Natalie Meeks Plots to Bury Corruption Report.

By
Vern Nelson
– March 31, 2023Posted in: "The OC", anaheim, Corruption, Fresh Juice, Natalie Meeks, Natalie Rubalcava

Well, it IS conceivable that Judge Clay Smith, the supervisor of Anaheim’s self-commissioned corruption investigation, CAME TO NATALIE MEEKS IN A DREAM OR VISION and told her things that NOBODY ELSE HAS EVER HEARD HIM SAY, such as that the City should NOT release the report to the public, because it would create some kind of “liability.”

Was the retired judge hovering, was he radiant, was he winged, when he uttered unto the Anaheim Hills Councilwoman, “NATALIE, you must lead the Council in burying this report, before TOO MANY GOOD PEOPLE SUFFER”?

I’m just trying to figure this out. Because what the REST of us heard the distinguished jurist say was JUST THE OPPOSITE:

“We have been operating under the assumption that our work product will be public. As it SHOULD be! As others have pointed out, we understand that this effort is being funded by taxpayer dollars. Like you, we consider this to be almost a sacred responsibility…. Those who are paying for our effort are ABSOLUTELY entitled to know what the result of our effort is.”

Conveniently, these Meeks claims come just after the Judge and the firm were ordered not to talk to the press, so neither we nor the Voice have any way of asking the Judge if he ever said or wrote anything remotely like Meeks describes. There WAS a written monthly report due last week, and this blog has put in a PRA for it. But Meeks also claimed that Smith said these things at Council – gesturing at right where he was sitting Feb. 7 and Feb. 28 – and we see nothing of the kind in either of those meetings. Check for yourselves.

In Fred Sigala’s video below, you can hear Judge Smith explaining to Gloria Ma’ae the importance of publicizing the report at 4:28, and you can hear Natalie’s new claims at 11:50:

Fred didn’t include it in the video, but Natalie went on to say exactly what she thinks the public is safely entitled to: NOT any knowledge of past bad acts, and certainly not any knowledge of past and current bad actors, but, vaguely, “findings on, you know, what needs to change in the City, or whatever those things are, okay?”

I’m trying to be charitable here – it’s totally possible that the terror of this report, which Ms. Meeks has shown publicly over the last two months, has so possessed her that she really DID – in a numinous, out-of-body state – believe that she heard Judge Clay Smith tell her to bury it. Just a few examples of Natalie’s terror that we’ve all witnessed:

  • Feb. 7, worrying about some non-factual “hearsay” making its way into the report and “hurting good people” (5:21)
  • Objecting to the investigators going back 20 years and offering to give THEM a “narrower scope” (6:04:30 – remember, the last two decades include Natalie’s and Curt Pringle’s most ACTIVE years)
  • Feb. 28, grilling the investigators over what the STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS is on various crimes they may uncover (5:24)
  • Asking about confidential sources being named (5:31:40) – this is where two interesting things happened – 1) investigator Jeff Love mentioned that “SOME people are refusing to talk to us” and Natalie’s eye sort of flashed a little like, “That was ME,” or “That was NOT me!”; and 2) Love also let us know that “a lot of people, who want to continue working in government, don’t want to be considered rats or snitches.”

To be charitable, maybe Meeks’ fear of this report being released is NOT because of her (and/or Curt’s) bad deeds, but her fear of the investigators revealing what she’s TOLD them? Because it’s unthinkable that they haven’t spoken, or tried to speak, with this Madonna of Anaheim insiders.

I’m also being charitable (and facetious) to suggest her fear-induced hallucinations. Because if that’s not what happened, then she is just a goddamned LIAR.

Okay, seriously.

This is the People of Anaheim’s Investigation; we are paying for it, and we’ve gone to Council en masse at least twice when they tried to limit or suppress it, and we’ll be back in force if this latest threat comes to fruition.

This Natalie Meeks plot is only quasi-agendized, it doesn’t have a date yet, and it really SHOULD be nipped in the fucking bud. The silver lining, if it DID come to Council, would be to see WHO up there might SUPPORT Meeks. I’d hope, none of them. But if ANY of them did, it might be the OTHER Natalie, the one of the Rubalcava variety, who’s been throwing more and more shade, GRATUITOUSLY, at the JL Group.

You can see this on Fred’s video above if you watch from the beginning. NR even calls on her Natalie buddy as though they had planned some kinda one-two punch together, but Meeks, slower on her feet, doesn’t quite oblige. How do NR’s gratuitous attacks further the project of suppressing the investigation (as, rumor has it, NR’s old OCBC bosses want?) Well, to the degree she “discredits” the firm, then somewhat.

But back to the Natalie at hand: Will the Meeks inherit the Earth, as has been foretold? Or, will she inherit a rash of shit for her assault on transparency and the will of the people based on lies, fear and guilt?

VERN OUT.

[Thanks to Pedroza for top illustration.]

Update Monday April 3

We’ve received our Public Records Act request – thanks, Greg Diamond for making the request, and Theresa Bass for her quick response! Apparently the Smith paragraph Meeks is hanging her hat on is from a January 19 written report:

“It is our understanding that the City Council has voted to release the final report to the public. As I have said, we respect the City Council’s decision. I do, however, want to emphasize that this decision may have two unintended impacts. First, we are finding that some witnesses are reluctant to speak to the investigators because they know that whatever they say will be attributed to them and will be released to the public. The investigators are coping with this obstacle, but I did want you to be aware of it. Second, City employees or officials ultimately identified in the report may have applicable privacy and employment rights impacted by releasing the report. We urge the City to review carefully these issues prior to the release of the final report.“

Huh, that’s a little different from the stirring talk he gave to Gloria a couple months earlier, when he said:

“We have been operating under the assumption that our work product will be public. As it SHOULD be! As others have pointed out, we understand that this effort is being funded by taxpayer dollars. Like you, we consider this to be almost a sacred responsibility…. Those who are paying for our effort are ABSOLUTELY entitled to know what the result of our effort is.”

On the other hand it’s VERY far from what Meeks claimed on the dais Tuesday, when she claimed Smith had “advised both in writing and verbally when he was here, that the city should reconsider and not release the report.“

It’s gonna be another knock-down drag-out fight, and we’ll see what each of these councilmembers are made of, including the mysterious appointed Kurtz. We hope that Kurtz, Leon and Rubalcava remember how strong THEIR mentor Avelino was on this issue. Diaz and Aitken have sounded strong, and Faessel who voted for this before and WAS trying to be Mr. Transparent needs to stop recusing himself.

Oh PS. The Voice of OC has finally printed their version of the story without mentioning that ours came out Friday. Maybe they were waiting to get that written report; we didn’t.

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About Vern Nelson

Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official political troubadour of Anaheim and most other OC towns. Regularly makes solo performances, sometimes with his savage-jazz band The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.