Posts Tagged Greg Sebourn
THIS IS WHAT TYRANTS LOOK LIKE WHEN THEY ARE BEING TOLD TO UPHOLD THEIR OATH TO THE CONSTITUTION.
Posted by Joe Imbriano in Bruce Whitaker, Bruce Whitaker.com, Doug Chafee, Fullerton politics, Greg Sebourn, Highway Robbery, Illegal Immigration, Jennifer Fitzgerald, Jesus Silva, Public safety is becoming an oxymoron, The Fullerton Police department, The twighlight's last gleaming, Who's who in Fullerton politics on March 23, 2018
https://youtu.be/nMItitO18iM
TERRIFIC SUMMATION OF HOW DESPICABLY THE FULLERTON CITY COUNCIL (BRUCE WHITAKER, JENNIFER FITZGERALD, GREG SUBOURN, JESUS SILVA, DOUG CHAFFEE AND THE THE CITY ATTORNEY (DICK JONES AND A PARTNER JAMES TOUCHSTONE) REPEALED OUR CHILD SEX RESIDENCY RESTRICTION ORDINANCE (3149) BACK IN FEBRUARY 2017. By Barry Levinson
Posted by Joe Imbriano in Are they turning their backs on the children?, Pedophile protectors on the Fullerton City Council on December 23, 2017
PEDOPHILES VS. KIDS AND THE FULLERTON CITY COUNCIL VOTED FOR THE PEDOPHILES
Posted by Joe Imbriano in Pedophile protectors on the Fullerton City Council on October 4, 2017
WHY DID THE CITY OF FULLERTON GOVERNMENT JUSTIFY THE REPEAL OF A LAW TO PROTECT KIDS FROM PEDOPHILES BASED ON KNOWN FALSE INFORMATION? PEDOPHILES VS. KIDS AND THE FULLERTON CITY COUNCIL VOTED FOR THE PEDOPHILES AND AGAINST OUR KIDS SAFETY! THANKS FOR NOTHING MAYOR BRUCE WHITAKER, COUNCIL MEMBERS JENNIFER FITZGERALD, GREG SEBOURN, DOUG CHAFFEE AND JESUS SILVA!
There are two kinds of pedophiles. The first kind are those who recognize the evil desire they have toward children and try to fight the urges to re-committ these heinous crimes. These pedophiles try to stay away from places, which prove to be the greatest temptation; i.e. schools, parks, playgrounds, etc. The second kind of pedophile feels absolutely no remorse and is on the hunt for innocent children 24/7. Which kind of pedophile do you think sues governments to repeal laws that restrict them from living near a school, park or day-care center? Which city with a proven false legal justification decided anyway to repeal our law without any legal fight….our Fullerton City Council, all of them…MAYOR BRUCE WHITAKER, COUNCI MEMBERS JENNIFER FITZGERALD, GREG SUBORN, DOUG CHAFFEE AND HUSBAND TO STATE ASSEMBLY MEMBER SHARON QUIRK-SILVA, HESUS SILVA! THEY KNEW BECAUSE MYSELF AND OTHERS TOLD THE CITY COUNCIL THAT THER HAS BEEN NO CALIFORNIA COURT DECISION AT ANY LEVEL that has dealt with the residence restriction of ONLY CHILD SEX OFFENDERS in our State of California, arguably the most far-left state in the nation. I hope and pray that one day soon, the good people of Fullerton will hold each and everyone of those arrogant, deceitful and contemptible council members accountable for their despicable votes to leave our children in Fullerton more vulnerable to pedophiles.
Please Read The Words Of Long Time Resident Lee About The Motives Of The Friends For Fullerton’s Future Website and Tony Bushala And All His Connections with Fullerton Council Members Past and Present (Bruce Whitaker, Greg Sebourn, Jennifer Fitzgerald, Chris Norby, Shawn Nelson and Travis Kiger) By Barry Levinson
Posted by Joe Imbriano in Fullerton politics, FULLERTON PRAVDA on June 16, 2017
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COMMENTARY BY BARRY LEVINSON BELOW
Barry Levinson
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Lee thank you for your comments above. All I can say is that you my friend have been paying very close attention to the political games being played in Fullerton for decades.
With regard to the District voting that will start in 2018, I would like to clarify what transpired at Fullerton City Council earlier this year. The city was dealing with an agenda item to determine the sequence of district voting starting in 2018. The concept of the district elections as mandated by the courts was to have local council members representing each of the districts (in our case 5 districts) within Fullerton. Mayor Whitaker and the rest of the council got their map approved 5 to 0. This was not one of the many maps worked on by citizen groups for many months as part of the process but rather a late entry by Slide Bar owner Jeremy Popoff, a contributor to past Whitaker campaigns. I like to call this map the downtown developers map because it basically disenfranchised all the voters living in and around downtown by splitting that area into all the other five districts grossly diluting their voice through the ballot box. The first vote by the council approved a schedule that would result in having one representative for each of the five districts starting in 2018. This schedule to have elections in District’s 2 and 5 in 2018 was approved with Whitaker’s yes vote along with Chaffee and Silva. A motion by Fitzgerald seconded by Sebourn to have District 3 instead of District 2 in the 2018 election failed 3 to 2.
The problem for Bruce Whitaker was that Greg Sebourn’s four year term would run out in 2018 and his Third District would not vote again until 2020, while still being represented by Jesus Silva. So ignoring all democratic principles, the rationale for going to district voting in the first place and the will of the majority of the people, so-called limited government Bruce Whitaker decided to totally limit, i.e. disenfranchise the Second District from 2018 to 2020 (the one coincidentally both Joe Imbriano and I live in) in order to help keep his buddy Greg Sebourn on the council.
The problem with this move again was that it was totally undemocratic for it disenfranchised the Second District for 2 years while giving the Third District 2 representatives, Jesus Silva and Greg Sebourn or a challenger.
Bruce Whitaker after the first vote on the 2018 District voting schedule was completed had a choice. He could let the vote stand (as is the case in 99.999% of agenda votes) as the most democratic and most popular choice to handle the district elections; or he could as Mayor attempt to change the just approved voting schedule for what I believe was the dual purpose to please his campaign benefactor Tony Bushala and allow Greg Sebourn (also financially supported by Tony Bushala) to run for reelection in 2018.
What did self-proclaimed statesman and Appointed Mayor Bruce Whitaker do facing this not so tough choice? He chose to throw democracy and the people of the Second District under the bus for the express purpose in my opinion to take care of his fellow council member Greg Sebourn and his campaign benefactor Tony Bushala.
I believe the knowledge of this latest chicanery by Bruce Whitaker is more than enough to prove that this self-proclaimed statesman, is nothing more than a phony and extremely flawed politician.
Unconscionable behavior by our Fullerton City Council, Fullerton City Attorney and the Fullerton Police Chief.
Posted by Joe Imbriano in Are they turning their backs on the children?, Pedophile protectors on the Fullerton City Council on May 19, 2017
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT OF MY REMARKS BEFORE THE FULLERTON CITY COUNCIL (MAYOR BRUCE WHITAKER, COUNCIL MEMBERS GREG SEBOURN, JENNIFER FITZGERALD, JESUS SILVA AND MAYOR PRO TEM DOUG CHAFFEE) ON MAY 15, 2017 AS WELL AS SOME ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
BY BARRY LEVINSON
Back In February I witnessed unconscionable behavior by our Fullerton City Council, Fullerton City Attorney and the Fullerton Police Chief. The behavior was to provide False And Very Misleading Information about The Fullerton Child Sex Offender Residency Restriction Law To Justify Its Repeal! This False Narrative Lead By City Attorney James Touchstone Demonstrated A Lack Of Character By Him And All Who Played Along With This Charade.
I Am Here To Proclaim Very Loudly That Character Does Count And Not One Individual On The Dais That Evening Demonstrated Any Character! Months ago they knew the facts but ignored them and went ahead anyway. They were warned. See this video below.
Whether you happen to agree with their votes or not, it is never good for the public to have elected and appointed officials who mislead, misinform and sometimes out and out lie to us. Diane Hickey, Joe Imbriano and myself clearly documented on the record here in this chamber that the erroneous information City Attorney James Touchstone spelled out as part of an official presentation to council recommending the repeal of Ordinance 3149 was indeed false. He stated erroneously that the ordinance impacts all sex offenders when the ordinance clearly defines a sex offender as only a child sex offender for purposes of this law.
Here we are months later and still the Fullerton City Council continues to protect the pedophiles and refuses to acknowledge that the official presentation by our city attorney months back on this issue was based on falsehood. What does that tell you about the integrity, honesty and decency of our city council, police chief and our city attorney?
After we proved that Mr. Touchstone provided false information to the council in support of his recommendation to repeal Ordinance 3149, every city council member ignored that fact and voted to repeal the ordinance, anyway. They in fact by not acknowledging James Touchstone’s egregious error, chose to be part of the deception. Touchstone’s failure to acknowledge his error after we corrected him strongly suggests that it was not an error at all but an intentional ploy/conspiracy to mislead the public on this very important issue. What has City Attorney Dick Jones done in regard to this misinformation given by his partner in his law firm? As far as I know absolutely nothing! This whole scenario is shameless behavior by our City of Fullerton Government and can’t be tolerated going forward.
I can’t for certain claim that each and every one of those individuals will be held to account by the Fullerton public. But what I can say is that God will in fact judge them for their ethical and moral failings as our elected and appointed Fullerton officials.
The only thing I can add to my prepared remarks that i presented at the public comment section of the Fullerton City Council meeting on May 15, 2017 is the following:
We the good people of Fullerton must stand up to demand form our city council and city government, integrity, honesty and representation that only considers the overall well-being of the citizens of Fullerton.
This must include coming regularly to city council meetings and making your voices heard by those who are supposed to represent us the people.
A VERY NECESSARY AND EXTREMELY IMPORTANT OPEN LETTER TO MAYOR BRUCE WHITAKER’S EMAIL RESPONSE TO JOE IMBRIANO BY JOE IMBRIANO AND BARRY LEVINSON
Posted by Joe Imbriano in Bruce Whitaker, Fullerton politics, FULLERTON PRAVDA, Greg Sebourn, Jesus Silva, Pedophile protectors on the Fullerton City Council on May 18, 2017
receive and file issue |
Well it is obvious Mayor Whitaker that you should have known that the Milliman actuarial consultant was in attendance at the May 15, 2017 Fullerton City Council meeting because it was highlighted as the first sentence under Agenda Item No. 5 as follows: “John Botsford of Milliman, the City’s consulting actuary, will present the City’s updated actuarial analysis of Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) liabilities.” Your claim that you had no idea that the consultant was present for the council meeting is ludicrous and ridiculous on its face.
You are telling us that you didn’t even read the agenda as Mayor when in fact it is your responsibility along with the City Manager to put out the Agenda itself. What are we the good people of Fullerton to make of your statement that you did not even read the Fullerton City Council Agenda prior to your leading the city council meeting? You are either totally incompetent or not being truthful with us. There are no other legitimate explanations for your behavior and statements. Shouldn’t you, Mr. so-called Fiscal Conservative, be aware of the costs to the taxpayer to bring that high priced consultant back again after you would have probably spent a few thousand taxpayer dollars to bring him down here for the May 15th meeting already?
Why would you vote to postpone an agenda item that had already cost the city possibly thousands of dollars for this May 15th meeting, which required only the council’s action to Receive and File the item? In other words really no substantial action at all! Why would Greg Sebourn make a motion to postpone a Receive and File item to the next meeting and all of you very quickly concur with him?
In all cases when a motion to postpone an agenda item is being considered it should be necessary at the absolute minimum for that council member making that motion to explain why it is necessary to postpone the agenda item, especially at the very last moment as was the case here. The way this was handled was totally derelict by all of you. It demonstrated that you did not care about the great inconvenience you were willing to put the consultant and those Fullerton residents that were at the meeting or at home staying up to that late hour to hear this agenda item. We say shame on all of you for trying to avoid an agendized issue that obviously was embarrassing for all of you. Once again your action shows your complete disregard for the public.
Mayor Whitaker, you even added insult to injury by trying to skip public comments on this issue. How many times have you been mayor, Mr. Whitaker? We believe this is at least your third time. You keep on digging a bigger and bigger hole for yourself and it would take a Houdini like effort to now dig yourself out of this in our opinion.
You claim you quickly reversed the decision? No the city employee had to correct you and point out that it would be a great burden for this person to come down from the Bay Area and present at a later date. Not to mention your silence on the increased cost to the taxpayer by the councils original vote to postpone the item. He was there I assume based on your requested date and time. You have embarrassed yourself with this action and people who are paying attention will have plenty to discuss between now and the next election about your failings and we intend to lead those discussions.
The people of Fullerton more and more know the games you play. It is becoming a more and more common event for you and your fellow council members to mislead and or not to provide proper information on the important subjects we are dealing with.
We are also confused why David Curlee, Josh Ferguson and Tony Bushala, all present at the meeting had nothing to say on this item? They are people that highlight financial issues and they were all completely silent on a 35 million dollar unfunded liability. David Curlee and yourself have made it a point to discuss the propriety of $300/$400 a night city employee hotel bills in the recent past, yet now not a peep from either of you on a 35 million dollar unfunded Fullerton liability that will be have to come from us the taxpayers.
Finally, Greg Sebourn states that he will put on the agenda a discussion on having the city attempt to get a refund from the staircase contractor for obvious shoddy and substandard workmanship. Yet Sebourn never actually made a motion to get this on the agenda for the next meeting or for any meeting for that matter. Was this just political grandstanding by Sebourn? Why as Mayor and self proclaimed fiscal conservative, Mayor Whitaker did you not make that motion yourself?
How does it feel to remain silent on false claims about our Ordinance 3149, the Child Sex Offender Residency Restriction Act and then based on those false statements repeal a very good law. When will you or any member on the Fullerton City Council dais acknowledge what we have proved that City Attorney James Touchstone provided false information to justify his recommendation to repeal the Fullerton Ordinance? You stated that your votes are all appropriate. You call basing your vote on a previously proven misstatement of fact appropriate voting? You know with regard to that, you don’t have a leg to stand on. Mayor Whitaker, the guilt and the shame of your facial expressions when Diane and we were discussing this issue was so very telling. You voted along with all of your colleagues to repeal a Fullerton law based on a faulty presentation that helped to keep our children safe from pedophiles. You have repeatedly ignored the proof and evidence we showed all of you that the justification for your actions was based on falsehoods about the status and the language of Ordinance NO; 3149. Once again we say shame on all of you. It is hard to imagine a more damning set of circumstances that you now own concerning your action to intentionally lesson the safety of our children based on information you all knew was false. Shame on all of you.
Barry Levinson calls out the self-serving, disingenuous, deceitful and deplorabe Fullerton City Council
Posted by Joe Imbriano in Bruce Whitaker, Doug Chafee, Fullerton politics, Greg Sebourn, Jesus Silva on March 22, 2017
Fullertonians are simply tired and disgusted with the self-serving, disingenuous political games that are played out at our council meetings. Just since the beginning of this year alone, this council has disgraced itself and shown that all too often your votes do not support the very people that you are charged to represent. Here is a partial list of your recent deceitful and deplorable actions.
- We witnessed the false claims of our Mayor Bruce Whitaker who brought back settled business in the form of changing our election schedule. This will result in allowing Greg Sebourn to run for re-election in 2018 in the third district after serving his full four-year term. Mayor Bruce Whitaker placed this back on the agenda resulting in disenfranchising the second district from 2018 to 2020, while at the very same time giving the third district not one but two representatives, Greg Sebourn or a challenger and Jesus Silva. This action of Mayor Bruce Whitaker results in undermining the whole purpose for the district elections.
- The Council continues to ignore the will of the people by approving Agenda 21 high-density buildings. The city council votes to change zoning requirements and ignore our General Plan to allow developers free rein in our city.
Council member Jennifer Fitzgerald’s actions are the most troubling, as she was heavily involved in creating our latest General Plan. Questions for Council member Fitzgerald: Why do think it is proper to ignore our General Plan and the vast majority of the public? Does it have to do with your VP position with Curt Pringle and Associates?
- Finally the City Attorney’s arguments to repeal Ordinance 3149, our former child sex offender residency restriction law, misrepresented important facts and mislead the public about the legal status of that ordinance. The council’s unanimous decision to turn its backs on our children because a convicted child sex offender not even living in Southern California filed seventeen lawsuits throughout the state is shameful. Our city council did not want to spend the relatively few dollars defending a very good law. The residency restrictions only applied to child sex offenders not all sex offenders, which has not been adjudicated by any California court. There was simply no justifiably good reason to repeal it at this time.
Barry Levinson calls out the self-serving, disingenuous, deceitful and deplorabe Fullerton City Council
Posted by Joe Imbriano in Bruce Whitaker, Doug Chafee, Fullerton politics, Greg Sebourn, Jesus Silva, JOE IMBRIANO 4 FULLERTON CITY COUNCIL on March 22, 2017
Fullertonians are simply tired and disgusted with the self-serving, disingenuous political games that are played out at our council meetings. Just since the beginning of this year alone, this council has disgraced itself and shown that all too often your votes do not support the very people that you are charged to represent. Here is a partial list of your recent deceitful and deplorable actions.
- We witnessed the false claims of our Mayor Bruce Whitaker who brought back settled business in the form of changing our election schedule. This will result in allowing Greg Sebourn to run for re-election in 2018 in the third district after serving his full four-year term. Mayor Bruce Whitaker placed this back on the agenda resulting in disenfranchising the second district from 2018 to 2020, while at the very same time giving the third district not one but two representatives, Greg Sebourn or a challenger and Jesus Silva. This action of Mayor Bruce Whitaker results in undermining the whole purpose for the district elections.
- The Council continues to ignore the will of the people by approving Agenda 21 high-density buildings. The city council votes to change zoning requirements and ignore our General Plan to allow developers free rein in our city.
Council member Jennifer Fitzgerald’s actions are the most troubling, as she was heavily involved in creating our latest General Plan. Questions for Council member Fitzgerald: Why do think it is proper to ignore our General Plan and the vast majority of the public? Does it have to do with your VP position with Curt Pringle and Associates?
- Finally the City Attorney’s arguments to repeal Ordinance 3149, our former child sex offender residency restriction law, misrepresented important facts and mislead the public about the legal status of that ordinance. The council’s unanimous decision to turn its backs on our children because a convicted child sex offender not even living in Southern California filed seventeen lawsuits throughout the state is shameful. Our city council did not want to spend the relatively few dollars defending a very good law. The residency restrictions only applied to child sex offenders not all sex offenders, which has not been adjudicated by any California court. There was simply no justifiably good reason to repeal it at this time.
Barry Levinson, the driving force of Fullerton’s sex offender ordinance discusses the despicable behavior of The Fullerton City Council in repealing Fullertons sex offender ordinance.
Posted by Joe Imbriano in Agenda 21, Are they turning their backs on the children?, The twighlight's last gleaming, The Way on February 25, 2017
Barry Levinson, the driving force of Fullerton’s sex offender ordinance discusses the despicable behavior of The Fullerton City Council in repealing Fullertons sex offender ordinance.
Posted by Joe Imbriano in Are they turning their backs on the children?, JOE IMBRIANO 4 FULLERTON CITY COUNCIL, The twighlight's last gleaming, The Way on February 25, 2017
FULLERTONIANS MUST FORGET ABOUT WHITAKER VS. FITZGERALD OR SEBOURN VS. CHAFFEE. THIS IS WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO THINK. FOR IN REALITY IN FULLERTON CITY GOVERNMENT IT IS STRICKLY ABOUT THE INSIDERS VS. THE OUTSIDERS. By Barry Levinson
Posted by Joe Imbriano in Agenda 21, Bruce Whitaker, Fullerton politics, FULLERTON PRAVDA, Fullerton's downtown core and corridor, The twighlight's last gleaming, Who's who in Fullerton politics on November 17, 2016
Why is this so? The simple answer is because our Fullerton City Government is corrupt.
- That Is Why They All Voted For Redistricting Map 8a
- The originator of that map, Jeremy Popoff, the owner of the Slidebar, has been a large contributor to both Mayor Fitzgerald’s and Council member Whitaker’s political campaigns. I believe $1,500 to Bruce Whitaker and $1,250 to Jennifer Fitzgerald
- That Is Why They All Voted to appoint Ma’Ayn Johnson, who is a S.C.A.G. senior planner and employee To The Fullerton Planning Commission.
- S.C.A.G. is the Largest Un elected, Taxpayer Funded Government Agency In The Country, and Has Been Pushing United Nations Agenda 21 Goals For High-Rise, High-Density Housing Along With The Eventual Elimination Of The Automobile For Decades.
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- That Is Why No One Ever Contacted Me To or responded to my 4 To 5 Million Dollar Finding on the shortfall the American golf contract Which I Presented In Writing In Great Detail To All Of Them.
- This Finding Is an Ongoing Problem encompassing The Period From 2010 To 2030.
- This Means That They Intentionally Are Ignoring Taking Steps To Save You The Taxpayer A Significant Portion Of The 4 To 5 Million Dollars. They Obviously Do Not Take Their Fiduciary Responsibilities Very Seriously Because They Continue To Allow Our Tax Dollars To Bleed Down the Drain.
- That Is Why No One Heeded The Calls For An Independent Gennaco Investigation Of What I Believed To Be The Criminal Conspiracy That Tried Falsely To Put Me In Jail 2 Years Ago.
- That Is Why When The Council Is Presented An Agenda Item That Is Severely Lacking In Basic Information In Which To Make A Decision, Nothing Gets Resolved For The Future.
- That Is Why 2 Years Ago The Fullerton Planning Committee Voted 5 To 0 To Recommend The Original And Very Broad, Downtown Core And Corridor Special Plan To Our Fullerton City Council.
- That Is Why When Others And I Vehemently Argued Against This Undemocratic Boondoggle They Did Not Vote It Down Causing It To Be Dead And Buried, As One Larry Bennett Keeps On Repeating Fallaciously. No They Postponed It To A Date Uncertain, Where At Any Time It Can Be Resurrected And Brought Right Back To The Council For Its Approval!
You see the council is playing a game. In one of the examples above, the game player was Bruce Whitaker bemoaning that he will not vote for a Grant application without the Grant application available to review. We found out that it not only was not provided for review but that it did not even exist yet. That however, is not the cause of the problem Fullertonians that is a symptom. Does Bruce Whitaker ask for or provide a solution for the problem he so noted, so that agenda items will never again be presented without the necessary basic information to make a decision?
Surely that is exactly what an honest council member would certainly do. Bruce Whitaker did not have to come up with a solution because Zonya Townsend, his current appointee to the Library Board of Trustees and myself his former Parks and Recreation Committee member, for almost 6 years gave him the solution on a silver platter at the very next Fullerton Council meeting.
Normally one would expect an honest council member, who wants to make a positive difference to not only point out the symptom but also offer solutions. Like I said above, we handed him an easy and very effective solution and what did we get from Whitaker but more silence. He huffs and he puffs and he lets the problems persist, he actually allows them to continue to flourish. Yet he thought he got exactly what he wanted from all of this and that was to make political points with the electorate. That is exactly what he got until I uncovered his less than honorable game.
More than a year ago, I mentioned that I believed that if anyone chose 5 people at random from the street or from the telephone directory, those five people would be an improvement, probably a huge improvement over the current people on our Fullerton City Council
At the time I was saying that partially in jest. Now I truly believe that the odds of improving our governance by using such a haphazard and random method would in fact be very great indeed.
Why do I believe this? Simply because I do not think it is possible to do worse than our current group of selfish, special interest devoted council members.
Why do I continue to point out these incredible inconsistencies with our Council members? I believe that if enough people knew the truth that we could start to have good government again here in the very corrupt city of Fullerton.
The phony elite politicians and their media supporters mocked the idea that any Republican let alone Donald Trump could defeat Hillary Clinton. In newspaper and mainstream TV “News” Shows they laughed at the idea of Trump becoming our 45th President.
Well one day real soon our current disingenuous council members will be handed the same stunning defeat, maybe as soon as 2018.
I report, you decide.
Barry Levinson
3 by Lee on June 14, 2017 – 9:39 am
“I have been involved in Fullerton politics for over 2 decades as a lifelong Republican. There is nothing new under the sun and there is nothing going on now that wasn’t going on when downtown was just a bunch of thrift stores. The opportunists back then always used the political process to achieve their goals. The pay to play system was dominated by the redevelopment machine and the rewards it churned out for the players who knew the game were handsome.
The council was always effective at one thing, maintaining a crooked republican majority. This gave rise to the corrupt police department, the disastrous fiscal health of the city and the malfeasance that has left our infrastructure the laughing stock of the State.
This monopoly of power held in place by the centrist right working with the limousine liberals in Fullerton took care of its own and its own exclusively. This became problematic for those who wished to enter the ring and cash in on the looming development bonanza because no one was leaving their seats at the card table. This is where the left leaning libertarian political element on the outside looking in decided to run interference and come up the political sideline. These attempts were unsuccessful for almost a decade.
The tragic death of Kelly Thomas in 2011 presented an unprecedented opportunity to harness the momentum of the masses and redirect all the rage against elected officials whose hands were tied by the judicial process and the police officers bill of rights. The people of Fullerton were livid as they lined the streets demanding justice while looking for leadership.
Tony Bushala, who for years, without success, tried to chip away at the power structure at city hall, had finally found a fan for the flames with his FFFF blog. He immediately bought the picture of the bloody face of Kelly Thomas, posted it and then ponied up $250,000 for a recall election. He hired signature gatherers and orchestrated a successful recall campaign that launched the political careers of our current city council majority, Fitzgerald, Whitaker and Sebourn as well as Kiger’s 6 month failure.
TONY’S TOOLS
Kiger, Whitaker, Sebourn, Fitzgerald
The prior years of taking cheap shots, mud slinging, and chipping away at the establishment paled in comparison to this political firestorm.
Bushala’s connections to people like Chris Norby and Shawn Nelson were crucial in carefully charting the course he would take to orchestrate the payday he had spent decades preparing for. The city’s redevelopment agency was disbanded as a result of his crony Chris Norby’s legislative action in Sacramento.
Meanwhile, he and his brother continued to amass a small fortune in real estate holdings in Fullerton, namely in the downtown area. It was always their intention as developers to develop their properties. The recall of 2012 was the moment they had been waiting for. No longer would their plans remain obscure and dependent upon the help of a handful of connections like Chris Norby or Shawn Nelson. Bushala finally had the control of the council after years of failing to influence the political process through his obscure web site. He now had the power to control the entire city with his hired hands. He personally bankrolled the entire campaigns of Travis Kiger, Bruce Whitaker, and Greg Sebourn and got them elected. They in turn would stack the various commissions to pave the way for the fulfillment of the Bushala brothers’ dream, high rise transit oriented development all over Fullerton and for once, they would dictate how and where these projects would be built instead of the “republigans” that controlled the council and the redevelopment contracts for decades prior. If hatched, this plan would have proven to make the Bushala Brothers upwards of 100 million dollars if the plans were to proceed over the next decade.
In a bizarre turn of events, one of Bushala’s hired hands, Travis Kiger was voted out of office 6 months later in the general election. The strategy of running Kiger for the short term seat may have been the safest short term bet but turned out to be a costly mistake creating long term uncertainty for the brothers.
The wild card in all of this was really somewhat of an enigma. Jennifer Fitzgerald was allowed by Bushala to walk on virtually unchallenged in 2012 as a result of Tony Bushala’s agreeing to let Mr. Nelson’s wishes to do so be honored. Fitzgerald was actually the insurance money in the entire transaction that took place in the recall. An ardent political opportunist, she could be relied upon for a yes vote on every development project imaginable. As it originally stood, Bushala really had four out of the five votes locked up, or so he thought.
While all this political theater was playing out, the ducks were being lined up for the huge payday jackpot. The City of Fullerton, in the vacuum of the redevelopment agency’s dismantling, was in the midst of a massive undertaking in hopes of revamping the entire city turning it into a burgeoning metropolis. The DCCSP was the city’s ambitious forward thinking plan that would transform this once quite bedroom community into a bustling high rise transit oriented oasis in the heart of Orange County with ten story lining the streets.
After the 2012 elections, Bushala pulled the plug on his FFFF website and as expected, would never mention the DCCSP. The DCCSP went before the planning commission that his hired hands appointed and it was passed. Bushala sat quietly waiting in the wings for the most important vote in Fullerton City Council History. 3 years after he had spent upwards of $500,000 and 2 years after the flames of the Kelly Thomas event were doused by the waters of time, the DCCSP vote would finally be before the council. The problem was the council at that time did not have the four votes owned by Bushala as Kiger was defeated 2 years earlier. Jan Flory took Travis out in a major upset narrowly defeating him by a handful of votes. That night, in August of 2014, at a council meeting in the library room with no live video coverage, the 100 million dollar vote would be before 5 council members only to be tabled. The Bushala brothers plans were immediately thwarted and their properties remain in their original condition and subject to the same zoning restriction that were placed on them before the half a million dollar expenditure to liberate them had begun.
Bushala’s so called limited government, libertarian, fiscal conservative types who have run for office like Chris Norby, Chris Thompson, Greg Sebourn, Travis Kiger, and Bruce Whitaker have all been on Tony’s payroll for the most part. They understand the power structure, what they need to say and not say and they will perform when the time comes for them to perform. This is not limited to slandering and threatening anyone who gets in the way.
The only person that I know that would never play ball with this crowd was Barry Levinson. When Barry realized that Tony was playing him, Barry must have realized that there was never any room on that team for Barry. Barry may not have realize Tony’s agenda at that time, but because Barry is financially independent and not beholden to anyone’s ideology, he freely speaks his mind and has done a tremendous service to the residents of Fullerton by staying unbiased, objective and most importantly, involved. As a result, this has thwarted some of the most dastardly of development plans namely the DCCSP. Barry was the ONLY person to fully expose this undemocratic power grab and call it what it was. He also exposed how this would be ripe for graft and bribery if passed. He also continued to fight the cities attempts to bring this item back in different shapes and forms defeating it every time.
Fast forward to four years later and the newbies who recently ran for office either do not understand the power structure that is in place and the games that are being played or simply choose to look the other way. They are just weak-minded people with very limited financial resources and are willing to cozy up to the power structure as they hope to latch on to Tony’s pocketbook and maintain their connections. Their behavior speaks for itself. Listen to their rhetoric, watch their willful ignorance of the issues and of course their refusal to propose, or demand solutions. They do not even realize they don’t have a full grasp on the problems that we face so how in the world could they ever propose solutions? Fortunately those people will never get elected so we don’t have to worry about them. Tony Bushala has effectively co-opted, compromised and controlled the loyal opposition in town.
He has done well in figuring out how to throw them a bone so he can control them to work for his agenda. These people people don’t want to believe what his agenda is because to accept what his agenda is and to understand what his agenda is means that they may not get a couple thousand dollars in campaign contributions if they decide to run for office. The whole agenda is for Tony Bushala to build high-rise apartments all over his slums. That’s what he’s all about because he’s a developer. He plays all these political games and engages in political gamesmanship. It is and always has been Tony’s political chess game, and most of you have been and still are his pawns.
I am grateful for the platform that Mr. Imbriano has provided to put this information out for the people to read and to Mr. Levinson for his steadfast and uncompromising commitment to the good people of Fullerton. “