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
I am suave. And de-boner. Oh, and yes, you are growing very sleepy...
Looks like Anaheim’s Mayor-for-Hire, the slippery elm repuglican par excellence, Curt Pringle, has been getting some free trips to Europe courtesy of the French and German guvments.
Hmm.
Trips to Europe to “study” high speed rail by Herr Pringle. Paid for by socialized governments who are evidently competing on behalf of their socialized industries with the good old US of A.
And wine. Did I forget to mention the freedom-loving Anaheim Haupt-burgermeister loves his wine?
We just received this message from Madusha, who filed papers to run for Fullerton city council last week but failed to qualify because a few of her signatures were invalid.
Hi! Friends of Fullerton and all Fullerton residents and everyone in my case. I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank all of the signers who signed my nomination papers. Although I had very enthusiastic signers from other cities and registered voters not from Fullerton. I learned the democratic 20 signatures are more important than outreach to the public to know how we could serve them and getting to know their concerns. I thank everyone for the feedback and will be reaching out to Fullerton residents so that their voices can be heard. I will publish my blog later on sometime.
For anyone who does not know me, I was brought up my whole life in a political environment which my father was a very involved public service official. I love law and wanted to be a lawyer. My father wanted a lawyer in the family. But things changed and I studied Business Administration, and started a computer manufacturing company and went in to computer services. We are the pioneers of underground data vault off site back up services. And started supply teas to major grocery stores which got halted due to the lack of resources and unable to keep up with the demand.
I have a passion to serve and a compassion to help. Though not perfect, I believe as a person I thought of serving the people and seeing how we could improve our city with the people who live and do business in Fullerton. I serve the Technology Working Group for the City of Fullerton and am involved in many things that I could serve.
Hearing that I want to run, someone from the church told me why I want to be a politician. His exact words were “Why you need to be a politician? You are a good person.” I thought about what he said. And I promise to serve without that politician frame of mind. That was what I wanted all along. Will I be successful with that frame of mind? I don’t know. I hope people who truly and honestly have the ability and the knowledge should be able to serve the good for the fellow men.
Again, thank you all. And sorry if I let down anyone in the process. I did not want to run for the 4 year seat even though I considered it but decided otherwise. I may consider running in two years or not. But running for the city council certainly was a heavy responsibility in my heart and I took it very seriously and with great passion to serve. But next time I know better to pay attention to that 20 democratic way of doing business and get those signatures before reaching out to my fellow people.
As of 5:00 pm today, the nomination period for Fullerton city council is now closed. There was one addition to the four year race and and one disqualification for the two year seat.
Those helmets might come in handy.
As of 5:00 pm, the nomination period for the 2 year city council seat has closed, with the following candidates filing papers to enter the race:
Name
Occupation
Registration
Age
Bruce Whitaker
1918 W. Baker
Fullerton, CA 92833
Planning Commissioner
R
55
Aaron Gregg
2840 Altivo Pl.
Fullerton, CA 92835
Small Businessman
R
57
Anthony “Tony” Fonte
2252 Cheyenne Way
Fullerton, CA 92833
Local Attorney
R
78
Roland Chi
3156 Highlander Rd.
Fullerton, CA 92833
Businessman/Non Profit Director
R
31
Madusha Palliyage Nomination papers did not qualify with 20 signatures
Inventor/Entrepreneur
DTS
42
Because incumbent Pam Keller did not file, the nomination period for the two 4-year seats has been extended to next Wednesday. The following have filed papers for the four year seats:
Name
Occupation
Registration
Age
Don Bankhead
1231 W. Valencia Mesa
Fullerton, CA 92833
Council Member/Mayor
R
78
Gregory Sebourn
1824 Rosalia Dr.
Fullerton, CA 92835
Land Surveyor/ Educator
R
37
Doug Chaffee
315 Marion Blvd.
Fullerton, CA 92835
Attorney
D
67
Patrick McKinley
2722 Ashwood Circle
Fullerton, CA 92835
Retired Chief of Police
R
69
Barry Levinson
609 Lake Terrace
Fullerton, CA 92835
Financial Consultant/Auditor
R
58
Jesse Latour
114 W. Wilshire #A
Fullerton, CA 92832
Educator/Art Gallery Owner
D
31
William Martin Burbank
3074 Primrose Lane
Fullerton, CA 92833
Family Business Attorney
R
46
Johnnie Atkinson
1500 W. Valencia Dr.
Fullerton, CA 92833
Fullerton voters will soon be deciding if they’ve had enough of the jurassic councilmen Don Bankhead and Dick Jones. Sharon Quirk-Silva has championed Measure M, which puts the enactment of term limits up to voters.
Term limits are a practical countermeasure against the momentum of dimly lit incumbencies and perpetual perpetrators of barely-passable mediocrity.
Rawr.
In other words, Bankhead and Jones have been on this boat for far too long. We’ve shown you video after video of incoherent ramblings, procedural blunders and pharma-induced outbursts as these two men bask in the early stages of senility. Decades on the dais have made them callous to the concerns of Fullerton residents, proven by their constant bullying and dismissiveness during public meetings. And while we’re watching this sideshow, they have been cluelessly steering our city directly into boondoggle after boondoggle, at our expense.
