Moby Dick Writ Anew?

I wonder what Chris Norby is doing right now...
I wonder what Chris Norby is doing right now...

We have been wondering of late just what kind of personality engages in the sort of obsessive, seemingly pathological hatred one politico demonstrates to another. Specifically we have in mind the abysmal, enduring, and apparently limitless abhorrence that former State Senator and Irvine resident Dick Ackerman holds for County Supervisor (and Fullerton resident) Chris Norby.

This bottomless well of antipathy even seems to extend so deep as the promotion of Dick’s wife, Linda to run against Norby for the 72nd State Assembly seat, an assembly district that the Ackermans don’t even live in, having fled nine years ago for the greener fields of a “secret gated community” in Irvine.

We’re sort of baffled by this bitter bile and animus Ackerman holds for Norby, and so we called upon the expert opinion of Dr. Reinhold Ott of the Schwabian Institut fur Psychologie in Tubingen, Germany, and FFFF on-call staff analyst.

Dr. Ott
The penetrating gaze of Dr. Reinhold Ott

The case study that you have suggested is most interesting to me as both a psychiatrist and a student of American literature. Of course I may only speak in generalities based upon the facts that you have presented, not having met the principals in the case.

It seems clear to me that there is an obvious case of obsessive compulsive hatred involved on the part of Mr. Ackerman. The source of this animosity may be related to a variety of causes including early rejection and power fixation; there is certainly an element of uncontrolled paranoid megalomania involved and, perhaps a love-hate relationship between himself and the object of his apparent hatred. Dr. Freud identified this “Cain and Abel” syndrome early on in certain cases; and clinical studies in the United States involving Rhesus monkeys and Bonoabo chimps have demonstrated similar tendencies.

I would draw your attention to the great pyschological novel by Herman Melville, Moby Dick, to demonstrate a classical example of  this obsessive lust for hatred, revenge, and of course, eventual disaster. 

Well, call me Ishmael!

Ackerman Phone Call Intercepted!

Gee it looks just like an ordinary van!
Gee it looks just like an ordinary van!

Our field operatives have just recently intercepted a phone conversation between former State Senator Dick Ackerman and GOP PR flack Jon Fleischman, the producer of the now infamous “2007 Holiday Greeting” in which Fleischman identifies Ackerman’s house as located in a “secret, gated community” in Irvine.

As our Friends are aware, this video came at a sensitive time, as Ackerman’s wife is attempting to offer her services to the residents of an assembly district (ours) in which she does not live – yet. Fleischman pulled the video off Youtube – but too late! It had already been snagged by video enthusiasts the world over.

The quality of the phone conversation recording is poor, perhaps due to the multitude of wires in the Ackerman’s topiary gardens; so poor in fact, that it is not effective to reproduce it; however our audio reconstruction department staff have analyzed it at length and have produced the nearly believable transcript below:

(phone ringing)

Fleischman: Hello?

Ackerman: Yeah, (grunting sound) Fleischman, this is Dick Ackerman!

F: Senator, how are you? How is your lovely –

A: Cut the crap, you donkey. That lame-ass movie you made is still on the internet. That bastard Norby got Bushala and Pedroza to do blog whaddyacallits. Now everybody in the 72nd knows we live in Irvine. I never should have let you through the gate.

F: Gee, I sure feel bad about that, Senator. I wish there was something –

A: And another thing what was all that fat-mouth bullshit about a “secret gated community” and “doing pretty well as a legislator?”

F: Um, well…um…

A: Now get off your fat ass and pull that video (snorting and grunting sounds).

F: Gee, Senator I’m not a lawyer, but it’s on Youtube, you know, in the public domain. It’s gonna be hard, you know, to –

A: You’re goddam right you’re not a lawyer. So shut up and do it. Get rid of it. Now.

F: Well, okay Senator, I sure am sorry about all this, you know how I feel about you and um, Linda.

A:  (more grunting sounds) That bastard Norby’s behind this. Well, his days are numbered.

F: Yes, sir. He’s not a real conservative, like us, and he’ll do anything to get elected.

A: (snarling sounds) There’s a strange van out behind the tennis court. Now get off the phone you jackass and make that goddam thing go away (static).

You Want Blight? We Got Blight!

Dear Friends, we know that the issue of blight relative to the proposed Redevelopment expansion may seem confusing to you, perhaps even a bit abstract. So we have decided to collect some images of blight to help you get the picture. To be fair, and consistent, we have tried to stick to the City’s own standard (or worse) as we collected pictures not in the proposed area, but in the existing Redevelopment Project Area – to let you also see what a bang-up job the city is doing to eradicate blight already, especially with subsidized projects that it has already built!

FALLING TILESleesthe town I live in DSC00228DSC00223DSC00210DSC00217DSC00215FOR LEASEDSC00230

Councilwoman Sharon Quirk-Silva Throws Hat in the Ring for the 72nd

Quirk

Fullerton Councilwoman Sharon Quirk-Silva sent me a text message  that read; “To my favorite blogger (I like the sound of that) I am officially running for the 72nd Assembly seat”.

This is good news for Fullerton Democrats that care about having a principled Democrat in the race. There appears to be another Democrat in the race from Placentia, but Sharon Quirk-Silva has a high profile here in Fullerton, and Fullerton is a much bigger chunk of the 72nd.

Quirk-Silva is now firmly opposed to redevelopment boondoggles. She recently opposed the bogus redevelopment expansion and had the courage to change her vote on the $6 million McDonald’s redevelopment giveaway/boondoggle.

So far, of all the candidate’s websites, I think she has the best. Here’s the link.

Who Do You Believe, Nelson or Jones?

Here’s a video clip with two starkly contrasting views of the hush money scheme Fullerton’s Redevelopment lawyer Jeff Oderman cooked up to payoff  the County  in order to prevent a lawsuit against the city’s crooked Redevelopment expansion proposal.

Shawn Nelson rightly identifies the $4,000,000 upfront General Fund payout and later phony lease-back arrangements for what they are: a gimmick and a scam. Dick Jones just can’t let it go at that and interjects his windy summation, again, since he had already had his chance to bloviate over the City’s shenanigans earlier.  

Well, Friends, you decide; “brilliance” or “scam.”

ACKERMAN RESIDENCE REVEALED! THEN COVERED UP AGAIN!

Shhh! it's a secret!
Shhh! it's a secret!

Earlier today we shared an amusing youtube clip fashioned by none other than Jon Fleishman, OCs most notorious GOP boot lick (if you don’t count Jerbal Cunningham). In it he visits the Ackerman Family McMansion within a “secret gated community” in Irvine. Irvine?! A few hours later that clip was removed from public access. Gee, we sure wonder why!

Mrs. Ackerman wants to be OUR elected representative in Sacramento. And she lives in Irvine? Well, clearly the Ackerman clan is going to have to dummy up a fake residence somewhere in the 72nd Assembly District so that the missus can qualify to run for office.

Heh-heh. I'll be back in Irvine by Thanksgiving.
Heh-heh. I'll be back in Irvine by Thanksgiving.

But really, what kind of a decent candidacy can possibly be based on spite and mendacity? That question sort of answers itself.

Well, We Know Where They Live!

UPDATE: APPARENTLY THE ACKERMAN MOB DOESN”T WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT THEY LIVE IN A “SECRET GATED COMMUNITY” IN IRVINE. THE YOU TUBE CLIP HAS BEEN REMOVED.

Check out where the Ackermans really live! And they seem to think we want the Mrs. representing us!

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

A “secret gated community.” In Irvine!

And we thank OC GOP hack and former Mike Carona flack Jon Fleischman for all his hardwork producing this 2007 holiday greeting!

Fullerton Collaborative Collaborates on Stall

Grrrrr!
Grrrrr!

Yesterday our own tenacious Travis followed up, as promised, with Pam Keller, to find out what the Fullerton Collaborative board had decided about our request to divulge their donors.

Here’s what Travis got back:

Dear Travis,
The Board of the Fullerton Collaborative met today. Your request was included on the agenda. The Board suggested if you are interested in knowing about our financial state you are welcome to look for our 990 forms on http://www2.guidestar.org/. If you would like to know more details about how we are funded, where the funding comes from or how our Collaborative functions Zoot Velasco, Chair of the Board; Barry Ross, Treasurer and I would be glad to sit down with you to go over the information.
Thank you for your interest in the Fullerton Collaborative,
Pam Keller
Executive Director

Well, you didn't think it I was going to make it easy, did you?
Well, you didn't think it I was going to make it easy, did you?

Hmm. We didn’t get what we wanted, but rather we got a brush off – sort of. While we have nothing against sitting down with these good people, it hardly seems necessary. We don’t need face time with them. They are either going to cooperate or not.
The invitation that we view the Form 990 is really pretty disingenuous: Ms. Keller knows very well that we have already looked at their 2007 version of this document on line – which caused us to start asking our questions in the first place. We posted about it here .
This whole thing is really starting to smell like a stall to us – we’ve been put off for over a month already. Oh well! The truth will out, as they say.

Dick Ackerman For 4th District Supervisor?

 

What a guy...
What a guy...

Lost in the brouhaha over his wife’s sudden carpetbagging political ambitions in the 72nd State Assembly special election is the curious fact that Dick Ackerman is very likely going to be a resident soon of the 4th Supervisorial District.

We’re not real sure yet where the Ackermans have decided to take up their faux residence, but chances are pretty good it will be back in Dick’s old happy hunting grounds, surrounded by the love of all his old Fullerton Rotarian pals. And if he does “move” to Fullerton he would be able to throw his hat in the ring for termed-out Supervisor Chris Noby’s job.

Far-fetched? Well, maybe. But the Ackermans seem to be the type of folks who avoid leaving anything on the table, so Shawn Nelson would be well-advised to watch his back…

Milking The Cash Cow; John Lewis et. al. and The Politics of Profit

Oh, jeez, here he comes again...
Oh, jeez, here he comes again...

Why is it so many supposedly conservative, small-government OC Republicans seem to make it their business to make as much money as they can off of the very entities that they are constantly railing against? For many of these miscreants the County government is nothing but a plantation to be worked, and worked over, as often as possible.

Take the case of former State Senator John Lewis, supposed arch-conservative Republican, who as a campaign consultant gets his boys elected and then as a lobbyist raises money for them – right before he puts the squeeze on them for a vote or two. His “firm” brags about being able to navigate the complex maze of government. Hmm. Seems like it’s to his advantage to keep government as big, complicated, and non-user friendly as possible. The list of other Republicans -like Anaheim mayor Curt Pringle, County GOP party Chairman Scott Baugh and his predecessor Tom Fuentes, who lobby this or that – is pretty long. We’ve even heard from one reliable source that the latter’s endorsement can be had – for 2500 bucks.

But back to Lewis. His most recent Lewis scam seems to be the utterly bizarre candidacy of one Laura Cunningham for the County Clerk job – as reported by Lewis himself on the Orange Juice blog here. We say bizarre because this idea is so weird that it barely deserves consideration. Except that what the hell, somebody’s got to win this election! Ms. Cunningham is the spouse of Matt Cunningham, a Lewis protege and collaborator; according to her on-line resume she also used to work for Lewis himself as a lobbyist at the County Hall of Admin – so the promotion of this “candidacy” makes sense. But this woman seemingly has no experience or record managing anything. Like her husband, she seems to have spent an adulthood spinning yarns for this or that Republican politician, or trying to help some clients “navigate” some public issue or other (i.e lobbying and PR); running a public agency? Nuh, uh.

Can't these people get real jobs?

Lewis may be afraid that his boy Tom Daly is getting cold feet about running to replace Chris Norby as Supervisor and wants him to nail his colors to the mast by endorsing a potential successor. Ultimately Lewis has nothing to lose by promoting an unqualified unknown. Who knows? Maybe the whole thing is just a ploy. On the other hand maybe Lewis figures this could be the start of a brilliant new political career – and ultimately a lobbying target in the future!

P.S. The funny thing about all of this is that everybody seems to be forgetting about Chris Norby who until a few days ago was also running for the Clerk job. If he gets beat by Ackerman in the 72nd Assy primary in November will he re-train his sights on preserving our vital records at the County Clerk’s office? And what would Lewis do at that point?