Friends For Fullerton's Future

March 5, 2010March 5, 201072nd Election

More On The Duvall Saga: The OC/Sacto GOP Angle

After my meeting with Mike Duvall the other day, I decided to see If I could learn anything more about the events of last summer that led to Mike’s ultimate resignation as the 72nd District State Assemblymen.

One of our good Friends happens to know a well-placed legislative aide who works in Sacramento and who, I was told, could help fill in some of the gaps. So I called this person.

According to this individual, it is not at all unusual for legislative staffers to request audio records of committee meetings; in fact it is a fairly standard practice. Thus, the fact that Jeff Miller’s aide requested a record of the meeting doesn’t signify any sort of prior conspiracy by Miller – or anyone else for that matter. My source logically pointed out that Miller, to a lesser extent, ended up getting painted by the same brush as Duvall.

Instead what this person says happened is that the embarrassing audio record did end up in the wrong hands – at least as far as Duvall is concerned. My source indicates that Duvall’s personal enemy Jon Fleischman did indeed come to possess a copy of the tape; and sometime between July 2009 and late August 2009 orchestrated the leak of the information to KCAL’s Dave Lopez and the OC Weekly’s Scott Moxley.

Although Fleischman’s motives were said to be personal, others such as OC Republican power broker Mike Schroeder were also aware of the impending ambush, according to my source, although Schroeder’s motives for participating in Fleishman’s scheme in some way or other were not made abundantly clear.

Schroeder and Fleischman. Who knew about the impending ambush ahead of time? — Schroeder and Fleischman. Who else beside Fleischman knew about the impending storm?

As with my interview with Duvall, I can not immediately confirm the veracity of my source’s information, and the journalists in question will surely not reveal their source(s). Still, our insider is indeed well-placed to know what happened and I confer a certain level of credence to the story.

What is still unknown is what other high-level Republicans knew of the tape, it’s impending release, and the obvious political fallout from that release. If indeed Fleischman was the mastermind of the Duvall ambush, it is very hard to believe he would dare to do so without the consent of at least some of the OC Republican ruling party bosses – folks such as Schroeder, Dick Ackerman, and even Party Chairman, Scott Baugh. Why these party worthies would prefer, or even allow a public scandal instead of a quiet resignation by Duvall is something we may contemplate at our leisure.

However, as I noted yesterday, discussion of the Linda Ackerman candidacy on the integrity platform seemed to appear on cue, if way out of left field, before the ink had even dried on Duvall’s letter of resignation.

March 4, 2010March 5, 201072nd Election

My Lunch With Mike. Mike Duvall, That Is

by admin37 Comments

UPDATE: I HAVE POSTED A FOLLOW-UP STORY HERE, ABOUT THE SPECIAL OC ANGLE OF THE STORY.

It must be tough when just about everything anybody says about you is prefaced with the words “disgraced former assemblyman.” But that’s what Mike Duvall lives with every day.

On Wednesday I had lunch with Duvall.

Now, I’ve known Mike for a long time and thought that it would be interesting to hear his take on the events of last summer that led to his resignation and replacement as our State Assemblyman by Chris Norby. And he seemed eager to tell his side of the story.

Duvall has lost a lot of weight and looks pretty good. He attributes this to getting exercise and is benefiting from being away from the non-stop Sacramento smorgasbord provided courtesy of all those lobbyists. Well, I guess every cloud has it’s silver lining.

We met at Mike’s office and later moseyed on out for lunch. As our meeting progressed, Duvall shared his thoughts about what happened last summer.

Duvall said that he had become well known in Sacramento for “rocking the boats” of other legislators, and that fact may have been at the root of the events that transpired. He was known, he said, for his unorthodox attitude to Sacramento, even upon one occasion, introducing some of his biker buddies into the Capitol.

Although he can not fully explain their motives, Duvall stated that he believe the likeliest scenario is that he was set up by a conspiracy involving Jeff Miller, the assemblyman from Corona, and his aide. He believes the whole thing was either orchestrated or exploited by Republican operative Jon Fleischman, likely in retaliation for the forced resignation of Fleischman’s wife, a former employee in Duvall’s local office. He claimed that Fleischman had become extremely hostile to him personally.

According to Duvall the “hot mike” on the day his comments were recorded was Miller’s, not his; that in retrospect Miller seemed to coach the conversation into its lewd direction; and that Millers aide almost immediately went to retrieve a copy of the recording. Duvall stuck to his story that his comments were not a true revelation of anything that actually happened, and in fact he was just repeating stuff told to him about another legislator altogether.

When I asked him what Jeff Miller’s motive was to cooperate in the alleged set-up, Duvall speculated that it might have been done, at least in part to take heat off of him from the KFI John and Ken team who had been mercilessly attacking Miller, and who subsequently appeared to have stopped their attacks.

What still remains a mystery, except to the participants, and not explained by Duvall, are the events that transpired between July 2009, when the recording was made, and late August, 2009 when the story finally broke. Almost two months passed.

I have previously wondered about the on the role of Ackerman, Inc. in events of July-September 2009, since on September 10th Linda Ackerman received and responded to an almost immediate communication from the Register’s Martin Wisckol about her possible candidacy – while she was vacationing in Europe. It struck me as very odd that Linda Ackerman’s name would suddenly occur to Wisckol out of the blue without previous coaching. Duvall couldn’t shed any light on that.

But when I asked Duvall if he thought his support for the OC County Fair last summer might have played a role in the motive of someone trying to get rid of him, he acknowledged the possibility.

Is Duvall telling the whole story? Was he really set up, or was it simply the case that his unfortunate comments, true or not, were exploited by political enemies after the fact? The passage of the two month period and then the sudden revelation has all the earmarks of an orchestrated attempt to get rid of him.

The story about a conspiracy to set him up certainly sounds plausible. But without any real evidence to support his claims, Mike Duvall is going to have a hard time convincing a skeptics of his innocence.

March 4, 2010March 4, 2010Harry Sidhu

Game On! Nelson Hits Office-Hungry Truth-Challenged Carpetbagger Sidhu

by The Desert Rat31 Comments

March 2, 2010March 2, 2010Big Brother

An Interview with Bill Hunt – Marijuana and States’ Rights

by Greg Sebourn11 Comments

Last night, FFFF’s Travis Kiger, Fullerton businessman Larry Lazar and myself sat down with Bill Hunt, 2010 candidate for Orange County Sheriff. The roundtable discussion was an opportunity to ask some important questions that we think are on the minds of voters. No topic was off-limits.

We will share with you what Hunt had to say about Marijuana, concealed weapon permits (CCW), citizen oversight, DUI checkpoints, illegal immigration, Sandra Hutchens, Craig Hunter, emerging technology, OC political insiders, controversial endorsement by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, OC jail reform, and dealing with federal agencies.

The lengthy discussion yielded too much information for us to share with you all at once, so we will be breaking it down into topics of interest. For that matter, we will not be spelling out every single word said only because this series of posts would soon turn into a full-length novel.

First Impressions

To my surprise, Bill Hunt arrived by himself with no handlers or henchmen. As our discussion progressed, it was clear why he came alone. Bill Hunt told us that he does not need anyone reminding him of where he stands on any issue. In fact, he didn’t lay out his talking points or any of the shenanigans that you might expect a typical politician to do. Hunt is an energetic man who has spent a tremendous amount of time and thought on the development of his platform and studying what lays ahead for his political race and the Sheriff’s Department. He is well-read and seems to possess new perspectives and insight on old problems. Bill Hunt clearly has an in‑depth knowledge of the crisis that faces the Sheriff’s Department and jail system. He presented some out-of-the-box innovations, leaving us with the hope that he would serve the People well.

Bill Hunt on Marijuana

No, the South County candidate for sheriff isn’t ON marijuana but we did ask him about the subject. Bill made it clear that he isn’t in favor of legalizing pot but that he respects the will of the people.

FFFF: “If you are elected sheriff and the DEA came into OC and asked OCSD to help shut down medical marijuana dispensaries, would you oblige them with support?”

Bill Hunt: “No. I would prevent them, it’s unconstitutional! I’m not an advocate for legalizing marijuana but on the other hand the sheriff is elected to enforce state laws. So, if I’m elected sheriff to this county enforcing state law and I’m using federal law to circumvent state law, then I’m not really being true to my office and my oath of office. The sheriff can prevent the feds from coming in and doing that.”

Hunt goes on to say, “Medical marijuana is legal within certain parameters, just like alcohol is. If a kid is drinking alcohol or if you’re drunk driving, it’s a violation of law and we’ll enforce it. The same thing with people who extend beyond the legal limits of medical marijuana, we’ll enforce that. But we [law enforcement] can’t be taking a vendetta just because the general consensus in law enforcement is they [law enforcement officers] don’t like it. The public has already ruled. Now, I think it’s a zoning problem, a business problem, not a law enforcement problem. The cities need to get together and regulate it just like they tattoo shops and bars just like their CUP’s [conditional use permits] provide. It’s a regulatory issue, I think, right now more than law enforcement.”

March 2, 2010March 2, 201047th Congressional District

Another Typical Repuglican – Everything is For Sale!

by The Desert Rat6 Comments

Disturbing image of Van Tran courtesy of the OC Weekly

Our friend Scott Moxley was written a piece at the OC Weekly about how local State Assemblyman and would-be Congressman for the 47th District, Van Tran, actually flew his Chief of Staff down from Sacramento to vote in the recent California Republican Assembly nominating convention – casting a vote for his boss, of course.

Seems there’s some heartburn in some circles because the fellow, Paul Hegyi, somehow got himself affiliated with the Stanton Chapter of the CRA, where he doesn’t live, and also because Stanton isn’t even in the 47th Congressional District.

But part of Fullerton is, so we share this tale with you.

P.S. here’s a fun quote from Tran’s website: Let’s bring character and integrity back to Congress…

It’s a dubious proposition that Congress has ever had any character or integrity, but it’s a bit much to hear that from a guy who is ripping off the taxpayers by claiming a phony per diem in the State legislature, and whose wife was busted as part of an insurance fraud conspiracy ring.

Business as usual for the ‘pugs.

March 2, 2010March 2, 2010Behind Closed Doors

Tom Daly’s $50K Hall of Shame

by Grover Cleveland16 Comments

As we reported last week, here, County Clerk/Recorder Tom Daly paid almost $50,00 in 2008 and 2009 to a campaign contributor to “study” the feasibility of developing an Orange County athletic “hall of fame.” We opined upon the irresponsible expenditure and questioned why the County Clerk would even embark on such a lame idea in the first place.

At the time of the post, our request for public records had resulted in scant documentation that this “consultant” Brett Barbre, had actually done anything at all to justify his $3000 per month bill. We were informed by the County that we didn’t have all their “work product” documents.

Now we do.

tom_daly — I don't remember and you can't make me.

The sum and substance of Mr. Barbre’s efforts for Daly is reflected in brief periodic memorandums sent to Daly’s office informing them of what he had been up to in the previous month. Even these cursory, written updates ceased after September 1, 2008, although Barbre continued to be paid by Daly through June, 2009.

Barbre2 — The lack of accomplishment was clear; but the invoices kept coming in.

Curiously, in the summer of 2008 Barbre and Daly had gotten it into their noggins to create something called a prep sports honor roll dinner, some sort of tie-in to the original concept, presumably. They had even picked a date for the inaugural event. Amazingly no one seems to have even questioned why the County Clerk would be organizing such a blatanly non-public function that had absolutely nothing to do with his job responsibilities.

The other scant fruits of Barbre’s labor were a photo montage of the New England Hall of Fame and a facsimile of a brochure from the Newport Sports Museum. Material collected and scanned and submitted as somehow substantive.

We will probably never know what was actually discussed verbally between the parties involved – including why they thought this hare-brained idea was in any way justified; or how they could ever defend the $50,000 paid to Barbre to do almost nothing. One thing is evident from the documents: by the summer of 2009 Barbre was no longer at the public trough, although by then he had already collected regular monthly payments of $3000, totaling $48,000 with nothing to show for it.

Almost fifty thousand dollars. Squandered. Wasted. Flushed down a rathole and into the pocket of a Daly campaign contributor.

Does anyone in the County government even care about this total dereliction of responsibility and breach of the public trust? Do the folks at the Orange County Register care? Do you?

March 2, 2010March 2, 2010Behind Closed Doors

Monkey Business at the Clerk/Recorder’s Office? Why Did Tom Daly Pay His Campaign Supporter $50K?

by Grover Cleveland48 Comments

UPDATE: Allan Bartlett has helped close the circle on the Daly-Barbre financial connection. Here is the link that shows a $1000 campaign contribution from Barbre back to Daly. Even if there is no overt kickback here it sure stinks like Hell.

– GC

Has there been fiscal misfeasance by Tom Daly at the County Clerk/Recorder’s office? As we previously indicated, here, OC Clerk Recorder paid self-styled public relations “consultant” and Municipal Water Board member Brett Barbre tens of thousands of dollars in 2008 and 2009 to assist in the creation of some sort of OC sports “hall of fame.” A public records search has turned up invoices from Barbre to Tom Daly’s department for almost $50,000, with almost nothing to show for it. Interestingly, as early as March, 2009 Barbre, who is a Republican, made himself conspicuous as an endorser of Daly in his now defunct campaign for 4th District County Supervisor.

What the records show is that in February 2008 the County Clerk’s office engaged the services of Barbre in a contract for $15,000 and later in a $3000 per month extension, to delve into the subject of creating a sports hall of fame museum.

What the consultant selection process was, why Mr. Barbre was chosen, what his qualifications were, and why the taxpayers were put on the hook for this dubious concept project may never be known. But what is known is that from May 2008 through June 2009 the County paid Barbre $48,000 with virtually no evidence of any accomplishment at all.

Our request for “all activity status reports” and “lists of work completed” turned up three short memorandums and an incomplete spreadsheet listing Orange County High Schools and their mascots.

We have been provided with no evidence to suggest that any of the activities outlined in Barbre’s contract were ever achieved. Added to the evident lack of accomplishment seems to be a reluctance to publicize the hall of fame brainstorm at all. Very telling is a sentence from a January 15, 2009 memorandum from Barbre to Tom Daly, in which Barbre says about the whole idea: I would suggest keeping it fairly low key until the budget mess at the state and the county are behind us.

Right. No sense in letting the public know that the Clerk/Recorder Tom Daly is squandering public money on such a hare-brained scheme during a recession, including giving Barbre $3,000 a month to ponder the sports hall of fame concept, while county employees are about to be laid off.

We have been informed by the County Public Information office that we are not in possession of all the work product documents, and that something else is forthcoming. This strikes us as particularly odd since Barbre’s questionable “services” were concluded nine months ago and our records request was made several weeks ago. We can’t help but consider the possibility that something is being fabricated up after the fact to make it appear as if the $48,000 slipped to Barbre by Daly produced more than a few short memos and an incomplete list of Orange County’s High Schools and their mascots. Well, we’ll soon find out.

The final disturbing piece to this puzzle is the fact that Brett Barbre’s name appears on Tom Daly’s March, 2009 fundraiser host committee list – the event in which he launched his abortive campaign for County supervisor; and that later, in the summer of 2009, Barbre assumed the office of ambassador to the OC GOP Central Committee for newly-minted Republican Renee Ramirez, Daly’s employee and hand-picked successor for the County Clerk’s job.

DalyFundraiser — First column, six down.

Ironically, we note that Daly pulled the plug on his supervisorial campaign last Friday – the very same day we presented ourselves at the County to pick up the Barbre documents.

That’s the story so far. It doesn’t paint a pretty picture of either competence or probity within Tom Daly’s bureaucratic regime. The self-styled fiscal conservative seems to have been anything but conservative with public funds, and, as will become painfully evident in subsequent posts, this episode is not a lone example.

Hall of fame? Really? Maybe what we need in OC is a hall of shame – for politicians who abuse the public trust. We’ve got a recommendation for the first inductee.

March 2, 2010March 2, 2010Dead heads

Galloway’s Dismal Drive Never Gets Out of Reverse

by Jan Florys Dog7 Comments

Well, the folks at the Galloway campaign have done it again: another brain-dead video with overdressed, cute-as-a-button Lorri supposedly embarking on her first “tour” of the 4th Supe District to learn all about the concerns of her would-be constituents.

I’ll bet my rawhide bone that Galloway never got beyond the steps of her fake address. The video includes some snippets of people talking, who knows where, who don’t even know what a supervisor is, or does. They shouldn’t feel too bad. Galloway doesn’t seem to know either, but more of that in a bit.

I’ll also bet nobody mentioned that Galloway, until very recently claimed the 3rd District as her legal residence and is claiming to live in a house provided by a big contributor and Anaheim city contractor.

The funny thing is you never actually see Galloway talking to any of these people as they share their worries. We just see the “person on the street.” And then, at the end, Galloway addresses their concerns. Did Galloway actually even bother to leave her phony address? Bet not.

And the issue? We need jobs, jobs, jobs! And Galloway is right there with the answer: jobs; but not by getting government out of the way and by making it cheaper and more efficient. Oh Good Lord, no! That would imply criticism of all those public employee unions and their bank-breaking pension deals. No. Lorri is going to create jobs by spending ever more of your tax dollars, or course; the magic pill: bringing in the high speed rail, the lazy politicians cure all for what ails us. Of course Sidhu is pushing that same jobs button with the same solution. Is there enough gullibility to go around?

And why didn’t somebody tell Lorri nor to stare at the cue cards. Jebus, couldn’t she have at least memorized her stupid script? After all. it’s not like she actually spent a lot of time driving around.

Here’s a JFD promise. As long as they keep making this crap, I’ll keep sharing it.

March 1, 2010March 1, 2010Arts & Architecture

Monday Haiku

by Yoshii The Bushido Poet1 Comment

Dark jade leafed forests

The hunter is now hunted

A crack in the wall

March 1, 2010March 1, 2010About Us

FFFF Salutes Pioneer Carpetbagg’ Stalker – Matthew J. Cunningham

by The Desert Rat47 Comments

fartboy — Great White 'bagg Hunter. Call him Bwana.

Check out the indignant posts here and here, by outraged carpetbagg’ stalker Matthew J. Cunningham as he endeavors to bag and tag Villa Park’s Tom Umberg during the 1st Supe District Special Election in 2007. Jeez, Cunningham didn’t even live in the 1st District but boy was he bent all out of shape!

Wow! What huevos! Videotaping the neighborhood, snooping on the living arrangements of the entire Umberg family, including offspring, and generally making a nuisance of himself!

And so we recognize the intrepid Jerb for his cunning and resourcefulness – a full three years before our admin decided to visit the completely suspicious Casa Sidhu #3 – Sidhu’s third “residence” in but a single month.

O Pioneer! We salute you!