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Vern here, and now that I’ve expressed at length my outrage (including to Todd) over Todd Spitzer’s record on the homeless and especially how he speaks about them in public … I’m back to agreeing with my colleagues Greg and Ryan that putting an end to Rackauckas’ reign of injustice, corruption and cronyism is priority #1, whatever Todd’s imperfections. That makes this pretty much a pro-Todd blog, apart from Zenger and the troublesome Fingal.
Also it was good to see both Todd’s Democratic primary rival Brett Murdoch come out in Todd’s support, as well as Todd’s longtime bitter BOS sparring partner Shawn Nelson, both seeing Rackauckas as the FAR, FAR greater evil.
Todd will be speaking at Los Amigos this Wednesday morning – October 3, 8am, at Anaheim’s Jagerhaus! Come and ask him whatever you want! He needs the votes of us Democrats, liberals, independents, progressives, minorities. With his permission we’re reprinting a couple of his better recent press releases:
Lax Prosecutorial Discretion and Inaction by Rackauckas
Leads to 3-Year Spike in Hate Crime.
ORANGE COUNTY – September 26 – Tony Rackauckas’ lax efforts to prosecute hate crime has led to a three-year soar in hate crime and race related incidents in Orange County according to a report released Tuesday by the Orange County Human Relations Commission. Disturbingly, Rackauckas has the lowest hate crime filing rate in Southern California because he waited until the height of election season before pursuing hate crime prosecutions more vigorously.
Todd Spitzer said, “Once again Tony Rackauckas has delayed justice for victims and now innocent people are being targeted because hate crime has been left unchecked in Orange County. It’s too little to late – voters will see right through his sudden action right before the November election.”
He continued, “As District Attorney I will focus on keeping all forms of crime down so that victims get the justice they deserve and Orange County families feel safe.”
ICYMI ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER:
THE OCDA SHOULD PURSUE JUSTICE, NOT JUST HIGH CONVICTION RATES
Damaged statute at Temple Chua Bao Quang, Santa Ana, August 22. One woman was arrested and authorities are looking for more suspects for vandalism to seven temples in Santa Ana and Garden Grove. (Photo Jeff Gritchen)
The recent vandalism of a veteran’s wall and the desecration of Buddhist temple statutes are a stain on our community and the perpetrators must face justice – but not just 90 days before an election.
The record on hate crime prosecutions in Orange County is deplorable and dangerous. It threatens some of our most vulnerable people by giving impunity to violent bigots. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has only filed charges in 57 percent of these cases during the past 13 years because he is more concerned with trying to boost his conviction rate statistics rather than seeking justice. In the remaining 43 percent of the cases, Rackauckas has dropped hate crime enhancements referred by police so that he is able to obtain an 80 percent conviction rate.
San Diego County achieves a similar conviction rate for hate crimes but takes on the tough cases and sends a message that no one is beyond the law.
The role of the District Attorney is to seek justice for victims, not to run a public relations campaign. “Rackauckas cares more about showcasing a high conviction rate than he does in seeking justice for hate crime victims.”
Meanwhile, hate crimes have surged by 70 percent according to the Orange County Human Relations Commission.[1] Interestingly, Rackauckas’ counterparts in Los Angeles County file 70 percent of their hate crime cases, and San Diego and San Bernardino counties file more than 80 percent of hate crimes referred by police.[2]
Rackauckas is cherry-picking cases while our neighboring counties are pursuing violent criminals with the full force of the law.
Shayan Mazroei, RIP
Notably, Iranian American college student Shayan Mazroei, 22, was stabbed to death by a known white supremacist gang member on Sept. 6, 2015 in Laguna Niguel. Suspect Craig Tanber had recently been released from prison where he served time for another murder as an accomplice to a fellow gang member.
Tanber had a light sentence on his first murder because the District Attorney offered a plea bargain of manslaughter following a mistrial in lieu of opting for a second trial and pursuing justice.
Not surprisingly, Tanber killed again because of the Rackauckas plea bargain when he should have still been in prison. This time, his accomplice was girlfriend Elizabeth Thornburg. She was heard by witnesses yelling racial slurs at Mazroei and spitting on him outside a bar. When Mazroei spit back all bets were off. Tanber, after being filled in by Thornburg about the incident, stabbed Mazroei in the neck. All of this was captured on video.
For three years, Mazroei’s parents and supporters protested the lack of justice—no hate crime against Tanber and no criminal charges against Thornburg. Eventually, the negative press caught Rackauckas’ attention and he decided to file charges against Thornburg only for being the get-away driver and not for an aider and abettor of murder– two days before the three-year statute of limitations expired. For years the family suffered from the unknowing.
Tanber will stand trial later next year, but Rackauckas has refused to add a hate crime enhancement. Instead, the family was told to do so would simply “complicate” a straight-forward murder charge that was recorded on video.
Make no mistake, Shayan Mazroei was stabbed to death because he was Iranian American – a fact known to Tanber and Thornburg because of Mazroei’s Persian-inspired tattoo on his forearm that read “eshgh,” which translates to ‘love’ and his outward appearance. The hateful slurs lodged by Thornburg were the clear motive for the slaying.
Disturbingly, in the past decade, there have been 52 reported hate crimes located at schools and colleges in Orange County and another 10 at parks and playgrounds – many of them violent and targeting innocent children.
The DA should be aggressive about prosecuting hate crime to send a strong message that this has no place in Orange County. But Rackauckas cares more about showcasing a high conviction rate than he does in seeking justice for hate crime victims.
Orange County residents deserve protection against hate and need to know that such violence will be vigorously and speedily prosecuted always. Not just around election time.
[Vern: Yes, I DID snark back at Todd, that the homeless are another group who experience hate crimes, and that his rhetoric makes that more likely and probably more common. He took that under advisement.]
[1] OC Human Relations, 2016 OC Hate Crime Report
[2] Attorney General of California’s Open Justice Portal, “Hate Crime Prosecution Data,” 2004-2017
AND
Spitzer Announces Priority to Eliminate Campaign Residency Fraud
“Aw… Todd thought of us!” Paulette Marshall Chaffee, Mimi Walters, Harry Sidhu, Lorri Galloway, Michelle Steel, Linda “Ackerwoman” Ackerman, Jose Solorio, Steven Choi, Joe Kerr, Vincent Sarmiento, and “Doctor” Kimberly Ho of (not) Westminster.
With So Many Cities Heading Toward District Driven Elections, Spitzer Vows To Protect Integrity Of Elections
Orange County August 15 –Today, Orange County District Attorney candidate Todd Spitzer announced an additional policy priority to crack down on politicians who abuse the district voting laws by creating phony addresses in order to run for office.
Supervisor Spitzer stated, “Our elections must be protected. As so many cities in Orange County begin having district based voting it is critical that their candidates and representatives are in fact from the district.”
Spitzer continued, “We have seen up and down the state far too many abuses of local elected officials faking their residency in order to run for office. This is wrong and will end on my watch as DA.”
“The point of district based representation is to ensure every community is represented, equally. We must protect that system to ensure the diversity of our elected representation is protected and honors the will of the people,” said Spitzer.
“For far too long Tony Rackauckas has turned a blind eye to this growing abuse,” continued Spitzer. “With the advent of new municipal voting districts in many cities, this problem is only going to get worse, if not, dealt with,” Spitzer added.
LOL, hot off the presses (or just over my transom…)
ORANGE COUNTY – September 28 – Today, Tony Rackauckas attempted to mislead voters by claiming in an e-blast that his campaign surpassed the million-dollar mark when in fact he raised significantly less since the June 5th Primary Election. Rackauckas’ campaign is drowning in over $187k in outstanding debts and has only 80k cash on hand.
Rackauckas’ TV campaign goes off the airwaves on Sunday, September 30th more than two weeks before the critical absentee ballot period begins. Spitzer has outspent Rackauckas 13:1 on television.
“He cheats in the courtroom and in the political arena…he has to cheat, that’s all he’s got,” stated Spitzer.
Chief Strategist for the Todd Spitzer campaign, John Thomas said, “Going dark on airwaves is the kiss of death for any campaign. Rackauckas’ campaign is dead on arrival.”
He continued, “Unfortunately we’re not surprised with this latest trick – Tony cheats in the courtroom and now he’s cheating in his latest campaign stunt.”
Blimey! And if that’s not short for “sublime-y,” in this case it should be!
“…Shawn Nelson, both seeing Rackauckas as the FAR, FAR greater evil.”
I’m quite sure that’s wrong as far as Nelson is concerned. Some sort of deal was brokered, probably by Bilodeau.
yeah, Bilodeau is notorious for bucking the county’s political establishment, right?
Seriously — you know more about that Board than I do, but people are afraid of vengeance and NOBODY out-vengefuls Racky.
*Shawn Nelson sees Dog Licenses in his nightmares! Please; “Spare us your selective expert opinion!”
Tony got the Golden State Killer and you are worried about who is going to be
prosecuted for petty theft? Petty Theft now has gone up to $1700….and they
give you a ticket….to appear. What is the Todd Boy going to do after he incarcerates all those Homeless again? “Vote Tony – NO Baloney!”
FINALLY rain they’re saying, late Sunday to Wednesday!
Dylan’s best album, I think.
I like Blood on the Tracks.
Tangled Up in Blue is a driver. The rest, meh.
Idiot Wind… Simple Twist of Fate … Shelter from the Storm… I don’t know what else, I seem to remember enjoying that whole album, maybe I was just in a good mood.
Shelter From the Storm is catchy tune-wise. Idiot Wind just seems too long and angry. What is it, almost eight minutes?
“Too angry,” says Zenger, about Zimmerman.
How about too angry, too self-absorbed, too paranoid = definition of self-indulgence.
Zimmerman? They still trying to sell his house in Duluth?
*First off, there are way too many Dylan Albums that are truly wonderful and great. From his first, through the transition years …..from Freewheelin to Desire to Nashville Skyline …..ah….too many …too many. “Johnny’s in the basement mixin up the medicine…..Look out kid …it’s something you did…don’t know what…but
you are doing it all again!”
Rackaukas is entirely without merit. Exhibits no positive qualities. His behavior is despicable and his actions are atrocious. He is maladroit in his job. Rackaukas is undeserving of the position and has inflicted unnecessary prolonged soul crushing additional trauma on the very people he is entrusted to serve. He is a national laughing stock, corrupt and so inept that it becomes beside the point to determine if he is evil because the resulting damage left in his wake is so egregious an actual demon could not perform any worse on the job.
The spread and acceptance of hate is a county wide problem.
Lack of leadership in the city of Huntington Beach on racism, bigotry, sexism, homophobia and every other bitter flavor on the hate menu is noticeable and tragic.
Not one city council member who attended the Maga rally on the beach came forward to denounce the neo Nazis who participated. Nor did the congressman photographed along side their hateful signs and sizable flags. They all marched right along with them. Not a good look. Patrick Brenden followed the proud boys on social media and found anti-Semitic elder bully, OVSD board candidate and book burning aficionado Gracey Van der mark suitable to remain his appointee. And now Michael Gates is hosting fundraisers that include her at his home. Hopefully he has no aspirations for Rackaukas’ post in the future. Because it does not seem like he would take a strong stand on hate either.
the picture of the residency challenged is missing solorio
Damn. But I did think of all 8 of those off the top of my head. And it doesn’t even count REAL carpetbaggers like Sukhee Kang and Jordan.
Kimberly Ho from Westminster. Also a fake residence. I’m gonna redo the pic with TEN residency fakers. And it’ll still be evenly balanced, both party-wise and gender-wise!
I’ll do it later.
[LATER – DONE! Now THAT feels like a masterpiece.]
Um, what about the original (at least in the last decade) – the Ackerwoman?
FUCK!!!
…. OKAY, redone with Ackerwoman. Except now there’s more females than males and more “republicans” than “democrats”
Please don’t tell me theres’ more.
There was talk that Younga Kim faux-carpetbagged in 2014. Don’t know about it.
This is crazy . I can’t believe we have thought up 13 OC politicians, so far, who have faked residences to run for office in the last 8 years. And I bet there’s more.
If you go back to 2007 you will discover Tom Umberg faking a Santa Ana condo residence when he really lived in Villa Park. That one was stalked out by Jerbal Cunningham.
And hey, if you’re into ancient history, in 2006 Lynn “Bulldozer” Daucher rented an address in Fullerton to run for the State Senate. She lived in Brea. Back in those days nobody seemed to care.
3×5 layout works for 15 4×4 works for 16. Just don’t give us 17.
You can also probably add clownish xenophobe, Allan Mansoor, to the list. Even though his dad is an immigrant (from Egypt), Mansoor has been openly disparaging brown people for the better part of a decade, well before such rancor recently became en vogue.
For those who don’t already know, Mansoor is a Costa Mesa Councilman who (admittedly) lived at his wife’s family’s large home in Newport Beach during his current term in office. Such a residency violation is grounds for removal from office.
Nevertheless, Mansoor’s father-in-law had plenty of room to accommodate the Mansoor clan for free. It’s understandable that Mansoor didn’t want to pay rent…after all, he hasn’t had a real job for years. He retired at age 50, so that taxpayers could pay his $45K/year pension for the rest of his life (he previously worked in the OC Jail for 15 years). However, he was too cavalier with his residency charade, and eventually got caught. Petrified that he might lose the taxpayer-funded health insurance which he receives while on the council, he rushed his sixth-grade-intellect, wife, and 3 young children back to Costa Mesa, where they all now live in a 2-bedroom apartment (likely supplied by a campaign donor). T-Rack was asked to investigate. Mansoor is a Republican, so obviously T-Rack turned a blind eye.
Even though his current term does not expire until 2020, Mansoor is running for a City Council seat in 2018. He is desperate to ensure a continuous and prolonged stretch of taxpayer-funded health insurance. Despite the fact that he rails against recipients of public pensions, and slobbers about the miraculousness of the “private sector,” the guy has found a hypocritical affinity for keeping his snout firmly entrenched in the public trough.
If any readers know somebody who lives in Costa Mesa Council District #5, make sure to tell them NOT to vote for Allan Mansoor this year. If he loses, he will surely carpetbag to a different district that will be on the ballot in 2020.
That’s right. I’ll remake it again with an even twelve. And balanced by gender. But more Reeps than Dems now 7-5.
For WOT-
Came across this on YouTube, was half listening while shredding thru piles of paperwork, until I started noticing how OFTEN ” California ” and California PUC ” started coming up. Coincidentally, within in the last 2 months, I got a door hanger that my (Anaheim City) electric meter needed replacement. Having heard a lot (but not listened deeply) about Smart Meters, I requested (and was given) an “old school” replacement, and happened to ask if Smart Meters would eventually be standardized, learning “not at this time”.
Perhaps City owned Utilities are not pressing this (or being pressed ?) so hard yet ? OC Cities outside Anaheim have electric from SCE – out of interest, have all you out there received notice of Smart Meter conversion from them yet, and IS AN OPT- OUT OFFERED as an option ? Just curious.
Funny how sometimes recent memories suddenly pop into your mind’s forefront, after that video, the ‘pop’ into mine, was last weeks Council meeting ((which perhaps Anaheim residents might want to re-visit)
anaheim.net > View City Council Meetings>Sept 25, 2018 >Council Communications/Agenda Requests > 01:15:xx
where Kris Murray, in her signature single-breath torrent of continuous syllables, narrated her latest Agenda Item Request for Staff Action, presenting it as the product of “about a year working with the Smart City Working Group of “sustainOC (.org) and (various City Staff) ” (Check out “Who are we” on their website)
Will a “Smart City” need “Smart Meters” and 5G Wireless, and will Murray’s breathless rush toward it in a spew of every recent buzzword in tech media give any consideration to health effects, or ANY OTHER COMPONENT of PUBLIC CONCERN or INPUT as this all gets cobbled together for a November “RUSH” due date ?? No optimism here.
To which my first thought was ” Am I the ONLY Anaheim resident who has heard LITTLE IF ANYTHING during that period about this group and moreover about either her activities with it, or ANY communication to ANAHEIM RESIDENTS about issues and proposals that might result? I see NO PUBLIC Council WORKSHOP on Sustainability or anything close to it, yet here we are with Staff instructed to prepare action items to agendize for presumably an “up or down vote”, without ALTERNATIVES, ANALYSIS OF THEM, or (MOST IMPORTANTLY) PUBLIC DISCUSSION AND INPUT. ( The request was for Agenda items, NOT a Public workshop ) (Oh, I forgot -THREE WHOLE MINUTES WITH a FEW WEEKS NOTICE is CERTAINLY PLENTY enough time for the public to digest let alone formulate comments, alternatives, and suggestions on such a broad ranging policy ! /sarcasm)
To these uninformed (BY DESIGN ?) eyes, does Kris Murray see her role NOT as a bidirectional communication and information facilitator to the public , but as a ONE WAY FUNNEL from these (directly non-accountable) REGIONAL groups to 7th floor STAFF without the interference of that pesky local PUBLIC ? A tempting conclusion? Well, how many reports have been presented to inform Council and Public about ongoing activities of this group, SCAG, and others attended by her in her tenure?
HOW MANY residents who are NOT current/former City Council or board members can tell you ANYTHING about these groups, their impact on City decisions, or what issues they are currently considering ? (NO, “Homelessness” DOESN’T COUNT !! Who ISN’T talking about THAT ?)
Will whatever City Staff work product that results be rushed toward a (Pre- Year end ! Hurry ! Hurry !) Council vote for a future resume bullet point ? Or will her replacement increase the priority of Public communication / input over Staff Direction ? We’ll just have to wait that out (and take what we get))
Perhaps to complement our new City Flag, can we update the City Org Chart to correct the several decades LIE of placing “Residents of Anaheim” in the uppermost box ? Gee, rather than spend endless time and effort deciding on relocation, I’ll bet it’s more “sustainable” to JUST REMOVE IT !
The tsunami of empty verbiage is always prelude to the sort of Public/Private Partnership ripoff that is so near and dear to the hearts of the Smash ‘N Grab club.
I notice Marcie Edwards is on the board of that “Sustain OC” collection.
*Yeah….like pimples on your face….everyone has ONE! Opinion that is about “the Tony”!
You know when you look into someone’s eyes and you shake their hand and you get a vibe one way or the other? Like when you shake Mike Pence’s hand…for example. The wet fish slime and the distant look in the eye …gives it all away. “Not getting any cash from this cow!” Then you shake someone’s hand like Bill McCollum from Florida, or you shake the hand of someone like Joe Dunn of Santa Ana and you get the warm fuzzies! Yeah, there is a big difference in people for each one of us. Sometimes there is a love connection and sometimes not. Let’s just put it this way: Tony has the better handshake for us!”
“‘Come in,’ she said, ‘I’ll give you … pimples on your face.'”
(Oh, am I too late for the Dylan discussion?)
“I married ISIS on the 5th day of May…….”(Cinco De Mayo,,,no less!) No Dr. D.,
you can never be too late to discuss Dylan! That is why he is one of the luminaries in Nashville at the Country Music Hall of Fame! Dylan and Johnny Cash were best buds…..did you know that? Don McClain has his own exhibit there too…..Vincent and American Pie!
Going crazy stuck with just CNN where I am today (long story.) Or what I call CN “Very Few Synapses Firing” N.
First thing in the morning I hear Trump whining re Kavanaugh about “people used to be considered innocent until proven guilty” and “holding things people did decades ago as teenagers against them.”
It took hours, and a black guest of course, to point out Trumps hypocrisy re the Innocent Central Park Five, who he STILL contends deserved the death penalty.
So, you’re white and rich and Trump likes and needs you, you deserve every presumption of innocence, and to be placed on the highest court in the land. But you’re black and Trump hates/fears you, it doesn’t even matter if you’re proven innocent, you shoulda been executed long ago!
Spitzer’s gonna be bringing Murdoch along with him to Los Amigos tomorrow. Sounds like they’re gonna be working together, and that can only be good.
I think I’ll write another piece to announce that, I promised them I’d get the place packed. And I’ll video from there.
U OK now?
This calls for DA Spitzer.
I’m just taking this at face value: honestly, I’m at a loss here. If the police are harmful rather than helpful, then the FBI seems like the next option, as you seem to be saying something about kidnapping and/or false imprisonment. How did you manage to get in touch with us here?
This same professor applied to a finance position with my company…and made a complete mess and exposed us to major risk. He showed up to US bank, without authorization, without any of the paperwork required to do what he was trying to do. He texted me out of nowhere and told me he had some confrontation at the bank and that he gave them all of our training materials…and emails; until they sent him away. WHAT!!??? He purposely would NOT tell me which bank or manager he spoke with so I had to drop what I was doing and call EVERY US bank in orange county, to try and find out who he spoke with and tell them that he is not an authorized representative of the company and that he was in breach of company policy by showing up in the first place…He had not started day 1 one with our company to date…and was merely an applicant in the early stages of paperwork. I had to call the corporate fraud deparmtent, file a poice report, and contact our counsel to mitigate risk. Lastly, I have no idea what he showed them…and in what context it was presented. It sounded like he was trying to turn us into the IRS or something …on some paranoid abstraction of what he supposed to be doing. I was and am utterly shocked that he is a professor of anything. After finding the bank he went to I was assured that he didn’t cause any damage to our rapport with US Bank or to the accounts that we have with them (they turned him away). After viewing his Youtubes…and reading his posts I’m really concerned. Killing videos, schitzophrenic storylines and strange masked people…dancing to garage music. Is it just me or is this guy a cold case file or on America’s most wanted?
Feb. 1, 2019. I’d forgotten about it.