Enjoy these two clips that feature an exchange between County Supervisors Shawn Nelson and Janet Nguyen. The issue is pulling the plug on the moribund Civic Center Joint Powers Authority, an agency that was created when Lyndon Johnson was president, and that has served no legal or practical function for almost ten years.
You would think that supposed “conservatives” would pile on to the opportunity of killing a government entity, especially one that doesn’t do anything. Well, you would have to think again. Just listen to the drivel that escapes the Board Chair’s lips and dribbles down her chin. Ay, ay, ay!
We got some flak-back from some folks who tried to defend psuedo-journalist Norberto Santana of the union-sponsored Voice of OCEA that has become another sounding board in the Dem-for-Hire – ‘Pug-for-Hire, union promoting echo chamber.
So today we re-run the image of Santana with his financial impresario, union honcho Nick Berardino, in what appears to be the VOC(EA)’s Santa Ana office. And we invite you, our loyal Friends to provide your own captions.
Good morning. Today we pass along this anonymous letter regarding the GOP Central Committee meeting last night:
Last night I had a few hours to kill so I stopped by the OCGOP Central Committee in Irvine. There were plenty of inflated egos and asses being kissed. One person who seemed to be high on the GOP pecking order went into a tissy because they didn’t have a name tag. And then when one made, it didn’t say HONORABLE something-or-other. It was a shameless packed house with Central Committee-Elect Shawn Nelson and Harry Sidhu absent. In fact NO ONE from Harry’s 69th AD was present to vote. Nice participation!
Among the highlights worth noting, Tom Tait got smacked around for his support financial support of two Democrats for Anaheim City Council, Galloway and Chavez. But it didn’t stop there. Apparently Tait has not read the official California Republican Party Platform and answered, albeit honestly, to that effect on his GOP endorsement application.
Frankly, how can a candidate walk into a Party’s Central Committee and ask for their endorsement when the candidate admittedly has no idea what the Party stands for (or against)? This makes Tait appear to be a massive RINO! But that’s OK because he’s a nice guy. 2/3 of the Central Committee agreed that he was a nice guy so they gave him the OCGOP endorsement. Proudly, all but one of our 72nd Assembly District representatives on the Central Committee voted NO to Tait’s endorsement.
Maybe the OC Republican Party should make all of the applicants for endorsement sit down and read the Party’s Official Platform.
Following the lead of the union lackeys at the completely fraudulent Voice of OC and the even more pathetic clowns at the Liberal OC, Hide and Seek Harry Sidhu, Man of A Thousand Addresses, lobbed a spitball at his fall opponent, 4th District Supervisor, Shawn Nelson. No doubt egged on by handlers Nick “Bullhorn” Berardino and “I Need A High Speed Rail” Cut Pringle, Sidhu put out a press release today attacking Nelson’s supposed hypocrisy for signing up for a County pension while he also touted signing of some bogus anti-pension pledge of his own concoction.
Of course Hairball never bothered to inform anybody that all full-time government employees have to sign up for a retirement plan in lieu of Social Security, and that the County presented Nelson, like all employees with two options: the 2.7 @ 55 formula or the idiotic 1.62 @ 65 plan, Berardino’s lame project that passes for pension reform, but that just rewards oldtimers.
Oh no, not him again.
Sidhu also failed to inform his poor, afflicted newsletter recipients that he too signed up for the City of Anaheim’s truly option 2.7 @ 55 gig, as reported by Chip Hanlon at the Red County blog.
Bad boy, Harry. Bad, bad boy. Clean up on aisle one.
UPDATE: We have received the following communication from the Bruce Whitaker for City Council Campaign:
“The rumors that Bruce Whitaker killed and consumed Cletus’s dog are completely false and unfounded. Bruce Whitaker is a normal and healthy carnivore, but has never eaten the flesh of a dog. Such accusations are baseless attacks on an acknowledged frontrunner. We categorically condemn them and ask all fellow candidates to do the same.”
Lately we’ve had some commenters who have questioned whether or not Fullerton council candidate Bruce Whitaker “kilt and et” a dog belonging to some slack-jawed yokel named Cletus.
I know for a fact this rumor is not true because that dog is up here with me in doggy heaven and he told me – Cletus done ate him up last winter when the crick froze over and the pork ‘n beans run out.
Here’s a repeat of a post we ran late last year, a public service announcement, you might call it. See, Fullerton’s jurassic councilman, Don Bankhead is running for for yet another interminable term in office. He’s already been sitting there for 22 years, but apparently that’s just not enough for the good old boy. Well, watch this dismal performance and see if you think this is someone you believe ought to be making million dollar decisions on your behalf.
– The Desert Rat
If anyone watched the council meeting to the bitter end, which I just did, you would see an incredible meltdown by the good ol’ boys club.
This clip begins the discussion on the appointment of the member at larger for all commissions. Mr. Mayor says he wants to be in charge of the interviews and Nelson corrects him. Bankhead repeatedly interjects “Mayor” into the new ordinance while Nelson repeatedly tells the Mayor that the word “Mayor” is not included in the ordinance. Then Bankhead starts laughing at Nelson and ranting that its the way they done it for time in memoriam and it works. Then the good Dr. Jones steps in it. The City Attorney tries to save the meltdown but he nor Nelson could keep Bankhead and Dr. Jones in check. Bankhead with his maniacal giggling, chuckling and Jones rambling on about God only knows what… Glad they saved the best for last.
Oh yeah, and a little nugget after the meltdown…Keller wants to hold a study session for right-of-way encroachments to deal with issues on the trails and bike paths.
Measure M will be on the ballot in November, but the arguments presented in the official voter materials will be a bit one-sided.
Nobody submitted an argument against the measure to enact term limits against Fullerton city council members.
Was anti-term limit incumbent Dinosaur Don Bankhead asleep at the switch, or was he actaully smart enough to disassociate him self with that position during an election campaign? Who knows?
I really like spinkles on my frogurt...
Sharon Quirk-Silva authored the opinion in support of the measure, which summarizes them as:
Term limits increase the number of competitive elections
Term limits bring in more opportunities to serve in public office
Term limits disfavor seniority
Term limits promote fresh ideas
Of course, she missed the most important purpose of term limits: they will end the seemingly endless political careers of staff yes-men: folks like Don Bankhead and Dick Jones, who have tormented taxpayers for decades by voting for almost every single boondoggle and corporate welfare project put in front of them.
Whadya know. A promise was kept...
And for that we thank SQS for sticking by the promise she made way back in January of 2009.
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.
Oops. That's gonna hurt tomorrow morning.
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
