Earlier this week, I challenged the operator of AnaheimBlog.net and his Sacrilegious Priest — or, at least, his BFF — to a debate. I was refused. Not only was I refused, but I haven’t had a comment published since.
For those of you not in the know, AnaheimBlog.net is a propaganda machine operated by blogger-for-hire Matt Cunningham largely as a mouthpiece for the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. Naturally it doesn’t tolerate dissent well; the vast majority of comments appearing on the blog belong to anonymous hooded minions of the Chamber’s President, Todd Ament — himself a minion of Anaheim Godfather Curt Pringle — using a myriad of pseudonyms. As if to mock Arte Moreno’s “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim,” it would appear that part of Todd’s commenting agreement specifies that approved aliases shall include the name “Anaheim” therein. Anaheim Insider, Anaheimster, Anaheim Jack, Anaheim Hack, One Who Knows in Anaheim, AnaheimAnnoymous, Anaheimolicious, I<3Anaheim, AnaheimofAnaheimdeAnaheim . . . all monikers belonging to what is probably up to three unique individuals operating out of Godfather Pringle’s basement.
Anyway, I digress.
Since Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Ament have such a low opinion of what is the fundamental building block of democracy– dissent — I’m proud to bring you this permanent addition to the Orange Juice Blog. I welcome, nay encourage!, all of you to pay a visit to Matt’s blog and to comment. In the event you find yourself censored by the powers at be, copy your message here.
Along with this thread, each week through the election I will honor to most ridiculous and insanely outlandish comment with an award — The Skadooshy!
November 4th is only four weeks away. Will we allow Matt Cunningham and Todd Ament to unleash their shenanigans upon Anaheim unmitigated? NO! UNLEASH YOUR SKADOOSH!
Wait. Don’t do that. Just comment as sharply, intelligently, and incisively as possible. They deserve it. The Chamber’s minions on the Anaheim City Council have pilfered or attempted to pilfer over $1,000,000,000 (yup, check those zeros, it’s a billion) of Anaheim’s tax dollars in three years. It’s disgusting; I won’t stand for it, and neither should you.
Let’s get this party started! In response to Anaheim Insiders latest screed celebrating his failure to successfully evolve beyond the intellectual capacity of a hamster (counting 1-2-3)
http://anaheimblog.net/2014/10/08/taits-hollow-complaint/
Ryan Cantor
Tom Tait: Sons of Anaheim! I am Tom Tait.
Young Soldier: Tom Tait is seven feet tall!
Tom Tait: Yes, I’ve heard. Kills giveaways by the hundreds. And if HE were here, he’d consume the kleptocracy with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his arse.
—
Seriously? This is all you people have? TOM TAIT HAS ONE VOTE.
The only reason that the Angels have one foot out the door (and they don’t) is because Kris Murray gave them three more years to plan an exit. You want to be pissed about the prospect of the Angels leaving, point the finger in the right direction.
+1 for great Braveheart reference though.
NOTICE TO ALL COMMENTERS:
We’ll probably hit 150 comments before sundown. Do we need a new Censortopia Open Thread?
Yeah. The Scadooshy will be awarded tonight. We’ll open a new thread there.
So what does the Skadooshy winner win?
I’ve been known to bring homebrew to award presentations.
I will think of something.
Would you deliver it to my house (if I win, of course), and would you want some?
I’m starting to get the picture that you’re no longer holed up in a cabin in the midwest. I still wanna do that whistleblower story you know.
Yes we do need a new thread; probably at each 50 comments or so. Also, they should numbered.
It will all be over in a couple of weeks.
Uh, guys? It’s awful quiet over there.
I think that you may have killed AnaheimBlog.
Oh! I thought the Braveheart thing was from a comment you were responding to. I take back the +1, you don’t need it.
That was Cantor, not me, you were replying to about Braveheart.
Anyway, I came here to celebrate you for doing us all proud:
Yes, the DanCe malignant turd factor is high. Someone really mistreated this fellow when he was a little boy. That may account for the clinical narcissism.
The obtuseness, lack of logic and analytical skills are likely the fault of some corrupt east coast public school district; or just native stupidity.
The physical oafishness is genetic.
He appeared on my new campaign Facebook page yesterday, just prior to being banned, to ask me if I was just running to get health insurance.
Yes, I must admit, “I just want health insurance” (which my family already has) is a fair interpretation of the eight-point candidacy statement presented both here and on that site itself. He is incapable of even imagining people acting on principle.
You really think it’s narcissism? I’ve been more inclined towards a combination of sociopathy and high-level autism, but I suppose I could be convinced.
This is going to be even more fun than I thought!
I disagree slightly, Ryan. The 31-month extension is A big reason, but it’s not THE big reason. THE big reason is that the Angels were trying to use Arte Moreno to scam some prime City-owned real estate for their own purposes — which were, more likely, Foster Daddy Curt Pringle’s purposes as a middleman (to be charitable about it) — and he did not like the prospect of being embroiled in that. If it’s partly because CATER demonstrated that it was looking VERY CLOSELY at the deal, all we can say is: “you’re welcome.”
The MOU for the stadium itself, while not nearly what they should be able to get, is not intrinsically offensive; it’s just, if one assume that they were trying to get the most for their constituents, laughably incompetent. That it’s so poor at getting the City what it deserves it in part because it’s a sweetener to get Moreno to swallow the other part of the deal — and in the absence of that other MOU they could have done something much better. But they never really gave a damn about the Stadium Lease itself; they were interested in the property.
OK, what other points do they make?
(1) They say that Tait has accused his colleagues of “giving away the land.” That is because they have been prepared to “give away the land.” If one goes back and listens to “their man” Charlie Black, he argued for a deal at pretty much ANY cost — after which Kris Murray went around saying how the stadium was a virtually worthless asset anyway. We need to put up those transcripts again!
At first, like Tait, I presumed that the Angels must have been behind this deal because HOW COULD THE CITY HAVE BEEN SO STUPID as to propose it? Now, if I had to bet, I’d say that it was a matter of the Angels being drawn into a real estate deal that THE CITY — or at least it’s corrupted electeds — wanted. The question of whether what was happening was with Arte Moreno’s connivance was an open one, but the fact that his personal holding company — a critical part of the plan — was formed JUST THE DAY BEFORE THE AGENDA WENT OUT certainly suggests that he may have been dragging his feet. I’ll bet that Moreno would JUMP at a vanilla deal — perhaps one with a huge, Disney-sized, joint venture parking structure in which both he and the City can share in the lucrative take. With a good negotiating partner — and Tait would be that — Moreno could probably easily hit on a win-win arrangement. The problem for the City Council majority is that it’s not a “win-win-win” — with Pringle (whom I believe to be the boss of Anaheim Insider, who wrote that piece) being the one left out in the cold.
(2) Very rough deal? The sentences about the “very rough treatment” that the ACOC has taken virtually serves as the signature of Todd Priest, or someone else with either Pringle & Associates or ACOC. The ads attacking Tait are lies; the ads defending Tait are truths — no wonder the author can’t tell the difference.
(3) Yeah, you can say that “Tait’s campaign to blow up the Angels MOU has had a political purpose from the start” — because politics is not always a dirty word. His “political purpose” was to save the City from Pringle’s land grab. Murray is hopelessly in Pringle’s pocket — Brandman is too right now, but I still have hopes for his giving state’s evidence once he realizes how badly he’s been used — but Eastman could have jumped ship anyway she wanted to. This is a textbook example of projection. What they can’t stand is that THEY WERE GOING TO GET AWAY WITH IT and somehow, between Tait and a bunch of relative minor leaguers, they aren’t. It’s KILLING THEM!
(4) I forget what the “campaign to convince voters that Jordan Brandman was probably a criminal” was about at the moment, but if it had anything to do with the Wikipedia report then it had some serious validity. I have hoped that Brandman would have learned from that; some people learn slower than others.
(5) Yes, it is true that “A year ago, Tom Tait could have said, ‘There are some aspects of the MOU I don’t like, but it’s a good basis for my colleagues and I to pursue an agreement with the Angels even as we seek to get the best deal possible for the city.'” But that would have been a lie. As Zenger has argued from almost the start, there should NEVER have been two MOUs — one allowing Moreno to move the Angels out of Anaheim by the late 2030s and one allowing him to keep making scads of money as the leaseholder for the Stadium Grounds development until 2080 at the earliest or — seriously — until THE MID-2110s if they had gone with a 99-year lease “to please the bondholders”!
In other words, THEY ARE PISSED OFF THAT TAIT DIDN’T PLAY ALONG AND LIE.
There was NO compromise to be had with people who were trying to shove the profit from YET ANOTHER major Anaheim public asset into their own pockets. They SHOULD have been embarrassed — but thank God, if it works out as now seems likely, they were outmaneuvered. The person with whom he was really negotiating, after all, was Pringle — who had programmed Murray — and Pringle wasn’t capable of good faith.
(6) Tait wanted different MOUs — and apparently so did Moreno, once he realized that he was being used as the fall guy in a scam — and hopefully he’ll get them. (If the Pringle people aren’t in the majority, he surely will.) It wasn’t TAIT’S “words and actions” that “alienated Arte Moreno” — it was the Council’s own actions.
The Council could have steamrolled Tait AT ANY TIME if they and Moreno both wanted to do so. Why couldn’t they agree to do so? It’s because Arte Moreno rejected the MOU structure that his imposed on him. And that happened because ARTE MORENO IS NOT AN IDIOT AND HE IS NOT SOMEONE FOR CON MEN LIKE PRINGLE TO USE.
Yep, Tait DOES say he wants to make a deal with the Angels and “to working with this entire council as we do that.” Anaheim Priest asks: “Would that be the same council that Tait is right now?” No it won’t — Murray will be gone. (People are on to her.) Eastman will probably be gone too — but even if she isn’t, without Murray there (and once Kring is utterly destroyed in the Mayor’s race), Pringle won’t have power anymore.
Brandman is an affable guy, but he can’t be programmed like Murray can and Kring is going to be SEETHING for the next two years. If Brandman is not smart enough to jump ship, Eastman will probably be the deciding vote for a decent deal for both the City and the Angels. If Vanderbilt and Moreno both win, such a deal will be easily made. It will mostly come down to that repair money — but if Moreno and the City can work out a joint venture on a mega-parking structure, the City could give a lot of ground there because they’d ultimately make back what they gave away and more.
The Pringle Ring was overconfident and lazy; they didn’t think that they could lose. Surprise! Not everybody is an easy mark — and they should have known Moreno wasn’t one. Once CATER brought suit and it was clear that things would eventually come out, Moreno did the smart thing and held things up. That’s how you get to be a billionaire — and to STAY a billionaire. Pringle shows how a less smart guy can mess it all up.
*As usual, Dr. D. is spot on! Look Ryan, Matt has a family to support…and a Man’s gotta do,….what a Man’s gotta do. Just ask anyone in the Mafia. They will tell you the same thing. Being a nodding doggie in the window sometimes yeilds enough cash to turn on the lights next month. You have to be more understanding of political logjams, misappropriated ideas, concepts and cash.
Anyway, now that the Angels are out of the World Series…….things can get back to normal. Had the Angels actually won the ALCS or the World Series and that would have cost the city billions. Now it just millions.
What a fun idea. I was just about to ask Vern to do this very same thing.
My last unpublished comment was that DanCe has never swung at a pitch thrown by anybody over ten years old.
Yes, it was completely irrelevant and a bit insulting given that DanCE is a non-athlete, but was in response to his utterly irrelevant comment that I couldn’t recognize the difference between a guy swinging at, and missing, and hitting a foul ball – a running trope that is unless you don’t watch baseball like an insane addict you are not qualified to opine on the Angel Heist.
To which I did respond (germanely) that I didn’t publish and mail out the hit piece that claimed Tait had “struck out;” although I did say it was an apt metaphor for the dubious efforts on Charlie Black who appeared to be working for Moreno instead of us.
A few posts ago Cunningham accused me of being a socialist because I agreed with a comment by Bernie Sanders that addressed kleptocracy on a grand scale. His foolish post went on about free-markets. When I challenged him to explain how underwriting a ****hotel that otherwise couldn’t be built squares with a free market all I heard was a deafening silence.
My latest response to the laest Insider nonesense:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 9, 2014 at 7:19 am
David Zenger
So why did the MOU have specific points such as exact dollar amounts and specific lease opt out milestones. It was abundantly clear that the deal points had already been worked out in advance by Charles Black (or someone else equally uninterested in the well-being of the City’s interest.
And please explain, Mr. Insider, how come at least two of the other four councilmembers (who knows, maybe ALL four) wouldn’t make an agreement with Moreno – without Tait.
Details. We need details!
Better yet why Black was fired in the first place.
“The MOU for the stadium itself, while not nearly what they should be able to get, is not intrinsically offensive”
No, the MOUs WERE intrinsically offensive. MOUs are supposed to be general in nature and the basis from which specific deal points evolve. As I patiently explained to Anaheim Insider, these two had specific dates and dollar amounts – evidence that somebody had already developed an agreement, making the MOUs completely irrelevant and unnecessary, but were approved to make it look like the process was on the up and up.
And yet we were supposed to believe it was just a “non-binding” starting point and that something beautiful and aromatic might grow out of the stinking pile of road apples.
Then there’s this dialog with the odious Anaheim Insider who has been identified as some sort of Pringle sponger:
October 9, 2014 at 8:56 am
Anaheim Insider
This “they should have stopped the mayor!” spin is getting pathetic. Tait and his attack dogs and his press agent at the Voice of OC blew up the negotiations. And now you and Zenger and rest are complaining that the rest of the council didn’t do more to stop the Tait crew! That’s like a drunk getting a DUI and then blaming the other people at the party for not taking away his car keys: “There was only one of me and a lot of them!”
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 9, 2014 at 9:35 am
David Zenger
And how, exactly did Tait’s crew “blow up” negotiations?
It’s easy to blurt out, but a lot harder for you to demonstrate (but go ahead please try, if it’s not too much trouble).
IF what we did constitutes bad government as you imply with every keystroke you make, then the other four had not only the ability but the OBLIGATION to make the deal in the interest of us citizens – just as they keep braying, but not acting on.
What you are really confessing is that the other four were completely derelict in their refusal to make the right deal for the good of the City. They had the ability and the obligation and FAILED.
We have been over this turf before, Mr. Insider: I am not “complaining” that the other four didn’t “do more.” I merely point out the blatant hypocrisy that they didn’t do anything – a fact that makes me quite happy. You, however, as an obviously bitter partisan for the Moreno Giveaway, should be incensed at the fecklessness of the Feeb Four. I would be if I were you.
AND:
October 9, 2014 at 8:59 am
Anaheim Insider
Ryan, when people hear Tait say, over and over and over and over, “they want to give away 155 acres for a $1,” they’ll give it credence because he’s the mayor. That doesn’t make it an honest pitch. Tait’s primary objective (with help from attack dogs like you) was to as a wedge to try and hurt his colleagues politically.
Reply
October 9, 2014 at 9:03 am
Ryan Cantor
Automatic F. Failed to address anything related to an “educated reader”.
The only.people running political ads in connection to the Angels deal were connected directly to the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. If you want to talk about how this issue was (and is) being used as a political weapon, start there.
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 9, 2014 at 9:39 am
David Zenger
“Tait’s primary objective (with help from attack dogs like you) was to as a wedge to try and hurt his colleagues politically.”
Even if this were true, you now, finally admit that political fear kept the Feeb Four from doing what you consider to be the right thing.
Got it. Thanks.
Feeb Four.
Nominated for this week’s Scadooshy.
Thank you Anaheim Jack.
Anaheim Jack
On this blog and others, the framework has been explained time and time again. Either you are looking for cheap political points or it is something else.
Perhaps then, we should ask Zenger and Cantor to explain their backgrounds with major infrastructure financing projects as a starting point as to how they feel qualified to speak with such conviction on what this framework would or would not do. I would also like to know who they spoke with to know what terms and conditions would have been put into a final agreement (since this information does not exist).
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 9, 2014 at 10:09 am
Ryan Cantor
My team manages a capital construction portfolio with an annual spend exceeding $400,000,000.
How about you?
Which will simply elicit the classic “and how is it you find so much time to comment on blogs” diversionary response.
And round and round we go.
And, predictably, at 11:09am:
“How do manage that portfolio when you spend so much time blogging?”
Did I call that or WHAT?
You sure did. I left them a new love note giving you credit.
Anaheimblog. The gift that keeps on giving.
Or as Zenger has said “The grift that keeps on grifting.”
“How do manage that portfolio when you spend so much time blogging?”
Because I’m that good.
October 9, 2014 at 12:50 pm
Anaheim Jack
Let me be more direct: Have you ever been part of a stadium negotiation?
Point being, these appear to be very complex and nuanced undertakings. You have attacked the framework as if it meant the end of the world. Why the blind devotion to stopping a negotiation before it even started?
So then I go back to my first point: What gives you special insights beyond everyone else, that just so happen to align perfectly with Tait, that shows you need to stop this negotiation? Since the battle from Team Tait was to stop this before it started, it looks to me like a political points move directed at his colleagues in an attempt to undermine them so he could get Doug Pettibone as his yes man on council to do as Tait commands.
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 9, 2014 at 1:36 pm
David Zenger
I don’t have any special insights. It doesn’t take any to see the magnitude of the scam.
That’s why the public gets what Tait is saying. It’s soooooo simple. And that’s why Tom is going to win this thing going away.
We couldn’t “stop it before it started” (a logical nonsense, by the way) since nobody knew it had ALREADY started, even going so far as developing specific dollar amounts and lease terms. Oh, yes, the little negotiating gremlins were hard at work long before the papier-mâché MOUs finally saw the light of day – the day after Labor Day and announced to the public only the previous Friday the holiday.
To which I replied:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 9, 2014 at 11:43 am
David Zenger
“Perhaps then, we should ask Zenger and Cantor to explain their backgrounds with major infrastructure financing projects”
Well, first you have explain what “major infrastructure financing projects” even means. I think you’ve got some of those words out of sensical order but I’m not sure. Please give it another try. Then I will be happy to tell you why my qualifications may be a lot better than Anaheim Insider or Gail Eastman.
I refuse to post at Cunningham’s blog and push his traffic counts into a position that makes his handlers believe he has an ounce of credibility as a “news source.” BTW-a phone survey earlier in the week ended with asking respondents where they get their news, including twitter, etc and the only media (not Register, LA Times or Voice of OC mind you) the ONLY media I heard mentioned as AnaheimBlog. I would laugh if it was not so pathetic. Today’s Chamber ad is even more offensive, but please tell me the Register is administering their ad policies. I cannot WAIT for the resolution of all this stuff so I can talk about this.
Oh come on. Make up your own Anaheim based handle and join the silliness.
Anacorgie? Corgieheim?
You and Fitzy. Every time I see Fitzgerald he yells at me for driving readers to Cunningham’s blog. “Nobody would go there if it weren’t for you and Ryan and Zenger.”
Should we ask Cunningham for some sort of reader finder’s fee?
Me ‘n the not-too-impressive “Stand for Anaheim.” I even worked the word “stand” twice into the same sentence? Unfortunately that would go unnoticed in Dullardsville.
October 9, 2014 at 9:11 am
Stand for Anaheim
Why isn’t the register covering this? Oh wait, it is being controlled and driven by Tait/Fuentes loyalist Brian Calle. Seriously!?!?! Brian has been so quick to hit Murray and Eastman but perhaps could his sweet non-rep, Rep in name only Tait be wrong!?!? Rumor has it the Rep community is coming unglued with Tait’s actions…FINALLY!!
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 9, 2014 at 11:56 am
David Zenger
“Rumor has it the Rep community is coming unglued with Tait’s actions…FINALLY!!”
Well, that’s news to me. What I’ve heard is just the opposite: the OCGOP sees Mayor Tait as an upstanding standard bearer for the party. In fact, they’re getting weary of having to apologize for Anaheim’s non-rep, Rep in name only oligarchy.
Gem of the day, by Proud Colonist. Her mom must be thrilled.
Since you are admitting you can’t read I will spell it out for you – MOUs also waive all maintenance obligations of the city for the life of the agreement. That’s a savings of $600K annually or $40M in total for the general fund. Even if you take the $1 a year line verbatim the city makes $599,000 each year. All of you sycophants refuse to let facts get in the way.
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 9, 2014 at 12:32 pm
Ryan Cantor
Speaking of can’t read . . .
The MOU also gave up A MINIMUM of $800,000 a year in ticket sale revenue.
Since you’re literacy challenged, I’ll assume your arithmetic is also a bit dull. That’s a net loss of $200,000 a year, or a loss of $13,200,000 over sixty six years.
Now, I’ll ask you again, just how should an “educated” person read the MOU? I’m just a lowly sycophant who can read and do math. Help me out.
On Stadium;
Tuesday night the talking heads got Tait distracted by an argument over whether or not the deal was for $1. I have to say, well done. Keep the lady with the baby on the porch with a sob story of being abandoned while your partner sneaks in the kitchen door to rob the widow blind while she stands at the front door. It does not matter what the MOU was or was not because it is dead, what matters is that there was NO LEGAL CONNECTION between Arte Moreno/PCI profitable development of 150 acres of prime real estate WE OWN and the Angels Baseball organization’s existing obligation to repair and maintain the Stadium. They were 2 separate agreements, memorialized in 2 separate documents, signed by Arte Moreno representing distinct entities, and NO mention of even the INTENT to connect the one to the other. This is beyond the obscene slap in the face to every taxpayer that we are now also expected to pick up the tab for Stadium repair Moreno owes already. For what? To keep a team already here, which represents NO NET GAIN to the public, and only negates a potential loss we would not be facing if not for the 4 idiots GIVING him the 3 year extension in the first place!
Add in “benefits” listed by the lying sack of City staff that also eliminated or reduced pretty much every other dollar we are supposed to collect on the site. Oh-but we DO get to skip the $600k payment (an accounting error in Anaheim’s budget) what is the return on our investment at this point? 50 years of payments in one form or another and all we get back is the penny on the dollar for sales tax dropped at The Catch? A movie theater multi-plex would drive more revenue based on that model!!!
They blame the Mayor for wanting to bulldoze the stadium so he can put up condos. Hmm….nice try. The Stadium District gift of public funds was authorized by SOMEONE prior to the hiring of Charles Black, because Charlie’s $350 an hour contract in early June 2013 specifies he is to negotiate the Stadium lease AND the lease of “Stadium District” (this separation is important in a minute) and we learned Tuesday night (thanks to Kring) that the Mayor wasn’t part of ANY of those Closed Session meetings because he owned property until August 2012, and one year wait period for FPPC compliance ran until August 2013. Tait won’t talk about Closed Session, not even to say he wasn’t there, so he must have been as floored to walk in and find them up their necks in our piggy bank as we were! Hmm…NOW maybe we understand the rush to September 3 meeting! Maybe nobody watching after that holiday weekend was a nice fringe benefit, but not the entire motive? Hurry up and get this voted on, the Mayor can sit in on this now, and the Boy Scout is gonna screw it up! THAT makes sense to me. How about you? So it is pretty hard for Tait to interfere with something he was not privy to until about the time you and I also found out the real estate deal was thrown in as a party favor….WITHOUT NOTICE. Oh….gee…THAT is a problem….
Now let’s go back to the separate Stadium District lease….do YOU see any reference to a real estate negotiation on Closed Session agendas alongside the Stadium itself? The land lease was separately authorized for Charlie Black to play with at our expense, and evolved into an entirely separate MOU with an entirely separate corporate entity formed by Moreno the morning of the MOU signings….isn’t there a teensy tiny little issue of State law that REQUIRES this public notice before scheming to offer our public real estate for $1 or whatever niggling little detail Lucille Kring wants to call it? Ooops.
Shapiro v San Diego, the SD City Council got slapped right into Appellate court for “oversharing” in Closed Session, their reasoning being they are obligated to give public notice if they discuss this handful of required things, but if it isn’t on the list they can just go ahead and discuss OTHER stuff in Closed Session all they want and to Hell with notice, not required or it would be on the list. I have to wonder how long the court of appeal laughed and slapped their foreheads (and whether it will be with more force than will be used when they see Anaheim’s JPA case) but Shapiro v San Diego has become one of those humiliating ways to get famous for doing the wrong thing as it is used as an example of what NOT to do in ethics training all over CA. What did they do?
Court of Appeal held that City violated Brown Act requirements by:
Providing inadequate agenda descriptions that:
− did not follow safe harbor provisions
− failed to identify specific properties and the names of City negotiators
Discussing topics in closed session that were beyond price and terms of
payment for properties to be acquired, such as financing of project,
project design, EIR issues, and naming rights
And what was that lesson in failure focused on?
Shapiro v. San Diego City Council, 96 Cal.App.4th 904 (2002)
Involved closed session discussions about a complex real estate
transaction that involved a BASEBALL STADIUM PROJECT.
Wait, who was involved with the SD baseball stadium project? Was that Charles Black, the slick real estate developer Lucille Kring wants back? I don’t know if he was in on the Closed Session, because THEY DIDN’T REPORT…and got in trouble for less than Anaheim just pulled off.
Another point in evidence as to the TOTAL LACK of not only MATH skill, but CRITICAL THINKING ABILITY among the bobbleheads- Only MINUTES after attempting to pillory Tait over the “$1 a year”, WHAT do THEY THEMSELVES start doing? Multiplying the $600K Maintenance “Savings” to be bestowed by Moreno times the term of the contract !! Two GLARING problems here-
1) IF “NOTHING IS BINDING” as they unceasingly repeat, then “$600K Savings” has AS LITTLE (to NO) MEANING as “$1 a year” !! Your “Rules of Argument” EITHER have to apply ACROSS THE BOARD, ladies, or they are INVALID, AS YOURS HAVE BEEN FROM THE BEGINNING!
2) If we step over that logical CONTRADICTION for a moment, we fall into ANOTHER. – HOLDING OUT the “$600k Savings” as true, you then ALSO have to INCLUDE the ALWAYS OMITTED hike in the attendance floor for the $2 per seat payments, from 2.5 Million to 3 Million. THAT LITTLE CHANGE costs the City A MILLION DOLLARS, WIPING OUT the $600K “Savings”, and leaving the City AN EXTRA $400K IN THE HOLE (which used to cover remaining Debt payments on previous Stadium work). !!
If Anaheim voters return such Math and Reading comprehension INCOMPETENCE to the dias, they deserve the worst that happens (which unfortunately THE REST OF US will SHARE!). The proposal to re-hire insider shill Charles Black, who left us halfway INTO the swamp, THEN left out the back door to cash our checks, LEAVES ME SPEECHLESS! I believe medical reasons played a role in keeping Moreno from a seat at the (mythical) “table that every thing is on”, those being the PAIN from repeated face-palms and uncontrollable LAUGHTER!
Could you do a piece with the ultimate takedown of the contract terms?
Anaheim voters don’t deserve this in any case. They’re being lied to brazenly, and sometimes that’s so unlikely seeming that it takes time to sink in. We need to be patient and continue to explain and explain.
Time permitting, check your inbox?
Finally had one deleted.
Tait had long known about the framework of the MOU. He had even told Arte Moreno, in person, months before, that he was fine with the framework. That’s one of the reasons Arte ultimately agreed to the MOU: he thought Tait was on board because Tait had told him so.
But in classic Tait style, after it went public, Tait turned and used it as a club. He pulled the same act on the O’Connells on GardenWalk. Just like he double-crossed Jordan Brandman and Steve Lodge. It’s a pattern.
Ryan Cantor
That’s quite the story Insider!
Just which city employee are you accusing of violating the Brown Act?
Hope someone at city hall is reading this. Looks like the good folks down at the Chamber have no problem throwing city employees under the bus as soon as it suits their political agenda . . .
This totally makes my day. SKADOOOOOOSH!
Now that is interesting, since Lucille spilled on Tuesday that until August 2013, Tait was forbidden to attend the Closed Session meetings (waiting out the FPPC order one year from owning property) and anyone inside the Closed Session meeting was forbidden to talk to him about the framework, until August 2013.
So which of the 4 spilled the beans “months before” to a guy who would have had conflict of interest issues? And if Tait really did discuss with Moreno the deal points he was not supposed to discuss, Moreno could have nailed him to the wall, conflicting Tait out and getting him out of the negotiations altogether (it’s not like Moreno doesn’t have his army of lawyers on speed dial and he is not afraid to use them, trust me on that)
Anyone else smelling something that needs to be scraped off the bottom on a shoe?
As Fullerton’s former Mayor HeeHaw would have said:
They’re steppin’ on their own weenies, now!
Those are great questions. How do we get them to Todd Priest for his answers?
Enjoy your deposition, Todd.
Anaheim Insider says:
I’m so glad that Todd Priest published this in time for me to include it in my revision of the Brown Act complaint!
Right? They just can’t help themselves.
Must have struck a nerve. Another deletion
Proud Colonist
So now it’s Kris Murray and only Kris Murray? So typical of the Tait camp to attack one woman v the entire staff and council who supported the MOUs. She’s not running against Tait. He should stop acting like she is her opponent. Strong women clearly rattle Tait and his rag tag group of supporters.
Ryan Cantor
Did you just play the gender card?
WOW. I see how it is. When in doubt, cheat.
Well done, PC. Well done.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 9, 2014 at 5:23 pm
David Zenger
“The council majority played by the rules…”
Uh huh. And what rules would those be? The rules say 3 of those estimable individuals could have made ANY deal they wanted to at any point along the way.
At least two were too chicken to go ahead with the deal, you say for political reasons – and blame Tait – instead of laying the blame where squarely it belongs, on the feckless Feeb Four.
I say they were too afraid to face the electorate after making a rotten decision. So which two was it? Or was it all three – Kring, Eastman, Murray who are running for election.
And now, they are trying to fool the same electorate they are afraid to face, by making it seem like Tait is to blame for their own cowardice. That’s pretty low.
I hear that my Precious Princess is broke and that she blew her wad on giant signs depicting her expensive manicure, coif and tialored red suit.
Can anyone confirm this?
Also I object to that picture of Cunningham. There is no one in his pocket. It’s the other way around.
Oh SNAP.
If you remember the genre of music that the Specials played, you’ll see why Cunningham’s location in the graphic is just perfect for him.
That said, I’d have liked to make it a big pic of Todd Priest with a little Matt in his shirt pocket — but the only photos I could find of Todd Priest in our OJB files was one that Vern used to illustrate a story given to him by an emissary from God. (I’ve since found others, but I try to avoid picking people’s images out of photos that they’ve taken with apparent family members, because I’m not vicious enough.)
I could not blow up that one to a large enough size — and in any event it lacked a thorax that would to allow him to be depicted as the one with Matt in his shirt pocket. So I did it the other way. At worst, it at least evokes their relationship, even if it’s in some sort of Freudian dream-symbolism-reversal way.
“If you remember the genre of music that the Specials played, you’ll see why Cunningham’s location in the graphic is just perfect for him.”
Ska? Two-tone? I still don’t get it.
I know that the mutilated teddy bear was originally supposed to be in this picture, not sure why it wasn’t.
I don’t get it either. I was listening to classical in the early 80s.
…and Cunningham himself was digging Adam Ant!
Author’s request was “no bear.”
You’ll figure out the reference eventually.
No bear?! But that is so symbolic of everything the Oligarchy treasures.
“in any event it lacked a thorax”
That’s not all it lacks.
I actually started choking at that one.
Murray has the support of “publik safety!:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 10, 2014 at 8:28 am
David Zenger
Would that be the same DA who is so busy releasing murder suspects back onto Anaheim’s streets because of his own bungling?
And didn’t this coziness with the unions cost Murray the OCGOP endorsement?
Just askin.’
October 9, 2014 at 11:11 am
Anaheim Insider
Good point. Remember, it was Mayor Tom Tait who said that he wants to let the homeless back into La Palma Park this winter if they have nowhere else to go.
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 10, 2014 at 8:57 am
David Zenger
So Team Pringle is beating up on the homeless now?
Nice.
I’ve been wondering when you guys would try to scuttle that shelter deal. That real estate would be just so tasty to the right, properly connected developer.
Some great material here for the first Skadooshy! Keep up the good work.
I’m not going to even bother trying to comment at AnaheimBlog on the new Rackauckas attack commercial on Tait, where — lying as usual — he attacks Tait for being insufficiently pro-Bruno and for not wanting to strike the ad hoc memorial to Manuel Diaz. I’m trying to decide whether to write about it — it’s probably best to just let it fester and drain on its own.
I’m the DA! Vote for the candidate who says officer involved shootings of suspects are better than paying for trials!
“Saves us the cost of not having a pre-election anti-police riot!”
I’m feeling the same way about it… it is making my gorge rise.
Maybe the most bitterly ironic Anaheim Insider piece yet?
The literally fascist James Robert Reade sure loves it.
Hmmm…. now that I listen to it again, the message is “Anaheim needs a new mayor.” He doesn’t say Kring. Is Lorri now acceptable to the fascists?
No, they’re skirting making this an in kind contribution.
Just more weak sauce from the DA.
Hey, someone remind me . . . When was the last time Tony actually put a gang banger behind bars? The last time he put anyone behind bars?
I don’t think he’s won a trial this side of the millennium.
Spend more time in court, Tony. That’s why we pay your bills.
“Spend more time in court, Tony. That’s why we pay your bills.”
WRONG!! Look how he effed up the Kelly Thomas case.
Maybe if wasn’t his first court case in the 21st century, he wouldn’t have mucked it up so bad.
Look, all I’m saying is this: instead of spending time and money out of court promoting illegal city ordinances, illegal injunction zones, and illegal informant programs . . . Maybe he could have personally locked up a few gang bangers.
Too much to ask?
Why lock ’em up when you can shoot ’em in the back and save the cost of a trial?
Well, it certainly saves the cost of an illegal informant . . . That’s for sure.
Hey, you think we can get a letter from his Chief of Staff accusing us of unethical reporting?
Ryan, you’re in danger of winning your own Skadooshy!
The Dog DA?
The DA video keeps showing up on facebook, being promoted heavily by AnaheimBlog, so someone is putting in money. Here is the funny thing, it is BACKFIRING. the comments are filling up with people who hate the DA, and the video is just so poorly done and clearly false, that folks are laughing or cursing at him, but it does not look like anyone is taking the guy seriously, and i would not be surprised to hear it helps Tait instead of hurting him. There was a VERY short period in which one or two of the chamber ads got some traction but then as always they decided more was better, and now the dogpile has become so obvious that folks have shifted to. “really, is that all they have on the guy? pretty desperate…” followed by, “who did tait piss off?” and voters like the whole underdog thing this cycle. Seriously, best thing they can do for tait is keep up this line of attack. Idiots.
How can one not take the DA seriously? I mean, he so like, tough on gangs. And that Chief of Staff – what a winner! Justice for all!
He hired Craig Hunter as his investigator. No one can question that.
October 10, 2014 at 11:29 am
fiestainanaheim
Orange County needs a new District Attorney who will prosecute police officers and politicians who contribute to his campaign.
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 10, 2014 at 11:53 am
David Zenger
The same DA who is kicking murder suspects back on to Anaheim’s streets because his office is so screwed up and leaderless?
I think the biggest threat to public safety in this County may be the Dyspeptic DA himself.
October 10, 2014 at 12:33 pm
Anaheim Jack
Just because your buddy Diamond the democrat didn’t win doesn’t mean you have to get bitter about it
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 10, 2014 at 12:36 pm
David Zenger
I’m bitter that the Do-nothing DA lets his political cronies skate and turns murder suspects loose on the streets of Anaheim because his department is so incompetent.
With endorsements like his, who needs enemies?
Now that is TRULY low. Zenger and I are not “buddies”; we have just tacitly agreed not to try to kill each other for a few more weeks. (And of course I respect his positions on Anaheim issues and his skill in conveying them.)
I really do question the wisdom of using Racky in an TV ad — but it’s cable so maybe it’s on one of the channels intended for people who think that CSI is real.
By the way: it’s pretty likely Bruno was shot accidentally (the proper term would actually be “recklessly”) by an Anaheim cop. We won’t know for sure until they recover the bullet supposedly lodged near his heart — which, in all likelihood, they will never do even AFTER he dies someday, because they probably know DAMN WELL that he was shot by the “friendly fire” of an Anaheim cop.
Perhaps if they ever recover the bullet Kring can have it melted down and cast into a tiny Alsatian for her charm bracelet.
No “perhaps” about it.
October 10, 2014 at 12:14 pm
Anaheim Jack
I hope this runs on every commercial break!
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 10, 2014 at 12:34 pm
David Zenger
Me, too. It’s a joke by a joke.
Reply
October 10, 2014 at 12:43 pm
Sandy Day
Thank you Tony Rackauckus for this powerful statement and for your interest in protecting Anaheim!
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 10, 2014 at 1:11 pm
David Zenger
Sandra, why is the DA letting suspected murderer out of jail to possibly prey upon Anaheim citizens?
Apparently the Kleptocracy doesn’t like critique of our Do-nothing DA who supports those who support summary executions of suspects.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 10, 2014 at 8:20 pm
David Zenger
Hey, what happened to my comments? All posted well within the bounds of this site’s “rules.”
That’s alright. I’ve published them on the OJB where nobody is afraid of the truth.
The rules are there are no rules.
Something to do with divine right. Moral superiority. I dunno. Some damn shit, but you’re not allowed to post that.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 10, 2014 at 8:28 pm
David Zenger
We already have a Utility Tax. In fact Kring is on my sample ballot cheerleading it. So why isn’t she demanding a rebate for overcharging on utilities?
From the Ebola Swamp:
October 10, 2014 at 10:51 pm
Matthew Cunningham
Re-posting all your comments on the fever swamp blog. Seriously? You people need to get lives.
Reply
October 10, 2014 at 10:54 pm
Matthew Cunningham
“Aren’t afraid of the truth?” More like wouldn’t know the truth if it caved in on them. For example, let’s summarize every Zenger comment: “Pringle did it.”
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 11, 2014 at 6:56 am
David Zenger
So why didn’t you publish my comments if you aren’t afraid of something? They conformed with your ‘rules.”
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 11, 2014 at 7:42 am
David Zenger
“Pringle did it.”
I like that. I sure wish he’d quit, though. Is he ever going to get enough?
Seriously, it is very difficult for an impartial not to see the hand of your benefactor in all things in Anaheim that involve lots of money and that inevitably seem to end up going to Mr. Pringle’s clients.
Then there’s the oligarchic take.
Please tell us: when was the last time the Chamber of Commerce, the cop union, the fire union, OCTax, OCBC or SOAR failed to endorse a Pringle-backed candidate?
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 11, 2014 at 12:50 pm
David Zenger
Why should Tait take the blame for the Angels (phony, by the way) talks with Tustin? Kring was the one who voted to give Moreno another three years on the opt out.
That extension was handed away with ZERO consideration, all based on the flimsy say-so of somebody named Charles Black who appeared to be working for the Angels.
Me ‘n Vern tag team on a rodent:
October 11, 2014 at 11:36 am
Matthew Cunningham
“it is very difficult for an impartial not to see the hand of”
Oh please. There’s nothing impartial about you. Of course it is easy for you to see Curt Pringle’s hand in everything. You see it because you want to see it. It’s easy for a conspiracist like you to see conspiracies. I’ve seen your “explanations” of why this or that happens in Anaheim. They are so far removed from reality as to be comical. You invent connections out of thin air, and confuse correlation with causation.
Reply
October 11, 2014 at 11:51 am
Vern
Correlation and causation coinciding over and over and over? That IS something.
Reply
October 11, 2014 at 12:05 pm
Matthew Cunningham
Good grief. It would be simple to find a series of examples of you or Zenger’s choice of candidates to support correlating with other groups or individuals, and then claim – with equal invalidity – that you or Zenger are controlling those groups and individuals.
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 11, 2014 at 1:02 pm
David Zenger
Congrats. That comment was the most meaningless string of words I’ve read outside a County Community Services Department staff report.
Why not try to answer the question? Neither Vern or I pumps hundreds of thousands into the campaigns of potential puppets every election cycle.
The only money I have ever contributed to an Anaheim campaign was a measly hundred bucks to King in 2012 in the belief that she stood for things. Look how that turned out. Worst investment in good government I ever made.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 11, 2014 at 1:05 pm
David Zenger
“Good grief. It would be simple to find a series of examples of you or Zenger’s choice of candidates to support correlating with other groups or individuals, and then claim – with equal invalidity – that you or Zenger are controlling those groups and individuals.”
Forget Vern, and use me as an example. Now let’s see you back up that “it would be simple” baloney. Go ahead. You said it now do it.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 11, 2014 at 1:10 pm
David Zenger
“And do you spend all day in front of your computer commenting on blogs?”
Not quite all day. And only when I have to defend the integrity of an honorable man like my Mayor – Tom Tait. Almost like you spend all day deleting or delaying comments made by me, Ryan Cantor (another honorable man) and of course Allen Wilson, who tells me he is not permitted to post comments here any more.
October 11, 2014 at 12:59 pm
Matthew Cunningham
Another Zenger assertion grounded in speculation and innuendo. What a surprise.
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 11, 2014 at 1:16 pm
David Zenger
Speculation?
I don’t doubt the Tustin council would sell out their constituents if a certain unnamed “consultant” started arm twinsting, but it won’t happen (yet) Mr. Big is invested in Anaheim land use twizzles, not Tustin). And who will build the new $1,000,000,000 stadium? And what idiot who lives in Tustin would support it when there is an existing stadium four miles away?
Black delivered the terms of the MOU to the council and Kring voted on it in the affirmative – three free years.
Let me draw your followers a pretty picture: “here take this gun; now load it with these bullets; now hold it against my head.”
The Kring formula of leadership.
Or…
As witty and truthful and pithy and scathing as all these comments are, most of them WERE eventually published on Matt’s site. And I don’t know which deserves the SKADOOSHY, but…
Special notice must be given to the comment they NEVER published, and I’m trusting that our legal team IS running with it? Once more:
Anaheim Insider: “Tait had long known about the framework of the MOU. He had even told Arte Moreno, in person, months before, that he was fine with the framework. That’s one of the reasons Arte ultimately agreed to the MOU: he thought Tait was on board because Tait had told him so.
“But in classic Tait style, after it went public, Tait turned and used it as a club. He pulled the same act on the O’Connells on GardenWalk. Just like he double-crossed Jordan Brandman and Steve Lodge. It’s a pattern.”
Ryan: “That’s quite the story Insider!
“Just which city employee are you accusing of violating the Brown Act?
“Hope someone at city hall is reading this. Looks like the good folks down at the Chamber have no problem throwing city employees under the bus as soon as it suits their political agenda . . .”
Oh, I’ve had several that never saw the light of day and I didn’t share here.
I get the feeling that a quiet desperation is setting in over in Kleptoville. I’m pretty sure they’ve given up on Tait and are now trying to keep Moreno out. I’d love to know how Murray is polling since I keep hearing that the more people actually see her in action the more they loathe her.
Oops. That was me.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 11, 2014 at 9:46 pm
David Zenger
“Who other than a left-winger from academia doesn’t understand that such economics punishes initiative”
Hmm. How about the Republicans who support $158,000,000 kickbacks to a hotel developer who can’t get the free market to build a four-start hotel?
October 11, 2014 at 1:14 pm
Matthew Cunningham
Ooo – Zenger says it’s “go time!” Yikes!
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 11, 2014 at 9:54 pm
David Zenger
Still waiting for you to show your readership an example of how my political support lines up with some group or other. You said it was easy. Now you refuse to try.
That’s really chicken. Even for you.
Matthew Cunningham
Zenger – get a life, man. I’m not going to waste my time on that. And that doesn’t make your claim true. You and Vern and the rest toss out your idiotic theories and then posture as if they are true until proven false.
And now here you are issuing childish taunts like some schoolyard bully. Go feed your cats or something.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 11, 2014 at 11:47 pm
Ryan Cantor
#FAIL.
You get a slow clap for that one, Matt.
I’d suggest that’s a new low for you, but it’s not.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 11, 2014 at 9:59 pm
David Zenger
Speaking of Kring’s leadership, I notice on my sample ballot that she is one and only person cheerleading a Utility Tax – Measure N. Wow. What a surprise! No wonder she has the support of the cop and fire unions.
Oh man, the spin on this ought to be legendary.
They NEVER touched it. Maybe a post on OJB?
That sounds appropriate and timely. Fitzy seems to have the best institutional memory of that tax … unless you or Cynthia does. From what I understand it was sneaked in illegally decades ago, and now has to be voter-approved to continue — just like that Fullerton water tax from a couple years ago, one of FFFF’s cause celebres!
I remember the Water Tax,er “Franchise Fee” in Fullerton from the 90s when I tried to get the council to do something about it. They wouldn’t touch it, including Norby. Nelson wouldn’t, either – another blowhard.
Man, what a rip off.
Dan Chmielewski
maybe it’s because I shower at least once a day and I’ve never been arrested. Skadoosh.
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 11, 2014 at 11:57 pm
Ryan Cantor
I’m genuinely surprised that once a day is good enough.
And for Matt’s latest:
As enjoyable as it is to watch Lucille Kring attempt to articulate anything about policy, I have to point out she completely forgot to include some rather critical context in her statement about facts. From the top, with the pieces she missed:
Fact #1 — The Anaheim taxpayers would always own the land . . . BUT most residents of Anaheim would be dead before its use would return to the city. The proposed lease was for a minimum of 66 years. Realistically, it could have been 99 years.
Now I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to be dead and the thing I’m giving up won’t get returned until my grandkids have kids, I think that’s safe to call it a giveaway.
Fact #2 – The MOU framework was a SAFE deal for Anaheim taxpayers.
Tait has continually stated that the taxpayers should split the profits on any new stadium development. What he doesn’t say is that would involve risk – share the profits, share the risk.
Well, that’s giant load of steamy poo. The city proposed to front the majority of the investment to develop the land . . . namely the land itself. The city gives up its option to do anything else with it as a result of the lease to Moreno . . . That’s sharing the risk, Lucille. So where’s Anaheim’s share of the profits? Oh. Right. No where. But thanks for spelling out why it was a really bad idea.
Fact #3 – The Mayor is only ONE vote.
The Mayor was the only vote opposed to a piss poor MOU that gave away Anaheim’s single largest piece of leverage . . . that Arte was out of time to find anywhere else to go . . . for absolutely nothing.
Lucille Kring voted to give Arte Moreno THREE EXTRA YEARS to find somewhere else to go and got NOTHING for Anaheim in return.
That’s not leadership, but we do have a word for it.
Incompetence.
Also, for anyone who cares, Lucille Kring accused Arte Moreno of negotiating in bad faith.
That was probably a really stupid thing to do.
She said that? Unusually perspicacious. It’s true.
October 11, 2014 at 10:32 pm
Matthew Cunningham
Remember, Zenger – this is your man, now. Left-winger Moreno is the other Tait candidate (so much for advancing freedom), so you need to fall in line and cast your vote for this dyed-in-the-wool progressive.
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 12, 2014 at 6:43 am
David Zenger
Isn’t just it horrid how I’ve been forced to support a left-winger?
But really, what choice has the oligarchy left? But what about that $158,000,000 tax kickback to develop a hotel the free market couldn’t build? How did that advance anybody’s frredom?
October 11, 2014 at 10:26 pm
Matthew Cunningham
Zenger – get a life, man. I’m not going to waste my time on that. And that doesn’t make your claim true. You and Vern and the rest toss out your idiotic theories and then posture as if they are true until proven false.
And now here you are issuing childish taunts like some schoolyard bully.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 12, 2014 at 7:41 am
David Zenger
Childish taunts? Like what? Whom have I bullied?
On the other hand you claimed that my political positions could be easily shown to align with some unstated groups or other, implying that Pringle’s interests just happened to agree with the Chamber, OCTAX, OCBC, the cop and fire union, and SOAR – all coincidental, like.
When pressed to provide a single example you became petulant (speaking of childish) and peevish.
I know I shouldn’t respond to Dan’s shower taunts, and this probably won’t get published anyway, but I’ll put it over here:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 12, 2014 at 9:39 am
Vern
Dan’s whole “Vern needs a shower” thing is based on Gustavo’s occasional taunting me that I smelled like alcohol last time he met me – in 2010, when I’d been drinking all evening – with Bushala and Gabriel! (Fun night, and no, Bushala was driving.)
However, meeting Dan was one of my most unpleasant memories, and it matches the experience of many others I’ve heard. Easily 300 pounds even after his gastric bypass surgery, he stomps up way to close to you and gets in your face while spitting out snotty threats and insults. Back then he thought he was gonna get some money from me – something to do with his stupid lawsuit against Pedroza. i told him to go to hell. I don’t really remember if he smelt bad, but the memory is stinky.
“…he stomps up way to close to you and gets in your face while spitting out snotty threats and insults.”
Geez I wish he’d try that with me sometime.
I think he does that with people who won’t return the favor. Then he questions their ‘testicular fortitude” of which nobody has any ‘cept him ‘n Lorraine Galloway.
Me and the insane James Robert Reade:
October 12, 2014 at 3:22 am
James Robert Reade
Then move to Cuba and join Fidel Castro’s Revolution. Or move to North Korea and work in a prison camp. Or just continue promoting Jose Moreno’s vision of Soviet style long bread line economics.
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 12, 2014 at 9:27 am
David Zenger
No, I think I’ll stay right where I am and try to clean up the mess the oligarchy has made in Anaheim.
Dealing with psychotics is just one of small annoyances I’ll have to put up with.
I know, I know. Any chance somebody can hook up Reade with Dan Cmilewski? You’ve got a couple real soul mates there.
I apologize Fitz and Cynthia, but I have become an addict, and even have a new name for over on Matt’s blog… My contribution to the new Kring copy-paste:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 12, 2014 at 5:03 pm
Vernaheim
This is one of the funnier things to come over your transom in some time, boss. Starting with the title – “Kring: It’s about Leadership!” Hilarious! Kring has all the leadership of a windblown weed.
FACT. If Tait indeed, with his only one vote, managed to single-handedly stop this disastrous deal in its tracks by merely speaking out in public about how bad it was, until all his colleagues were too ashamed to vote for it, then THAT is impressive leadership!
FACT. If Lucille believes so strongly in this deal, but couldn’t get any two of her klepto colleagues to join her in voting for it, then THAT is zero leadership.
Next slowball?
It’s fun posting comments over there, especially when we repost them here. Of course Cunningham hates it because we still get the truth out, and to a lot more people; and we reveal him for the peevish, petulant pissant he is.
Cunningham is permitted to read the minds of his enemies:
October 11, 2014 at 11:40 am
Larry Herschler
Open to it is a better answer than just yes and no answer. These do not offer a true answer. See our current city council for non answers to issues in the community.
Reply
October 11, 2014 at 11:45 am
Matthew Cunningham
Larry,
“Open to it” is code for “I support it but don’t want to go on record before the election.”
Moreno has already made it clear in writing elsewhere that he supports higher taxes.
Reply
October 12, 2014 at 2:22 pm
Vernaheim
“Open to it” is code for “could be a good idea or not, depending on the details.” Duh, and again duh.
Reply
October 12, 2014 at 3:39 pm
Matthew Cunningham
Vern, don’t be deliberately naive.
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 12, 2014 at 6:09 pm
David Zenger
So suddenly you are a mind reader? Isn’t that the line you always use to divert and deflect?
I believe I have now joined Ryan in permanent limbo. Hey, wait a minute, I was baptized!
October 13, 2014 at 10:13 am
Anaheim Insider
They understand economics. Anaheim is in the convention and tourism business, like it or not. Staying competitive for conventions entails expanding the ACC and building more luxury hotels in the resort area to make it more competitive for the higher-end, higher-spending conventions that inject more revenue into the resort and increase TOT revenue.
The “giveaway” label is wrong. There are no GardenWalk hotels. The subsidy doesn’t start until the first guest pays his hotel bill, and is money the city isn’t receiving now. And the city is still receiving TOT revenue it doesn’t currently get. After the agreement expires, the city gets all the TOT, and more of it from that site than if it were a 3-star limited service hotel.
Garden Grove has been doing this for years. Their agreements are expiring, and now the city is getting all the TOT, at levels it wouldn’t be absent those agreements.
Higher-end, better hotels. More jobs and revenue generated. The resort area stays competitive. What a terrible policy!
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 13, 2014 at 10:19 am
David Zenger
And yet the private sector (Cunningham’s freedom advancing free enterprise) wouldn’t finance the four star hotel. It needed a tax kickback. How does the O’Connell deal square with free enterprise?
What’s with their fetishization of TOT at the same time that they’re trying to pillory Moreno as a founding member of the Red Brigades for not categorically ruling out a gate tax?
Oh, right — a healthy portion of the TOT will be going into the pockets of the well-connected.
I’m sure that when the current TOT deals expire, we’ll see Curt Pringle’s spiritual successors (or geriatric Curt himself, appearing before Council in a streamlined hoverchair) arguing that it’s time to repeal TOT completely, because it’s a program that’s outlived its usefulness. (Also, freedom!)
Alternatively — shades of Angel Stadium here — they’ll argue that all of the TOT deals need to be renewed, because now these hotels are looking *so* rundown and decrepit, and the owners need just a *little* help getting their properties up to modern four-star standards.
Will Pringle have a Dick Cheney-style artificial heart by then?
Why? Doesn’t need a real one now to survive. What good will a fake one do?
Four-“star” standards?
Four-GALAXY standards!
The question of the day (actually the half-year) has not been “is ACC expansion a good deal?”
It has been “should the people of Anaheim get to vote on it?”
It’s not economics. It’s politics. These people are terrified by popular sovereignty.
That may be because people who actually have a household budget understand that Todd Priest’s “X is good so let’s fling unlimited money at it” form of economics is a fraud — rather, a fraud in service of a greater fraud — as such principle would justify ANY largesse tossed to the Resort District whatsoever, without regard to merit or cost.
It’s a shocking and brazen insult to the people of Anaheim. No wonder they don’t want people to vote on it.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 13, 2014 at 10:24 am
David Zenger
“His lefty allies don’t oppose economic assistance agreements.”
They may not. But why do supposedly freedom loving free enterprise Republicans like Eastman, Kring, and Murray go goo goo for them?
Oh, right.
October 13, 2014 at 10:11 am
Anaheim Jack
Very well put!
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 13, 2014 at 10:27 am
David Zenger
Jack, why are you so terrified of one man? Let’s say Gate Tax Moreno gets in. So what? You’d still have your staunch conservative stalwarts Murray, Eastman, and Kring (okay, I know on this council a 3 vote majority doesn’t mean much – but you also have Brandman in the Oligarch package dea!).
I don’t know why Vern gets his comments published. Brother you aren’t trying hard enough.
October 12, 2014 at 9:33 pm
Vernaheim
Heh heh … you said “retards liberty”
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 13, 2014 at 10:29 am
David Zenger
Maybe that’s the kind of liberty you get when you aren’t paying attention to the City Council.
Reply
October 13, 2014 at 10:41 am
Anaheim Insider
Be honest, Zenger. You know very well I am correct about what will happen if Measure L, which you support, passes. You know very well what kind of city council Anaheim will get after a couple of cycles. But you’re such a slavish Tait partisan you won’t admit it.
Are economic assistance agreements like that with GardenWalk pure free enterprise? Of course not. But it is economic development, and in the context of the long-standing vision for the Resort district, it makes good economic sense, and will bolster economic activity in the Resort. And because we have a GOP majority, aim of this agreement is limited to bridging the feasibility gap in getting these hotels built and operating.
If you’re hero gets his way this November, future hotel development deals will be GardenWalk on steroids. And the blame will be on Tait and the Taitbots. It’s a shame to see a man who used to be a positive force in Anaheim politics align himself with anyone and do anything in his desperation to be in control.
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 13, 2014 at 11:33 am
David Zenger
I am always honest.
I’m pretty sure I know what kind of city council we will get if L passes: hardly distinguishable from the one we have now.
The oligarchy will just have to find a few more narcissistic and pliable personalities on which to shower money.
But there is a slight chance (very slight) that people in my neighborhood will be able to participate in an election that doesn’t cost several hundred thousand bucks to win, money only Disney, SOAR, and the public safety unions can gin up.
P.S. Giving certain businesses government largesse at the expense of others and upzoning to benefit a few never makes economic sense, unless of course you are in line to get a “win bonus.”
There is a reason a bank wouldn’t lend money on the O’Connell deal at an affordable rate and it may have to do with the fact that Disney patrons Ed and Madge from Sioux Center, Iowa have no desire to pay for a stay in a four star hotel.
Interesting and ironic that your side would now attack Moreno by claiming he would have made the O’Connell deal even worse! Hilariously wrong. He wouldn’t have gone for it at all.
October 13, 2014 at 11:01 am
Anaheim Jack
The problem is Tait. I can excuse the OJB group for falling for the lies and misdirection but Tait knows full well the benefit of the resort area and how to grow this as a resource. His bluster against the projects there strikes me as personal, selfish and a detriment to Anaheim citizens.
Reply
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 13, 2014 at 11:38 am
David Zenger
“His bluster against the projects there strikes me as personal, selfish and a detriment to Anaheim citizens.”
Well, Jack, I’ll grant you your opinion on what constitutes a detriment to us citizens of Anaheim. However please explain how Tait’s positions could be construed as personal or selfish
What’s amazing to me is that these people would defend Pringle to the death (well, someone else’s death) as, presumably, NOT personal and selfish.
Well, when you’re on the payroll you are not expected to apply a decent standard of consistency.
And you are also never to admit the existence of “Der Pringle,” as they used to call him on FFFF. He’s sort of like the Loch Ness Monster. People swear they’ve seen him.