We are well-passed 100 comments on the second installment of this series — so even though there may now actually be fewer days left before the election than AnaheimBlog has actual individual commenters, it’s time to put up this final pre-election installment. The Skadooshy Awards commemorate the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce’s decision just to suppress opposing contrary voices altogether, especially if they showed sound and incisive analysis, and honor the things that we would have said there had such commentary been allowed.
They also now cover some Kremlinology-type activities, trying to see how the Anaheim elections are going based on the polling data that is being fed to Pringle Company Vice-President and registered lobbyist Todd “Anaheim Insider” Priest, chewed thoroughly, and then regurgitated into the beak of Matt Cunningham. And, frankly, at this late date, they also cover anything else that our regulars and honored guests want to toss out there. You want to make a prediction? Fine, you can do it here — but we will keep track of it and time permitting will make fun of you later this week. Election predictions have consequences.
What can we learn from recent writings on AnaheimBlog?
1. They have all but conceded the Mayoral election to Tait
Sometime between October 24 (which saw multiple nasty and forceful attacks on Tait himself) and October 28 (which featured whining), Tait’s opponents appear to have mostly given up. If Kring — or even Galloway, who has received continually respectful treatment on the Chamber of Commerce’s blog — were anywhere within shouting distance of Tait, they would be hammering on him constantly. Instead, the attacks on Tait — when they’re not simply pissy — are in the service of subsidiary issues. They (1) attack his parents for funding attacks on Kris Murray and Gail Eastman; (2) attack him for his (tacit but obvious given the alternatives) rooting for Dr. Jose F. Moreno (#1), as distinct from recidivist irritant JoJo Moreno (#2); and (3) attack him for supporting Measure L. No affirmative case is being made for Kring — or even Galloway. So that’s likely a relief for many readers. (Of course, if his supporters fail to show up on Tuesday, all of that could change.)
2. Dr. Moreno is driving them to heights of acute wackiness
Of the five political stories on the Cunningblog Friday and Saturday, three were attacks on Moreno. (One was whining about why people support Tait; one was on Disney spending and the districting measure.) That doesn’t happen unless Moreno is doing pretty darn well. (It may also be why Jordan Brandman was forced to betray his party and Latinos in the most destructive mailer of the election — at least for his career.) I’m not party to the polling data that they can buy with that Disney money, but this suggests that Vanderbilt is either comfortably leading or trailing and that Moreno is probably second or third. Judging from the vitriol and monomaniacal focus, I’m guessing that he’s several points ahead of Murray. Without Murray on the City Council, the Pringle machine on the City Council can still run — but it will not fire on all cylinders. Brandman can’t explain what Pringle wants to do, Eastman isn’t in the loop, and Kring is likely to be bitter bitter bitter that all of that money was spent on Murray (and, incidentally, Eastman) while they gave up on her race early. She’s probably going to be fine if Murray has to come back and explain what Pringle wants people to do in Public Comments. I for one look forward to that.
3. The campaign against Measure L seems sullen and perfunctory
Again, I haven’t seen polls, but from the Cunningblog I suspect that Measure L is comfortably ahead at this point. The tone of Measure L coverage tends towards the sullen rather than triumphant. The content, meanwhile, is perfunctory: two of the stories on Measure L feature little except Gloria Ma’ae and Ron Bengochea speaking at the last Council meeting. One gets the sense that at this point Cunningham is covering it just because he’s getting paid to — so including a couple of short speeches by citizens helps him keep up appearances. Fine by me. I’m still planning on spending Election Day making calls for Measure L. I’d like to see a decisive, crunching victory there — and with Disney’s almost $700,000 of spending that we know of so far, the idea that districts should be small enough to walk over the course of eight months is getting more and more appealing.
Meanwhile, five of the last seven articles published by Cunningham’s pal Chumley on his blog have been on Irvine. Anaheim was apparently a lot more interesting to him when Galloway and Murray had more of a chance. Just as well; the Irvine beat is pretty much a full-time job right now.
Your turn.
“the polling data that is being fed to Pringle Company Vice-President and registered lobbyist Todd “Anaheim Insider” Priest, chewed thoroughly, and then regurgitated into the beak of Matt Cunningham”
Skadooshy winner. Cunningham as a baby bird swallowing predigested worms and bugs offered by PringleCorp.
Kring is toast. Once again offered up as some sort of burnt offering to whatever gods these vile people worship. I can’t understand how she can be so amoral AND dumb.
And a final thought on Anaheim Blog. The full enormity of Cunningham’s behavior is waxing gibbous. He may not even realize it but HE is going to be held personally responsible for every assholish comment, every slander, every noxious “insight” by Anaheim insider and the other handful of PringleCorp puppets who commented anonymously on that rancid site.
You would think that he would have learned by now to quit being a paid monkey for some really vile interests, but no. The fallout for him is going to be radioactive.
Over at the blog that is too chickenshit to publish alternative opinions to those bought and paid for by PringleCorp something calling itself “Anahamster” claims the observation above is a threat “growled” at Cunningham. Talk about delusional and paranoid!
First, I don’t threaten people and second I am in no position to apply a threat even if a I wanted to. But for him the negative reaction to a year long campaign of viciousness against our mayor, a man of integrity and decency is going to be worse than his setting a teddy bear on fire and setting up a Virgin of Guadalupe votive candle next to it (yep, he did that, too).
Is an Anahamster a second, or a third, cousin of the Jerbal?
Half brothers most likely. Same rodential qualities.
So what’s the deal with Hugh Glenn [Glenn, H. (late 2014) Anaheim Blog] and his meanderings, delivered with all the punch of lukewarm oatmeal and dressed up with the gravitas of a set of pseudorandom footnotes at the bottom?
It’s sweet of Todd Ament to give his Pop-Pop some space for his hobby, I guess.
Biff, don’t you love how the Kleptocracy refers to its own censortopia blog as a news source?
Hugh Glenn is an idiot.
Word on the street has it that he shares a name and a step-parent with Swedish free speech advocate Hugh Jasol, whose postings are seen frequently at OC Weekly and Yahoo. Any confirmation?
David deserves a lot of credit for the wittiest and sharpest exchanges with the obnoxious klepto characters.
Thanks. I discovered a while back that they have no sense of humor. None. Of course the stakes are really high for the Kleptocracy. Lots of avid greed; no levity. Even Cunningham’s posts on non-political events are passed like hard stools.
More coherent commentary finally comes to Anaheim Blog:
November 9, 2014 at 8:59 pm
Lorie
The finest half about this is that Rag doll sport are positively free of cost.
Finally, the DSi XL connects players to friends through a unique blend of pictures and words.
This discount is good for the ‘Super Mario 3D World’ bundle that comes with
the game plus a copy of ‘Nintendo – Land’ as well as the bundle that comes with ‘New
Super Mario Bros.
Reply
November 9, 2014 at 9:00 pm
wordpress.com
They are basically an audio file (mp3) plus a graphics file that you play at the
same time. Step 3: Rehearse timings of your karaoke
Power – Point. Yet another fantastic feature with this karaoke
software is that it will assess your vocal and give you the
stats so you can see how you performed and by using the stats you can look to improve and defeat anybody
who ever chooses to challenge you.
Reply
November 9, 2014 at 9:02 pm
programma karaoke
The following songs are definite no-no’s and
should only ever be sung at home in the shower or driving alone in your car, if at
all, but preferably never. One key for the event is to get each player to offer a number of pledges.
This cute pink and white Hello Kitty inspired karaoke system
is suitable for little girls aged five and up.
Reply
November 9, 2014 at 9:05 pm
karaoke Italiano
There are a few basic tips to keep in mind, when buying karaoke machines.
Just cover the bands , which you choose online and get the services according to
your imagined way and in budget and make sure that everyone are surprise with the arrangement ,
which you have made for the party to hit the record of entertainment.
All you need to do is load and click, and you can play for hours
at a time and enjoy an entire night of fun and laughter.
Reply
November 9, 2014 at 9:29 pm
basi karaoke gratis
Basically different types of machines have different features and one
doesn’t use all the type of equipments at the same time.
Step 3: Rehearse timings of your karaoke Power – Point.
Yes it is true, Karaoke is not dead in Philadelphia PA, far
from it.
Reply
I predict that Cunningham’s interest in Anaheim Blog will oh-so-mysteriously tail off, with the occasional “Sauerkraut Sunday at the Phoenix Club!”/”Carrot Top and Gallagher Headline Three Days of Comedy at the Grove of Anaheim!” post to keep the lights on, just in case the Grifter Express comes chugging back through the City of Orange.
Sometimes you just lose interest in a hobby (that you are 100% *NOT* getting paid for, no never), y’know? Anaheim Blog: soon to become the equivalent of a half-completed macrame owl, shoved into a plastic bag in the back of a guest room closet.
November 10, 2014 at 5:48 pm
But no! The Wordsmith “reflects” on his election day ass being kicked. And one of his deranged followers chimes in!
James Robert Reade
Also, I thought Mayor Tait exploited voter anti-government spending mood which was erroneously associated with sound government partnership incentive policies. After hearing both sides I determined that Mayor Tait attempted to stunt economic growth in Anaheim for self-serving purposes and I will be telling him that next time I see him.
Did we get our asses handed to us?
Well, no, not really. It was more like a standard swift kick in the butt. What I will do though is find the smallest finger hold to latch on to AND COMPLETELY IGNORE LUCILLE KRING GETTING BEAT LIKE A RUG AND MEASURE L PASSING TWO TO ONE.
Unfreaking believable.
But hey, our one candidate who didn’t get obliterated, an incumbent with hundreds of thousands of dollars in independent expenditures supporting her campaign, finished less than a percentage point above her primary challenger.
Nothing says keep handing out hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars like winning by less than a percentage point.
Pick a new poster child, Disney. This one is going to drag you along with it.
I think some of the Real Masters of the Universe are going to be given serious pause. Todd Ament, Cunningham, Anaheim Insider, maybe even Pringle himself may be on the way out.
If I were Disney and/or Arte Moreno I’d be looking for a new “consultant” post haste.
“No. That’s spin.” (And please sit still while I proceed to dish out some tenuous justifications of my own.)
It’s always projection from Cunningham, all the time …
You see projection in so many places in politics… it makes me occasionally check myself to see if I’m doing it myself. But it really seems to be endemic to the mercenary side in general. Chmielewski even more than Cunningham.
Chipmunkski’s lack of self-awareness is breathtaking. I really think he is mentally unbalanced. That sort of borderline personality (I donated mattresses, therefore I am) probably stems from exposure as a kid to a severe and abusive narcissist.
Cunningham will just say anything for a buck.
November 10, 2014 at 7:24 pm
Proud Colonist
People should check out the video of Team Tait HDQ on election night. During his interview John Leos, Jason Young, Mark Daniels and other random bloggers can be seem mulling around. The entire choir of bloggers who berate and attack his coleagues. He claims kindness and surrounds himself with thugs.
Good thing I wasn’t there!
To “Proud Colonist” it is likely a VERY good thing you were not there, we had a great deal of fun that night, and having wet blankets like you around was not part of it. Enjoy the life of “used to be in power.”
So now we get to see the whole conflicting interests thing play out. When “promises made, promises kept” means you have pretty much told everyone what they wanted to hear to get re-elected, and those promises made begin to overlap each other, what to do?
Anaheim Neighborhood Association (ANA) is the construct of “colony” hive-mind group-think with a bow on it. They are most ably represented by Mitch Caldwell and Michelle Lieberman on the Planning Commission, with Keith Olesen keeping everyone in check on the Colony email group. They very recently drop kicked the Natalie Meeks financial solvency plan for ARTIC, ie REALLY BIG OBNOXIOUS ELECTRONIC BILLBOARDS to underwrite the operating costs of Pringle’s giant glass barn, when the “private investment” portion of Curt’s Public Private Partnership failed to show up. The plan was denied at the last meeting by PC members with the institutional memory to recall what it took to get RID OF billboards in Anaheim (prior to welcoming a ball club owner who made billions forcing them on unwitting communities who thought they had outlawed them until Moreno’s lawyers found loopholes to exploit) so NOW what is little Ms. Murray going to do? Her glass elephant has to underwrite its own costs. In fact, it is supposed to cover its own nut AND generate an additional $3MM in revenues which is where the city miraculously “found” money for neighborhood improvements that our incumbents took a bow for in the campaign. Now Murray is trapped between overruling her buddies on PC to make sure ARTIC generates those revenues, or making her Colony friends happy. I have not looked at the deal yet but I have to wonder how the Stadium and Honda Center feel about having THEIR ad revenues on THEIR giant obnoxious electronic billboards now competing against a public project. Did anyone catch the last PC meeting?
Project number 2: ATT site in Colony. The special friends of the majority have been trying to shoehorn a dense (and butt ugly) mixed use project onto the old ATT site at Lincoln between Anaheim Blvd and Lemon. Beyond the archeological dig issues of the old Chinatown site there (which were frosted over by Brandman and Associates study) the traffic impacts to the Pearson Park residential district (disclosure MY neighborhood where we get too much cut-thru as it is) was supposed to be mitigated by “traffic calming” which should have been done before Pringle left office but he pulled it at the last minute as an “up yours” to the Colony for having the audacity to believe we could spend out own CDBG money as the Neighborhood Council voted for. NOW that the election is over, we hear rumblings that the traffic calming isn’t working out, too bad so sad, we are very likely to get slammed with the project AND its traffic and tough toenails if we don’t like it, because the election is over and Murray no longer has a need to keep Colony people happy. On the other hand the giant developer who wants the butt ugly development could come in very handy for that run for an Assembly seat etc that Murray would see as the next step.
Promises made? Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Let’s see Cunningham spin these two conflicting issues.
Anybody have / find a list of those “promises”? (All my bulk mail gets tossed).
Cynthia, do you know how those vendor contracts at ARTIC were procured and who negotiated them? I notice a happy quotation from somebody called Natalie Meeks in the city press release. I would love to know the sf $ of these spaces.
The City Council has to approves leases. When were these agendized?
As usual, I smell a toothy rat.
Well Mr. Zenger,
That is the beauty of the City of Anaheim, like the famous Mouse that keeps so many of them in office, (or not) they have learned to wear white gloves and keep their own hands clean. So instead of issuing those leases themselves, they let a contractor do it.
LPC Transit is now the operator for ARTIC and they are in charge of leasing out space. They have an interesting timeline, though.
September 12, 2013 City puts out RFP for ARTIC
October 17, 2013 City closes RFP with four proposals in hand.
December 17, 2013 City approves the deal for LPC to manage ARTIC.
BUT…..LPC Transit Mgmt LLP is not filed with CA and Delaware until December 9, 2013
So how did LPC Transit Mgmt LLP submit an RFP before October 17, 2013 if they did not yet exist? Well their parent company did, Lincoln Properties, so they likely submitted the bid and then opened LPC to handle the ARTIC account much like Arte Moreno creating Pacific the morning of the MOU signings. BUT one of the things Natalie Meeks said swayed the “panel” (notice they never name those on the panels?) is the “local” nature of the company (Lincoln is based in Dallas) and their experience (I cannot find evidence of them doing a transit station before) but then it IS Natalie Meeks so you have to deduct points for credibility when she is in the room.
However, once LPC Transit scored the gig in December, Meeks already came back March 11, 2014 (hmm…something else was going on that night too…) and got Council to approve an amendment to the Contract so LPC now also handles parking because apparently they had not thought that through first. But it is OK because it only adds $2,500 month to the total, which is still beneath the ceiling of not to exceed $225,000 annually, but THAT sounds like a COST to the city, not a revenue in the “plus” column.
But then i am sure Natalie knows what she is doing. Cough. Cough. Sputter.
In other words the deal was separated from the Council who can now claim ignorance and innocence of whatever was going on behind the scenes with their full knowledge as they pulled and persuaded the strings.
I really don’t care if those vendors got screwed, but I would still like to know if the City gave away (discounted) the leases just to make the useless and derelict hulk look lived in.
P.S.
Is anybody going to be able to track the finances and budget of ARTIC or is it going to be laundered through the General Fund like the Convention Center?
Just remember the fabric softener.
Cunningham’s few commenters are certifiably nuts:
November 11, 2014 at 2:34 pm
James Robert Reade
I don’t think Tom Tait is a democrat. I think he is a follower and brainwashed agent for the Racist Cholo Party (RCP) formed by Amin David and Jose Moreno. Because even the U S Democratic Party has leaders of high caliber.
If he’s certifiable, then he ought to be certified.
Districting: the gift that keeps giving.
Whines Cunningham:
November 12, 2014 at 2:29 pm
Matthew Cunningham
Grant – actually, I realized my error even before your follow up comment. You’re right. Assuming they’re both re-elected (a safe assumption), both Jordan and Lucille run a 25% chance of being hosed out of their final two years in office.
Yeah! Right on! Just like “Jordan” and “Lucille” have been “hosing” us for the past two years. And I note with some amusement the “safe assumption” that either one of these people will be re-elected. Of course we can always ask Ms. Eastman for her opinion.
Well, this is coming from the guy who said this month’s election denied a mandate.
I wonder what flavor kool aid they’re pouring this month.
Hey, the new website format let me comment! I’m sure it won’t last so I share it below.
“Anaheim Insider” is attacking Tait (Yes. 54% Tait) for admiring the Packing House District “subsidy” yet opposing the GardenWalk giveaway to Pringle client McConnell.
Sez I:
False premise, false comparison.
I’m assuming the City deal with the developer was on the up and up (big assumption, true) and the developer presented the best proposal with the best return to the property owner (me, and 350,000 other people).
The deal with McConnell (who happens to have Pringle as a “consultant”) is a pure political connection deal with one dude and nobody else gets it.
You can’t see the difference? You’re the only one.
On Todd Ament’s war on net neutrality:
David Zenger
November 19, 2014 at 8:25 pm
Looks like Todd is shilling for Disney on this. Are there any other business interests in Anaheim except big corporate ones? Does the Chamber actually have any small business owners as memebers?
Just curious.
Perhaps not enough, or for long? I remember this-
http://www.voiceofoc.org/oc_north/article_bc2b2be8-3021-11e3-8abf-0019bb2963f4.html
“Small-Business Group Forms to Fill ‘Void’ in Anaheim”
I haven’t seen a roster for either one. –
Now I’m banned again in Pringletown. Not sure why. Pithy honesty and relevance?
Anyway, apparently some sort of circus is coming to Center Street promising fun antics:
“aerial acts, juggling, clowns”
Convention Center budget time already?
Apaprently the Ball Road peaker plant is dead. Here is Mr. Wordsmith:
“Since the OCWD has explicitly stated the Ball Road Basin is unsuitable as a groundwater re-charge basin (the reason it was acquired), its future use is now up for grabs. Possibles uses include purchase by the City of Anaheim for development as a public park, or lease by the OCWD for a different commercial use.”
Aha! A public park, that old tall tale pitched by Kris Murray. In reality the site is coveted by Pringle client Hardin. Purchase for a park? What idiot believes that’s going to happen? I wonder how long it will take the Kleptocracy to drop that story without embarrassment?
Cunningham whines and cries about a private enterprise fighting a government foray into billboard advertising. What I would have posted if I hadn’t been banned as a relevant, honest blogger:
“Government competing in billboard advertising? Sounds like Moreno-brand socialism to me.”
But Anaheim needs the money! The revenue projections for ARTIC were a LITTLE BIT OFF!
That’s putting it kindly. The longest of long cons is about to be revealed as a nasty money pit in perpetuity, foisted on Anaheim by the self-aggrandizing Kleptocracy.
Hilariously people keep refering to it as a transportation hub even though the train riders don’t take the bus and vice versa. The bus riders don’t want to go to ARTIC at all, unless they are part of the army of maintenance people needed to tend to it.
Of course it may turn out to be the motorists gateway to Disney parks after another $300,000,000 is WASTED so at least somebody benefits from all this Measure M largesse.
Now that Liberal OC has me on moderation (at least much of the time), we might as well use this for them too. (The picture of Matt remains perfectly appropriate.) Here’s my reply to Cynthia Curran’s comment on the site’s post that somehow made the DPOC’s Lou Correa endorsement mostly about me:
“Tea Party” has just become an easy, stupid insult that too many lazy Democrats (like Chimpster) like to throw around at anyone who’s a little to the right. Nobody can even agree what exactly it means any more.
We should do something special for chum and Matt.
Suggestions?
Send a petition to Pringle not to fire them.
Yes. Brilliant.
To the right of what? Dan C himself is to the right on many issues…isn’t Ted Cruz a Tea Party darling?
i have no philosophy other than attacking those that I hate and that list is long Ricardo.
I like to claim to be a “liberal” but that’s just a rouse to direct traffic to my award winning, though readerless, blog.
Sure I go to the Truman Dinner and get waves from Jordan, Larry and Tom Daly. But I’ve never actually done the work for the party that Greg or Vern do. If I were actually a liberal do you think I would spend all my blogging time attacking party activists?
Mr. Stalker, you appear to be enamored by the local monied interests that pull and persuade the strings of local government toward rich payouts for themselves and their clients. Don’t you think you should just come out of the closet and admit you are really a repuglican? You will probably feel much better about yourself and maybe even quit bullying people you don’t think can hit back.
Me a bully? I think not Mr. Zenger. If I were a bully would the OC Press Club be giving me awards?
Did you guys hear? Larry Agran, yes THE LARRY AGRAN, left a comment on my blog. Ain’t that peachy?
Wait, isn’t the OC Press Club made up of a bunch of former “journalists” who now “work” for government agencies they were formerly “reporting” on?
That “award” sure seems hollow, now, doesn’t it, Mr. D. Stalker?
I know! For the holidays, we could chip in on one of those nice Christmas gift bags at 99c Only, instead of the traditional brown paper, for the doorstep flaming dog poo surprise? No? Too ostentatious? Oh well. Next…..
Good God, Cunningham is now playing victim. Here’s the scenario: a strange-looking, uninvited middle-aged man shows up at Anaheim elementary school and starts snooping around. He has no children at this school. He has no children at any Anaheim school. He doesn’t vote in Anaheim or pay any taxes there. He doesn’t even live in Anaheim.
They kick him off campus instead of having him arrested and he cries like a little girl.
At least he didn’t set any of the kids toys on fire.
Jajaja, no link? Lemme go find this….
http://www.anaheimblog.net/2015/01/22/rough-treatment-palm-lane-elementary/
What’s with the Chamber’s fixation on charter schools? Or is Matt also jumping to other masters’ calls?
My guess is Mr. Pringle has a new client.
Talked to Moreno today, who says yes it’s possible there’s a new Pringle client, but also Bob Huff and Young Kim (and columnist Gloria Romero) have a big project using the charter school issue to peel off some more-conservative Latinos for the Republican party. I’m sure that SOMEBODY is paying Matt to be passionate about that though, even putting his ASS on the line!
I seriously doubt if Huff, Kim or (especially Romero who is a Democrat, I think) have any higher goal of party building. But you can bet that some little consortium has been formed to run the new and improved Palm Lane Charter School. And it’s probably a safe bet that this as yet unpublicized cadre has hired themselves a lobbyist.
Last line made me spit out my coffee.
Here is the ongoing fun dialog between Cynthia Ward and Wordsmith for the Kleptocracy. Even the clownish Dan D Stalker shows up to share his particular genius. Once again the Wordsmith falls back on his old faithful “you’re not a mind reader” and “you’re wearing a tin-foil hat” to evade the obvious. What’s the big secrte? CUnningham only blogs about things that enrich the Anaheim Oligarchy.
Please note that nobody bothers to explain why Cunningham was at an elementary school, unwanted and uninvited, other than to help stir up trouble, no matter how hard he tried to pretend to be a journalist of some sort.
Cynthia Ward
January 24, 2015 at 1:30 pm
For once I WANT to side with Matt on something, I believe wholeheartedly in school choice and I have seen the arrogant attitude of too many administrators (and even a VERY FEW number of teachers) who are of the mindset that the kids belong to them and parents are merely an annoyance.
HOWEVER…I cannot help wondering why a resident of Orange, without kids in the District much less at the school, is suddenly so hyper-involved? And as an unpaid volunteer, to boot, as is claimed! Anaheim runs a closed campus policy, allowing you to participate in discussion of education issues for kids you have no connection to is a privacy problem for the district and having you on campus with no visible reason to be there is a security issue for the district. We also do not let the public anywhere near the 3rd graders when on their local history field trip, despite the location being, under the law, a public park. This is no big conspiracy, only the district upholding their policy, with someone that had no legally enforceable right to be on campus.
Public Relations 101 says NEVER let a large crowd of hostile people gather at once, it becomes a shouting match and nobody will leave with any more understanding than before the meeting, Clearly it is the District’s intent to create an opportunity for two way communication, not merely offering information to the parents but also hearing the concerns of parents, and that is best done is smaller groups. Honestly Matt, given how much time you have put into mocking those of us fighting for our legally enforceable RIGHT to access public information and participate in the public process, it takes some nerve to now create a conspiracy theory when you were rightly ejected from a meeting you had no business being at!
Place your bets for a certain someone to have scored a lobbyist contract with a Charter School provider, and like Professor Hill, the team is ginning up hostility in River City, using the excuse of a pool table with the hidden motive to sell band instruments (and uniforms, gotta have the uniforms!) The problem with that scheme is sooner or later you gotta produce a band, or get out on the next train before locals brew up the tar and feathers.
Reply
Matthew Cunningham
January 27, 2015 at 1:31 pm
One of Cynthia’s primary flaws is her tendency to assert knowledge and certainty from a place of ignorance. I’ve have been an active supporter of school choice for many, many years. I don’t know what Cynthia was doing in 1993, but I was spending most evenings volunteering on Prop. 174, the school voucher initiative; speaking at informational events and forums, often debating a teachers union rep or some member of the public education establishment. I have been active in the issue ever since. I have no charter school as a client (I don’t know any charter school operators, for that matter), nor does anyone I know.
Cynthia’s comments are the product of a conspiratorial ignorance; she fills in the gaps and chasms of her knowledge with the silly putty of her prejudices. They also illustrate that her politics are primarily driven by her feelings about the players, rather than principle.
Reply
Dan Chmielewki
January 27, 2015 at 2:41 pm
“Public Relations 101 says NEVER let a large crowd of hostile people gather at once, it becomes a shouting match and nobody will leave with any more understanding than before the meeting…”
That’s not public relations 101, and regardless of your position on charter schools (which I’m not for as I favor strong public schools), you cannot deride Matt for not living in Anaheim swhen he published this blog. If you do, you ought to deride Greg Diamond, Vern Nelson and Ryan Cantor — all of whom do not live in Anaheim either. And while you’re at it, perhaps you ought to pull your group out of the lawsuit in San Diego over that Convention Center expansion.
You see Cynthia, everyone gets to play in the sandbox in Anaheim or only those who live there do. And if your choice is the latter, you can’t play in other sandboxes either. Be consistent.
Reply
Colony Observer
January 26, 2015 at 12:48 pm
Cynthia, why are you such a nasty, mean-spirited person? What the heck are YOU doing to support these parents? Probably nothing. I’m glad Matt is bringing their fight to public attention, regardless of where he lives. If they succeed, it’s good for parents in poor-performing schools anywhere.
Besides, you don’t mind people from other cities getting involved in Anaheim issues when they are on YOUR side. Your double-standard is so glaring it’s impossible to take you seriously.
Reply
Jose
January 26, 2015 at 3:42 pm
So what about the misinformation, Matt ? And what is your interest in little neifhborhood school? Pls share. So curious to know what your involvement includes.
Reply
Cynthia Ward
January 26, 2015 at 6:26 pm
Colony Observer, I have no idea why I bother answering someone so lacking in conviction they cannot put their own name on their posts, but here goes.
What part of what I just said was untrue? Matt does not live in Anaheim, his interest in Anaheim and its “civic affairs” appears tied to areas where his friends score lobbying contracts or other financial interests he can promote-or on the flip side attack anyone he thinks gets in the way of what they want. Do YOU want to bet against me in my prediction that someone close to Matt has a contract with a Charter School that is bidding for the job of running Palm Lane? Twenty bucks, I will drop it off with the middleman of your choice, to hold until the outcome, although then you would have to tell me who you are, because I am not putting up twenty bucks and not be able to collect from a ghost.
What part of my response to Matt was incorrect in telling him he had no legal authority to be on campus? It is true. Anaheim runs a closed campus system for the safety of the children and only those with legit business on the campus may be there. What “right” was he enforcing in demanding access to discussions he is not a party to? He is not their attorney, he is not their priest, he is not a family member, (to my knowledge) the District should not and could not permit him to remain there. This makes me mean spirited to point this out?
In the mean time, I file a legit legal complaint showing that the City denied the citizens of Anaheim of our rights to engage in discussion regarding the disposition of our most valuable real property asset, in ways that violated State law, City policies, and the public trust, and then buried documents about the whole deal that were legally disclosable, but because the docs offered info that was at best politically uncomfortable and at worst potentially illegal, the records didn’t see the light of day. No matter what side of the stadium deal you want to promote, isn’t public access and public participation something we should all be looking out for? But let me stand up for ALL OF OUR RIGHTS and I get creamed over here for it.
Yeah, you go ahead and call ME nasty and mean spirited. Now maybe Matt can answer Jose. I won’t hold my breath.
Reply
Matthew Cunningham
January 27, 2015 at 1:44 pm
Cynthia routinely tries to discredit what I have to say by harping that I live in Orange. Readers should note that she never makes the same point about members of her cadre of gadflies such as Greg Diamond (to name just one), a Brea resident who opines about what Anaheim city government should or shouldn’t do at ever city council meeting, and whom she uses to sue the city as attorney for her group CATER.
She also personally attacks any anonymous commenter who disagrees with her as lacking the courage of their convictions — while at the same time defending her practice of hiding the identities of the CATER members and donors who underwrite her group’s litigation against the City of Anaheim.
Again, this comment is SOP for Cynthia: a mix of smashmouth attacks, double standards, unsubstantiated allegations and red herring arguments with a healthy dose of martyr complex stirred in. I’ve been posting about a group of parents who are exercising their rights under the Parent Trigger Law in the face of ongoing hostility from the Anaheim City School District and the public school unions; Cynthia focuses on whether I and others were violating some closed campus procedure last week (despite her not being there and knowing next to nothing about the situation).
Here were my contributions to the post. (First time I’ve commented there since the makeover!)
1.
2.
3.
Oh man, #3 gets a Skadooshy for sure. Well done.
And I’m BACK ON MODERATION there!
Ha. I was banned in November for excessive truth-telling. And “snarkiness.”
Gosh what a bad boy I’ve been. No stuffed teddy bear from Pringle Claus.
Hours later and I am still in moderation…..why do I waste what little time I have even engaging these morons? Because there are real parents out there who are truly upset about the education their kids are getting, they are being fed answers on both sides with no idea who to trust, and in looking for answers they might accidentally trip over Matt’s fever swamp, as he does get some good search engine traction. (when you are “not paid” to blog you can afford to buy that bonus plan on your GoDaddy account.) In case someone really looking for information mistakenly falls into the sludge at Matt’s place, I want them to see some record of an opposing viewpoint not paid for by a lobbyist.
Cynthia Ward
January 28, 2015 at 12:59 pm
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Matt, Greg admits that his contract with CATER generates billable hours in exchange for his involvement in Anaheim. When will you do the same?
Yes, you followed the rules and went to the office, where the staff followed the rules and told you to get lost.
What was I doing in 1993? I am pretty sure I lived in that Palm Lane neighborhood (it might have been 1994 when we bought the house, but I think ’93) but that doesn’t really matter, I share only to say I do understand the challenges of the neighborhood, I lived a block from Palm Lane before moving to the Colony. Anaheim is my home. This is Greg’s job. So Matt, you are the only one here who does not have a clear motive, given the constant claim this is only a hobby blog for which you are not compensated.
Mr. Valencia, when has CATER attacked the City? When have I as an individual attacked the City? The City Council and a handful of self-centered staff do NOT represent “the City.” The 350,000 people counting on a municipal agency to provide critical services is what constitutes the City of Anaheim, and I have NEVER in my lifetime attacked them! I have filed litigation to enforce the rights of ALL Anaheim residents and taxpayers, which were denied us in several areas the Council has been involved with. That is not attack, it is accountability, those involved know the rules and they were not followed and there is a consequence to that. This is not a popularity contest, and I don’t care if you like me or not, I really don’t. What I care about is whether this is a community I can grow old in or a place where my kids will be willing to raise my future grandchildren, and when Matt and his cohorts get their own way it depletes resources from that future vision of Anaheim.
Too many people think “kindness” is some form of “everyone gets something they want.” When what SOME want is to siphon resources out of the neighborhoods where they are needed, and funnel the money into the pockets of connected clients of one lobbyist, offering any portion of what is wanted still results in a loss to taxpayers. I say no.
I was just reading Michael Reagan’s book on his father, and the phrase “We win, they lose,” seems to apply here. That is my goal. Taxpayers win. Kleptocracy loses. Problem solved. You want to call that “attack” then I now know which side of that formula you are standing on. That simplifies things.
I don’t object to these families trying for a Charter School, as I said I support parent choice and I am all too familiar with the demographic dynamics of the neighborhood and its economic challenges, and anything that gives the children of working class families a leg up is a bonus for all Americans. My objection, as I stated earlier, is in those who swoop in like vultures to pick the meat from the bones. Remove the opportunity for your preselected Charter provider to score the contract for this job and your passion for this subject disappears, you know it, I know it, those parents do not yet know it. I hope they are not counting on anyone on this team to stick with them through thick and thin. Support lasts only until the paychecks run out.
With all those posts over there . . . I can’t help but wonder . . .
Isn’t this process EXACTLY how union card check works?
So why are “conservatives” in favor of card check in this case?
To borrow a Matt-ism, that seems intellectually dishonest.
He put up the comment after I posted. OK I admit, this posting over here too thing works….I concede the premise, Mr. Nelson.
Yes it does work. But soon you will be banned completely like Ryan and me.
I’m apparently on a reprieve. Just auto moderated now vs. auto delete.
You need more snark in your diet.
That’s like fiber, right?
He only put you on moderation because he needed some extra time to come up with an appropriately insulting reply. (And the best he could do was calling you “delusional”? I expected at least a “shrill harpy” or two, accompanied by some huffing and puffing about “kindness” — Cunningham had better up his game before somebody pulls a blog trigger and he finds himself replaced by lower-priced shills imported from somewhere else …)
Lower-priced than Matt? They would have to outsource to India.
For the comments, at least, I was thinking of trolls from reddit or 4chan — they’d probably do the work for free.
Hey, I’ll do it.
50% of his rate.
No you wouldn’t. I feel confident saying you wouldn’t.
Shhhhhhhhhhhh! You’ll scare off the fish.
I found, as a Democrat and generally a union supporter, this new Cunningham passage interesting: ” It’s also worth noting the GardenWalk Hotels plan to hire a non-union workforce…”
http://www.anaheimblog.net/2015/02/03/judges-issues-final-ruling-favor-gardenwalk-hotels-agreement/
I was there at the last vote on the Gardenwalk Giveaway, and a lot of the talk was about the great construction jobs it would provide to the community. So the sign I threw together quickly was “Jobs jobs jobs … yeah, for Arizona SCABS.” (Which is where they’re generally imported from, they’re the cheapest.)
I was specifically trying to shame “Democrat” Brandman out of approving the giveaway, and I remember clearly how pathetic his hummina hummina was: “The developers assured me that they will do their BEST to hire union labor, and hire locally, and I take them AT THEIR WORD!” Pathetic and predictable…
This needs to be its own post, Vern!
Making it a stated goal to hire non union labor sounds . . . Well, let’s say it doesn’t exactly feel like good faith.
I wonder if public subsidy doesn’t make it a public works project requiring union labor – or at least paying union “prevailing wage” – per Davis-Bacon.
Jordan was even all, “I trust these people. I take them at their word. I’ve known them a long time.” Moron or liar or both? Of COURSE if they had any intention of using local, union (or even prevailing wage) labor, they would have happily put it into the agreement – it would have neutralized a lot of the opposition!
The Jerb has re-written that passage at length. It now says:
“It’s also worth noting the GardenWalk Hotels presumably plan to hire a non-union hotel workers – and OCCORD’s primary funder is UNITE-HERE Local 11, which depends for its revenue on organizing hotel workers as UNITE-HERE members. [NOTE: I’m told the excitable denizens of Orange Juice Blog are in a tizzy over the preceding sentence and are predictably blowing it out of proportion. I presume the employees of the GardenWalk Hotels will be non-unionized because that is the case with just about all the hotels in the Resort; however, I wasn’t referring to the construction jobs resulting from building the hotels, which I presume will be union jobs.]”
Hmmm… he added PRESUMABLY as though he suddenly has no inside knowledge, but he sure felt free to ASSERT it earlier and base a conspiratorial case on it; he also changed “a non-union workforce” to “a [sic] non-union hotel workers.”
Chain yanked any? Loose lips sink ships, Matt! I’ll go with believing what he wrote the first time; the OCCORD suit he’s pontificating against was specifically to stop the CONSTRUCTION of the hotel.
And yes, it’s spooky how deserted that blog is of commenters these days; it’s as eerie and vacant as the inside of ARTIC.
Then maybe we could also house the homeless on the CunningBlog.
ARTIC: a clean, well-lighted place.
Echo-y. Spooky. Nothing works. Escalators that sit still all day every day. Wi-fi? Forget about it. Wanna take metrolink? Just tell the train conductor “I got on at ARTIC” – they know the machines there don’t work.
But funny you quote Ernest Hemingway’s “clean well-lighted place [for books]” – they DO sell novels from a vending machine for some reason.
I went over there for grins and giggles the other day, 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Naturally the place was virtually deserted. There were more security guards there than patrons, a fact I pointed out to the amusement of one of the private gendarmes.
Those commercial tenants are required to stay open all day long. Poor Mr. Lost Bean and Vine will be paying a breath-taking six bucks per square foot to start off, plus a portion of the common area costs. That goes up to $7.60 per sf by year nine of a ten year lease.
Mr. Oyster Bar has ten-year lease, too – ultimately paying 4 bucks a foot inside, 2 bucks a foot for the “terrace.”
Mr. Mission Market has the best deal on rent – $1.6 per sf for the first six months. But he’s selling soda pop and chips and has to be open 12 hours a day. When I was there the little store was empty. There wasn’t eve a clerk visible.
Start an ARTICwatch series and visit every day. Worst that could happen is it’s a constant reminder of the sheer idiocy of it all. Best case is Pringle, Inc. has to hire fake patrons to make the place look less desolate.
It seems like, at best, a good place to be drunk and depressed and brood on modern life’s anomie.
Not a bad idea, but still – like watching paint dry.
I guess I should quit badmouthing the place. It’s LEED Platinum Cerified!
“It seems like, at best, a good place to be drunk and depressed and brood on modern life’s anomie.”
Only if you like being drunk in an operating room theater.
Another funny ARTIC story. I talked to an OCTA bus driver on a break and asked him what bus riders wanted to come to ARTIC. His response was that it was where you can catch the number 50 bus: the 50 line now ends there. I asked him where it used to end and he said a mile further east. In other words OCTA bus service has actually been reduced to make ARTIC a terminal.
And I used to be able to walk to the old station real easy from the 57 up or down State College; now it’s much farther, TOO far if you’re carrying heavy stuff on your back like me.
“Oh ye beneath life’s crushing load whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow…”
(It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, verse 4)
I also saw an OCTA bus roll through. It may have been Old Number 50. It was COMPLETELY EMPTY.
Priceless:
Greg Diamond
February 13, 2015 at 7:32 pm
You’re funny — especially as (1) I come from a far more ideologically heterodox blog and (2) don’t market myself as a character assassin for (part of my) living.
I kick people off of the blog I manage — sometimes upon request and sometimes even without it — for trafficking in anonymous personal attacks. But for you, it’s just part of “media strategy.” Your “mature and reasonable” self-representation contains too much irony for my blood. Then again, when you say what you’re paid to say, rather than writing out of conviction, I suppose that it is easier not to care as much.
Reply
Matthew Cunningham
February 14, 2015 at 1:23 am
“Neutralizing critics.” That sounds so humane, so open-minded, so doggone decent. Which is why this sphincter bans sarcasm but permits assualts on the integrity of our Mayor.
Soon he will be ordered to get rid of this Hugh Glenn dude who is getting in the way of the kleptocratic takeover of Anaheim’s public school system.
Just to be clear: that second paragraph is a blockquote from the Pacific Strategies page. Presuming you don’t mind, David, I’m going to indent it.
Yes that precious wordsmithing needs to be identified.
“Years of government and political experience.” That should have been: years of loyal lackeyhood and the pittance returned by the almost grateful objects of said obsequious affection.
Although it’s probably no longer even necessary to point out the unintended funniness of the humorless, I offer up this hilarious post
http://www.anaheimblog.net/2015/04/02/daly-introduces-legislation-to-save-tip-earners-from-negative-impact-of-minimum-wage-hikes/
in which Cunningham gets all lachrymose about the (possible) effects of the minimum wage increase upon its recipients. See, there is a real (-ly remote) possibility that their employers will ban gratuities altogether as they jack up prices.
Proposed legislation by Assemblyman Tom Daly, senior member of the Kleptocracy’s Democrat Auxiliary is proposing helpful legislation that will keep those tip earners from getting that bump – all for their own good, of course.
And not a single mention by him of how the increase will effect said proprietors – the very economic engine of Anaheim – the Entertainment Trust that employs him. The Kleptos just care so darn much for the “working poor.”
I came across this pearl from the Kleptoblog, “penned” by OCs favorite wordsmith, talking about some scary “left-wing” lawyer named Cory Briggs:
“This is the friend and ally of CATER, the self-identified members of which are fond of playing guilt-by-association game (and the associations are more imagined than real). They are joined at the hip to Briggs, and are proud of it – although they don ‘t go out of their way to advertise their alliance with the left-wing litigator.”
With absolutely breathtaking self-unawareness this idiot accuses CATER of playing the “guilt-by-association game” and immediately plays it himself.
Since the Kleptoblog only attacks people it is afraid of, we may assume Briggs is on to something. And those “imaginary” associations? Chamber of Commerce, Disney, SOAR, cop union, OCBC, OCTax all seem to keep supporting Pringle’s chosen mannequins. Now how imaginary is that?
“Since the Kleptocracy only attacks people it is afraid of…” Watching the transformation of Lorri Galloway over the last two years into somebody that the Kleptocracy NEVER attacks (and who is running again for Mayor in 2018) I kept remembering this scene from Tarantino/Rodriguez’ vampire/crime caper “From Dusk To Dawn.” The reference was a little obscure for me to ever bring up, but now I feel like it.
Harvey Keitel, playing a preacher trapped with his family and a lovable criminal (George Clooney) has been bitten by a vampire, and as they are hiding out and regrouping while figuring out how to kill as many vampires as possible, he makes Clooney and his own kids promise to kill him as soon as he transforms. So they go out and they’re killing, killing vampires, while the vampires try to bite them, and we’re watching Keitel from behind… when GRADUALLY, the vampires start looking at him funny, and stop attacking him. RED FLAG. Harvey turns around slowly, AND HE IS A VAMPIRE!
It was like that, with Lorri and the kleptocracy, in 2013-14.
Yeah, well, some of you guys had partisan blinders on. Others of us saw the long trail of cons and bad behavior all wrapped up in the Jesus Loves Me schtick.
The transition may have occurred in the 1960s.
Not so much partisan blinders on my part. She was the first person I met in Anaheim, told me all about Anaheim… it’s because of her that I eventually met Tait then Jason and Cynthia etc etc… and for WHATEVER reason she was doing all the right things in 2012 – fighting the hotel subsidies, working for district elections, and encouraging police victims to speak out. The fact she was a Democrat made me happy, I could point to her and say that not all Anaheim Democrats were like Brandman and Daly. Now it’s harder… but at least we got Dr Moreno…
“Since the Kleptocracy only attacks people it is afraid of…”
“… but at least we got Dr Moreno…”
BINGO. Now you know what they fear.
Man, Mr. Righteous seriously gets his underwear in a twist sometimes. Anyway, this got whacked by Matt today. Thought I’d share and maybe get a laugh.
Sandy Day: “And so herein lies the problem… this corruptive and disturbing occupation of thieving the Anaheim tax payer under the guise of altruism is merely sport for this wicked brood. Such empty and meaningless lives.”
Me: How did the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce get woven into this thread?
I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
And he said “You need a new Censortopia thread.”
You can’t always get what you want, Vern — but I’ll try sometime (this weekend) and you might find you’ll get what you need!
Kris Murray touts promises made and k(l)ept:
Click here for the event flyer.
One comment
John Johnson
April 16, 2015 at 6:11 pm
What promises were kept? Do you mean the ones to Bill O’Connel, Curt Pringle, and Disney?
—–
Instant classic!
Well, now. The Kleptoblog actually refers to the financial disaster of ARTIC! Two million in hole in its first six months.
http://www.anaheimblog.net/2015/04/21/2-million-artic-shortfall-in-first-6-months/
Of course the author passes along the nonsensical term “surplus revenue” cooked up by Anaheim’s Uber Frau, but actually admits it’s money that could be used for something else! Could an honest appraisal of McConnel’s hotel subsidy be far behind? Naw.
The end of the post, of course, is a whine about how a giant electronic eyesore would help make the problem go away – as if one huge taxpayer ripoff can be appropriately fixed by an aesthetic assault on motorists; or, to put it into context, the government launches a foray into commercial advertising to make amends for its earlier boondoggle.
Private outdoor advertisers have a right to be pissed off.
Oh joy!
And don’t forget that “ARTIC isn’t going away, and carping won’t dispel the deficit either”.
No carping! What’s done is done! Look forward, not back! On to the next, even greater revenue-neutral/win-win/no-cost project truly worthy of Anaheim’s stature as a world-class city! Excelsior!
Yep. The Pringlemobile has no rearview mirror.
There is a ready made revenue stream for this boondoggle and it is NOT the General Fund! ATID is set aside for transportation projects, and has been used without challenge for ARTIC, funding $1MM year for 5 years for some other construction fund. So when they say that money is earmarked specifically for ARC streetcar and cannot possibly be diverted for ARTIC, they are as full of it as it gets (which is saying something.)
It is time to face facts, the streetcar is a dead project, the Feds have said they are not interested, and we need to shift funds from that future boondoggle to the boondoggle already built. This is especially critical when it is the SAME staff who cooked the books to get ARTIC passed, using the SAME fictional numbers sold to the Feds (Not very convincingly) to claim High Speed Rail riders into the ridership numbers, as though the fictional passengers on a non-existent bullet train are here today, and able to eat in the restaurants leased to suckers who failed to perform due diligence in checking Natalie Meeks bullshit meter against reality. I feel sorry for them, but only just. Yes you should be able to trust numbers offered by the City, but you listen to Meeks for 2 minutes and you know not to. I would not buy a used car from her if I had to walk in a blizzard, why would anyone believe her numbers for the train station?
On a post about Kris Murray soliciting for lobbyists, et al. to help her get rid of her campaign debt:
Randy Roddy
April 23, 2015 at 1:21 pm
How ironic. She’s trying to get rid of her own debt even as she’s piling up massive debt on the rest of us.
_________
Brilliant!
anyone know who Randy Roddy is? New name, but seems to enjoy poking at them…