According to the OC Register, phony 4th District candidate, Scott Markowitz pleaded guilty yesterday. In exchange for the plea Markowitz gets a day in jail, probation and a month of community service. Felony charges are dismissed by DA Todd Spitzer.
I’ve never seen the wheels of justice grind out a product so quickly.
But what is the product?
As FFFF writers and commenters have noted, Markowitz’s fate was largely irrelevant given that the whole thing was orchestrated by others connected to the cause of electing Vivian “Kitty” Jaramillo, including politicians and Democrat operatives.
Since prosecutors are not given to giving anything away I think we can speculate that Markowitz named a name. Or two. We may surmise, I think, that the investigation into who set Markowitz up in the first place is ongoing. On the other hand this sort of case is probably perceived by the DA as a hassle without a lot of glamor and some potential political pushback from Dems he needs in a non-partisan election.
As to Markowitz, maybe we can let the poor sap get on with his life, free of the encumbrance of a felony rap.
Phony Fullerton 4th District candidate Scott Markowitz has been arrested by the DA and charged with perjury and falsification of public documents. Somebody other than Markowitz circulated his nominating papers, but he attested that he did.
Normally, in these types of situations that would be the end of the story. Except that in the case of Markowitz – a political unknown – he had help. How much coaching he got, and by whom, remains something of a mystery, but it’s obvious that his perjury was suborned by others.
I’d sell out my own mother for 10 votes, and I have…
We do know that one of his manipulators is the former Executive Director of the OC Democrat Party, one Ajay Mohan who accompanied Markowitz to the City Clerk’s office to pull papers. Was Mohan the circulator? Was it somebody else, somebody that the nominators trusted? Who wrote the carefully crafted and cynical MAGA statement Markowitz got on the ballot? Certainly not Markowitz.
Happy Jaramillo…
Who else may have benefitted from the scam will give us a clue to the extent of the election rigging. Vivian Jaramillo is the number one suspect since Markowitz’s candidacy was meant to attract non-Latino voters from Linda Whitaker.
I will get what I want, one way or another…
One layer deeper, we can discern the shadowy figure of Ahmad Zahra, Fullerton’s 5th District representative who desperately needs Jaramillo’s support to finally become America’s first gay, Arab, Muslim Mayor; and who also needs Jaramillo to finally bring home the marijuana dispensary bacon.
Then there’s Ada Briceno, the current Chairwoman of the OC Democrat Party, the group that endorsed Jaramillo without even talking to anybody else. There’s a big prestige issue here, the ambitious Briceno has a record – she was certainly aware of the Tony Castro scandal in 2022, when her ED Mohan created the fake Latino candidate in Fullerton’s 5th District to protect the egregious Ahmad Zahra.
Slithering things…
The name Aaruni Thakur has also been mentioned, in the comments section below. He deserves special attention. Apparently his family lives and owns property on Wooodcrest, not far from the abode of Scott Markowitz. He and his family have given a lot of money to Jaramillo, and his previous fake carpetbaggery in the 4th District in 2020 gives a fine example of his moral compass.
Above the lowly riffraff are politicians who have invested their political prestige in Jaramillo’s candidacy and who may want to protect that investment while also creating office holders beholden to them. These include Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk, State Senator Josh Newman, and Congressman Lou Correa. How shallow or how deep are the roots of the Markowitz Conspiracy?
Bushala says stop!
All of these issues are presented as a prelude to the topic of this post, which is a letter from Fullerton activist, Tony Bushala to the District Attorney Todd Spitzer asking that the investigation into the situation be continued to find out who got Markowitz to lie.
It’s very clear that at least one other person was involved in suborning perjury. One would have to be relentlessly stupid, a Kennedy Observer, in fact, to believe that Markowitz the political novice, himself was the sole director of this play; that he cooked up the plan; that he decided to create a campaign committee for appearances; that he decided to change his party affiliation; that he that he made sure his new affiliation was on his FPCC documents when it wasn’t required; that he, for some reason, needed and recruited a surrogate to circulate his petition; that he conceived and wrote his ballot statement; that he knew nothing else was required and quietly disappeared, his apologists at the Observer saying he was somehow “threatened” into hiding.
There is an old Latin apothegm: qui bono? Roughly translated the question asks “who benefits” from a given situation whose origins may not be completely clear. Well, let’s find out.
As FFFF has continually claimed, Markowitz was a set-up candidate, created by prominent Democrats to draw votes away from Linda Whitaker to help her opponent, Vivian Jaramillo.
I’d sell out my mother for 10 votes, and I have…
Apparently, Markowitz’s nominating signatures were collected by somebody else, but he signed the affidavit claiming he did. That’s perjury, and substantiates our conclusions about the rest of the sordid scheme.
Perjury is a felony, and whoever set him up for this had better hope that Markowitz is willing to keep his mouth shut. If he sings he may very well incriminate the people who dragged him into this perjury, in which case we would have a conspiracy to commit a crime, which is also a felony.
Another DA investigation…
Democrat Ajay Mohan is in this up to his eyeballs, of course. What about others? I keep hearing the names Ahmad Zahra and Aaruni Thakur, Ada Briceno and even Congressman Lou Correa.
On a clear day you can see forever…
Did Fullerton Observer Diane Vena know about this? She seems to have concocted tales to tell the gullible about the details of her participation. What about any of the other nominators? What about the Fullerton Observer itself, that has studiously avoided any mention of the perjury scandal.
The immediate question is what impact this will have on the 4th District election. Mass circulated campaign material has already tied Markowitz as a set up to help Jaramillo, so this is just more ammunition for the next couple of weeks. The beneficiaries of this news are obviously Linda Whitaker and Jamie Valencia, the former of which can point to the conspiracy as evidence of her own election chances.
The other day FFFF shared a letter from Fullerton activist Tony Bushala to District Attorney Todd Spitzer requesting that his office refer the sham candidacy of Scott Markowitz to the apolitical Orange County Grand Jury for investigation.
Bushala says stop!
Bushala followed up with Spitzer a few days later. According to Bushala he received a curt response from Sptizer that the latter can’t comment as the matter is now under active investigation. Well, that’s good news.
Someone had to get his hands dirty…
Whether this means a preliminary route to the Grand Jury remains to be seen, but hopefully Markowitz will be receiving a call from the DAs office wanting to know a few things. Ditto the Diane Vena and the other liberal Dems who signed Markowitz’s nominating papers, and of course Ajay Mohan, the Dem operative lowlife who pulled the same shit in Fullerton at the behest of Ahmad Zahra in 2022.
Hopefully, Vivian Jaramillo, the candidate who stands to gain the most from this fraud will get a call too, to see what she knows about this scam.
UPDATE 09/05/24 : It turns out that Scott Markowitz is now registered as a Republican, having re-registered after FFFF was notified as his status as a Democrat. This doesn’t make anything better for Markowitz, who is up to his eyeballs in this deceit perpetrated on 4th District voters, and sanctioned, apparently by the Democrat establishment. Next time you hear some Dem bleating their typical moral superiority, please direct them to our Scott Markowitz posts.
Of course he is.
We could have guessed that by the solid Democrat infrastructure behind his fraudulent campaign. His handler is the former Executive Director of the OC Democrat Party – Ajay Mohan – who has pulled the same stunt in Fullerton before. Markowitz’s nominators are liberal Democrat members. One, Diane Vena, has already endorsed another candidate in the 4th District race, who stands to benefit from the Markowitz fraud.
And the Markowitz ballot statement is in direct contravention of what you would expect from a Democrat. As a reminder, here is Scotty’s campaign manifesto:
It’s pretty funny how he mentions failed leadership, to stain the name Whitaker, since Linda is outgoing councilman Bruce Whitaker’s wife; then he launches into pure Republican exhortation to “reign(sic) back spending.” Then it devolves into a pure MAGA rant about America First, patriots, individual liberty and strong law enforcement, the antithesis of the sort of statement you would expect from a Democrat.
Yeah, this is another Mohan Shuffle to draw votes away from one candidate, Republican Linda Whitaker for the benefit of Vivian Jaramillo – the one and only person interviewed for the Democrat Party endorsement, and endorsement that occurred even before nominating papers were taken out. It’s corruption pure and simple. It’s election fraud.
No, of course not. The truth is not in him. If it were he would have explained how he, the first gay Muslim in America married a local woman in Arkansas to jump the Green Card line.
Not asking real questions is a great way to avoid getting real answers…
The Damascus Dodger is featured in a three part interview with Stiskia Kennedy in the Fullerton Observer. It’s an opportunity for the Kennedy Sisters to give the scam artist another of their tongue baths and to avoid anything that resembles the truth about Zahra and his career, a career that resembles a jailbreak more than anything else.
“In a recent discussion, I spoke with Fullerton City Council Member Ahmad Zahra about his role and responsibilities. We engaged in a Q&A session that delved into the challenges and rewards of serving the community at the municipal level. “
Bushala says stop!
First Satkia wants to know how to stand up to influential donors. Suddenly Tony Bushala’s unseen presence fills the room. Zahra’s response? He lies of course. Naturally, Zahra is a profile in courage, standing up to the “special interests” over whom he prevailed in his two elections. This demanded his “wisdom and thick skin.” This history is false, of course. Nobody knew who he was in 2018 and he slipped in past a couple others; naturally he ignores the facts of his 2022 run when his victory was not won on any issues, but by spending $120,000. And then there was his recruitment of Tony Castro, the dummy Latino candidate who the OC Dems set up to take votes away from Oscar Valadez. Oops.
Stikia follows up with campaign finance. Zahra complains about political action committees and the poor plight of the “community-focused” candidate (presumably just like him). No questions are asked or answered about Zahra’s big campaign donors, just as the Kennedy Sisters never bothered to ask who gave money to Cannabis Kitty Jaramillo in 2024, and what they hoped to get out of it. The cannabis workers’ PAC gave $60,000 to help Cannabis Kitty, but that’s not the sort of mean, nasty PAC Zahra has in mind.
Malo, indeed…
Zahra says his opponents spent more than he did and he still won in 2022. That’s a lie, too, but he knows the Sisters won’t check him on it. Dredging up another Fullerton Boohoo gripe about Mr. Bushala, Zahra bemoans the fact that donations can be returned so that councilmembers can vote on the donor’s project. This is reference to Councilwoman Jamie Valencia’s return of money to Bushala before the vote on the stupid Walk on Wilshire in which Bushala had no legal interest. That return wasn’t even necessary per state law so why is this a problem?
What, me lie?
Staksia’s last question is about ranked choice voting about which her interlocutor knows nothing and doesn’t care. He wants to curb “unethical practices” by PACs, saying nothing about the fraudulent candidates Tony Castro and Scott Markowitz whom his party set up so their pals like Zahra and Jaramillo could get elected in Fullerton. And that betrays Zahra’s true feelings about the community he pretends to love so much.
First, don’t ask me why the guy spells his name like that, because I don’t know.
Mr. Maldonado is a candidate for Fullerton’s 5th District in the election this fall. At least he has created a campaign committee. That’s the seat that will be left by “Dr.” Ahmad Zahra, the immigrant fraud, woman batterer and general prevaricator.
There’s a connection there. Zahra appointed Maldonado to the Parks and Rec Commission where he has been photo bombing boohoo events lately. He is also some sort of young Democrat Party operative, which makes sense, following in the footsteps of Jordan Brandman, Connor Traut and the like. Except that unlike them he seems to have a real job, being some sort of chemical tester. He’s yet another mid-twenties Fullerton fellow who seems very eager to make Zahra happy.
Is this a real candidacy? Some folks had thought that Vanessa Estrella, Sharon Quirk’s newly minted school trustee might leap into the breach to defend Fullerton Boohooism. She still might, but time is running out. The days of last minute candidacies in Fullerton are pretty much over.
It would also make sense that young Jozef is the Tony Castro of 2026. You all remember Tony Castro – the last minute candidate in 2022 recruited by the Team Zahra to draw votes away from genuine Latino candidate Oscar Valadez. This could be the same slimy strategy to help Estrella, I suppose. At least Maldonado’s candidacy would have verisimilitude. Tony Castro’s did not, and neither did the Dems fake candidate in 2024, Scott Markowitz, who had to plead guilty to perjury.
Curiously Maldonado’s form 501 shows no zip code in a redacted address, which is peculiar. Why would anybody omit that on a candidate statement?
On the other hand maybe I’m being too cynical. Perhaps this will be a real candidacy and maybe Estrella will be happy staying where she is – for now. After all she’s barely been in office for a year.
Maldonado spoke at the February 3rd City Council meeting solely to attack Mayor Fred Jung for some supposedly divisive remarks that criticized his detractors. Poor Jozef was obviously following direction from Ahmad Zahra; and he obviously doesn’t really understand that mindless attacks don’t get you elected and that Zahra is a spent force, if he was ever much of a force to begin with.
This candidacy begs the question of whether or not Fullerton wants or needs another Zahra-type liberal who is more than happy to spend your money, lots of it, on his conscience-causes, from illegal immigrant welfare to boondoggle park projects that have no budget for maintenance.
That Ahmad Zahra sure puts on a show for his cult followers. During Tuesday’s “council communications” he went on a pathetic 11 minute emotional roller coaster ride, a real self-pity party that was full of his special brand of histrionics – gestures, knowing nods, glances at who knows who, dramatic pauses, pained looks, and near-tears expressions.
I am the light, the truth and the way…
Good Lord, what a valediction! Departing hero, victim, saint, champion of the downtrodden and upholder of truth and justice.
Of course it was a damn waste of everybody’s time. But when you’re a self-aggrandizing narcissist that’s the last thing to worry about. In fact, your speech is just the capper to a long conga line of oddball public commenters you have stirred up to attack your political enemies. And he still has a whole year to keep repeating the performance.
Meantime, the Kennedy Sisters who run the pretend news outlet Fullerton Observer still haven’t mentioned Zahra’s decision not to run for re-election. You would think Sanka and Sharon Kennedy would fall all over themselves to shower sickly sweet encomiums upon the object of their infatuation. But no. The proverbial deafening silence.
Zahra put out his statement over two weeks ago and there has been no mention on the Observer site of Zahra’s departure at the end of 2026. We know that the Observer operation is incompetent and completely biased, but this neglect has got to be deliberate. Why?
It’s been speculated, and with some justification, that the Sisters are waiting until the Democrat Machine can find and endorse a replacement for Zahra; and that once all the endorsements are locked up and any District 5 Dem rivals swept aside, all will be revealed and the anointed one revealed to hallelujahs and hosannas.
The anointing oil was greasy and left fingerprints, and didn’t take…
This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. What difference does it make to let Fullerton Boohoo know Zahra’s story – even the implications? That might even look like sort of real journalism.
But hey, these are the same dummies who aided and abetted Scott Markowitz in 2024. Maybe they really believe they need to keep the cat in the bag while they find another Cannabis Kitty Jaramillo to roll out.
Five days have passed since “Dr.” Ahmad Zahra, the Syrian immigrant fraud announced he would not run for re-election to the Fullerton City Council.
Silence is golden. Sometimes…
Crickets from the Fullerton Observer, whose sisters Sanka and Sharon have republished every utterance of Zahra, and who published his plagiarized articles without apology, have said nothing.
Other over inflated things…
They’ve published a dozen other articles – even one about some woman on Dorothy Lane who has become addicted to putting blow-up figures in her front yard. But not a solitary word about their Hero quitting in 2026.
How come?
Many people are saying it’s because Fullerton Boohoo doesn’t have a District 5 replacement plan yet, and the Observer crowd doesn’t want any surprise ordinary citizens running in next year’s election, so they’re keeping it quiet.
This doesn’t make a lot of sense since very few people in D5 read the Observer. However, common sense is a rare commodity in the precincts of Fullerton Boohoo.
A star is born?
Still, it could be true – that they are getting all the usual OC Dem endorsements in place for the first term school board member Vanessa Estrella, the candidate created for Sharon Quirk and her husband Jesus Quirk-Silva, and only plan to talk about Zahra leaving when she has a party central endorsed replacement in place. Then there’s the worthless politician endorsements to line up: you know, Lou Correa, Josh Newman, the Quirks, Tony Umberg (I forget his first name), the unions, etc., etc.; the ones that ushered Cannabis Kitty over the goal line – in second place. Oops.
In any case, there already is a candidate in running, a man who has already run a close campaign, and who would have won in 2022 except that the Usual Crowd of Dems created a fake Latino candidate by the name of Tony Castro, whom nobody has seen since 2022.
If they do run this Estrella person next year they might rerun the phony Latino dude scam of 2022; or, they might try the phony white guy candidate strategy they rolled out in 2024. They might do both. But 2026 isn’t 2024. Markowitz got pinched by the DA for perjury, and his handlers have cause for pause.
I’m not talking…
That includes Ajay Mojan the dirty little bastard involved in each earlier scam. And it certainly includes the Dems who collected Scott Markowitz’s signatures for him. Was that Aaruni Thakur? Was it Andre Charles, husband of the otiose windbag, Shana Charles? The self-righteous Diane Vena knows, and so does her confessor, Sharon Kennedy – of the Fullerton Observer.
There may be a reluctance for this rogues gallery to keep creating phony candidates to push their own ideologues, now that every candidate will be subjugated to a decency smell test.
Shana Charles, Fullerton D3’s councilperson and ceaseless gas bag is running for re-election. She threw a kickoff party a few days ago.
The usual suspects appeared. The same suspects, in fact, who tried real hard to get Cannabis Kitty Jaramillo elected and failed.
In fact some folks are speculating about the role of Dr. Shana’s husband, Andre, in recruiting the phony candidate and perjurer, Scott Markowitz last year. Mr. Charles got a nifty $4000 from the marijuana lobby to do something for them working on the failed Jaramillo effort.
When she was elected in 2022 she squeaked by in a three-way race with the help of the emergency services union. Will they help her again? They love front runners and incumbents although they did supported Jamie Valencia over the OCDEM darling Cannabis Kitty.
I have to wonder what her goal is, besides getting sycophants to call her “Dr. Charles.” Even if her pal Ahmad Zahra sticks around and somehow wins re-election, she’ll be a minority player – again – at least for 2 years, unless Mayor Fred Jung wins the County Supervisor election and a replacement is needed at the start of 2027. An appointment or election is not likely to provide a third vote.
I’ve gotten used to Charles’ endless bloviation, bragging and idiotic observations. But on the bright side she hasn’t been able to do any permanent damage – yet.
