Friends For Fullerton's Future

November 23, 2009November 23, 2009About Us

The Fringe For Fullerton’s Future

We just read a very interesting comment by our fellow blogger, The Fullerton Harpoon, who wrote what appears to be a fairly concise essay on the nature of the “fringer.” We have added some fun graphics to the text. Here is what The Harpoon wrote:

I think you guys are confusing unrelated terms. “Fringism” is a state of mind – not a political persuasion. The fringer has been identified as such by those in the gelatinous “center” who have an inherest trust and fondness for, or a personal stake in power structures.

A middling sea yields a bountiful harvest...

The fringer embraces the supposed insult knowing as he does that independence from entrenched interests brings clarity and objectivity. The true fringer is (or should be) a fairly rigorous empiricist (a fringer with a theological or Idealist bent is likely just to be just plain scary); if he has an acerbic personality and is unafraid to deploy perfectly good Anglo Saxon words then the fringer has the weapons to puncture the hot air-filled balloon the aeronauts in the middle like to waft around in. Hopefully now the picture of the fringer starts to come into sharper focus.

The fringer is an iconoclast by nature or experience, refusing to recognize the graven images idolized by the marshmallowy middle.

The dead center (inertial resistance) is responsible for most of the lack of accountability in local government; the “conservatives” (they’re not) and the “progressives” (they’re not) are actually pretty happy just to share their five little thrones with each other while the real shot-callers keep the apparatus working behind the scenes.

Other definitions are welcome, as usual. Fringers are not dogmatic.

November 22, 2009January 4, 2010OC Fair

Is There Enough Fair Pie To Go Around?

by The Fullerton Shadow4 Comments

A while back we did a post on the deafening silence in certain quarters about the shenanigans being perpetrated by members of the Orange County Fair Board in their effort to buy their own Fair: you know, sort of embarrassing things like meeting in secret, using public funds for their own gain, employing an illegal lobbyist.

At the situationally ethical Red County blog not only had nobody said a word about it, their #1 undertherugsweeper, Matthew J. Cunningham was doing weird posts on the motivations of sale opponents. Of course he took umbrage at our disrespectful behavior. More high-pitched, hysterical girly shrieks: Fringe! Fringe!

When Mrs. Cunningham goes into spin mode (we all know now what that means – divert attention, change the subject, etc.) there is usually a self-interested reason. In this case we suspected that he was simply running cover for his repuglican buddies on the Board who had previously hosted him for scrumpdiddlyumtious fair chow and drinkies; and of course it wouldn’t do to talk about the activities of the Fair Foundation “consultant”- one Dick Ackerman. At least not without a script prepared.

Then someone sent us this fun factoid: the URL ocfairfoundation.org is owned by someone named Scott Graves, the same name as Matt J. Cunningham’s former blog publishing boss at – Red County. Hmm. Same guy? Is Cunningham’s old boss designing the website for the “Foundation?” That would figure.

Suddenly we have to wonder just how many of Orange County’s Repuglicans have their fingers stuck into the Fair Pie, and when, if ever, the centro-sphere motormouths will ever even mention it.

November 22, 2009January 6, 201072nd Election

The Ackerwoman for Assembly Hall of Shame

by admin22 Comments

On another thread Fullerton School Board member and seemingly clueless Ackerwoman supporter, Minard Duncan, popped up like a milk weed to question our apparent dislike of his fellow Ackerwoman cheerleader Mimi Walters.

This jump started an earlier idea to publish the names of all the lackeys, stooges and repuglicans who signed onto Ackerman Inc.’s Big Lie Tour of 2009.

This is a list of the elected officials that decided their best interests lay in the endorsement of Linda Ackerman for the 72nd Assembly District. Enjoy the asinine quotations at the bottom of the page and be sure to pick out your favorites on the list for special attention. We have helpfully highlighted in red the names of politicians in whose elections Fullerton voters will get to participate.

Members of Congress

Congressman Ed Royce
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher
Former Congressman Bill Dannemeyer

Statewide Elected Officials

BOE Member Bill Leonard
Former State Secretary of Education and Mayor of Los Angeles Richard Riordan

State Senators

Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth
Former Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte
Former Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman
Former Senator Marian Bergeson
Senator Mark Wyland
Senator Mimi Walters
Senator Bob Huff
Senator Bob Dutton
Senator George Runner
Senator Sam Aanestad
Senator John Benoit
Senator Abel Maldonado
Senator Dave Cox

State Assemblymembers

Former Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines
Assemblyman Jim Silva
Assemblyman Joel Anderson
Assemblyman Ted Gaines
Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher
Assemblywoman Diane Harkey
Former Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher
Former Assemblywoman Sharon Runner
Former Assemblyman Tom Bordonaro
Former Assemblyman Openmike Duval
Former Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer

Orange County

Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens
Orange County Supervisor Pat Bates
Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell
Orange County Supervisor Janet Ngyuen
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas
Former Orange County Supervisor Cynthia Coad

Anaheim

Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle

Fullerton

Fullerton Mayor Don Bankhead
Fullerton Councilmember Dick Jones
Former Mayor of Fullerton Buck Catlin
Former Mayor Leland Wilson
Former Mayor Peter Godfry
Former Mayor of Fullerton Jerry Christie
Former Mayor of Fullerton Linda LeQuire
Former Fullerton Police Chief Pat McKinley

Placentia

Former Placentia Mayor Scott Brady
Placentia Councilmember Jeremy Yamaguchi

Orange

City of Orange Mayor Carolyn Cavecche
City of Orange Councilmember Mark Murphy
City of Orange Councilmember Jon Dumitru

Yorba Linda

Yorba Linda Mayor Mark Schwing
Yorba Linda Councilmember Jim Winder

Villa Park

Villa Park Mayor Pro Tem Bill Mac Aloney

Brea

Brea Mayor John Beauman
Brea Councilmember Roy Moore

La Habra

La Habra Councilmember James Gomez
La Habra Councilmember Steve Simonian
Former La Habra Mayor Juan Garcia
Former La Habra City Councilmember John Holmberg

Elected Leaders

Tustin Mayor Doug Davert
Tustin Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Amante
Laguna Hills Mayor Joel Lautenschleger
City of Covina Mayor Walt Allen
Newport Beach City Councilmember Steven Rosansky
Capistrano Unified School District Trustee, Anna Bryson
Fullerton School District Trustees Maynard Duncan, Ellan Ballard, Hilda Sugarman, Lynn Thornly.

“Having called North Orange County her home for over 30 years, Linda is by far the most experienced and effective candidate for Assembly. She is a respected leader who will restore dignity to the office while fighting for Orange County values.”- Former Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher

“Linda has been a steadfast conservative leader in Orange County for many years. She will be ready to lead on the important budget issues facing the region and the state on day one.”- Assemblywoman Diane Harkey

“I am proud to stand by Linda in her campaign to promote conservative leadership and higher standards to the California State Assembly.”

– State Senator Mimi Walters.

“Linda Ackerman is an experienced leader who has proven her dedication to the community time and time again, I am proud to support her campaign for State Assembly because I know she will be ready to lead on the issues our state faces on day one after being elected.”- Senator Bob Huff

“Linda Ackerman has always done what is right for the sake of the community, not political gain. She is a proven leader who will help solve California’s budget crisis and bring Orange County values to the State Assembly.”- City of Orange Mayor Carolyn Cavecche

“Linda Ackerman is an experienced businesswoman and community leader who I trust to help balance the budget and rein in out of control spending in Sacramento. North Orange County needs Linda in the Assembly fighting for real budget reform.” – Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle

“We need an experienced leader who will fight for North Orange County. That’s why I’m supporting Linda Ackerman for State Assembly,” Fullerton Mayor Don Bankhead

“When it comes to the safety of our children, Linda Ackerman will never back down.”- Former Fullerton Police Chief Pat McKinley

“I wholeheartedly endorse Linda in her campaign for Assembly. As a businesswoman and community philanthropist she has been an active leader in North Orange County and is by far the best person to represent us in the Assembly” -Yorba Linda Mayor Mark Schwing

Paid For by Ackerman for Assembly 2009, FPPC ID #1321372

November 21, 2009January 6, 2010About Us

Who Is Mimi Walters and How Did We Get Stuck With Her?

by The Fullerton Shadow21 Comments

Okay, scrunch together... — We are stymied. Supply your own caption...

Mimi is the senator representing most of Fullerton in the 33rd State Senate District – so bequeathed by Dick Ackerman who made sure that some (but not all) of Fullerton was kept in his 33rd when redistricting occurred in 2001. Walters lives somewhere down near the beach but is our representative! Ah! Ackermanism, the gift that keeps giving.

In the fun photo above, Mimi Walters is the slender woman in pink, getting crushed by her good pal Mike Duvall’s tub of guts.

Why are we picking on Walters? Because to put it simply, her political presence in Fullerton is a pure expression of the repuglicanism propagated by the Ackermans and their cronies. Walters is a long-time buddy of Ackerman, Inc. and, like Mike Duvall, owes her political success to that gang. Naturally she would endorse a carpetbagging, no-ability zero like Linda Ackerman to represent us. Hell, that’s just par for the course.

But her latest episode is just as bad. Apparently she is the Campaign Co-chair for some creature named Sue Perez who wants to unseat State Senator Lou Correa for the 34th Senate job. Orange Juice blog has done a post on the subject, here. The 34th District includes a good-sized chunk of south-central Fullerton. And that makes it our business.

Well, guess what? Sue Perez doesn’t live in the 34th District! Quel surprise!She also has no political history, no record, no nothing, except that she seems to have some connection to the nut-jobs at the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and is pals with Lorri Galloway – another carpetbagger. Perez has hired Mimi Walter’s campaign consultant as an indication of her seriousness.

We would like to think that Mimi W. would have taken some time to soberly reflect upon the humiliation visited upon Linda Ackerwoman before embarking on another voyage into the same turbulent waters, but apparently such was not the case. Could the Gang find no one with even a shred of plausibility? Guess not. In the end it won’t matter much because Correa will win comfortably. Still, it would be nice to have a real opponent for Lou in the election.

So soon someone may have to festoon central Fullerton with a whole new round of “carpetbagger” signs. There’s just no rest for the weary!

In Puccini’s opera La Boheme, an undernourished Mimi finally succumbs to “consumption” in Act IV. Our Mimi may be a little harder to be rid of. But can we really afford any more of this sort of thing?

November 21, 2009December 28, 2009Fullerton City Council

Pam Keller’s Election as Mayor Clearly Equates to Discrimination

by Chris Thompson13 Comments

Like any good American, I am a staunch advocate for “TURNS”. And as Fullerton’s #1 Freedom Fighter, Sharon Kennedy points out; Pam Keller may not get hers as Mayor. Being moved nearly to tears by this development, I went straight to work statistically verifying this horrible state of affairs. Specifically, that women are not as likely to be given their TURN as Mayor as the men! What salacious form of woman-hating is this? So in support of Sharon and Pam, I ran the numbers…

Pam Keller Awarding Chris Norby for bringing the notion of TURNS to Fullerton Mayoral politics.

Dating back to Mayor Charles Chapman in 1902, 44% of Fullerton’s Male City Council Members have had their turn as Mayor. And, only 75% of our Female Council Members have had their turn. So, clearly, discrimination is rampa….what? Let me double check these figures:

35 male mayors/80 male council members = 44%.

6 female mayors/ 8 female council members = 75%

Ummm….well, let me check the numbers just since the first female council member Frances Wood (pause to bow head) was elected in 1970:

13 male mayors/17male council members = 77%

6 female mayors/ 8 female council members = 75%

I KNEW IT!!! Discrimination IS rampant in Fullerton!

But wait… dialing the Observer…

“Sharon, CT here. We have a problem. If the Fullerton School District’s Collaborative Director gets elected Mayor that will mean that 88% of Fullerton’s female council members will have been elected as Mayor and only 77% of men…

…what’s that?….NO, that’s only since 1970 when there HAVE been women on the council.

What? Bury it??? Yeah…yeah….that’s what we should do. People will just forget that we ever brought it up. God you’re brilliant Sharon!”

November 20, 2009Fullerton BooHoo

Perplexed “Pamette” Posse Pluviates Pilaver

by admin20 Comments

You want funny? We got funny. Just listen to this nincompoop try to promote Pam Keller’s mayoralty – while waving around a copy of the widely discredited Fullerton Observer! Enjoy!

November 20, 2009December 28, 200972nd Election

The Highlight of the 72nd Primary Election

by The Fullerton Harpoon16 Comments

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.