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On the heels of Cynthia Ward’s latest Voice of OC Disney-streetcar bombshell, and bearing in mind the identity of Disney’s trusty transportation “consultant,” the question asks itself.
Considering the pathetic garden-variety “corruption” of Janet Nguyen and company, the tawdry Supes who are supposedly the target of this summer’s FBI sting, the question repeats itself.
Sorry, all you passionate Supe-haters who haunt the blogosphere, but when you seriously consider the epic scope of Curt Pringle’s influence in every OC scam, when you observe with unfeigned amazement how he manages to poke his chubby pink fingers into EVERY dirty deal us OC citizens are generally forced to choke on, do you not see that the question repeats itself like a bad piece of pop music? The question being:
WHICH trusted ally of Curt Pringle, OC uber-lobbyist, is gonna be coerced or convinced by our Fed guests to go speak to him wearing a wire?
You KNOW Curt Pringle is smarter than you and me, and richer than you and me, so he’s thinking the same thing right now. Curt Pringle however is NOT more resourceful or tenacious than a passel of G-men.
Close sources (whom I won’t name now) confirm this, and it’s also just common sense: Pringle and his associates – the self-described “Masters of the Universe” here – are the REAL target of the much-welcomed-and-ballyhooed Fed invasion, and who hasn’t already figured that out?
So just help me, join me, let me know what you think, during these pleasant idle hours before the spectacular fall: Who could it be, that would turn on jolly, flop-sweating, insatiable Curt?
Remember: elected officials are more vulnerable, subject to more laws and regulations, than private citizens, so Curt knows he’s dodged a bullet by no longer being Mayor. That’s why it stands to reason that the folks more susceptable to FBI persuasion may very well be the people Curt has placed into political power, beginning with his three dependable Anaheim council puppets…
It is perhaps too easy, and possibly homophobic, to envision a personal situation that Councilman Jordan Brandman could be motivated to cover up. The weak-minded Gail Eastman as well: it’s child’s play to picture how Gail could be manipulated into co-operation. But probably Kris Murray, Pringle’s Alpha Dog on council, is the most vulnerable to legal concern. For one, look at this definitive Brown Act violation of hers – I quote a very close insider friend with 7th-floor connections:
“Yeah. That is one time for SURE that Kris Murray broke the Brown Act, promising OCEA’s Nick Berardino three votes for last year’s ridiculously extravagant AMEA agreement. Oh, let me elaborate. Remember how the OCEA was the main funder of Take Back Anaheim’s push for the “Let The People Vote” on hotel subsidies initiative, and then with no explanation they suddenly backed out of that? And this was right at the same time Disney and the OCEA made the dirty deal (which Disney sneakily broke first) that neither council candidates Jordan Brandman nor John Leos would get attacked? That whole ugly arrangement originated with Kris Murray and her BFF Carrie Nocella [Disney lobbyist pictured to right] visiting Nick and PROMISING him three votes for that obscenely generous labor agreement. Now, I have THAT on impeccable authority, and that shit ain’t legal. Hey Vern, can I have a bite of that apple pie? It looks delicious!”
But what if, you and I think, and Curt also thinks, the weak link to get to him is NOT a current elected, but one of the many other folks Curt has put into power? How about the sometimes jovial, sometimes brutal, usually inebriated fellow you see grinning up above, the guy who comes to Council meetings to talk about how his Chamber of Commerce opposes district elections, the actual boss of Matt Cunningham, plucked by Pringle from the shame of being fired from the Anaheim YMCA for lying about his college degree, the ineffable Todd Ament?
I’m sure the FBI is also aware of the two parasitical organizations Pringle created solely to foster the “public-private partnerships” that keep him rolling in dough – the OC Business Council and “OC Tax.” So we also ponder the vulnerability of the hacks Curt has placed in charge at those places – the fatuous Lucy Dunn, and the waif-like Reed Royalty, county-ubiquitous, tirelessly shilling for everything that hurts you and me and profits Curt, from toll lanes on the 405 to Poseidon’s desalination scam. Or the moribund Reed’s feisty replacement Carolyn Cavecche, who used to talk to me and oppose the 405 tolls until Curt tapped her shoulder, and whose husband’s company Snyder-Langston keeps Curt’s son employed?
OR MAYBE – don’t laugh – the FBI’s perfect tool could be the endlessly ridiculous Harry Sidhu (last seen endorsing Clerk-Recorder offices in outer space.) We know that the pathologically office-chasing Indian-American would “relish” being Mayor next year – maybe this is just the opportunity for him to show his *choke* independence and *choke* honesty, by helping our great nation’s Department of Justice snag his crooked erstwhile mentor, you think? I can picture it.
But what do YOU say? Have I left any likely suspects out? Todd Priest? Adam-Ant-loving Cunningham himself? Vote for up to two, and add more suspects in the comments section.
[poll id=”315″]
Now Vern, I am sure that everything our former-Mayor-turned-lobbyist does is perfectly legal, and if there is any attention by feds I am sure it is only to nominate him for some award in recognition of making Orange County a better place to live, work, play. How can you even consider repeating (merely for purposes of debate while not making actual potentially libelous/slanderous remarks) anonymous accusations of wrongdoing about a man who has single-handedly saved our regional economy while providing homes for puppies and orphans, all while rescuing Anaheim from the anonymity our otherwise nondescript and hopeless community would have suffered had he not promoted our lifeless berg through the use of Rose Parade floats and subsidized transportation projects? Dammit, Vern, Curt Pringle put Anaheim on the map, can you imagine where we might be without him? (uh…solvent?)
Now that I have made my lawyer happy, I will play along with your fantasy game, at least until the cease and desist order makes you remove the post. Not that I have ever toyed with this scenario myself, mind you, but IF I had to really, really stretch myself to even consider that our former leader (who refuses to get the memo that he no longer runs the City) might possibly be involved with anything less than admirable, which I never, ever do, I guess I could MAYBE be persuaded to create a list of people who, if not wearing a wire for an investigation, would at least offer some amusing anecdotes under oath during a deposition. So in the interest of mere conversational debate, I will propose the following people as likely to have great information to share, although I am sure the stories would all be about the legal, ethical, and morally upright behavior of a financial and political genius who was generous enough to share his visionary leadership with us mere mortals. And gee do I miss him….(I like to keep my lawyer VERY happy.)
The following folks might have something to add to the conversation;
Tom Wood
Natalie Meeks
George Kalogridis
Mehdi Morshed
Bill Taormina
Steven Albert Chavez Lodge
Bill O’Connell and Ajesh Patel
Larry Slagle
Sandy Day
Will Kempton
Tony Daniels
Jeff Flint
Dave Ellis
Nick Berardino
Lorri Galloway
Jennifer Rivera
For the record, i have no reason to think any of the people on that list are in trouble (OK maybe Ellis) but I do think that each of them may hold a piece of the puzzle (small things they don’t even understand to be important) that when added together create a bigger picture that would be likely to prove interesting to say the least.
Open for discussion.
Now THAT almost reminds me of the 71-person list Dave Ellis created, of people who NEEDED to be interviewed to confirm how not responsible HE was for the Great Fairgrounds Swindle!
Course, the FBI WOULD have the resources to do that, much more than our little Fairgrounds Preservation Society did.
“Now that I have made my lawyer happy”
Ulp! Is that supposed to mean me?
Oh well, we’ll see once we get a cease and desist letter, if we do. (Hopefully, if at all, in time for the Weekend Open Thread.)
So much for Cynthia’s lament over the lack of civility! That was so five months ago! I guess she didn’t get the memo that this is the Year of Kindness.
Matt you have an incredibly odd way of reading something and then twisting it into what you want it to say. Or reading what someone else has written and ascribing it to me. I am tired of apologizing to you for what did not come out of my mouth, (or off my keyboard) so go away. You may think the sun rises and sets over Curt Pringle and his Masters of the Universe act, but the rest of us are disgusted by the cronyism at City Hall and we are especially tired of paying for it. For a decade now we have put up with the failed leadership of a man who could not earn a nickel outside of extracting it from government in some form. Program after program has been a disaster (anyone remember citywide wi fi?) from Rose Parade floats to ARTIC (which I see you also got a taste of) and now the streetcar is the penultimate failure of civic planning. Matt go read the docs, ARC makes traffic WORSE! Chapter 3 my friend!
When plan after plan makes no sense to the taxpayer we have no choice but to wonder who it DOES benefit, and lately all roads lead back to the checkbooks of Curt Pringle’s clients. Since many of these public projects now lining the pockets of Curt’s buddies were put into place while he was still an elected leader, and he is now coming back after the fact to cash in, yes, we have a moral responsibility to look twice at those projects, and if it was someone you were not in the bag for you would be the first to scream about the wasteful spending.
Go home to Orange Matt. You and your keyboard for hire give all blogging a bad name, and your credibility is non-existent. You once ripped into me for insulting then-candidate Tait when all i did was point out that Shirley McCracken had more experience in government. You acted all high and mighty back then, but the minute you got a paycheck from the other side you did an about-face to allow your electronic version of Mustang Ranch to say the most horrific things about Tait, and anyone who supports him or is even perceived to support him. What is particularly sad is that you think these people are your friends. Think again. Look at how much money they are making, millions Matt, they make millions extracting our tax dollars for their special projects that in many ways make things worse for us, not better. Now how much of that gravy train do you get in on? Maybe $5k or $10k here and there, enough to make you think you are a player, enough to keep you on their side until they are done using you, while they deposit checks with a lot more zeros behind the commas. But they will throw you to the wolves as quickly as they did it to me, or Tait, or Mishal Montgomery. or anyone else whose usefulness is at an end for them. I guess they picked the right person for the job, since your sense of loyalty is available for ready sale as theirs is.
So quit with the act, you are paid by the Chamber and OCTA, you then blog about how awesome their projects are, and attack their opponents, without disclosing your paid relationships, which has trashed your credibility (stupidly since disclosing the connections would have elevated your status above the rest of us unpaid “citizen journalists”) Since it did not benefit you to keep those connections quiet, did your clients forbid you to tell us about the paychecks? Are they ashamed of the cesspool they hired you to create, like Disney laundering their donations through legit PACs until it oozed into the Pringle owned PAC for those slimy hit pieces during the campaign?
Your moral high horse is collapsing under the weight of your baggage Matt, so I am not about to let you make me feel bad for questioning people and actions that NEED to be questioned. The big question is why are our elected leaders not questioning how bad these projects are? If they cannot be bothered to look into legitimate concerns about how public funds are being misspent then they cannot be trusted to be returned to office, and you have no idea how many of the everyday rank and file citizens of Anaheim are seeing that! Or maybe you do….maybe you understand that with the enterprise zones killed off by Sacramento there is no more justification for the Chamber’s overpriced contract, and if your protectors at City Hall are not re-elected you and Todd and the rest of the bottom feeders go hungry. That must be keeping you up at night, huh? Waking up at 2 am, heart pounding, wondering how to care for your family now that you have killed your credibility and nobody in their right minds will touch you after this little stint into tabloid journalism’s version of political punditry. Wondering how to cover those FTC fines for not disclosing material connections to those you are blogging for, all of it gets pretty scary and that can make a man cranky. And here you thought I had no empathy…I understand plenty Matt.
Cynthia, I know that this is asking a lot, but I’m betting that you have a lot of connections to Republican women who enjoy crafts, so: is it possible that I could get that entire comment done up as a needlepoint? I’d be fine with getting solely the last paragraph.
If jumping to conclusions were an Olympic sport, Cynthia, you would be the possessor of multiple gold medals. You have a gift — if that is the right word — for gathering together facts here and there and cobbling them together in a narrative that is held together by the glue of your prejudices, speculation and paranoid assumptions.
Just look at the subject matter of Vern’s venmous spiteful post, and the way you and others here gleefully speculate about it. All of you need to take a few steps back and take a look in the mirror at yourselves, and the things you say and do. I’ve rarely seen a more venomous, grandiose and self-important gaggle of ankle-biters.
” I’ve rarely seen a more venomous, grandiose and self-important gaggle of ankle-biters.”
Now THAT I would like done in needle-point. Nice “wordsmithing,” I have to say. I wonder how much work it would be to add it to our masthead.
It does suggest though, if WE are all ankle-biters, that Cunningham sees the corporatist crowd to whom he pays obeisance to be some sort of GIANTS. What a pathetic, feudalistic world view. I thank the Lord every day, in my own agnostic way, that I am not Matt Cunningham.
Speaking of your agnosticism, Vern…whenever you resort to calling me or anyone else a “shill” or some such insult in order to avoid real debate, I remember that you accept money from churches to help their members pray to a God they truly believe but whose existence you do not.
“…a God they truly believe but whose existence you do not.”
I guess at Servite they don’t teach you the difference between atheist and agnostic? I bet Ryan somehow caught it.
I understand the difference, Vern. It DOESN’T diminish the point at all.
Are you arguing that religious organizations may only, as a matter of morality, contract for services with people within their sect? Where did you get that one? And why do you arrogate the right to speak for God about it?
I think that you’ll find some Biblical discussion about blasphemy.
Not really. My music puts them in a very spiritual place, for however they understand God and Jesus and the afterlife.
All I see here is insults, not argument. It bears about as much weight as a dandelion. (Which, I admit, is also an insult — just a gentler one.)
An argument would be something along the lines of “see what people who have hired Pringle have gotten from the public treasury and what they have supposedly promised in return — and the former far exceeds the latter.” Now I suppose Matt will want proof. OK, we can do that.
Oh Lord. It’s Greg Diamond, the king of using an ocean of words to say nothing.
No. I’m pointing out that Vern takes money from people to help them do something he doesn’t believe in. Actually, he’s doing it with them, since he himself is essentially praying with them to a God he doesn’t really believe in, and doing it in return for compensation.
I doesn’t matter to me. But it does compromise Vern’s ability pass judgment on others.
Don’t blame me for your lack of reading comprehension, bunky.
On the contrary, Vern takes money from people to play music for them and help them increase their appreciation of and joy in life. He does believe in that. He believes it when he plays classical and jazz and pop and rock in his concerts, when he plays religious music in churches, and when he plays political songs at rallies. I sing Christmas Carols with my Catholic wife and kids, despite being Jewish; do you think that makes me a hypocrite? If so, who the hell appointed you to judge?
Vern believes in music. What do you believe in?
No, that he helps people use music to increase the savor of life does not undermine his ability to criticize people like you. Now go have someone with better reading comprehension translate this small spring of words for you, so that you can see that it adds up to something.
Aw… now THAT comment I want frosted on my next birthday cake! (With “bunky” in chocolate.)
Matty having outed sex-abuse victims is having a theological discussion?
The agnostic has merely postponed his decision to take a leap of faith or not.
But the agnostic can accurately be described as one who does not believe in God without being an avowed atheist. The final decision is still in doubt.
However, I completely fail to see what this issue has to do with the City for Sale.
Agnostics aren’t waiting for anything that they expect to find prior to death. The idea is that we don’t know because we can’t know. Both Sartre and Hamlet have good insights on this. I’m religious because I choose to be — because it makes sense to me and fits with my notions of how the world should be. If you pressed me hard enough for evidence, though, I’d have to admit to being agnostic. I just choose not to reserve judgment until such time as I either know or am incapable of knowing.
Your last sentence is right, though — this is just Matt squirting ink into the waters.
“Wondering how to cover those FTC fines…”
The Federal Trade Commission is coming after me, Cynthia?
I got the memo that Matt Cunningham outed sex abuse victims.
Matt: Go back to outing sex-abuse victims instead of the joke that is you pontificating about anything.
I’m not convinced that the Feds have Pringle’s scent in their sinuses, Vern. He’s a pro — and a pro knows how to separate a quid from a quo. But if anything like this were to happen, you might see a frenzied onslaught of money being handed out to keep people quiet and satisfied — so if this is your suspicion I suppose that you should keep your eyes peeled for anything of the sort.
You might as well leave Kris Murray off of your list. She’s his G. Gordon Liddy, who’d offer to stand on a street corner at a designated time waiting to be silenced, not some Oliver North type freaking out over the prospect of actually having to go to prison. (Besides, she’d rule the roost in prison. Look at those eyes! She’d make Carmela Soprano blink first.)
I still think that it’s primarily about Janet Nguyen and CalOptima, as many have suggested — that or I’m just trying to get Jose Solorio’s hopes up — but if they really end up going after dirty deals here in general then I hope that the agents have signed long-term leases.
He’ a pro – and a pro knows how to get by without the “pro.”
And yet you do something often enough and it’s possible to get sloppy — especially when you’re partnering with amateurs. I reserve judgment.
It’s quite amusing that we have such a target-rich environment.
Well, maybe not so much amusing as disheartening.
Shawn Nelson dumped Zenger from his at-will staff job early this year. Now Zenger is suing the county for “wrongful dismissal”, demanding a big fat payout and a senior staff job in the county bureaucracy. Same guy who criticizes county bureaucrats for sucking off the taxpayer teat. What a hypocrite.
Aw, why’d Shawn do that? Since you know so much, just curious?
Sigh. I presume that he already has an attorney….
Zenger, get friendly quick. Diamond is FEARED by the county lawyers.
Just some departments. It helps to have a good case.
Yet the FBI isn’t investigating me.
I wonder why that is.
Vern, thanks for linking to Adam Elmahrek ‘s article “ How Did Anaheim City Employees Negotiate Such a Good Deal?”, very informative. Is the assumption that Kris Murray violated the Brown Act based on the description of this meeting: “….But Berardino, Murray and Eastman defended the deliberations behind their labor contract. Sidhu did not return a call for comment…Berardino acknowledged meeting with Ament and Nocella but described it as a meeting to discuss better ways to handle divisive issues like taxpayer subsidies. Any talk that a labor deal was worked out in that meeting amounts to speculation run amok, he said…“The discussion to my recollection was largely about the community,” Berardino said. “We didn’t talk about delivering anything to [city] employees.”
How come your close insider friend with 7th-floor connections, did not request the DA to look into this alleged violation?
http://caag.state.ca.us/publications/2003_Main_BrownAct.pdf
What are you insinuating with “is perhaps too easy, and possibly homophobic, to envision a personal situation that Councilman Jordan Brandman could be motivated to cover up”. Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) Wikipedia
Brandman is pretty clearly perceived by many as being within that category. That doesn’t mean that he is in it — nor does it mean otherwise. Personally, I suspect that he is asexual and reproduces by producing spores, but that could be wrong. What I am more sure about is that I don’t care — just so long as he gives me grandchildren! (Whoops, I was channeling there for a moment.)
Lo siento, Ricardo, pero this is a brass-knuckles post.
And for you to dream that DA Rackauckas would investigate the Disney-Pringle nexus, OR investigate a powerful OC union, LET ALONE investigate the two of those co-operating in an unnatural sort of coition, shows *sigh* the charming naivete that snakelike Cunningham has called “puerile.”
Did he say that? My goodness…oh well. Cynthia has already put him in his place. Thanks Cynthia!
Just when I thought this blog couldn’t sink any lower into the fever swamp.
Then again, this is the same Vern Nelson who thinks the Anaheim police “executed” Joel Acevedo and then planted a gun.
Matt, until the DA produces the powder residue tests on Joel Acevedo’s autopsy there are a lot of people questioning that shooting. A great deal of information was rather conveniently omitted from that report, including a record of gang convictions to even back up the accusation he was a dangerous gang member to begin with. If nothing else it shows the DA is not qualified to produce reports that satisfy the skeptics demanding accountability, and we need someone else investigating the shootings, someone who can alleviate the doubt by conducting a thorough investigation and not these haphazard nonsense papers, so that we can all move on. Even those of us with no ties to the gang culture want closure, and the safety of the good officers with no involvement in the shootings is eroded until the community is assured we do not have a few killer cops among the vast majority of very good people trying to do the hardest job on earth. Questioning the Acedevo shooting is not out of the mainstream, bud, it is very much in play among the most law and order residents I know. Wise up.
Again this leads back to our elected leaders, they sit there at the dais and say we do not need additional investigations, that the DA’s work is adequate, and then say nothing when the DA’s report comes back missing critical information that I understand is standard in shootings, which does NOTHING to make us feel like the DA is the best office to handle this. The City Council put their word on the line, where are they in demanding the answers they told us we would be giving? Slamming those of us who publicly say what MANY people are quietly discussing does not make those questions go away, it just makes you look like a bully.
I disagree only about your last point, Cynthia. I think that what makes Matt look like a bully is that he is a bully.
Too bad Cynthia the fearsome researcher didn’t spend a a little bit of time making a few phones calls — like I did. Your question would have been answered.
“Executed” is such a formal and limited term. “Shot to death without legally sufficient cause” is much more supple and descriptive.
What Vanessa Duran saw, and I found her credible, was one cop helping to hold Joey down while Kelly Phillips shot him. I call that an EXECUTION. The DA’s slapdash report sloppily mistold that, and several other details of what she told them, in their effort to ridicule and discredit her.
I’m not sure when or if I will ever write about what she really saw – as far as I know the poor brave girl is in prison now, where they could do anything to her. This all might have to wait until she’s out.
Oh yeah. She’s one credible person, alright, Vern. I’m sure you have added her to your resume as a character reference, because she’s so credible. I mean, why would a gang moll lie?
Ha ha. Matt uttered the word “credible.” Twice. With a straight face. And right in time for the first of an upcoming series based on his 700 forms…
Yes, Vern. I did. That would be because i have credibility. The fact that you consider as credible a gang associate who was caught — just on that one night — driving a stolen vehicle and then fleeing from police, and at the same time claim that I am not…well, the person whose credibility you are really calling into question is your own.
As for this venomous little post of yours: the odds are astronomically higher that you will get popped for a fifth DUI or other intoxication-related offense.
“And right in time for the first of an upcoming series based on his 700 forms…”
Boy, I can hardly wait to see how you contort and twist those, and how you fill in the gaps of your ignorance to make everything fit your hallucinatory version of reality.
Matty says he has “credibility”? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Matty is a crybaby that always goes to his overlords for help—let’s not forget how he went to the Aitkens when he outed sex-abuse victims!
Ooooh. It’s little Gustavo One Note. I stopped caring about your opinion a long time ago. The years go by, and you remain an adolescent with a little bit of talent who got lucky with the “Ask A Mexican ” gig, and you’ve been milking that schtick ever since. Good luck with that.
One thing you have to say in Gustavo’s favor, though, Matt: he didn’t out sex-abuse victims!
I am still trying to figure out what you guys have against cronyism, it paid for my pool and my view
We’ll explain it to you in the re-education camp. You know me — it will be at great length.
…And Now 10 years later, the chamber of commerce Anaheim first and visit Anaheim are all on the “scrap heap” of history, unless they’re resurrected somehow and reformed.
Matt Cunningham has been Quiet as of late, now that much of his “posse” is been discredited or ousted, entirely.
Now waiting for the next shoe to fall from the ‘Centipede’ that keeps dropping shoes, and the possibility of Mrs. Cunningham, needing to “lawyer up” it’s still a long road …ahead Matt.
Maybe Kring? It is possible that she has caught on to being Pringle’s tool and wants to settle that score.
Then there is the possibility that Ward is a double-agent looking for any possible whistle-blower.
Also, I have never understood the connection between Kring – Ward – Young. They seem oddidly cozy / oddidly at odds.
We all supported Kring last year, some more reluctantly than others, because she was saying the right things, and Mayor Tait was endorsing her. (A little half-heartedly to tell the truth.) I was warned not to trust her. I was warned correctly. NONE of us are “cozy” with her now.
But she IS easily influenced, so you’re right, she should be high on this list.
Cozy? Surely you’ve heard the famous Machavelli quote?
hmmm… was it really Niccolo, friends close, enemies closer?
That has been attributed to both Sun Tzu and Michael Corleone.
BTW, 2013 is the 500th anniversary of The Prince.
I always get those two mixed up.
Vern, where’s our Greenwald! I’m slammed until tonight so no post from me until tonight or tomorrow..
ok ok ok
As you can see, I posted a trifle anyway just to whip up hoi polloi.
(Hmmm, that really should have been said in a private e-mail, I guess. Oh well.)
Just thought I’d pull this one up for some more recent comments.