Harry Sidhu & His Gang of Supporters

Now that Harry Sidhu mailers are landing in your mailboxes like confetti I thought  it might be a good time to do a recap, just like FFFF did last fall about the cipher Linda Ackerwoman, in order to complete a character profile of the people that have lent their names to his fraudulent 4th District candidacy.

Can't be an empress without the dough-re-mi!

1. Sidhu is a perpetual office seeker. I’ve now given up trying to count the number of elective offices he has run for, or put out feelers for, in the past eight years.

2. Sidhu lives in an “elegant estate” – in the 3rd District.

3. Sidhu faked an address at the Calabria Apartments on Lincoln Avenue. Even though he never lived there he claimed he did under penalty of perjury (twice) that he did.

4. Sidhu cooked yet up another address on Lucky Way, in Anaheim, and proceeded to carpetbag the race for GOP Central Committee from that locale.

5. Sidhu is barely intelligible when he speaks; and

6. When Sidhu does speak he demonstrates that he knows absolutely nothing about County government, including defined benefits, etc. etc.

7. Sidhu has become the darling of the Sheriff Deputy’s Union that have already poured tens of thousands of dollars in mailers telling us the opposite of what we have already seen for ourselves.

8. Sidhu has accomplished zilch during his tenure on the Anaheim City Council.

9. Harry Sidhu is a rich SOB who will spend any amount of money to get himself elected something – anything.

And now Friends, let us contemplate the Harry Sidhu supporter. What self-respecting person would let his or her name be attached to such a rickety bandwagon? Of course that’s a rhetorical question. Here’s a hint: all the political connective tissue that bind these people to Sidhu attach at point #9, above.

I have my reasons. And they're all selfish.

And then there are those who also are willing to a support a non-entity like Sidhu not in spite of the fact that he is ignorant, but because of it.

The less they know the more we like it...

One fellow in particular supports Sidhu as his own personal puppet to promote his vast High Speed Rail boondoggle.

Harry Sidhu is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.

And let’s not forget the worst of the bunch. The lobbyist whose former tentacled stranglehold on the 4th District office was lost when his boy Chris Norby left town.

You'd better get to wordsmithing for Sidhu, pronto...

Then there are the ones whose own ethical problems were so embarrassing that they actually were removed from “host committee” lists – proving that even Sidhu’s well had a slimy bottom.

Actually, that whole sports hall of fame thing was a total scam. But I've decided to keep the $48,000 and all my new shoes.
D'oh!

Well, that’s certainly a rogue’s gallery. Sidhu’s campaign looks more like a jail break than a political campaign, and I apologize for having to inflict such tough love on the Friends. Still, in case anybody has any illusions about what Sidhu as a county supervisor means, just let your imaginations have at it.

The Killer Attack of The Black Magic Marker

View the full invoice

A while back I became curious as to what exactly Renee Ramirez did as County Clerk Tom Daly’s #2. I had heard lots of unflattering things about her not really doing any work and I thought would avail myself of the Public Records Request process to take a gander at some of her records, including phone calls made and text messages. We provide a typical sample of her phone records, above.

We were warned ahead of time by the County that personal phone numbers would be redacted. But never did I expect what I got: page after page after page of blacked out phone numbers.

Good God! These people want us to think Ramirez made hardly any business calls during the course of a month? During one period of several days all the numbers are blacked out. And who were these people she was talking to? That must remain speculative for unless Renee tells us we shall never know.

So what gives? Are they trying to hide something?

The Clerk-Recorder brain trust.

P.S. As a point of interest I note that for a brief shining period Ms Ramirez was Tom Daly’s hand-picked successor. Guess who was squiring her around the OC GOP Central Committee, making introductions: our old pal Brett “Hall of Fame” Barbre. Coincidence? I think not.

The Lorri Galloway Experience: Monterey County

Before she blessed us here in OC with her Presence, Lorri Galloway lived in Monterey County. There, according to State Superior court records, Galloway and her husband Mike were sued by Barbara J. Russell. How come? According to an agreement, Mrs. Russell, Mike Galloway’s aunt, had entrusted title to her home to the Galloways, who then proceeded to borrow against it three times without telling Russell. Naturally, the Galloways defaulted on the loans and the home went into foreclosure.

And that’s not very nice now is it, Lorraine?

You are about to acquire some more real estate...

Mrs. Russell tried to get the cost of her lost home back and successfully sued her relatives in the Monterey County Superior Court, but, seemingly, to no avail. Apparently, she got cancer and died, never collecting the judgment.

The Judgment

Not long afterward Galloway showed up in OC praising the Lord for her good fortune in real estate investments. Now why does that put me in mind of a crooked televangelist?

If this is the way Galloway treats her own family we can only hazard a queasy guess as to what she might have in store for us – the would-be constituents of her carpetbagging campaign for 4th District County Supervisor. Throw in multiple bankruptcies and the character profile that emerges ain’t pretty – no matter how nice the manicure is.

Water District Appears to Be Stonewalling For Disgraceful Director

Round round get around...

On April 14, I made a public records request of the Municipal Water District of Orange County to get the travel related expenses of Director Brett Barbre. You remember this fine fellow, don’t you? He’s the guy who was paid $48,000 by Tom Daly to “study” the idea of a sports hall of fame. He also kicked back $1000 into Daly’s campaign kitty. Now that doesn’t look very good does it? Especially for a Republican. Or for any honest man, really.

Part of Barbre’s supposed labors for Daly included a trip to Boston to visit some sports museum there (he never even bothered contacting the folks who started the first one right here in OC!). In his ‘report” he documented a side trip to Fenway Park. Barbre’s later plaint to Jennifer Muir that he paid for that Boston trip himself seems to have made an impression on the lassitudinous journalistic curiosity of Ms Muir, but not on mine. I wanted to find out if maybe the Boston junket itself wasn’t some sort of side trip already paid for by the Water District. I’ve just become so darn cynical when it comes to repuglicans.

And so I asked for Barbre’s travel expenses for the district.

Two week later on April, 28th (four days late) I got the District’s response from someone called Darcy M. Burke, Director of Public Affairs. I received no documents at all. What I got was an e-mail that attached a simple spreadsheet tallying Barbre’s expenses into periodic totals, presumably assembled by Burke. Not a single bit of specific information did I receive although I did get an unsolicited commercial about how much Director Barbre’s junketeering brings home to the Water District. Hmm.

Okay. So now I was really really curious about why they’re not releasing documents – just regurgitated, masticated, and useless pabulum.

Since April 28th I have left several messages and sent several e-mails following up with a demand for the specifics that should have been provided in the first place. All my efforts to communicate with the Water District’s Director of Public Affairs were met with a stony silence, until yesterday when Burke informed me that these things take time. And that only makes me more curious than ever about why she might be stonewalling.

Think they’re trying to hide something?

Tom Daly Finally Has a Website, And Boy Is It Lame – Real Lame

Complete with photo of Tom - taken 15 years ago.

Friends, by the time I got around to posting this piece, Daly had modified his website, but not before I culled the quotations below. Notice how those generic accolades have been tweaked to the actual circumstances. Now they make the endorsers like Jordan Brandman look ridiculous. And boy is that par for Daly’s course.

If you thought that our Clerk Recorder Tom Daly was arrogant and lazy you were right. Get a load of this crappola straight from his website:

“I am proud to support Tom Daly to be Fullerton’s next representative on the County Board of Supervisors. The people of Fullerton can count on him to listen to our concerns and deliver results for our community.”

Fullerton City Councilwoman Sharon Quirk

and there’s this:

“No candidate for 4th District Supervisor offers the proven record of success that Tom Daly has achieved as Orange County Clerk-Recorder, Mayor of Anaheim and member of a local School Board. His experience will make a difference for all of our communities.”

–Molly McClanahan
North OC Community College Board Trustee

and this:

“Tom Daly is a passionate and effective advocate for our schools.  He will be a strong voice for education as our next County Supervisor.”

– Jordan Brandman Anaheim Union High School District Board Member

Oh, brother! Daly quit on the supervisor gig several months ago, but apparently he is still confused about which office he is running for. Or he really wants to fool people. Or he’s really lazy. Or something.

Let’s see how long it takes before Daly does something about his lame ass website.

Coyote Hills Brouhaha; Tonight at 5:00

Tonight we have the first of a two-meeting public hearing at City Hall to discuss West Coyote Hills.  Actually, after reading tonight’s agenda, it looks like council just might clear the way for the bulldozers.  If you have something to say to the council members, tonight’s your chance, just show up early.

If Councilman Shawn Nelson wins the 4th Supervisorial District race, we will have three council seats to fill in November.  Tonight’s meeting could be the nail in the political coffin for some of council members no matter how they vote.  West Coyote Hills isn’t new to City Hall and it has been a hot-button issue for environmentalists and residents in La Habra and Fullerton for decades.  There are those who see an opportunity to generate desperately needed tax revenue while others see their open spaces shrinking and pollution growing.  Whichever side of the fence you are on, I think we can all agree that this has been one political football that has been fumbled for far too long.  There are pros and cons to this development just like any other.

The meeting is scheduled for 5PM in the council chambers (303 W. Commonwealth Ave.).  As I mentioned, it will be a full house, standing room only, so show up early to get your chance to either support or oppose the development.

Nelson is a Defense Lawyer; Sidhu and Galloway Need One

Well, today today the first “Shawn Nelson is an Evil Defense Lawyer” hit mailboxes, just like we knew it would. This has been the anonymous refrain from the John Lewis & Co. hacks and flacks since day one. We even busted Tom Daly’s supposed “campaign manager” doing it on our blog. The mail piece came from Sidhu, the phony resident of the 4th District.

The funny thing about it is, so what? The obvious conclusion is that people don’t like lawyers, and defense lawyers defend creeps. Sure they do. They also defend innocent people who are being railroaded by ambitious and unscrupulous cops and DAs, and who are accused of all sorts of heinous things. I doubt if there’s a reasonable person who hasn’t contemplated what the police power of the government could do to them if they were falsely accused of something.

Come to think of it, defense attorneys even work for people who commit perjury by signing their name to official documents that they know aren’t true. Let’s see, can anybody think of someone who has recently hired a $400 an hour defense lawyer? Oh, that’s right! Hide and Seek Harry Sidhu just hired Paul Meyer of Costa Mesa to help him try to beat the perjury rap we tagged him with.

And then there’s the Precious Princess, Lorri Galloway whose entire adult life reads like a low-grade takeoff on The Grifters. Wonder how many lawyers the Galloways have employed over the years? It would probably fill up a law school graduating class!

The Liberal OC – Where The Truth Goes to Die

Dan C-somethingorother, the pompous Priapus who runs the The Liberal OC blog as a front for hapless, incompetent, or crooked Democrat politicians likes to pretend he’s a real reporter. Who can forget his hushed “this is Dan C-somethingorother reporting” sign-off on that ridiculous “exclusive” about how Precious Princess had received “a series” (actually it was one) ” harassing” phone calls (actually the guy just told Galloway what he thought of her). We told that story, plus how this bozo tried to blame us, here.

Yesterday he offered up a polished scat about eagerly awaiting an impending “hit piece” against Shawn Nelson by Hairball Sidhu. Everything’s legit, see, he has his “sources,” but of course we see through that bullshit right away. John Lewis told Matthew J. Cunningham and Cunningham told Dan C. Way to wear out the reportorial shoe leather, Dan!

A large hairball was passed.

Now for the really inaccurate part:

“while Nelson enjoys the advantage of IEs from the Fullerton Friends blog…”

FYI, Intrepid Boy Reporter #1: FFFF is not an IE, has not and will not be one in this election. Get it? Please to be removing cranium from lower colonic cavity. Didn’t they teach you anything in journalism school about facts?

By the way, Dan, since you are a reporter, when are you going to report to your readers Lorraine Galloway’s adventures in Monterey, her multiple bankruptcies, her tax liens, and all those embarrassing judgments that make her patently unfit to run a dog walking business, let alone a county? Don’t worry. We can be your “source.”

John and Ken, Meet Matthew Cunningham

Last Friday afternoon KFI’s John and Ken got hold of our post on the subject, and shared with their listeners the amusing notion that Matthew J. Cunningham of Red County fame actually got paid $200 an hour to listen to their show one day last year.

Here’s what they had to say.

More publicity for the OC Children and Families Commission. Well done!

Brainwashed at The Maverick

It really was sort of mesmerizing to watch the stage adaptation of John Frankenheimer’s 1962 film masterpiece “The Manchurian Candidate” at the Maverick Theater the other night. I mean the stage is so dinky; and yet somehow this production was so ingeniously staged (including a turntable built into the stage) that the whole thing seemed plausible.

I was in town for a couple days and my husband and I thought we’d give the little theater another try. Okay, Joe kicked up a little fuss, but went anyway.You have to remember, I’m not even much of a theater goer, but I enjoyed writing a review a few months ago and thought I’d give it another try.

I have to admit I wasn’t too optimistic about the play – after all the Richard Condon novel spans two continents and many years, and the Maverick Theater is what, about 25 feet wide? And the movie had left some pretty indelible character images such as Angela Landsbury’s wicked Mrs. Iselin.

The story is kind of simple. Generally loathed sergeant Raymond Shaw and his platoon are captured during the Korean War and become the brainwashed tools of commie masterminds. Later, back in the States, Shaw gets a Medal of Honor for “saving” his troops. This delights his Machiavellian monster mom and Joe McCarthy-like stepdad, Mrs. and Senator Iselin, respectively. Other platoon members including Marco Bennet are having horrible flashbacks and trying to figure them out. The suddenly and inexplicably likable Raymond Shaw is the nexus. And the Reds have something really big planned for Shaw…

As noted above the choreography of story and scene changes was tight and extremely well adapted for the (small) stage. There were even a chase scene! The use of interactive video really helped expand the scope of the mis-en-scene. Congrats to director Brian Newell – a bit of a mastermind himself.

The level of acting performances seemed varied to me. John Brennan, who previously did a boisterous turn as Randall McMurphy in Cuckoo’s Nest is back as the disturbed Marco Bennet and did pretty well, although I get the impression his personality leads him to more expansive and gregarious characters. Marco Bennet is about to really crack-up, and I didn’t quite get that sense of acutely anxious desperation that informs bad anxiety disorders.

Raymond Shaw was played by William Marty in a really hard part. Marty’s Shaw seemed sort of uneven to me: sometimes convincing, other times less so. I would have liked to have seen a more developed early profile of the SOB he was supposed to be. Part of the problem may have been that the script didn’t permit a little more attention to Shaw in Korea, as did the film. His Shaw under the influence was convincing. And of course he did get the best line of the script: “It’s a terrible thing to hate your mother. But I didn’t always hate her. When I was a child, I only kind of disliked her.” BTW, William – remember to work the diaphram!

The other main character, Mrs. Iselin, was played to menacing perfection by Veda Franklin who brought to her role a consistently calm and calculating Lady McBethesque evil that really filled the bill. The touching transient moment between Iselin and her son near the end of the play was deftly and quickly turned to pathological hatred toward her manipulators. Brava to her.

Of the other performances I noted Percival Arcibal’s Dr. Yen Lo, turned with the required nuance of humor, and with a good line about yak dung cigarettes; and Robert Craig did an okay, although sometimes stiff presentation of the dim-witted, red-baiting Senator Iselin. Kelsie Blackwell injected some bouncing feminine effervescence with her portrayal of Jocie Jordan, Shaw’s girlfriend.

Overall, I’d like to see the Maverick casts become more relaxed and convincing  with both their hand work and incidental interaction with props, something I’ve always thought was the mark of the best actors. But what do I know?

Anyway, that’s the summation of The Manchurian Candidate at the Maverick Theater by me, The Fullerton Shadow – amateur critic. As before, take it for what it’s worth. And go see the show. It runs through June 5th. It’s entertaining and at times startling. You’ll have fun.