Friends For Fullerton's Future

October 8, 2009December 28, 200972nd Election

Mickadeit Recounts Ackerman Trash

If there's a bottom, I haven't found it yet.

UPDATE @ 2:17 PM 10/08/09

I MISSED THIS LITTLE GEM WHEN I READ MICKADEIT’S PIECE EARLIER:

Ackerman says the two had a friendly beer at Elmer’s after Norby won. “I said, ‘Hey, things are going to be good. We’ve got five conservatives.’ But the votes kept coming out 4-1,” with Norby dissenting.

PROOF THAT ACKERMAN IS A LIAR – OR HAS A REAL, REAL BAD MEMORY. MOLLY McCLANAHAN WAS ON THE CITY COUNCIL THEN. THERE WERE NEVER 5 CONSERVATIVES. C’MON DICK. YOU REMEMBER MOLLY DON’T YOU? YOU KEPT HER FROM BEING MAYOR FOR 6 YEARS. YOU OUGHT TO. MAYBE LINDA LEQUIRE CAN HELP. HER MEMORY IS AT LEAST AS GOOD AS YOURS.

In a piece today the Register’s Frank Mickadeit recounts the history of the Norby-Ackerman feud – talking to both. Ackerman, it seems, has suddenly recovered memories of errant Norby behavior from the 1980s that went by the boards back in the 1995 Assembly campaign when Ackerman dove to the bottom of the campaign swamp and wallowed around there. But really.To mention completely undocumented events relating to sexual harassment, and to cite as an authority a dead man, is low even for Ackerman – and that’s saying a lot.

What makes the whole thing ring completely untrue is Ackerman’s assertion that Norby changed his voting positions on the dais from previously stated positions (actually it sounds like Ackerman is admitting to violating the Brown Act, but we’ll let that pass). He also purports that Norby called him up and threatened him. Pure unadulterated bullshit. But that’s Ackerman for you. Throw up garbage nobody can disprove and see what happens. Right out of the Richard M. Nixon playbook.

The real reason Norby got under Ackerman’s skin (and stayed there for 25 years – how’s that for weird) is that he had the audacity to vote no. Ackerman admits his annoyance with 4-1 votes. No teamwork there – and Ackerman was team captain. See the problem? Also Norby had the good sense to oppose egregious Redevelopment nonsense and Ackerman went for it. See the problem?

The crowning moment of the Mickadeit article is when he uncovered Linda Lequire, Fullerton’s former Queen of Spleen, from under her desert rock. Of course she backed up Ackerman’s story – in eerily identical detail. Since Lequire moved out of Fullerton some years ago we assume Mickadeit got her number from the Ackermans themselves – but only after Lequire had time to be coached on the nuances of the Ackerman strategy.

For those interested in a pyschological take on the Ackerman Obsession we refer readers to a previous post.

October 7, 2009January 9, 201072nd Election

Geez, We Left Out the Biggest One!

by The Fullerton Harpoon3 Comments

The other day this blog ran a post on the meaning of Repuglicanism, and shared some honest-to-goodness examples. But we left out one of the biggest: Anaheim’s own Mayor, Curt Pringle. Pringle has been using his political contacts and trading on his position for years as a Sacramento lobbyist and string puller.

In case there was any doubt of Pringle’s status as a ‘Pug, the Ackerman campaign today crowed about getting Pringle’s endorsement for her carpetbagging run for the open 72nd Assembly seat. Well that figures. As a ‘Pug, Pringle is basically in it for what he can get out of it, and the constituents be damned. So what if the candidate lives in Irvine? Pringle can afford to be fast and loose with his endorsement, for what it’s worth. The 72nd includes only a small part of Anaheim. And he’s termed out of office next year.

Why do all the lobbyists flock to Mrs. Ackerman?

October 7, 2009December 28, 200972nd Election

Candidate Jane Rands Brings Green Solutions to 72nd District State Assembly Campaign

by admin6 Comments

Dear Friends, we have received the following press release today from Jane Rands’ 72nd Assembly District Special Election campaign. Enjoy!

www.janerandsforassembly.com, jane@janerandsforassembly.com, (714) 325-5223

Fullerton, CA – Jane Rands, Green Party candidate for the 72nd District Assembly, supports a single payer healthcare system, marriage equality, decentralized rooftop solar energy production, restoration of critical education funding, conservation of our water resources, and legislation to strengthen the California Environmental Quality Act. “California’s budget shortfalls can be partially resolved by implementing long overdue oil extraction fees and restructuring Proposition 13 to only apply to family homes,” said Rands.

The Green Party has had ballot status in California since 1992. The Party’s platform calls for ranked ballot voting, universal healthcare, equal rights for LGBT people, equal pay for women in the workplace, limitations on harmful atmospheric pollutants, the preservation and restoration of California’s natural waterways and wetlands, and other policies to develop an environmentally sustainable economy in the state. Visit www.cagreens.org for more information.

Jane Rands is a Systems Engineer who resides in Fullerton, where she is an appointed member of the city’s Bicycle Users Subcommittee. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She currently serves as Liaison to the Secretary of State for the Green Party of California and Treasurer for the Green Party of Orange County.

The 72nd Assembly District includes the cities of Brea, Fullerton, and parts of Placentia, Anaheim, La Habra, Orange and Yorba Linda. A November 17 primary is scheduled to be followed by an expected January 12 runoff election.

October 7, 2009December 28, 200972nd Election

Linda Ackerman: Clothes Horse Supreme In A Time of Recession

by Grover Cleveland10 Comments

We have been disparaging the Linda Ackerman carpetbagging campaign for the 72nd State Assembly seat as nothing more than an Irvine political socialite prowling for a job in North Orange County. Well it isn’t!

The images above were harvested from her campaign website showing the versatile Mrs. Ackerman in numerous wardrobes in obviously staged poses with the usual subjects of political campaign photography: business people, cops, doctors, a geezer, firefighters, et al.; even a gaggle of eager little girls, perhaps learning how to plan a Maui vacation on somebody else’s dime!

And what a wardrobe she has!

Notice the time stamps on the images. Six different get ups for six different locations documented by photos taken with a few hours. What a quick change artist! Hard to believe she actually found time to chat with those actors they called in from Central Casting. What a gal!

October 6, 2009December 28, 200972nd Election

72nd Assembly Watch: Final Candidates List

by Grover Cleveland3 Comments

Art Pedroza over at the Orange Juice blog has written a piece about the candidates in the Special Election Primary to fill the vacancy left by Repuglican darling and now disgraced Mike Duvall. Read about it here.

Art notes that in the absence of a Libertarian candidate Norby should be picking up some votes from that quarter. Well that’ll be about 8 votes.

Pretty soon we’re going to be getting a flood of election mail and it ain’t gonna be pretty, soon.

October 6, 2009December 15, 2010Fullerton 2010

800 Pound Gorilla For Council in 2010?

by The Fullerton Harpoon11 Comments

A while back Congressman and purveyor of lousy RINO city council candidates, Ed Royce, was overheard bragging about the 800 pound gorilla he was going to be unleashing on Fullerton political scene. Who was this electoral juggernaut? None other than now former Police Chief Pat McKinley.

With McKinley’s endorsement of Mrs. Ackerman to replace her disgraced pal Mike Duvall, the pieces all seem to fit. It looks like McKinley has indeed decided to run for City Council next year and has worked out an endorsement swap with the Repuglican elite.

The choice of McKinley on the part of the Repugs would in no way be surprising. As an ex-cop he could be counted on to secure the law ‘n order vote as well as charm the bluehairs. He’s getting up there age-wise, and in poses zero political threat to the Repug machine. Who cares if he is an ex-city government employee and likely to go along with every staff proposal and boondoggle? He would be following in the proud footsteps of Don Bankhead, Dick Jones, Leland Wilson, Mike Clesceri, Julie Sa, Peter Godfrey, Buck Catlin, and even Dick Ackerman himself. Who knows? Maybe even the Yellowing Observers might go along for the ride. After all they went with Dick Jones, right?

Best of all, he’s not a female Democrat, the hideous monster that inhabits Ed Royce’s closet at night.

Ed left the closet door open again... — Oops! Ed's left the closet door open again...

October 6, 2009October 5, 2009Brick Veneer, Fake Old, And Other Horrors

New Street Signs: Assessing the Hump

by admin18 Comments

The first thing that came to my mind when I first saw these street signs was: am I the only one that thinks these things look like something I might find at Knotts Berry Farm or the dopey French Quarter at Disneyland?

There is something odd about the idea that a street sign needs to be treated as an “aesthetic” object – meaning that it is subject to the whims of visual preference among some class of people self-appointed to pass judgement on such things. A street sign is a street sign. The first necessity is functionality. Can it be read easily, and read at night? Is is affordable? After all, the taxpayer is footing the bill, rarely the individual who makes the “design” choice.

But there is something more subtle and just as pernicious as mistaking a utilitarian object for an artistic one. And that is the application of boneheaded and embarrassing aesthetic choices. We have already illustrated the confused thinking behind the aesthetic viewpoint that prefers the curved to the straight line, the complicated over the simple. Remember this post on Fullerton’s goofy redevelopment sidewalks?

And in our numerous posts that have railed against fake old we have also criticized the bureaucratic bad taste that adores the hideous old-timey themes so prevalent in insecure places like Fullerton. Who knows why there is a hump on the top of these signs? Is it something someone saw somewhere? Something picked at random out of a street sign catalogue by a traffic engineer? Are we supposed to discern an echo of the Mission Revival espadana in the hump – like those disgusting Taco Bell outlets of the 80s? Who cares?

This is just another example of confusion: confusion that a street sign needs to be gussied up; confusion that a hump on top is better than a simple rectangle; and confusion that the inclusion of the almost illegibly dinky word “Fullerton” somehow adds something to the ensemble.

Say, whatever happened to that Country Bear Jamboree?

October 5, 2009December 28, 2009About Us

Let’s Put The Ackermans’ Selfishness in a Fullerton Context

by The Fullerton Harpoon3 Comments

We have been making fun of Mrs. Ackerman’s carpetbagging run for the 72nd Assembly seat – up for grabs in November after the Ackerman’s pal Mike Duvall got caught with his pants down and his microphone open.

We're really not as close to the Duvalls as we used to be...

We have recounted Mrs. Ackerman’s bogus Hawaiian vacation “non-profit” corporation, noted the out-of-town fundraising attempt with Sacto lobbyists; and of course we have had some fun with the phony residency – in which they want people to believe they are moving in with another Fullerton family.

What all this really adds up to is a breathtaking arrogance, a sense of self-entitlement that the rest of us have trouble grasping. Just how these OC Repuglican stalwarts grab hold of and hang on to government power to promote and enrich themselves is something that most regular people just can’t quite fathom. Who in the 72nd Assembly District asked Mrs. Ackerman (who has lived in Irvine for ten years) to represent them? Nobody, that’s who! It was the Ackermans’ idea.

pigs

And so, ever helpful, we have decided to put the inherent selfishness of these people into a local perspective, personified by our old pal, Fullerton Councilman Dick Jones. Over the years Jones has remained on the City Council with the staunch support of the Ackermans, who endorse this loud-mouthed, ignorant blowhard term after repugnant term. Why? It can’t be because they care about good government in Fullerton. No, it is because Jones fills their bill just perfectly.

First, Jones is getting on in years and has no political ambition; second, he mostly does what he is told by the people who put him in office – when they deign to care about something in Fullerton at all, that is. At this point his assignment is principally to stay in office – to avoid a Godless Democrat from getting in, a Democrat whose voting record would be essentially the same as Jones, but who might pose a threat to the Repuglican elite. So what if Jones is really just a RINO? So what if he shoots his mouth off with incoherent tirades? So what if he knows nothing about what he’s blathering about? His job is to keep the seat warm until the next cipher with more ambition than brains can be unearthed, and to avoid soiling himself in public.

And so you see, the Ackermans get the prize they like to gloat over – political control – and we get – well you’ve seen the video clips. You know what we get.

October 4, 2009December 15, 201072nd Election

Ex-Chief Lines Up With Ackerman Clan

by Grover Cleveland4 Comments

Friends, we just received this entertaining e-mail from a devoted reader:

So there I am in my kitchen, washing dishes on a quiet Sunday night when my phone rings. Who is is? The last person on Earth I would ever expect. Fullerton’s former Chief of Police, Pat McKinley. The guy who wasted untold hours “designing” a dumb police “vest” that, upon retirement he could sell back to the people of Fullerton. The zombie who let all his pals in downtown Fullerton create havoc and stick US with the bill. Oh yeah, that wonderful public servant.

Well, actually, it’s a robocall, and this slacker starts peddling Linda Ackerman for Assembly! Well I guess they all have it wired the same way.

If I needed any more encouragement to oppose the carpetbagging woman from Irvine, this was it: a guy who milked his job in Fullerton for over 15 years as the City went to the dogs as he worked on his lame-ass vest that the City bought with their Obama stimulus dollars!

Thanks for the e-mail, Friend. This is really sad news for Fullerton. What it means is that McKinley has cut a deal to peddle his backside with Ackerman and Royce to run for our City Council himself next year – with the support of the Usual Suspects. Well, that cat’s out of the bag!

Just what we need. Another ex-public employee negotiating with the public employees! Some Republican!

October 4, 200972nd Election

Was it Really 40 Years Ago? A Trip Down Memory Lane…

by The Fullerton Shadow3 Comments

Remember 1969, free love, and all that? Many of us are too young perhaps, but others maybe not be. In any case, we evoke 40-year anniversary recollections of a film that was both epilogue to the 60s and harbinger of the 70s. Paul Mazursky’s Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Refresh your memories here.

But who can forget this image of Eliot Gould, Natalie Wood, Robert Culp and Dyan Canon? Not us.

Was life simpler then? — A crowd formed...