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May 31, 2010Local Media

OC Register Chooses Shawn Nelson

In addition to Steven Greenhut‘s op-ed on Shawn Nelson a few weeks ago, several other Register editorialists have recently decided that Shawn Nelson is the superior candidate for OC Supervisor.

Brian Calle sized up the Supervisor race in Sunday’s print edition. After looking at all three candidates, Calle determined that Sidhu is weak on pensions while Nelson is committed to bold reforms. Calle concluded that the pension issue is inarguably the most important issue facing Orange County right now, “bar none.”

John Seiler wrote on the Orange Punch blog about the $900,000 that the unions have spent trying to defeat Shawn Nelson. Seiler draws some interesting comparisons to John Moorlach’s election in 2006, when the unions also spent big money in a failed attempt to defeat a candidate who was known for being fiscally responsible. At the time, Nick Berardino called Moorlach “the biggest threat in the county to employees’ personal financial security.” Sound familiar?

We’ve been hearing the same message over and over: this race is about the clash of The Unions vs. The Rest of Us. Will that resonate with voters in 2010? Something tells me the answer is an overwhelming “yes”.

May 30, 2010May 31, 2010Orange County Government

GOP Repuglican Represents and Supports Democratic Candidate

by Greg Sebourn8 Comments

Why is John Lewis, whose own partner, VP Matt Holder, is an alternate on the OC GOP central committee supporting, endorsing, and working for a Democrat? It isn’t as if this was some up and coming blue-dog Dem that has a chance of converting to the red side either. This is the notorious Tom Daly whom FFFF has been reporting on for several months as perhaps the most egregious and dubious waster of public funds that OC tax-payers have seen in a long time, maybe ever!

Clearly John Lewis isn’t doing it because he believes his own rhetoric…or does he? This mailer/advertisement says Daly is a “tax fighter has cut wasteful spending…” I suppose John Lewis has missed the news: Tom Daly has cost OC taxpayers millions upon millions of dollars of needless spending for the sole purpose of satisfying donors, their friends, and their families.

No, I think Lewis got that memo. In fact, I think Lewis is a big part of that waste, though I don’t have any tangible proof. I have only heard the rumors about Lewis hanging around the OC Hall of Administration looking to get into the budget meetings of Daly, et al. But the new security system makes it tough to sneak in and grease the wheels of department heads. Less the contrary be shown, these are still just rumors.

Regardless, why is this former California GOP State Senator working for Daly? According to his website, Lewis has worked on sports facilities. Does that include sports museums and sports hall of fame like what Daly has been working on? One can only guess.

The only reason I bring any of this up is because the OC Register did a short piece on this. In the article, Lewis says he doesn’t know why OC Assessor Webster Guillory’s photo was not included in the ad. That seems like a big OOOPS for a firm who touts being consultants to guys like Congressman Ed Royce and Assemblyman Chris Norby. The “mistake?” seems like something a high school intern might make, not a big time GOP (sometimes Democratic) consultant might make. So what gives?

And I haven’t even mentioned Sandra Hutchens, who, according to the Press Telegram, hired Gilliard-Blanning as her political consultant. I tell you, some of these “Republicans” sure get around. Maybe Guillory should call Gilliard so he can get his face out there to voters. Until then, here is Webster Guillory.

May 29, 2010May 29, 2010Behind Closed Doors

Greenhut: Unions use malleable Sidhu to flex power

by Travis2 Comments

Steven Greenhut just put out an impressive piece on the why the public employee unions are throwing everything they can behind Harry Sidhu.

While explaining Sidhu’s appeal to the union bosses, Greenhut writes:

Sidhu has no obvious principles that I can detect. He has agreed to drop OC’s lawsuit against the 2001 retroactive pension hike for deputy sheriffs, which has earned him the unending loyalty of the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs. He supports the high-speed rail boondoggle. He would not support the Prop. 90 eminent-domain reform. He talks like a conservative at times, but that’s typical in OC — talk like a conservative, then vote like a liberal on the really important stuff.

He closes with this excellent summation of consequences from an (unlikely) Sidhu victory:

If Sidhu wins in Orange County, then the unions will have won an enormous victory in arguably the most union-unfriendly area in the state. They will have made their point loud and clear: If you stand up to us, we will defeat you and will elect our own hand-picked candidate. Forget about pension reform and other union reform issues if they hold sway.

You can read the rest of “Unions use malleable Sidhu to flex power” on Greenhut’s CalWatchdog website.

May 29, 2010May 29, 2010Dead heads

CRA Funny Times – What A Difference 2 Years Makes

by Mr. Peabody32 Comments

Here’s another pearl from a recent Sidhu mailer, purportedly penned by some guy named Karl Heft, who revels in the title of Vice President of the CRA (California Republican Assembly):

“…Harry is a candidate we can trust to uphold our conservative Republican values.”

Um, gee, Karl, what values would those be? Carpetbaggery? Perjury? Perpetual public office hunting? Clearly the CRA endorsement, for what its worth, can be obtained by anybody. And just to enjoy the hypocrisy of the bestowers and the receiver, read on.

Harry'sFriend — I did not take it personally...

It’s indeed illuminating to recall what the folks at the CRA had to say about Hide and Seek Sidhu less than two years ago, when the perennial candidate was running for State Senate – yet another job he wasn’t qualified to hold.

May 28, 2010Arts & Architecture

Friday Haiku

by Yoshii The Bushido PoetLeave a comment

A hot wind blasts forth

Dust clouds swirl through the dull sky

A blue rivulet

May 28, 2010May 28, 2010Harry Sidhu

News From Nevada

by Joe Sipowicz3 Comments

You know it’s funny, but when you get away from the big city and get out into real America you really get a great perspective on politics in places like Orange County. And what I mean by perspective is a much better sense of the stupid ambition of no-talent assclowns and fence hoppers like our good friend Hide and Seek Harry Sidhu.

Aw, c’mon, Joe, you’ll be saying, Sidhu’s just like the rest of them, and anyway, by June 8th he’s just going to be a rancid memory. Well, that’s not altogether true. Creeps like Sidhu never go away. They’re always there waiting for the next opening to worm their way into. And that really stinks; almost as much as the existence of weasels and varmints like Bill Campbell, and Janet Nguyen and all the other slug-suckers who want to grease their way into some trough or other and think they can do it by following the money. Well, I guess nobody has taught them yet that they can’t. Oops. Don’t want to forget the other repuglican slimers like John Lewis and his boy Matthew Cunningham who likewise follow their own interests and principle be damned.

Then there’s the lazy local media that wouldn’t recognize a real story if it bit ’em in the ass.

There are lots of places in this great land where Sidhu’s carpetbagging, perjuring, ignorant boobery would be an absolute non-starter politically. We’ve seen it all: the fake addresses, the incoherent statements, the lame and never-ending attacks on a candidate of real ability by Sidhu’s stooges and paid lackeys.

Well, too bad for us that apparently Orange County isn’t one of the places that an ignoramus and no-talent clown like Sidhu can make a plausible candidate out of himself.

But no matter how high you stack it it’s still bullshit.

May 28, 2010May 28, 2010Harry Sidhu

OCEA Lobbyist is Behind the Phony “Crime Victims United”

by admin14 Comments

The other day Red County blogger and First 5 fat-skimmer Matthew Cunningham eagerly scampered up to Fullerton to film a press event in front of the police department by a group called “Crime Victims United.” The group was making a laughable attempt to associate Shawn Nelson’s website with victims of crime.

With the help of my Friend and Red County blogger Chip Hanlon, FFFF did a little digging into the background of Crime Victims United to see what they were all about. When the curtain was pulled back, Chip discovered that several union lobbyists are also high-level staffers of this organization.

You see, Wayne Ordos is a political adviser who is listed as a staffer and attorney for Crime Victims United.

But Wayne is also the organizer for the OCEA political action committee.

Wayne’s claim to fame includes other union PAC’s such as “Minorities in Law Enforcement Independent Expenditure Committee” and “CAUSE Law Enforcement Independent Expenditure Committee.” Those PACs bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight for enormous union benefits to the detriment of taxpayers.

We don’t have time to go through the rest of the extensive list of staffers and board members at Crime Victims United, but I’ll bet that more union connections float to the top.

Here’s what matters in the end — the unions will stop at nothing to deceive voters into voting for a pro-union candidate like Harry Sidhu. But we’ll keep shining a light on the lies and deception until the unions are defeated and good leaders are elected.

Perhaps we can look forward to more combined efforts with Chip Hanlon’s Red County blog to fight perpetual government growth. With the awareness of the electorate, we can take the wind out of the unions’ sail and their candidate Harry “Carpetbagger” Sidhu for a Nelson victory.

May 28, 2010May 28, 2010Arts & Architecture

One Big Happy $23 Million Community Center

by The Fullerton Savage8 Comments

Last week, before all of the excitement about Coyote Hills and the one term history of Pam Keller, the Fullerton City Council approved the conceptual plan for a new community center. This eighth wonder of the world is to be built right across the street from city hall and the main library. The existing Boys and Girls Club and the Senior Center will be demolished to make room for it.

This $23 million mostly redevelopment funded project is supposed to be necessary because half of the city’s Parks and Rec programs are farmed out to other cities, and it would be so much nicer to have them under one new roof right downtown, near the new lingerie shop. The fifty plus year old B & G Club is considered to be beyond repair and the senior center, which isn’t really that old in the grand scheme of things is somehow inadequate. OK, so neither is an architectural masterpiece, but is it really necessary to tear them both down for this new combined community center?

The idea seems to have been to somehow “activate” the corner of Commonwealth and Highland, making it more a part of the library/city hall/police station/baseball field district. To that end, the architect has included one of those pretty, and pretty useless medians down the center of Commonwealth, and a little welcoming plaza on the north side. Placing the huge double gymnasium right up against Commonwealth doesn’t do much to activate the corner, however.

The kids, seniors and everyone in between can all interact as part of one big happy community, except that they still have their own buildings, just closer together than the current ones are, for more togetherness, I guess. There is a third building they do get to share, just to teach them all a lesson. You see, it’s a “multigenerational facility”, except that not everyone wants to be so together.

Several seniors have expressed concerns about having to be so close to boisterous young people while they are busy trying to relax with people of their own age group. As far as I know, no youngsters have yet complained about having to be close to old people, but who knows if anyone asked them during the long, long planning process.

Kids enter from the Commonwealth entrance while seniors use an entrance from the larger, southern parking lot adjacent to the senior center. This arrangement makes sense if no old people have to ride the bus to get there. You see, the bus stop is way out on Commonwealth, so seniors would have to walk through crowds of kids all the way down the central axis of the project, to get to the safety of the senior center, which is closest to the railroad tracks.

A seventy-five year old man at the hearing asked why the noisy gym and swimming pool weren’t placed nearest the railroad tracks instead of a facility used by the aged. The ever helpful and certainly senior Dr. Dick Jones suggested that seniors were hard of hearing anyway before voting to approve the plan. Not to be outdone, even more senior Don Bankhead addressed a concern about the new Commonwealth median restricting bicycle traffic by asserting that it is perfectly legal to ride on the sidewalk in Fullerton —presumably right through seniors exiting a bus.

May 28, 2010Orange County Government

Fullerton Taxpayer Group Endorses Bill Hunt for Sheriff

by Travis4 Comments

We just got this press release from FACT:

The Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers (FACT) has announced its endorsement of Bill Hunt for Orange County Sheriff.

“FACT’s endorsement is based primarily on Bill Hunt’s solid position on the Second Amendment and his sound fiscal agenda for the Sheriff’s Department,” said Jack Dean, president of FACT.

FACT is an alliance of business people and citizen activists who advocate for legislative fiscal restraint, constitutional integrity and property rights.

May 27, 2010May 27, 2010Behind Closed Doors

City Clerk Under Fire: Anaheim Covers for the Sidhu Campaign

by Travis7 Comments

Today the city of Anaheim is taking heavy criticism for its failure to providing open public records. Today’s story from the Voice of OC reinforces my own experience in the lack of transparency, accountability and compliance with state public records laws within Anaheim city hall.

A little while back the city of Anaheim was asked for copies of six months of telephone logs for Harry Sidhu’s campaign manager, Annie Mezzacappa, who also happens to be a city employee. There was reason to believe that Mezzacappa was doing campaign work for Sidhu while on the clock for the city. That’s a big no-no.

After 24 days of stalling by City Clerk Linda Andal, the city sent back a list of three phone calls made on the same day back in January.

Phone-Records — That doesn't seem right...

Three phone calls in 6 months. We can either conclude that either Annie Mezzacappa doesn’t know how to use her telephone or the city of Anaheim is covering for her by violating the public records act. So which is it?

linda-andal — Nothing to see here, move along please.

When questioned about the missing records, Deputy City Attorney Bryn Morley did not seem to think there was anything unusual about an employee who only makes three phone calls in six months. The city attorney had no excuse for the missing records and declined to give any further explanation.

Delaying, denying and obstructing public records requests is a hallmark of a government with something to hide. Apparently that’s the way it goes in Anaheim.