Lorri Galloway Has Friends

Cynthia Ward is just jealous of my wonderful life.

A quick google search of Lorri Galloway discovers this website, constructed during her 2008 re-election campaign.

The site appears to have been manned/operated by “researcher” and current Mauve County wholesale purveyor of sanctimony, Cynthia Ward, aka Colony Rabble, so you can take it for what it’s worth.

As a public service we pass it along.

Mauve County Mauve For Good?

What a nice color...

It seems that Matthew J. Cunningham, editor of the dismal Mauve County forgot the lesson he once learned when his wife left him in charge of the laundry and he threw his white bikini briefs in with the old lady’s red blouse.

For the past year Cunningham, has been studiously avoiding discussing the subject of why his mentor, boss Repuglican  John Lewis was supporting Democrat Tom Daly’s campaign for County Supervisor; and even, some said, running it through a surrogate.

Color me mauve.

Only recently Cunningham brought on a contributor named Cynthia Ward to post pro-Daly junk and attack the other candidates. That backfired last Friday afternoon when Daly quit, and now the blog is stuck with a sanctimonious NIMBY liberal – one of those types who are Republicans only because dear old dad was.

Cunningham claimed from the get go that Mrs. Ward, who calls herself Colony Rabble, was brought on board to give an “Anaheim perspective;” better still he also claimed that his blog was a big tent “right-of-center” operation, presumably big enough to include a person who is about as conservative as Eleanor Roosevelt. Nobody was buying that load of horse shit.

So Daly is gone, but Ward is still around. Will anyone even notice? Consider the transparently orchestrated attack on Fullerton’s Shawn Nelson by some semi-literate goon named Thomas Anthony Gordon that came out of left field last week in mauve land. What was that all about? Pretty bad for a self-purported conservative blog.

A regular Noel Coward.

Will the former “Red County” operators now do the right thing by getting behind the race’s only real conservative, Shawn Nelson, a man who actually lives in the 4th District? Don’t bet on it. The Mauve gang have already demonstrated their attachment to self-interest and revenue uber alles.

It looks like the mauve are mauve for good, and no bleach is gonna fix that load of laundry.

The CRA Endorses Sidhu. Oh Really?

Let me tell you. That was then.

The other day the OC branch of the  California Republican Assembly voted to endorse Harry Sidhu in his carpetbagging quest to be our next County supervisor. Good heavens, now that’s a switcheroo! Just look what the CRA had to say about our buddy Sidhu less than two years ago – when the office-hungry politician ran for another job he wasn’t qualified for:

http://www.redcounty.com/orange-county/2008/05/sd33-mailbox-cra-drops-on-ie-c

P.S. Thanks to the Mauve County for access to their invaluable historical archives.

Just Like We Thought

Oh no, not again.

One of our Friends has alerted us that over at the Mauve County, blog where the atmosphere is getting bluer every day, Matthew J. Cunningham has scribbled out one of his tedious Excedrin-not-included posts, this time attacking an excellent post written on our blog by John Seiler, right here.

This was Seiler’s post that described the attempted smear on Shawn Nelson by somebody called Thomas Anthony Gordon – a semi-literate goon from Santa Ana, on the Mauve blog. We previously had some fun with goof-ball Gordo and his Mauve County playmates, here, and here.

Too many big words...

What’s really funny is that Gordon is apparently incapable of addressing Seiler’s post himself – too much subtlety of thought going on, no doubt – so into the breach leaps Mr. Wordsmith to counterattack – a pretty good indicator that that Cunningham was the one who helped set up Gordon for all this nonsense in the first place, just like we thought.

What’s really funny, or pathetic, depending on your point of view, is that John Seiler is a strong libertarian conservative – the very traits that should be applauded on a “right-of-center” blog. But no. According to Cunningham, Seiler, whose keyboard Jerb couldn’t carry, is just another Ron Paul nut. Apparently Seiler’s concept of limited government is way out of fashion at Mauve Central where self-interest has always trumped principle.

Well, Jerb has one thing going for him. We know he reads our blog regularly. And even though he has stopped posting comments here under multiple aliases, we’re pretty sure that his ongoing contact with a citizen’s blog that promotes responsible government will do him some good.

What’s Happening to The Hetebrink House?

This magnificent structure is like no other house in Fullerton.

About 23 years ago, the Chancellor of FJC told me that the NOCCCD was interested in acquiring the magnificent Mission Revival Hetebrink House because the JC needed more parking and the property would make a great parking lot. Little did he know that I was the founder of Fullerton Heritage.  I was however, unable to convince him that the house was a significant structure and should not be torn down (especially with our tax dollars) for a parking lot.

The following week I introduced myself to the old-timer who lived on the property and who had been living there since he was 14 years old! His dad had built the house out of concrete bricks that were made on site. Oh, the stories John “Pete” Hetebrink told me about growing up in Fullerton were just amazing, I just wish I owned a video camera in those days.

Over the next several years Pete and I continued meeting and then one day I asked if he would like the house to be registered on the National Register of Historic Places to help save the house from the wrecking ball after he was gone. Heck, he was in his late 90’s at the time. He told me that decision would require both his sisters Hyacinth and Dorthy’s consent. So we arranged for a meeting at which time I had prepared an application for the National Register of Historic Buildings and Places. They were very exited that the house their dad had built and the house that they all grew up in was going to become a landmark. So we had a “signing party” and the rest is history.

Pete has since died, and the house has been passed on to other family members.

A friend of mine called me this morning and asked if I knew what was happening to the Hetebrink house, so I drove over there and this is what I saw.

This old house is falling apart

The property had some serious structural problems twenty years ago that were  unaddressed because the Hetebrinks didn’t have the resources to make the repairs. Things have only gotten worse as indicated by the deteriorated balcony at the second floor loggia.

Hopefully the heirs of Pete Hetebrink can start addressing the deterioration of this great house.

Tonight: Fundraiser for Shawn Nelson at the Matador Cantina

Please join Congressman Ed Royce, Assemblyman Chris Norby, and the host committee for hors d’oeuvres at the Matador Cantina in Historic downtown Fullerton.

Matador Cantina
111 N. Harbor Blvd
Fullerton, CA

Reception 5:30-8:00 PM
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Business Attire

TO RSVP PLEASE CONTACT:
J. Allen Pitkin (949) 232-8882

More information at www.nelsonforsupervisor.com/events

For Harry Sidhu Carpetbagging Isn’t the Worst of it

Why is this man smiling?

He’s smiling because he’s thinking about how damn stupid you are. Too stupid too remember that his very first campaign act was to commit a fraud, a lie, a falsification of public documents: a phony voting registration address at the seedy Calabria Apartments in west Anaheim behind the Linbrook Pool hall.

Rack 'em up, Harry!

How do we know it was a fake address? Well, Harry told us it was. He did that when his campaign handlers made him re-register at a more plausible although still dubious address – just four short weeks later! When he did that he acknowledged that his first address was just an outright lie; a lie perpetrated on you and me and everybody else in the 4th Supervisorial District. If you believe in the second address you have to admit the first one was a fake.

Now, why would Sidhu think he could get away with such an obvious thing and why would he do it in the first place? It’s really pretty simple. He has nothing but disrespect for the people he wants to represent; and of course the vast ego that drives the political ambition of a rich office hound. This is his third political campaign in two years, and his fifth in less than eight years.

I was really this close to actually moving in!

The case is simple. Sidhu tried to carpetbag his way into the campaign with the fake address. And only when he got caught in that lie did he cook up yet another address – his third in a month. And so his own actions have proved what he and his handlers had hoped wouldn’t become evident: that Sidhu suffers from a very serious case of truth decay and bad case of disrespect for his would-be constituents.

The Making of An Eyesore; And a Hell of a Climb, Too

49 steps up and 49 steps down

A little less than 20 years ago, some friends and I stood in front of the Fullerton City Council pleading with the Redevelopment Agency to build a pedestrian underpass at the train station instead of a steel bridge overpass. We had three reasons. The first was expense: an underpass was about half the cost of a bridge. Second was the matter of practicality and convenience: it is easier for a pedestrian to climb 24 steps versus 49; not to mention the cost of maintaining two elevators. Third, the bridge was going to tower over the Historic Santa Fe Depot – a real incongruous pairing and one in which the Depot suffered.

When the question was asked to the city staff during the public hearing about the possibilities of an underpass the Fullerton Redevelopment Manager Terry Galvin answered that an underpass would be too dangerous and could end up smelling like urine and besides, “nobody builds underpasses.” He even dug up an incident (and only one!) where somebody got stabbed – in Raton, New Mexico. Ooooooh, so scary! The fact of the matter is that an underpass would have been a mere 50 feet long – a little more than half the distance from home plate to first base!

The staff also dismissed Vince Buck’s brilliant idea of using the existing Harbor grade separation to get people from one side of the tracks to the other, a solution that would have been the most practical and cost efficient of all!

What has always bothered me about the city staff is that when they want something they will not give the city council all of the pertinant facts to make an intelligent decision; or they will deliberately inflate the project they want and diminish options they don’t want. And then the city council does not hold anyone on staff accountable for the messes they create. And that my Friends, is the history of Redevelopment in Fullerton.

A couple years later I was at the Oceanside train station and guess what?

25 steps in all

Of course lots of local Metrolink/Amtrak stations now have underpasses including Orange, Tustin, Laguna Niguel and many others. Money was saved, citizens were spared visual monstrosities, and maintenance costs were minimized.

But in Fullerton we have Molly McClanahan (who voted for the bridge), and her immortal words: hindsight is 20/20.

Almost twenty years later and the City of Fullerton doesn’t even seem to bother with the graffiti etched into the elevator towers’ glass.

Hit-and-run blog against Shawn Nelson

The Web site of Orange County’s Republican Party, Red County, put up a hit piece written by Thomas Anthony Gordon, replete with bad grammar and worse logic. He’s attacking Fullerton Councilman (and former Mayor) Shawn Nelson, who is running for O.C. supervisor. Nelson’s “offense”: he’s a partner at a firm with a criminal defense department.

Gordon writes (my corrections in brackets): “A State Legislature[,] which has made California one of the most business unfriendly states in the Nation, has taken it upon themselves [he means ‘itself’] to reduce spending by releasing criminals back into our communities. Some theorize that this is to instill fear into taxpayers and have them sign off on tax increases to feed the bloated beast.”

Well, one big reason spending is so high is that the prison guards’ union is so cozy with Red County candidates (Republicans), as well as Blue County candidates (Democrats), producing tax-devouring high salaries and benefits for the guards. How about privatizing prisons to cut costs?

Gordon’s next sentence: “Another reason would be the attorneys, who usually start out on our city councils, move on to elected county offices, then to state assembly and senate seats[,] while telling us all they are the public safety candidate[s].”

The syntax is twisted like a pretzel. But I think he’s trying to say that attorneys like to let criminals run loose; the attorneys get elected to political offices; and from those positions the attorneys start loosing dangerous criminals on the public.

A couple of paragraphs later, Gordon fake concedes, “Now, I understand that even murderers, drug dealers, cybersquatters and NAMBLA promoters are entitled to legal representation. But we don’t have to like it.”

Gordon mixes up a lot here, trying to tar Shawn with warehouse of smear, especially murderers and the disgusting NAMBLA criminals.

But by “drug dealers,” does he mean, say, your local medical marijuana dispensary that gives your grandma the medicine she needs to keep her food down while she’s battling cancer? Although Prop. 215 legalized medical marijuana in state law, federal law still holds it illegal.

Gordon’s direct attack on Nelson: “Shawn Nelson is running to replace Chris Norby on the OC Board of Supervisors. He’s [the possessive is unclear, but he means Nelson] a guy who[m] I consider[ed] to be a strong anti[-]tax and anti[-]crime kind of guy. Until today.

“I was looking at the website for Rizio and Nelson when I came upon this nugget: [‘]this law (early release) will create new challenges for criminal defense lawyers, who will surely paint their clients’ cases in the most positive light possible. For that, you need experienced attorneys who can give you the strongest defense possible. Contact Rizio and Nelson if you need help[’].”

Gordon didn’t consistently bold-face the quoted part, so I put the whole thing in quotes (my single quotes).

Of course, if you read the offending sentence, all it says is: The law is more complicated now. We’re experienced attorneys. We can help you.

But Gordon ends: “And in my opinion, it’s impossible to say your [he means ‘you’re’] tough on crime, while doing everything you can get them [he seems to mean criminals] back onto our streets, to terrorize us another day. But that’s only my opinion.”

In other words: Guilty until proven guilty! The police and prosecutors are always right!

Remember Mike Carona?

But Orange County is the last place where we should give blind faith to police and prosecutors and cast aspersions on the attorneys who defend our liberties.

I suppose it’s understandable that Gordon didn’t mention former Sheriff Mike Carona, given the latter’s deep ties to Red County honchos, who repeatedly endorsed Carona and kept defending him. But just a year ago, a federal jury convicted Carona of witness tampering.

(By the way, Mr. Gordon, was it wrong for Carona to hire a top defense attorney, Brian Sun, to lead his legal team?)

Under Carona’s corrupt watch, in 2006 an inmate was killed at Theo Lacy jail. According this story from April 8, 2008: “A grand jury transcript released Monday describes an Orange County jail in disarray, with deputies watching television, playing video games and taking naps while inmates were allowed to use brutality and intimidation to keep order in the cellblocks.”

Before Carona, Sheriff Brad Gates was notorious for cronyism, especially giving conceal-carry gun permits to his donors (and almost nobody else) while keeping secret files on opponents. He held the job for an incredible 24 years, twice as long as FDR was president.

A 1987 report noted: “Despite a sworn declaration by Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates that he ‘has not created or maintained files’ on former election opponent George Wright, audiotapes of a 1981 college classroom lecture by Wright ended up in the sheriff’s investigative files, it was learned Thursday.”

The current sheriff, Sandra Hutchens, is obsessed with keeping guns out of the hands of honest citizens by denying them conceal-carry permits – even though studies by scholar John Lott and others prove that crime drops when honest citizens are better armed and can fend off criminals. And then there’s the Second Amendment right “to keep and bear arms,” which her policies violate.

Moreover, as Steven Greenhut details in his recent book, “Plunder! How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives and Bankrupting the Naiton,” state law now seals the records on any investigation into police abuse. The law was enacted a decade ago by a Democratic governor, Gray Davis, and a Democratic state Legislature that deftly stole the “law and order” issue from Republicans.

Red Staters like Gordon don’t realize that the future of the GOP (if it has one) doesn’t lie with government unions – including police and fire unions – but with Tea Party Patriots, Ron Paul Revolution activists and others sick and tired of governments ordering this once-free people around.

With lawless lawmen – and lawwomen – the need for defense attorneys is clear. If the government falsely accuses you of a crime – and uses its immense powers and tax dollars to prosecute you – who you gonna call? A defense attorney.

Patriot John Adams for the Defense

In our American system, let’s remember, an accused person is innocent until proven guilty. And that person can only be convicted after a trial in front of a jury of his peers. One of the charges our forefathers leveled against George III, in the Declaration of Independence, was: “For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury.”

Indeed, one of our greatest revolutionary Founders was John Adams. Like the others, he risked his neck to bring America liberty. Yet he first came to popular attention after the Boston Massacre of 1770, in which British imperial soldiers killed five Americans, an outrage that helped spark the revolution Adams would end up advancing. But Adams believed in justice, including the right of any person to a decent criminal defense. So he defended the British soldiers. Six were acquitted, two were found guilty of manslaughter.

During the trial, Adams actually was elected to Massachusetts’ colonial legislature. His fellow Americans recognized his bravery and integrity. There was no Thomas Anthony Gordon to write: “And in my opinion, it’s impossible to say your tough on crime, while doing everything you can get them back onto our streets, to terrorize us another day. But that’s only my opinion.”

If Adams had been shunned, his political career ended, he never would have become a hero during the Revolution, helping Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and the other patriots win our independence. Without defense attorney John Adams, their cause might have been lost, the whole lot of patriots hanged by “law ’n order” King George III. Lost also would have been our independence and our liberties.

Shawn Nelson, I submit, is a John Adams for our day.

John Seiler, an editorial writer with The Orange County Register for 19 years, currently is a reporter and analyst for CalWatchDog.com. His email: writejohnseiler@gmail.com.