Posted onFullerton School Board

Another Republican Cuddles Up to the Union Machine

by 38 Comments on Another Republican Cuddles Up to the Union Machine

The other day Fullerton school board candidate and self-described “fiscal conservative” Janny Meyer joyfully announced her acceptance of the Fullerton teachers’ union endorsement.

Well, it's kind of a gray area.

This registered Republican must not be interested in GOP support, since that party has forbidden candidates from taking any union money.

But more importantly, Janny’s campaign is now backed by the very same teachers’ union that has repeatedly sacrificed your child’s education at the alter of paycheck protection. The result? Furlough days and increased class sizes, not good education.

It’s also the same union leadership that fights to protect bad teachers at all costs while refusing to allow schools to reward good teachers. They will boycott anyone who attempts to help parents evaluate teacher performance. They’ve instituted a system which puts young, energetic teachers up on the chopping block while coddling tenured teachers without any regard for job performance.

It makes my head hurt.

Of course, the union would love to pass a new property tax in Fullerton next year so they can keep shoveling money into this flawed system. Any idea how that conflict would churn in the head of a self-styled conservative who is also beholden to the union?

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Posted onMSM Falls on Face

Little Hoover Sucks Up County Pension Reform BS

by 11 Comments on Little Hoover Sucks Up County Pension Reform BS

Does it blow or suck?

California’s “Little Hoover Commission,” a sort of State-wide Grand Jury, showed up at the County HQ on Friday to learn all about the wonderful work the County has done creating its scintillating 1.62 @ 65 pension option. Naturally, all the OCEA spokeholes started to sing out hosannas to the hard work of the union in developing this alternative – an option that promises to reward aging executives, and that so far very few people have signed up for. Wonder why not.

Supervisors Bill Campbell and Janet Nguyen actually had someone write an editorial rebuttal for them that appeared in the Register on Sunday and that discounted the idea of a mandatory defined contribution plan that would include everybody – even Supervisors like themselves.

Just keep saying the same thing, over and over again. Maybe you'll get another $140,000 this year.

Here is our old friend Norberto Santana of the Voice of OC(EA) in a typical report. Notice the snotty observation that Supervisor Shawn Nelson wasn’t in attendance at the commission meeting. Following Santana’s predictable lead, Kimberly Edds, a new writer with the equally worthless “Total Buzz” perpetrated by the OC Register, also notes Nelson’s “conspicuous absence,” here.

Hey geniuses: the meeting was attended by Supervisors Bill Campbell and John Moorlach. Nelson’s attendance would have constituted a violation of the Brown Act. But of course what’s the point of attending a dog and pony show that touts an option that’s really hardly more than feel-good window dressing?

And speaking of brown acts, the jerkoffs at the Liberal OC naturally followed along in praise of supposed innovation, and even included this image of Janet Nguyen pulling the wings off insects.


Well, let’s hope that real pension reform is on the way before the State of California breaks off and falls into a sea of red ink.

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Posted onFullerton 2010

The $215,000 Man Blurts Out “Pension Reform”

by 24 Comments on The $215,000 Man Blurts Out “Pension Reform”

The other day we had a look at Pat McKinley’s ballot statement and something surprising popped up. Well, not really. Squeezed into the middle of his I-riddled statement was the curt phrase “I will work to reform public employee pensions.”

That's what they told me to say.

That’s a vague assertion, and frankly it’s hard to believe when it’s coming out of the mouth of one of the pension system’s most noted abusers – a double-dipping  bureaucrat who pulls down well over two hundred grand per year in retirement thanks to a ridiculous 3-at-50 pension system that’s now bringing the city to its’ knees.

So what does McKinley mean by “pension reform” anyway?

It’s hard to tell at this point. That’s good for Pat; bad for the rest of us. You see, as long as he can keep all this pension reform talk clouded in empty platitudes, he can pretend to be a reformer and maybe nobody will notice that he hasn’t promised to really change anything.

So Pat, here’s the gauntlet: You need to commit 100% to serious pension reform. That means two things:

  1. A mandatory 401(k)-style plan to replace the defined benefit for all new hires
  2. Current safety employees must pay the full 9% towards their own retirement, as required by state law.

Take a look at our city’s unfunded pension liability and do the math. Any lesser reform will amount to nothing more than a laughable gesture to taxpayers, ensuring that even more pain awaits us down the road.

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Posted onBehind Closed Doors

A Colorfully Gesticulating Norby Loses The Skirmish, But Wins The Battle

by 3 Comments on A Colorfully Gesticulating Norby Loses The Skirmish, But Wins The Battle

Who will win the war? Follow the money.

The GOP Initiatives Endorsement Committee met this past Saturday to debate whether it should recommend to the State GOP to endorse Proposition 22.

Watch and see what happened during the questions and answer period. The proponents for Yes on 22 focused their argument on misdirected “local control,” and the fear that if it doesn’t pass Arnold Schwarzenegger will raid the cities’ Redevelopment funds and give them away to the schools. Hooray! The only problem is that by the time this is voted on Arnold will about as lame a duck as Daffy, and probably already reading the script for Terminator 5.

Did the most vocal Yes on 22 proponent, Jon Fleischman (hot dog alert @ 3:18), really think the voting members  in the room would be dumb enough to buy that “Arnold will cook up a bad budget” line? Well, they did – the vote was 9 Ayes and 8 Noes.  However, good news came on Sunday when the recommendation of the Initiatives Committee was tossed out by the GOP party who gave a thumbs down to the Prop 22 proponents.

Check out Chuck Devore, one of the few non-repuglicans in office. He gets it.

And yes, I really do have to wonder if Fleischman was on the Yes on 22 payroll. The Howard Jarvis group was no doubt bought off by the purchase of a slate mailer.

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Posted onRedevelopment

California GOP Initiatives Endorsement Committee Hashes Out Prop 22

by 6 Comments on California GOP Initiatives Endorsement Committee Hashes Out Prop 22

Proposition 22 here, is an initiative supported by the California League of Cities and Redevelopment agencies and their lobbyists.

Voting yes on 22 would prohibit the State from restricting the use of tax revenues dedicated by law to fund local government services, community redevelopment projects, or transportation projects and services. It would prohibit the State from delaying the distribution of tax revenues for these purposes even when the Governor deems it necessary due to a severe state fiscal hardship.

The question boils down to whether the State should have the authority to redistribute redevelopment property tax increment funds and use it for schools, and fire departments.

The clip below was taken at the GOP  state convention held this past weekend in San Diego and features the Yes on 22 proponents debating State Assemblyman Chris Norby at the Endorsement Committee meeting. Each party was given 3 minutes to make their pitch, the Yes on 22 proponents spoke for 3-1/2 minutes, however when Assemblyman Norby was only 2-1/2 minutes into his speech (6:58) one of the 22 proponents rudely interrupted Norby and yelled “TIME” even though Norby still had 30 seconds left of his 3 minutes.

My next post will feature video footage of questions and answers by both Norby (No on 22) and the Yes on 22 proponents. There’s also a little treat at the very end of the clip, enjoy!

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Posted onBehind Closed Doors

Townsend Uncovers Fullerton’s Overtime Racket

by 29 Comments on Townsend Uncovers Fullerton’s Overtime Racket

Register reporter Adam Townsend dropped a bomb early this morning with an in-depth report on Fullerton’s astounding overtime costs.

The report summarizes the $3,000,000 spent on overtime last year, listing the top 102 overtime earners (view the Register’s list). Among them, a paramedic named Timothy Hartinger worked the most overtime in 2009 with 1,160 hours at time and a half pay, bringing his total earnings to a glorious $138,117.

Notably, these wage figures do not include an additional 33% in pension contributions or thousands of dollars in health insurance premiums for public safety union members.

Naturally, the overcompensated fire and police union members came up at the top of the list and made their best efforts to deflect criticism with emotional falsities. One fireman played the classic union card, repeating the claim that he would die 10 years earlier because his job is so dangerous. Nice try pal, but CalPERS actuarials have proven that public safety employees live just as long as everybody else.

FFFF favorite Jack Dean made his way into the report, saying “Considering the unemployment situation, it doesn’t appear to be right that there’s so much overtime when so many people are unemployed,” concluding “there appears to be something wrong with this structure.” Something wrong, indeed.

Even the city manager got in on the fun when asked about minimum staffing for firefighters, which significantly boosts their expensive overtime pay. “The provision is there because of the union. If I had my preference, I’d do away with it, but it’s sacred to the firefighters,” said Chris Meyer.

We’ve been hard on Register reporter Adam Townsend in the past, but it’s great to see that there’s still some life left in the Register’s local coverage. It takes a little bit of courage to rock the boat of public safety employees, and hopefully we’ll see more of this in the future.

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Posted onChris Norby

Oh No! Teacher Performance Analyzed

by 8 Comments on Oh No! Teacher Performance Analyzed

Last week the LA Times released an in-depth analysis of LAUSD teacher performance data which shows a wide variance in teacher quality that can greatly detract from a child’s education.

The analysis angered the teachers unions, who have spent decades lobbying to hide teacher performance data from the public in order to protect bad teachers. As retribution for the LA Times’ disclosure of public information, the unions are attempting to organize a boycott of the newspaper.

State Assemblyman Chris Norby, who was a teacher himself for 17 years, sent out an email blast encouraging these disclosures and asking the public to pay attention to this story.

“Shielding poor-performing teachers hurt both the kids and the teacher. Recognizing and emulating high performers will help us all,” wrote Norby. He also highlighted another major find in the report: the discovery that the educational disparity between  teachers within a given school is much greater than disparities between schools, suggesting that education can best be encouraged by holding teachers more accountable, rather than just pouring money into under-performing schools.

Perhaps someone will attempt disclosure and analysis of teacher performance in Fullerton school districts, although the unions would probably fight it every step of the way. For the good of the children, of course. What we really need are school boards and state legislators who will fight union efforts to coddle bad teachers.

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Posted onAbout Us

Nelson’s News E-Letter Drops On Doorsteps. Again.

by 17 Comments on Nelson’s News E-Letter Drops On Doorsteps. Again.

Like the monotonous tick of a clock in a quiet room, the annoying newsletter from Shawn Nelson’s 4th District office fell into our mailbox this PM.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the bi-monthly missive was, well, a tad light in the loafers. Today’s issue isn’t any better. Yikes! Corn Festivals, Restaurants of the Week, and tours of city halls with rotund functionaries. Pets of the Week. Certificates for…what did they do again? Thankfully there was no Art Walk touting the aesthetic creations of staff underlings.

Well here it is, anyway:

View the newsletter

Got to admit, this is my fave image:

This feels better than what the Voice of OC is doing to me!

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