Council raise parking fines by as much as $3.50 to cover two issues:

SB857 which is a $3 per citation “fee” for the State
and $0.50 because many of the City’s fines are listed to the nearest HALF dollar. Why is that a problem? It seems that the State doesn’t want to mess with $0.50 increments.

So, here we are raising fines because your legislators raised taxes disguised as fees.

Item 13 is the University Heights Development Project wherein the State was supposed to pay the City certain development fees upon the sale of those really nice homes. However, the State decided to lease instead of sell them. Now, we are stuck not getting paid. The State, being the generous body that it is, has proposed making payments. I suggest Council reject the plan (just check the State’s credit!) and order the fees paid immediately – just like they would with any other developer! The total amount being negotiated: $407,202.60!

Let’s look at this in a different light. Taxpayers funded the development so that public employees could get a better deal on a house than non-university employees. Then, when no one wanted to buy them, they come back to the taxpayers and ask us to float the debt a little longer. What a stupid system we have created.

And finally, not last nor least, is the Fullerton Municipal Golf Course under Item 14. Council will be considering a fresh new agreement with American Golf Corporation, the managing company for the golf course, as part of the “Recovery Zone Economic Development Bond” which spends $2,200,000 on new irrigation. The back-up documents indicate that staff thinks “revenue” will increase 200% next year. I’m not sure what they were smoking when the put that thought on paper but Prop 19 didn’t pass. What bothers me about this project is that the agreement should spell out maintenance AND operations for American Golf Corporation. They should collect enough in green fees to cover the irrigation and upkeep of the course. If they aren’t then I suppose they are on par with our council who enjoy passing bonds under the lie of low-income housing only to replace it with moderate income housing. But, you voted for more of the same…

As always, if I missed something important so let me know. If you have anything constructive to add, please do so.

November 14, 2010November 15, 2010About Us

My New Vocation

by admin15 Comments

Just when I thought it would be a good idea for me to hang it up from Fullerton politics, this sign showed up in and around Fullerton.

Good grief! Someone really took the time to make and plant these comical things. And that got me to re-thinking my role in Fullerton. Geez, thinks I, if these people believe I’m so powerful that they are willing to give me this sort of free publicity, maybe I should leverage that celebrity in the future.

And so I have decided that I must and will stay involved. There’s too much at stake and my gang and I are having too much fun. I guess it’s a calling!

Oh, and just a reminder: Chris Thompson was the #1 top vote getter in all Fullerton races including city council.