It transpires that the police union in the beautiful and high-toned town of Santa Barbra are unhappy with their city manager. “Joe” sez you, “so what?”
A man discovers his true vocation...
Well, it turns out that the City Manager of Santa Barbara is none other than James L. Armstrong, who used to occupy that job description here in Fullerton. The union has discovered our humble blog and shared some of our history lessons.
Although this stuff occurred a few years before my time, this blog has had some great fun recounting the myriad disasters that occurred during the reign of King James I. Things like Redevelopment boondoggles, general unaccountability, high-handed behavior, and the sort of arrogant bullshit that is normally reserved for those who can pull of the Divine Right of Kings gig.
Nice trousers...
Here’s the post on the website, just in case you’re interested in enjoying the SBPD union’s take on their beloved leader.
Well, we got rid of him, at least.
Update – the link is broken. Here is a back up copy.
Check out this odd blob from Frank Mickadiet. According to ex-chief Pat McKinley, some vandal ice picked the Kevlar-lined gas tank on his F-150 a few weeks ago, dumping his fuel onto the street.
OK, that’s unfortunate. But here’s the strange part: McKinley believes that this act was committed by one of his political opponents.
You're lucky the She Bear didn't catch you.
Even softball Mickadiet can’t resist pointing out that McKinley sounds a bit paranoid. Take a look at the guys he’s running against and try to figure out which one of them would be capable of such a stupid stunt.
Nevertheless, McKinley is now offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator.
As he slithers off into sad irrelevance, the former blog proprietor, now blog wage slave, Matthew J. Cunningham, is looking for any sugar daddy he can latch onto. After we blew his cover as a hyper-liberal nanny state teat sucker, he clearly needs work, and scribbling out press releases for the campaigns of Curt Pringle puppets may not even pay the rent.
Cynthia Ward, one of a diminishing breed of honest Anaheimers recently posted on the Red County blog about complaints to the State Attorney General about the incompatible offices held by Anaheim’s Mayor-for-Hire, Curt Pringle, who also holds the esteemed positions of OCTA Board member and California High Speed Rail Authority Chairman.
Right on cue, Cunningham attacked me, personally, instead of explaining why Pringle has been using his chairmanship of the CHRA swindle to try to move state taxpayer resources into his OCTA subsidized Anaheim ARTIC boondoggle.
It's in my interest and that means it's good for everybody...
Oh, yeah, that one. The one that has already misdirected $140,000,000 of County-wide transit tax dollars for the immediate benefit of Pringle’s useless glass Taj Mahal. And let’s not forget the biz the soon-to-be termed out Pringle will be passing to himself when his “consulting” business really gets to some serious greasin.’
A deep thought or a hard stool?
Cunningham has always congratulated himself on his self-perceived powers of thought and argumentation and “credibility,” a credibility that certainly took a shot in the mauve speedos when folks found out he was making $200 an hour passing out toothbrushes for Rob Reiner’s tax-and-redistribute First Five program. Well, lets take a gander at what Mr. Credibility has to say about yours truly. He begins his comments:
You neglected to mention the central in this drama being played by Tony Bushala, who has developed a habit of filing complaints against political enemies — or, at least, against those he perceives to be antagonistic to politicians he supports. Does anyone believe he would have filed a complaint if the Mayor in question wasn’t Curt Pringle? Or more to the point, if Curt Pringle had supported Shawn Nelson for supervisor?
Huh? A habit of complaints against political enemies? Oh yeah, like the serial perjuries of Harry Sidhu? Right well, that was one complaint. A habit? And what does Pringle’s behavior have to do with Shawn Nelson? That’s right, nothing.
This is an attempt to criminalize a policy dispute. Even if a conflict exists — which is flimsy possibility, at best — it will be obviated in two months when Curt ceases being both the Mayor of Anaheim and a member of the OCTA Board.
Attempt to criminalize? Who said anything about “criminals” beside The Jerb? Oops, a Freudian slip? But really: “a policy dispute?! Like fraudulentlybamboozling the public into a deal the perpetrators of which knew or suspected was based on cooked up rideship numbers? No, not fraud, merely a policy dispute!
I know, says Cunningham. Let’s look the other way (obviate – there’s an awful big word for such a small boy) just like Jerbal did by exclaiming that Sidhu didn’t commit perjury because his supposed stay at the Calabria Apartments was a lie of such short duration.
But wait, then there’s this gem:
Bushala’s call? Cynthia, his involvement is hugely relevant. I’m not going into CARRD’s motives — other than trying to remove an effective opponent before mayoral term limits renders the complaint moot — but Bushala has been actively trying to inflict harm on Curt, so his motives ought to be suspect.
Wrong. Pringle is responsible for his own behavior. We’re just shining a light on it. If illumination of Pringle’s activities is harmful, that ‘s his fault! But, come to think of it, why should an honest politician worry about citizens bringing attention to his activities?
Bushala is a land speculator. It’s my understanding he’s trying to get the city to re-zone properties he has so he can develop them.
Oh no! An evil land speculator! Heaven forfend! Free enterprise is breaking out all over and Cunningham’s scared! The facts are wrong, and not relevant to anything he’s talking about but let’s try to whip up a little anti-capitalist hysteria, shall we, comrade, as we try out our old distraction trick.
It’s also my understanding he and his brother are coming into somewhere in the neighborhood of $13 million in an “eminent domain” action by the OCTA. I use quotes when local governments seeking to purchase property for some public purpose, the property owners often want the city to eminent domain them, instead, because of the tax advantages.
“Using quotes” – the humorless Jerb is getting all ironical on us here, and inserting more irrelevant information about which he knows nothing, but weasels his way around that fact by saying it is his “understanding.” Why didn’t he say misunderstanding and at least tell the truth?
Finally, this is an opinion from the Leg Counsel. Opinion. I take it you believe every legal opinion rendered by the Anaheim City Attorney to hold the force of law?
Holy Shit! Now the poor loser has really his rock bottom. Well almost. This motormouth’s not done making a fool of himself, now using numbered paragraphs to give his nonsense the color of authority:
1. Bushala’s motives are absolutely fair game, and it ought to have been noted in the post that one of the filers of the complaint is not only an avowed political enemy of Curt Pringle but someone whose honesty is questionable.
How does he know I am an “avowed” anything? And what in the world do my motives have to do with Pringle’s behavior, including his career of influence peddling under the guise of “lobbying?” My honesty is questionable? Ha! See next item, below.
2. At the end of the day, what Bushala and CARRD have is an opinion of about the applicability of an opinion. Which a far sight sight from Bushala’s claim that Curt is “breaking the law.”
And now an outright lie from Mr. Credibility. I never said that. Here’s what I said: “The credibility of the California High Speed Rail Authority program, and more importantly, both the appearance and substance of fair, open and honest government in California, demand it.”Hmm. Pringle a law breaker? Another Freudian slip by Cunningham?
3. Curt has been on CHSRC for three years. It wasn’t exactly a secret he was also Anaheim Mayor and an OCTA Director. Why only file a complaint now, when he’ll be leaving office in two months and the alleged incompatibility would be a moot point — assuming it even exists?
The fact that I became aware of the Legislative Counsel’s finding only week ago seems irrelevant to Cunningham, but not to me. There’s still a month for this miscreant to call meetings and cast votes. Cunningham, who loves to put time limits on honesty when it comes to his patrons and political clients just doesn’t seem to get it.
Oh, well, the facts clearly mean nothing to Cunningham, assuming he can even grasp them through the waves of desperation that make him cling to a creep like Pringle like a drowning man clings to a rock in the ocean. And I honestly wonder if Pringle sent him a check for that string of drivel.
Get in line, boy. And stay there.
Well, folks, there you have the very essence of repuglicanism: turn looking the other way into a full time business; in fact, try to make some green off of it. Perv priests, Church cover-ups, bogus consulting contracts doled out to fellow ‘pugs, “privatization” of unnecessary functions that benefit only yourself and your pals; ignore the facts; hell, forget your own party and its supposed principles when your crime boss tells you to.
An HSR project? Capital idea! Let's get down to brass tax...
If anyone had any doubt about the validity of a high-speed rail project in California, all they need to do is read a succinct editorial by Steve Forbes in the online edition of Forbes magazine.
Typically we think of high-speed rail projects as a local affair, but Forbes demonstrates that it’s really a not-so-original template for the grabbing of public money, and can happen just about anywhere. The ratio of dollars spent compared to the percentage of the public who would actually end up using such services is dramatically out of proportion.
Is this Anaheim Stadium?
Forbes points out that high-speed rail projects are a relatively risk-free ticket for politicians to further their careers, fleecing the taxpayers big-time in the process. The fact that the proposed line from Anaheim to San Francisco would cost an estimated $43 billion should be enough to make any sane person think twice, and perhaps even lose a little sleep, but apparently Mr. Pringle is immune to such basic human contemplation.
What? Me worry? Are you kidding?
This sort of shenanigans on such a grand scale would never occur in the free market, it’s only under the guise of government serving the public good that such perverse misuse of public funds could take place legally. Just what planet is he from, anyway?
HSR? Hah! What we should really be considering is a transporter!
Well, it’s true. Ol’ Hairball really is cruisin’ for another ass whuppin’ courtesy of Supervisor Shawn Nelson. Our sources in Anaheim have received Hide and Seek mailings. His recycled signs from the June election have popped up, too – all faded and worn.
So here’s a re-post in honor of out favorite carpetbagging assclown. Enjoy the youtube clip and see if you can figure out what this idiot is talking about.
– Joe Sipowicz
We’ve been hearing some rumblings from the interior of late – from union controlled websites, mostly – that serial perjurer and carpetbagger Hide and Seek Harry Sidhu is actually contemplating yet another political drubbing this fall in the 4th District Supervisor’s race, his third electoral humiliation in two years.
But humiliation is not a concept that Sidhu easily grasps. He appears oblivious to his manifest assclowneries, obvious as they are to the rest of us. Here’s a reminder of the caliber of public servant that we’re dealing with.
Yes, sadly, the lame, ignorant and incomprehensible bozo must be deaf to the entreaties of his friends who tell him to retire to private life. Oh, that’s right. He has no friends. Just hangers on and political retainers eager to strip his wallet bare.
After months of wondering how Anaheim’s Mayor-for-Hire, Curt Pringle, could get away with pushing through his high speed choo-choo on the folks of Buena Park, Fullerton, Anaheim, Orange County and all of California, I discovered a legal opinion from Legislative Counsel addressed to the Secretary of the State Senate that unequivocally opines that Pringle holds incompatible offices as Chairman of the California High Speed rail Authority, while simultaneously representing the City of Anaheim and the Orange County Transit Authority. He is breaking the law.
"A" is for...
Pringle has already directed the better part of $200,000,000 of Orange County transportation funds to Anaheim’s idiotic “ARTIC” facility, and that doesn’t even include more that will be necessary to accommodate his high speed boondoggle. Is it a coincidence that the first leg of the CHSR will be built in the least necessary or useful stretch of this concept – LA to Anaheim? Is it just as coincidental as Pringle’s lobbying firm being there to “consult” after hizzoner is out of office?
Mr. Curt? He up in the Big House.
Of course, Pringle is the heart and soul of Orange County repuglicanism: he runs the plantation and we all are just his cheap labor.
Yesterday I sent a letter by overnight delivery to our Attorney General requesting a quo warranto opinion from the AG, to wit: if the AG believes that the finding of the State Legislative Counsel is correct then the AG must take action to have the Pringle, and his LA Metropolitan Transit Authority counterflack Richard Katz, removed from their prior public offices to protect us regular folk from the sharks. Eric Carpenter of the register has written about my letter the AG, here.
It matters to Pringle. With a month left in office the influence he can still peddle at our expense is significant.
Last week you saw some grim pictures taken by a health inspector while the Chi clan was being rounded up for prosecution, which was instigated by a bunch of folks getting food poisoning after eating food from a supermarket in Garden Grove. At the time, Roland’s plea deal was an unknown, forcing us to speculate on how he managed to wriggle out of the criminal charges levied against him.
But now we know the whole story.
A businessman knows how to close.
In April Roland had struck a deal with the District Attorney that would allow him to escape the 5 counts against him, which added up to a frightening maximum sentence of 2.5 years in jail plus fines.
According to the barely-legible excerpt below, the charges against him were dropped because his co-owners pled guilty and Roland Chi agreed to provide a DNA sample for Rackackaus’ infamous DNA database.
The Orange County DNA database allows the District Attorney to keep track of the defendantly-inclined population by exchanging dropped charges for a personal specimen that could later be used to identify the suspect in the event of any future incidents.
Just think of it as a small donation.
Of course, the whole thing is pretty embarrassing for a candidate who keeps trying to cast his “business experience” as a positive for Fullerton voters. Heck, as far as I can tell, the only business Chi’s ever been involved with almost got him thrown in jail for criminal neglect, and then left a little part of him locked up in a vial somewhere, just in case he does it again. Chi must think the bar in Fullerton is really, really low.
Here’s a fun repeat-post from last spring – featuring two of 4SD Observer’s favorite idols: emergency service providers and the dim-witted Pam Keller. For sheer fat-headedness, selfishness, and fiscal irresponsibility, you just can’t beat the ESP union.
– Joe Sipowicz
Pam Keller was the only city council member who did not have the guts to impose a %5 pay reduction on members of the Fullerton firefighter’s union after negotiations failed on Tuesday. The union refused to accept a deal similar to those offered to all other Fullerton employees.
The union says the pay cut is unfair. Is that true? Let’s see what firefighters actually took home last year:
In addition to the gross pay numbers above, firefighters receive the following estimated benefits at the city’s expense:
Pension contribution: ~30% of base salary. Ranges from $15,000 to 28,000/yr, not including unfunded liabilities
Medical: $5,460 to $14,748/yr
Dental: $588 to $1,128/yr
Not a bad gig. It’s no wonder there are hundreds of applicants whenever a position opens up.
Does Keller really think that asking this highly compensated group of public employees to take the same pay cut as everyone else was “unfair?’
Us public employees gotta watch out for each other.
Or perhaps Pam is just sticking to what Pam does best: Helping folks suck as much as possible out of the public trough. By any means, at any cost.
The reaction was visceral. And not in a good way...
The other day Fullerton City Council candidate, carpetbagger, and food poisoner Roland Chi sent out a press release touting his “volunteering” to educate folks about some So Cal Edison program. Despite the hilarious lack of actually doing anything, or even thinking up anything for himself, Rolando decided to hop onto some idea barfed up by the power monopolists at Edison.
It didn’t take long for an unhappy citizen to respond to this vacuity. And fortunately they cc’d FFFF:
Sent: Mon, September 27, 2010 4:40:42 PM Subject: RE: PRESS RELEASE- CANDIDATE CHI VOLUNTEERS FOR ENGERY & COST SAVING PROGRAM
Dear Roland,
This is a joke, right? Are you seriously taking a tax and spend model based on a false premise of enviromental protection that this utility company has subscribed to and a.) claimed it as your own, and b.) trying to pass it off as pro-small business? Wow. That’s pretty crazy.
The “ratepayers” (residential and commercial) paid extra on their bills and then the company redistributes it by installing different lights, toilets, programmable thermostats, etc. in commercial buildings.
That neither shows “innovative leadership” nor “advance(s) business development locally.”
If you are looking for innovative leadership, try doing something that YOU came up with, not someone else. And if you are trying to help local business development, how about reducing the size and influence of government and quasi-government entities (i.e. utility companies) not encouraging it.
This seriously made me laugh. Keep the liberal policies coming.
And here’s the text of the comical “press release:”
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: SEPTEMBER 26, 2010
Contact: Roland Chi, Fullerton City Council Candidate
Office: (714) 889-8880
E-mail: RolandChi4Fullerton@gmail.com
CANDIDATE ROLAND CHI ASSISTS FULLERTON
BUSINESSES IN SAVING MONEY AND ENERGY BY
VOLUNTEERING TO INFORM OWNERS OF FREE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON INITIATIVE
*Chi is running for Fullerton City Council’s 2-year seat
FULLERTON – City Council Candidate Roland Chi volunteered to inform Fullerton business owners of Direct Install, Southern California Edison’s (SCE) new, energy-saving program. Chi’s efforts in conjunction with the City of Fullerton and Fullerton Chamber of Commerce to facilitate the awareness and participation of local owners in such programs, demonstrates his innovative leadership and commitment to advance business development locally.
As Fullerton continues to experience economic hardships, it makes it especially challenging for small businesses to profit, let alone survive. As a local business owner, Chi understands what owners are facing by having to cut costs and operate cautiously due to continuing revenue loss. To revitalize local business, Chi’s new ideas, initiative, and strong “blueprint” are necessary for short-term local economic improvement.
SCE’s new initiative seeks to lower energy costs for small-business owners by recommending and installing up to $10,000 worth of energy-efficient products at no cost to owners. For a business to qualify, it must be nonresidential and within SCE’s service territory. Direct Install is funded by California utility ratepayers and is administered by SCE and will remain available to business owners until all funds are exhausted. The program is available to any qualified business whose monthly earnings are less than $100,000.
Chi, SCE, and the Fullerton leadership organizations who participated in this imitative, understand the benefits of programs like Direct Install, which foster active dialogues and partnerships between businesses and government, establishing an openness and trust that enables more efficient City improvements.
“I chose to volunteer for this program because this initiative aligns with everything my campaign is about which is improving the business climate for local business owners here in the city of Fullerton. This program directly improves the bottom line of small businesses which is what I seek to do on the city council.” Chi’s business-minded approach will enable local owners to re-invest, prompt growth, generate revenue, and attract new business, thus creating new jobs.
Chi’s participation in Direct Install demonstrates his dedication to advancing local economic interests by fostering open dialogue with owners, integrating new ideas, and utilizing all available resources. “I will ensure Fullerton’s remains a great place to live, work, and raise a family.” For more information about SCE’s Direct Install please call (800) 736-4777. Further information about Candidate Roland Chi is avai lable at www.rolandchi.com or by e-mailingroland4fullerton@gmail.com. VVV
