What just happened? So long dipsticks!

So long dipsticks!

I'm out of town and off the grid for a few weeks and return to find the Fullerton recall passed in a landslide victory and new faces elected. I should go away more often.

I have high hopes for the new council.  The world is watching and they had better get it right.

From the Fullerton's Future blog and newspapers, it looks like the FPD had better straighten up, like yesterday, if they want to keep their jobs.  The FPD can be recalled too.

Fullerton selling out to "affordable" housing

It's been awhile since we have posted but with a Fullerton City Council meeting scheduled for 6 tonight,we though we should tell you about their big developer giveaways.

There are 2 items on the agenda that should be a drop-kick to your head and your pocket book.

Items 5 and 6 are affordable housing money pits funded by taxpayers.  They're also completely unnecessary.

There was a time when Fullerton's Redevelopment Agency was obligated by state law to allocate funding for affordable housing but not so anymore with new state law.  These un-affordable housing projects are being pushed to spite you, the taxpayer.

These collectively bad RDA ideas will cost you $60 million.   

Taxpayers and voters need to shut the door on these quasi-redevelopment projects that have no place in Fullerton or our taxes.

Close the door on redevelopment boondoggles forever with a vote to recall Jones, Bankhead, and McKinley.  

Show up at tonight's meeting and tell them to hit the road with their bag of RDA tricks and schemes.  

Is Fullerton Doomed?

by Darryl Jones for the Fullerton Sentinel
There are so many things that eat at me.

Sometimes its little; sometimes big.  I guess I'm just wired that way.

Today I am upset with Fullerton.  I conduct most of my business in Fullerton and contribute heavily to the tax base. 

So, when I had a chance to sign the recall petition, I did.  All three. 

The Three Idiots, Three Blind Mice, Three Senile Imbeciles, whatever you call them, are on there way out. 

And what is bothering me is knowing that there are at least three more well-funded, well connected insiders ready to step up and fill those seats.  That scares the hell out of me and it should do the same to you. 

When the signatures are counted, who will be throwing their hat into a race to manage and spend YOUR money.  My money. 

I learned my lesson and will never vote for another public employee to the Fullerton City Council.  No more school teachers.  No more cops.  No firemen or retired city employees.

And NO attorneys!  Nelson was good (though flawed) but no more.  No more wills & trusts characters.  No more real estate people either- trust me! 

For crying out loud- can't we just get a good person to watch over Fullerton? Is it that hard?

I hope you will join me in supporting a moratorium on political hacks, banksters, public employees, and the city hall insiders.

Let's find someone who can do the job and not screw us over. 

Resign Now!

Pat McKinley's Incredulous and Insensitive Remarks

Fullerton Councilman and former Fullerton Police Chief Pat McKinley spoke to the Brea Soroptimist Club meeting about self-defense.  The YouTube video below documents a taste of this condescending elected official who thinks a woman's socio-economic status should dictate her worthiness of protection under the law. 

The councilman and former chief actually articulates that the woman Fullerton cop Albert Rincon assaulted were not like the women in the audience and were therefore less credible victims.

Shame on Pat McKinley and shame on the boobs who elected him. 

Thanks to the superstars at Friends for Fullerton's Future for making this public. 

RECALL PAT MCKINLEY!

Fullerton City Hall Epicenter Corruption

Fullerton management closely resembles the 1989 Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder film Hear See No Evil, Hear No Evil.

The Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers (FACT) posted a video of Fullerton Council Member Bruce Whitaker talking about the lack of communication and transparency at City Hall.

Whitaker tells of lies, falsified reports, and stonewalling department heads.  Misinformation seems to be the order of the day.

What is it about our City Hall that attracts corruption?

For some reason, city staff seem to think they are in charge of Fullerton.


Long overdue, the City Council needs to begin systematically firing department heads beginning with City Manager Joe Felz. 

If the City Council boobs wont do it, let's show them the door.  A new City Council won't be so tolerant of corruption.




Fullerton Recall



The Face of Fullerton's Corruption

Do you trust the ex-chief of police

to clean up his own mess?

NO!

The Face of Corruption

Fullerton City Council Member Pat McKinley was the City's Chief of Police from 1993 until 2009.  Under his supervision and command a great number of alleged and confirmed cases of police misconduct and corruption occurred. 

McKinley is responsible for hiring all six officers involved in the murder of Kelly Thomas. 

He interviewed each officer and approved all of their pay raises and promotions.

McKinley lead a department which fostered this corruption until he retired and was elected to the City Council where he continues to control the police department.

McKinley is a triple-dipper.  He is set to receive a retirement from the LAPD, Fullerton PD, and the Fullerton City Council.



DO NOT REWARD HIS CORRUPT LEADERSHIP. 

RECALL MCKINLEY!

Fullerton PD Chief Bound and Gagged?

By Darryl Jones for the Fullerton Sentinel
The other day Friends for Fullerton's Future posted a scathing post about Fullerton PD Chief Mike Sellers who has remained silent on the beating death of Kelly Thomas at the hands of Fullerton's finest.

If the Chief ever cares to gain credibility, he really must speak up now.  Remaining silent for the results of the investigation only delays the inevitable.

From 4F's Joe Sipowicz:

We received the following correspondence from a long-time Friend.

"The controversy surrounding the recent beating death of Kelly Thomas, a local mentally ill homeless man at the hands of the Fullerton Police has been marked by the absence of Chief Michael Sellers. The FPD has instead relied on its regular spokesman Sgt. Andrew Goodrich for..." Click here to read the entire post.

The Chief's silence is in stark contrast to 4F's Travis Kiger's post that "Fullerton Police Chief Mike Sellers made a promise to publicly disclose internal department policies and procedures on the city website."


And here we thought only politicians were suppose to break promises.

Yesterday, another Fullerton blog, FullertonStories.com, posted a letter from Council Member Bruce Whitaker who is asking that any audio or video of the beating death of Kelly Thomas be released. 

Former Fullerton police chief Pat McKinley, now a Fullerton Council Member, said after hearing Whitaker's request “I disagree with that last sentence about releasing the video. It isn't a wise thing to do and is for the authorities to do.” 

McKinley, who hired the officers involved - and all of the officers recently in the news for criminal acts - seems to think that the only "authorities" are those in uniform.  Someone needs to smack him with a reality check: the elected city council is the authority over the chief!  Sweet Mother's Cookies, how did this boob get elected?  No wonder his nickname is Pat McPension!

Release the recordings!  Fire Sellers!  Recall McPension!  Stop voting in these mucho-macho-fascists!

OC Register's Top 10 Political Stories

Van Tran vs. Loretta Sanchez
Tan Nguyen faces prison time
Delecia Holt spends another Christmas in jail
Nativo Lopez jailed
Orly Taitz continues 'birther' battle
Tony Rackauckas vs. Todd Spitzer
Candidate loses son, wins Assembly seat
GOP secretary of state race
The Scott Baugh manifesto*
Anti-union saber rattling**

* The "Baugh Manifesto" is an interesting story in its own right. OC Republican Party Chairman Scott Baugh announced in January 2010 that the Party would not support or endorse any candidate who took public employee union money or support. It seemed to be gaining traction but after the November 2nd election it was discovered that several OC candidates received support from both the OCGOP as well as public employee unions. Among them is Fullerton's newly sworn council member, Pat McKinley. McKinley was one of 3 officially endorsed GOP candidates who is also the retired chief of police from Fullerton. He benefited from playing both sides of the aisle.

Fullerton's own congressman, Ed Royce, plaid a significant role in the Fullerton city council election. He opened what was dubbed as the "North OC Republican Party HQ" with help from the California Republican Assembly and Republican Womens Federated. He opened the retail office space to ALL candidates who were registered Republicans, thereby nullifying any possible advantage that the endorsed candidates may have had over the non-endorsed candidates.

Marty Burbank, Barry Levinson, Roland Chi, Aaron Gregg, and Don Bankhead were all given ample room for their signs and literature at the North OC HQ. Part of the trouble may have come from Royce's decision to endorse his old pal Don Bankhead, a non-GOP endorsed incumbent. How could Royce open his little shop of horrors to Bankhead without inviting ALL of the republican candidates? Royce's decision helped one Democrat, Doug Chaffee, nearly win a seat on the council.

In the future, the OCGOP should pull their endorsement for candidates who receive public employee union support if the candidates do not make a public rejection of the union support. Congressman Ed Royce should either get on board with the OCGOP and support ONLY their endorsed candidates or he should stop calling himself an OC Republican.

** The anti-union saber rattling was a real problem for good and bad candidates alike. In the 2010 Primary Election we saw retired OC Sheriff's lieutenant and chief of San Clemente police services go toe-to-toe with a deputy chief of police from Anaheim and the appointed sheriff, Sandra Hutchens. Hunt solicited and received public employee union support while as did deputy chief Craig Hunter- both Republicans. Sandra Hutchens, a former Democrat, received considerable support from Los Angeles County area Democrats as well as L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca, also a Democrat.

2010 also brought the public employee unions home to roost. The California Republican Party's Spring 2010 Convention was paid for in large part by public employee unions. Needless to say, the OCGOP was well represented at the convention.

Fullerton Republicans must come together with their money and actions to bring quality leadership to the community. We don't need more retired public employees and we do not need crisis managers. We need conservative leaders who will keep Fullerton out of the troubled waters that lie ahead.

The Fullerton Sentinel

OC Register: Recount of Fullerton council race cancelled

By HEATHER McREA

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

(re-posted here without permission)

FULLERTON – Doug Chaffee has called off the recount he requested for the Fullerton City Council four-year term race, the Orange County Registrar of Voters announced Tuesday.

Nearly 2,200 ballots had been counted in the first two days before Chaffee asked to end the recount, according to the announcement. The original results will stand, leaving former police chief Patrick McKinley as the second-place winner. Don Bankhead had held a clear majority all along.

McKinley took the oath of office on Dec. 7 along with Bankhead and Bruce Whitaker, who was elected to a two-year term left open when Shawn Nelson was elected to the county Board of Supervisors earlier this year.

According to the official election results, McKinley received 10,346 votes to Chaffee's 10,256.

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Commentary from the Sentinel

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The Fullerton Sentinel



It is sad and unfortunate that Fullerton voters chose Pat McKinley and Doug Chaffee at nearly the same rate.  However, this was to be expected considering that both are fiscal liberals who are quite content to raise taxes. 

The 2012 election cycle will be starting up in just a few months and conservatives will have an opportunity to replace two liberal council members, F. Richard "Dick" Jones and Sharon Quirk-Silva. 

Jones, a registered Republican, and Quirk-Silva, a registered Democrat, are both fiscal liberals.  However, Quirk-Silva has voted NO on more expenditures than Jones, making her more conservative than the self-avowed conservative Jones.

Take time to know the candidates and then support them by volunteering your time and money.

Third-place finisher demands Fullerton recount

By MICHAEL MELLO
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
(re-posted here without permission)

FULLERTON – The City Council race isn't over. At least, not in Doug Chaffee's mind.

Chaffee, a lawyer and the vice chairman on Fullerton's Planning Commission, has filed for a recount of the Nov. 2 election.

According to the registrar's tally, incumbent Don Bankhead and Pat McKinley won the two full-term seats that were up for grabs.

McKinley, who came in second, tallied 10,346 votes, or 18.1 percent, and Chaffee got 10,256 votes — 17.9 percent.

McKinley, a former Fullerton police chief, started out ahead on election night, but the lead for that second seat seesawed between them as elections officials counted remaining ballots.
Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said Chaffee filed for the recount last week. He had until Saturday to do so.

Chaffee declined to give specifics about why he asked for the recount, but said he wanted more closely to examine data from the registrar's office.

"I want to test a few things," he said. "Depending on how that testing comes out, and if it looks like things won't change, I may not complete the recount."

"It's so close, that you want to be sure," Chaffee added.

In the meantime, Fullerton City Clerk Beverly White said the plan is to swear in Bankhead and McKinley at Tuesday’s City Council meeting because Kelley has signed off on the election results.
“We’re going to go along as if there’s no recount at this point,” White said.

And if a recount should change the results?

“My understanding is, if that should happen, then we would have to unseat McKinley, then give Doug the oath and seat him,” White said.

In 10 years as the city clerk, she’s never seen that happen, she added.

Based on past experience, the recount could cost Chaffee $1,200 to $3,000 a day, Kelley said.
Kelley's office and Chaffee are working out the details of the recount.

Chaffee said he's willing to have the recount start on or around Dec. 13 — even if that means McKinley is already seated. The registrar said that it could be more than a week before the recount starts.

Orange County has one other recount in a city race, in Los Alamitos.

There, Councilman Dean Zarkos' has requested a recount of the Nov. 2 election results. Zarkos came in fourth-place in the race for three open seats, with 24 votes separating him from third-place winner, Councilwoman Gerri Graham-Mejia.

Register correspondent Roxana Kopetman contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: 714-704-3796 or mmello@ocregister.com

Chris Norby: Local officials susceptible to 'Bell syndrome'

(From the OC Register)  by Chris Norby

"Stockholm syndrome" refers to the counterintuitive behavior of hostages who come to identify with their captors, based on the study of a Swedish kidnapping. Its counterpart in local government is the common acquiescence of elected officials to professional staff. In place of their own judgment they were elected to use, city councils often simply take orders from the city manager.

Call it "Bell syndrome."

Bell is an extreme example of a phenomenon common in local government: a tendency of elected municipal officials to rubber stamp staff proposals over which they have little understanding. It is part of a civic culture that marginalizes elected officials as "political" and elevates appointed managers as "experts."

The position of city manager was a product of the Progressive Era of the early 1900s. Pristine professionals were to govern cities above the political fray. The downside is that these managers are not answerable to voters and can divide and rule over compliant councils who have no independent staff to advise them. These professionals can be just as tempted with the perks of power as the politicians – without the accountability.

Having served on city and county governing boards for 25 years, I've observed and marveled at this tendency. I am fascinated how, after vigorous campaigns to attain office, elected officials often become all too eager to relinquish power and judgment to staff.

Among California's nearly 1,500 city councils and school boards, nearly all serve part time without independent staff. Recommendations, communications, information and staff are controlled through the city manager or superintendent. Newly elected members who raise questions often face a collective culture of groupthink. Important information is obscured. Those who do dig deeper are accused of "micromanaging."
In local government, "micromanaging" is an epithet hurled at those seeking proof that council and board directives are actually being carried out.

City managers and school superintendents need active board members providing strong direction – and looking over their shoulders.

Bell syndrome thrives where elected boards vote in lockstep, where groupthink is elevated, and skeptics are ostracized, and where top staff are seen as irreplaceable experts – with rubber-stamped salaries to prove it. Bell syndrome thrives when self-congratulation trumps self-examination.

A variant of the Bell syndrome led to the 1994 Orange County bankruptcy, as county supervisors routinely rubber-stamped a treasurer's financial ploys they'd neither read nor understood.

Bell syndrome thrives when city managers, superintendents, consultants and bond brokers can lull elected officials into going along with convoluted schemes they simply do not understand. It thrives when predigested proposals are routinely approved and community skeptics are derided as gadflies.

There were 67 new members of city councils and school boards just elected in Orange County. Their job is not simply to continue past practices, but to apply their independent judgment. They must demand information and know what to do with it. They must not only set policy but make sure it's being carried out. They must remember that the only dumb question is the one you're afraid to ask.

Bell syndrome will end only with a vigilant citizenry and press. It will end when elected officials see their jobs not for the prestige and perks, but for the serious policy choices for which they are responsible.

McKinley now leads over Chaffee for council seat

BY HEATHER McREA

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

FULLERTON – Pat McKinley inched ahead of Doug Chaffee on Friday in the race for one of two open seats on the City Council.

The Orange County Registrar of Voters has been updating election results on its website at the end of each day as it counts remaining mail-in, hand-delivered, paper and provisional ballots.

Chaffee was leading McKinley by 30 votes, but Friday's update showed McKinley had regained the lead 8,808 to Chaffee's 8,772.

Incumbent Don Bankhead has held a clear lead since polls closed. At the end of Friday, he had 10,223.
McKinley had taken an early lead as results were posted several times Tuesday night, but by Wednesday morning Chaffee had pulled ahead.

Also holding a clear lead has been Bruce Whitaker, who garnered 37.8 percent of the vote for the two-year seat left open by Shawn Nelson's departure to the county Board of Supervisors.