Friends For Fullerton's Future

November 20, 2009December 28, 200972nd Election

The Highlight of the 72nd Primary Election

Dear Friends, we have received the following e-mail from Joe Sipowicz:

The last couple of months have been a lot of fun for me as I followed the doings in the 72nd Special Election primary. This was really the first time I have paid close attention to a state election, and boy was it an eye-opener. I guess enough has been said about the triumph of substantive record versus hollow slogans, mendacity, self-serving corruption, seemingly bottomless pots of money, and an outright lie of a residency.

beer

My favorite part of the whole episode came when FFFF published a post on the Dave Lopez appearance at the Ackerman party at the Summit House and was subsequently notified by some huge law firm (Jones Day) that FFFF would be in big trouble if you didn’t remove it and cook up some cowardly “retraction” of simple facts. It was a pretty obvious case of harassment orchestrated by Ackerman himself.

You did not give in. Instead you left the post up and essentially told the Ackerman campaign and its running dogs to shove the crap right back up where it came from. I think you deserve a lot of credit for that. And I wonder how many of the sniveling centro-sphere pin heads who love to throw around the word ‘”cowardly” would have caved in to that sort of intimidation attempt.

Anyway FFFF, my thanks for you efforts to keep the Ackermans out of Fullerton. I’m not even sure if you realize the great service you have perfomed – but thanks!

Thanks for the kind words, Joe.

November 20, 2009December 28, 200972nd Election

The 72nd Assembly District Election Highlights Possibility for Restoration for the Soul of the Republican Party

by admin6 Comments

This great post was written the other day right here in Fullerton by our good Friend and fellow blogger Martha Martelongo, about the 72nd election as a watershed for the OC GOP. Enjoy!

This past Tuesday night, I was in Orange County for the special election to fill the seat vacated by the disgraced, resigned, Republican, Mike Duvall, for the 72nd State Assembly district. Duvall was handpicked by the entrenched ethically bankrupt establishment of the Orange County GOP. The same group that handpicked, Linda Ackerman, whom they thought would be a shoe-in, because she is the wife of former Republican Senate minority leader, Dick Ackerman.

The winner in that race, Chris Norby, born in the City of Fullerton, in the heart of the District, has been a teacher, a City Councilman, a County Supervisor. His politics have earned him a reputation for being a staunch defender and innovative leader for limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual property rights, education reform, and public employee pension reform, all issues that resonate with the independent minded majority of Republicans who live in the strongly Republican District. He speaks to these issues with moral clarity, authority, boldness, conviction and consistency.

Read the rest of this great post.

November 19, 2009December 28, 2009Dead heads

Just Keep The Noise Machine Going

by admin15 Comments

On a post today at the dismal Liberal OC blog (almost as self-righteous and irrelevantly noisy as Red Klownty) our old pal and sanctimonious prig Matthew J. Cunningham shares these gem-like comments, reiteration of charges he made against me a few weeks ago.

Great post, Dan. A portrait of Pedroza’s true, amoral nature in action.

Among other things, it clear Pedroza is an accessory to Bushala’s violation of Section 18320 of the California Elections Code.

Written By Matthew Cunnningham on November 19th, 2009 @ 9:37 am

For those wondering about that code section, click here: http://www.redcounty.com/4th-supe-district-watch-illegal-cyber-squatting-fringe-o-sphere

Written By Matthew Cunningham on November 19th, 2009 @ 9:38 am

Well folks, Cunningham seems to think if he keeps repeating something maybe somehow it will turn out to be true. It is very clear that my ownership of the Daly for Supervisor URL is intended to make a clear and unadulterated political statement: Daly is a career politician. Too bad Cunningahm can’t seem to grasp this pretty simple point. This is protected political speech and is in no way intended to shake down or extort anything from Daly – which is the intent of the law. Of course “Jerbal” never bothered to inform his readers that he has his own interest in the matter: his godfather John Lewis has gambled big trying to get the Democrat Daly’s vote on the Board of Supervisors, and Cunningham has been running interference on that issue since early in the year; what’s good for Lewis is good for Cunningham, especially in light of his cowardly refusal to support Chris Norby in the 72nd election.

Anyway, the Lewis URL is not for sale: I’ll be putting it to good use myself, thank you very much!

In closing I would like to reflect upon the irony of moral outrage from aself-interested hack like Cunningham who is perfectly satisfied to turn a blind eye to perversions of justice and decency perpetrated by his pals in the Diocese of Orange, the behavior of Mike Carona, the promotion of a candidacy by a woman who didn’t live in our district, and most recently his running cover for his buddies on the Fair Board (and their lawyer Dick Ackerman). Gosh they were just so generous with the food, drinkies and tickets!

November 19, 2009January 4, 2010Behind Closed Doors

County Counsel Fires Shot Across Fair Board Bow; Will Ackerman Get Hit?

by The Fullerton Harpoon8 Comments

Heh, heh. Nothing beats money and influence...

We’ve been tracking the Sell the Fair (To Us) Movement recently and noted that Dick Ackerman had already admitted to being hired by an insider Board cabal whose intent was to get the State to sell the Fair – to themselves.

A couple days ago word leaked out that the County had gotten into the act, possibly to forestall the sale of the Fair, and to own it themselves.

Attached is a copy of letter sent by the County’s top lawyer, Nick Chrisos, to the local Attorney General representative. You’ll notice that Chrisos spends no time fingering the Board and it’s lobbyist, Dick Ackerman. Chrisos wants the AGs office to open an investigation. Why? Because by the time the Board got around to hiring Ackerman’s law firm on July 29th 2009, to help pull and persuade the RFP, they had already hired them to create their non-profit “Foundation,” with the intent of buying the fair themselves. Apart from the evident open meeting and conflicts of interest, Chrisos wants to know about what public expenditures were made by the Fair Board to hire lawyers to work for the benefit of their own foundation.

POST UPDATE: Click here to download the Chrisos letter.

As they say: hilarity ensued. We’ve been told that the AG tossed the issue into the lap of the OC District Attorney. Why? Because the State AG represents the Fair Board! DA Tony Rackaukas has been signally dilatory in going after criminals who don’t have gang tatoos so we will have to wait to see what, if anything happens.

In the meantime, here are the Fair Board minutes of the meeting in question:

Check out the language of the motion: go hire “consultants” (Ackerman) to carry out the intent of the Governor and Legislation. What noble public servants! Let’s not fight it. Let’s work with the State!

But let’s not forget the troublesome little problem that Dick Ackerman himself has admitted: being involved with developing the enabling language in the budget bill in the first place. Whose idea was that? And who paid him for that? Hmm.

It’s very difficult to conceive of a scenario in which Ackerman is not involved in this little cabal right up to his eyeballs. Did he lobby the legislature first, and then the Governor’s office regarding the specifics of the RFP? If he did he broke the law since he hadn’t been out of the Legislature for a full year as State law requires. Ah, those pesky laws! Enforceable? Again that’s up to the DA to determine. We are not encouraged.

November 19, 2009January 5, 2010Fullerton School Board

Fullerton School District’s Budget is Really Screwed Up

by Travis18 Comments

Let’s keep this simple – today the Fullerton School Board is staring down the barrel of an unprecedented budget hole. To insulate themselves from the difficult decisions, the board is asking the “Budget Advisory Committee” to recommend a solution. This committee consists of unionized teachers, administrators and PTA parents.

At this point, the budget shortfall is at least $10,000,000. How will they bridge that 11% gap?

Of course we’ve seen plenty of threats to reduce special programs, administrative overhead and other gimmicks, but the elephant in the room is that 90% of the unrestricted funds go to employee pay and benefits.

unrestricted-funds

Mathematically there is no possible way to revive this beast without one or more of the following:

Increased classroom sizes (layoff teachers)
Reduced teacher salaries and benefits
New property taxes

We already know that the teachers union won’t concede to meaningful salary or staff reductions unless confronted with the apocalypse. Taxpayers are severely financially strained in the middle of a massive recession, and are clearly ready to pitchfork any elected who suggests more taxes.

So what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?

November 18, 2009January 9, 201072nd Election

What Do Ackerwoman, Galloway and Perez All Have In Common?

by admin7 Comments

We don't live here. We're just pecking our way through...

With the announcement by a woman named Sue Perez (who is connected to the wackos at Trinity Broadcasting and seems to be a friend of Lorri Galloway), that she intends to run for 34th State Senate District, we have the spectacle of yet another candidate who doesn’t live in the district they want to represent. The announcement by this woman who wants Senator Lou Correa’s job, got us to thinking about some of our recent aspirants for State and County office, including the Ackerwoman and Lorri Galloway, herself.

We all know by now that Ackerwoman lives in Irvine, but wants to represent North OC in the State Assembly; Galloway lives in Anaheim Hills – in the 3rd Supervisorial District – but claims to be running for the 4th District.

Other than that they are all females, a common denominator is that any one could soon be using the yard next door as their phony residence. Of course we have left out Harry Sidhu who, like Galloway, lives in the 3rd District.

The Trouble With Harry? He doesn't live in the 4th District, either.

What is it with these birds? Can’t they just stay in their own yards?

November 18, 2009December 28, 200972nd Election

72nd Election Recap: Validation & Valediction

by Grover Cleveland17 Comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKm65xLpwIM

Over at the otherwise dreadfully tedious Red County blog, our Friend Allan Bartlett opines on last night’s impressive Norby victory over Ackerwoman in the 72nd Special Election Primary. He almost gets it completely right.

He correctly points out that Norby’s 17% margin of victory over the Ackerman, Inc slime-peddlers is a bad sign for all of the establishment Repuglicans who happily climbed onto the carpetbagging, truth challenged bandwagon, believing (erroneously) that money would trump experience and actual political accomplishment.

But tucked into Allan’s post is this admonition to Ackerman, Inc.:

We’ll give you a few days to lick your wounds and get over the bitterness that you and Dick are probably feeling towards Chris right now, but it’s time to finally end this ugly chapter in OC political history and endorse Chris for the runoff. It’s the right thing to do.

Nice sentiment, perhaps, but a not at all necessaryof gesture of Republican solidarity. In the first place, if they believed half of the trash they peddled against Norby to the voters the Ackermans (if they had any integrity, oops!) would want Norby locked up “e-mmediately” as their flunky Dick Jones would say. But, neither Norby nor the people of the 72nd need anything from the OC Repuglican apparatchicks. On the contrary, Norby’s victory proves that one can win, and win convincingly (although being outspent 2-1) over forces that have treated OC government like their own little plantation.

At the end of his post Allan rightfully chastises all of the Republican elected drones who circled their wagons of self-interest around the Ackermans after hearing Dick’s do-re-mi siren song (with the emphasis on “dough” and “me”). Good for Allan. His was the the only voice on that blog that wasn’t making a full-time job of avoiding Ackerwoman’s deceitful residency and her contemptible smears.

Ah well, victory, as Allan trenchantly observes, is the best admonition to those who are more interested in money and power than they are doing what’s right. If all those folks who endorsed Linda Ackerman because of her “inevitability” (despite the fact that she didn’t live in the district, and completely misrepresented her business experience) think that this craven behavior will be soon forgotton, they may be in for a rude surprise.

And now, the task of this Grover Cleveland, having been completed, and satisfactorily so, we pass on the name to a new (and no doubt improved) Grover. Adios Amigos! And lets hope the times are really are a-changin.’

November 17, 2009December 28, 200972nd Election

Ackerman Defended, FFFF Attacked (Again) By Ackerman Spokeshole

by Grover Cleveland7 Comments

Dick Ackerman would never lie to me. He has lots of honor. Just like me. — The search for Eternal Truth may have just been steamrollered by Ackerman, Inc.

Yesterday our old playmate Matthew J. Cunningham of the irrepressible boot lick Red County Blog took us to task for passing along the “false” information about his hero Dick Ackerman illegally lobbying for the OC Fair sale. You can read it here, but be forewarned about a likely gag-reflex response. It seems that Cunningham is on a noble mission to promote the Truth, the Whole truth, and Nothing But The Truth. How does he know that Dick’s behavior wasn’t lobbying? Because Dick said so! Quod erat demonstrandum!

Yeah sure, anything you say, J.

Ackerman has already admitted to “helping” draft the legislation, legislation that somehow managed to jump into AB 22 all by itself? Did Dick go to Sacto? Did Dick make calls to his former colleagues? Naw. That would be illegal lobbying.

Interestingly, our Friend Vern Nelson over at the Orange Juice blog has reported a conversation he had with Assemblyman Jim Silva who opposed the sale. Silva affably relates that there was lots of pressure on him to vote in favor of the sale legislation. Any guesses as to who one of the pressure-appliers was? Not Ackerman, surely – that would be illegal lobbying!

Well, maybe we’ll find out soon all about what Ackerman did or didn’t do; and Cunningham’s lofty life-long goal of pursuing the Truth will bear fruit – although no thanks to him. See, the County Counsel has asked the State AG to look into the whole issue of open meeting law violation, public procurement (Ackerman’s “services”) violation, and manifest conflict-of-interest charges against Ackerman’s employers. Who knows, maybe Dick will be able to explain what he did, or didn’t do under oath.

We also note in passing, that according to Scott Moxley at the OC Weekly, Ackerman’s law firm has passed the OC Fair “Foundation” hot potato on to Jones Day, the same scumsuckers Ackerman used to try (unsuccessfully) to intimidate us.

Your Honor, can I borrow that wooden hammer thingy?

November 16, 2009December 28, 200972nd Election

The Ethical Ackermans of Irvine

by Grover Cleveland1 Comment

Heh heh. A backroom deal? You came to the right place!

Our pals over at the OC Weekly have finally got on board the OC Fair story. Scott Moxley has described a letter from County Counsel Nick Chrisos to a State AG rep about the obvious conspiracy by Fair Board members to create their own insider cabal to push for the sale of the Fair – to themselves.

The lawyer hired to shepherd this little back room deal through the legislature was none other than the husband of the Ethically Exuberant Ackerwoman – Dick Ackerman. In his article Moxley forgets to mention that good ol’ Dick hadn’t even been out of the Legislature for more than a few months himself and so seems to have violated state law by lobbying the Legislature, a characterization of which Ackerman is already trying to slime away from.

Like husband, like wife. Linda, Dick’s supposed better half, is running as a candidate in an Assembly district that she doesn’t live in, pushing a resume that is patently fraudulent. And worse yet, Dick claims to “speak for his wife.” What a team. And they want us to think that she is the ethical choice!

You want ethics? We got lots of ethics all over the place...

But back to the OC Fair deal. Now that at least one government entity has finally gotten involved, it’s going to be really hard for Ackerman, Inc. to wriggle off this hook. And consider this: since the County Counsel has got involved, its a real good bet that at least one County Supervisor other than Chris Norby has Ackerman in his/her sights.

November 16, 2009November 16, 200972nd Election

Ackerwoman Pictorial Album – A Fond Farewell

by admin1 Comment