Wacky, sunshiny day

LUNATIC. There’s a Santa Ana resident who thinks that Huntington Beach helicopters have been following him for nearly two years: Man claims helicopter harassment, wants $25 million

A Santa Ana man is asking the city of Huntington Beach for $25 million claiming that helicopters and planes are following him, according to city documents. ¶ Michael Lucchese, 57, filed a claim against the city Monday saying he is under "constant surveillance" by aircrafts that have followed him about 20 times a day since June 2008. The alleged harassment has caused him distress and has ended some of his relationships, the claim said.

I bet Lucchese is a Tea Partier. That reminds me,

WAGNERIAN. The unfailingly mediocre Matt Cunningham opines today that Donald Wagner is doing well in his Assembly race. “Wagner seemed to have commanded mucho momentum for the last several months,” says Cunningham. Too bad that Cunningham is so mediocre. But maybe he knows what he's talking about. Dunno

SCIENCE’S B-DAY. The always interesting Bob Park (What's New?) reminds us today that next Friday (May 28) will be Science’s birthday. It will be 2,595 years old:

On May 28, 585 B.C. the swath of a total solar eclipse passed over the Greek island of Miletus. The early Greek philosopher, Thales of Miletus, alone understood what was happening. The world's first recorded freethinker, Thales rejected all supernatural explanations, and used the occasion to state the first law of science: every observable effect has a physical cause. The 585 B.C. eclipse is now taken to mark the birth of science, and Thales is honored as the father. What troubles would be spared the world if the education of every child began with causality?

Meanwhile, most Orange Countians have their doubts about global climate change.

Tom discusses tomorrow's commencement

KOCE’s Inside OC "is a half-hour program featuring interviews, discussions and field reports with government, business and community leaders; as well as pundits, celebrities and special guests."

Unrelated:
RAGHU MATHUR'S SALARY: 38th highest

.....Here’s a list (the link immediately below) of the highest salaried community college CEOs around the country. It’s from a public radio “marketplace” story—in January, I think. The data seems to come from a report done earlier by the Chronicle of Higher Education. ("100 Miles" passed this along to us.)

Community College CEOs Ranked by Total Compensation

.....Mathur is #38. They have him down for $276,870.00.
.....Los Rios Community College District’s Chancellor Brice W. Harris is down for $370,590.00
.....LA’s Marshall E. Drummond (former state chancellor) is down for $358,937.00
.....Rancho Santiago’s soon-to-retire Edward Hernandez Jr. is down for $340,988.00
.....Santa Monica College’s Chui L. Tsang makes $331,475.00
.....City College of San Francisco’s Don Q. Griffin makes $295,004.00
.....El Camino College’s Thomas M. Fallo gets $290,405.00

Don "Spanky" Wagner is peevish

.....Amusingly, Don Wagner is relying on my judgment in his efforts to persuade voters to vote for him. See the mailer above. (Click on it to make it larger.)

.....I believe that it is reasonable to infer from Don's message that he likes being described as an "anti-union, liberal-bashing, prayer-making right-winger."

.....His reasoning (in the blue strip) is shaky. That "liberals" (I am apparently one of those) describe Don in this way hardly establishes that Don will "do a great job" for right-wingers in the State Assembly. It's one thing throwing red meat at the camera once a month at CC board meetings; it is quite another pursuing legislation where compromise is unavoidable. And, so far, he's only made promises. 

.....But talk is cheap. Really cheap. On the reverse side of Don's mailer, conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt is quoted as saying, "It's time we started electing principled conservatives to office, not politicians who will say anything to get elected."

.....My guess, though, is that Don more or less means what he says and will try to live up to his promises. 

.....That's the problem with Don, mostly. And I don't see him compromising much. How effective can such a guy be (for his right-wing constituency)?

.....Plus he likes to toss red meat at his Neanderthals. He embraces demagoguery, which, of course, is always a matter of degree. So far, I give Don a "C."

.....And he's peevish.

.....I call 'im Spanky. You know why.

.....One of Don’s opponents is Democrat Melissa Fox, who, according to R. Scott Moxley, recently argued that the Republican “no tax” pledge is a serious problem (OC Democrat Asks Republicans To Drop 'No New Tax' Pledge):

....."The problem with Sacramento has been the Republicans have just said 'no' to budgets and taken a blanket pledge of no new taxes," Fox said at a UC Irvine candidate forum this week. "They focus on saying 'no' to everything."
. . .
....."I ask that if it's a Republican who goes to Sacramento [after the November election], they don't take the 'no new taxes' pledge," she said at the candidate forum. "We need somebody up there who will play the game and bring money back to the district."

Don has responded to Fox’s suggestion:

.....In reaction to her request, conservative Republican candidate Don Wagner shook his head and rolled his eyes. Later, Wagner said, "I think [the state] is still spending way too much."

.....Ah, yes. Eye rolling. That’s Don all over.
.....According to Moxley,

Wagner … delighted a minority of the crowd when he encouraged California police officers to follow Arizona's new, controversial anti-illegal immigrant policy.

.....And there’s your red meat.

Rebel Girl's Poetry Corner: "Go now into summer"

Today is the final day of finals.

Tomorrow is commencement.

Monday, summer school begins.

But before that can happen, here's a poem about the end, a poem that imagines it is only the beginning.


First Year Teacher to His Students

by Gary J. Whitehead

Go now into summer, into the backs of cars,
into the black maws of your own changing,
onto the boardwalks of a thousand splinters,
onto the beaches of a hundred fond memories
in wait, where the sea in all its indefatigability
stammers at the invitation. Go to your vacation,

to the late morning cool of your basement rooms,
the honeysuckle evening of the first kiss, the first
dip and pivot, swivel and twist. Go to where
the clipper ships sail far upriver, where the salmon
swim in the clean, cool pools just to spawn.
Wake to what the spider unspools into a silver

dawn dripping with light. Sleep in sleeping bags,
sleep in sand, sleep at someone else's house
in a land you've never been, where the dreamers
dream in a language you only half understand.
Slip beneath the sheets, slide toward the plate,
swing beneath the bandstand where the secret

things await. Be glad, or be sad if you want,
but be, and be a part of all that marches past
like a parade, and wade through it or swim in it
or dive in it with your eyes open and your mind
open to wind, rain, long days of sun and longer
nights of city lights mixing on wet streets like paint.

Stay up so late that you forget day-of-the-week,
week-of-the-month, month-of-the-year of what
might be the best summer, the summer
best remembered by the scar, or by the taste
you'll never now forget of someone's lips,
and the trips you took---there, there, there,

where snow still slept atop some alpine peak,
or where the moon rose so low you could see
its tranquil seas...and all your life it'll be like
some familiar body that stayed with you one night,
one summer, one year, when you were young,
and how everywhere you walked, it followed.

*

The rope-a-dope dope

.....My dictionary defines “rope-a-dope” as follows:

a boxing tactic of pretending to be trapped against the ropes, goading an opponent to throw tiring ineffective punches.

.....At about 6:00 p.m. today, someone wrote a comment to the recent “Williams” piece in the OC Voice that asserts that the timesheets are not really timesheets. They mean virtually nothing. (You can read the details at the end of the last post.)
.....Well, maybe. Certainly, that would explain Phil Greer’s (that’s Williams’ shyster lawyer) recent remark that the “discrepancy” situation that we’ve pursued is "much ado about nothing."
.....When I first read that, I recall thinking, “well, if it’s easily explained, why not explain it?” Why not put an end to the concerns?
.....Well, maybe this is just some kind of rope-a-dope.
.....If so, then, if the point was to protect Williams (by hurting his critics?), it would appear to have backfired badly. For it is reasonable to suppose that Vern Nelson would not have posted his damning overview of the scandal that is Williams’ county career were it not for the piece in “OC Voice” about the apparent timesheet discrepancy.
.....My guess: people in the know are aware that Williams is an incompetent and a buffoon whose antics are tolerated by virtue of the odd loyalty code of the OC Republican rat pack, soulless Fuentes division. But, for that kind of guy, the worst thing that can happen is people stopping to pay attention to him and his miserable record. It just stinks from beginning to end: outrageous travel expenses, cronyism, incompetence, inefficiency, stupid remarks, unfortunate associations, disastrously faithful official headshots, trails of drool, malapropisms, transparently idiotic explanations, an unseemly love of “pie” (see pic above), and so on.
.....The Orange Juice Blog ain’t much, but everybody around here in politics reads it. And today’s litany of Williams’ record of buffoonery and cheesy excess has got to hurt. Usually, one only catches glimpses of Bailiff Boy: his clown pants, his clown nose. His clown face. His clown toes.
.....Today’s OJ blog post brought it all together into one big horrible clown portrait, with “Republican” written across the top.
.....Maybe it was all rope-a-dope.
.....If so, Williams is the rope-a-dope dope.

Photos: Williams is "pleased as punch" about being served pie by Raghu "Toady" Mathur; Williams clowning around at the office; Tom Fuentes giving me a lethal look.

Best comments ever! (Discrepancy belatedly explained?)

.....The Orange Juice Blog has experienced technical snafus all day long (I will resist the temptation to offer a conspiracy theory). Not long ago, however, comments to OJB editor Vern Nelson’s piece on John Williams—Worst Public Administrator Ever!—have finally appeared:

7:13 a.m.
Kurcheon White says:
.....Geez, a sensible and fairly well-written post. You’re less of a jerk (only slightly) than I thought you were.
.....Williams’ incompetence has been known to County insiders for years, but he’s got a lot of GOP friends who like having him around.
.....Good anecdote on Moorlach — strike THREE after his support of Hutchens and Street.

8:37 a.m.
Liz says:
.....You go Kevin and Colleen! Great article Vern!
.....I was a Deputy Public Guardian for 12 years and understand the level of responsibility, pressure and committment it takes to do the job. I also understand the great satisfaction one gets from the job for helping others who cannot help themselves.
.....The times I was called away from my family in the middle of the night because someone was in crisis. My point being is that you know what the job entails Kevin from personal experience. You know what the Deputies needs are as well as the needs of the Social Workers and Administrative Assistants to continue overseeing the Persons and Estates of the People you serve.
.....This gives you the first hand experience needed to be a fully knowledgeable Public Administrator / Public Guardian.

10:56 a.m.
Royston says:
.....Wow. Such scathery!
.....How is it possible that such a person is repeatedly elected as a public servant?
.....We have reached the nadir of our democracy.

11:07 a.m.
Vern Nelson says:
.....Royston, if I didn’t know who you were, I’d think you were being sarcastic. But yes, we’ve been in a very low point of our democracy; results like last night’s in PA, KY & AR look like we’re pulling out of it though! Prop 15 is timelier than ever.
.....So is getting John Williams out.
.....(Yeah, we gotta put “scathing” on a time out when it comes to grand jury reports.)

2:32 p.m.
Run Rocco Run! says:
.....I voted for Rocco and so did the rest of my family. I don’t consider it a throw away vote. A vote for Rocco is a vote for change.

4:18 p.m.
cacityguy says:
.....Well, the temperature is rising! All this negativity – I expect Johnny to be headed out of town soon since he avoids any type of confrontation (rumor has it he has plans to attend another conference in Florida in the coming days at tax payers expense – the guy has balls!). I expect his raunchy attorney Greer to be showing up at the next Board of supes meeting to spin tall tales and such (if he hasn’t already met with his other clients Supervisors Bates and Nguyen). Vote the bum out!

5:03 p.m.
Roy Bauer says:

.....This is all about the rotten half of the local GOP. Williams’ board colleague at the South Orange County Community College District is former OC GOP chief Tom Fuentes, who has connections and knows how to work the system. Williams’ curious ascendancy to his County office occurred soon after Fuentes’ arrival on the board in 2000 (to replace Williams’ good pal Steve Frogue, who resigned under a cloud of suspicion that he was a Holocaust denier).
.....The same Fuentes, until recently, arranged to have his pal Chriss Street, disgraced OC Treasurer, regularly visit the SOCCCD for tax revenue reports. He also arranged visits (to Irvine Valley College) by Mike Carona, at least until the Mikester became a convicted felon.
.....Street’s lawyer, Phil Greer, is also (surprise!) John Williams’ lawyer; not only is he Williams’ lawyer, but when the Prez of the [SOCCCD] board (Don Wagner, now running for Assembly) gathered the board votes to unload Fuentes’ conniving toady, SOCCCD Chancellor Raghu Mathur, somehow, Greer became Mathur’s lawyer, and was paid $25K of taxpayer money to help secure Mathur a good exit deal, according to which the taxpayer will pay Mathur’s full salary for a full year after his retirement. (You’ve gotta love these fiscal conservatives.)
.....When, after two scathing Grand Jury reports, Williams faced the Supes, Greer showed up to represent him and, somehow, things worked out pretty well for the ex-bailiff. Interestingly, 3 or 4 of the 5 Supes are also represented by Greer.
.....A few days ago, at Mathur’s farewell bash at the Balboa Bay Club, MCed by Fuentes, all the usual GOP pols were there (or were represented), and so was—you guessed it—Steve Frogue, Holocaust denier. Don’t know about Dave Lang, another trustee, who is running for Treasurer with Fuentes’ support—something he got after he suddenly changed his tune and commenced supporting Toady Mathur, after 9 years of being Mathur’s enemy.
.....It’s OC Republican politics, Jake. Do you think the OC Reg will weigh in on the scandal that is John Williams? Don’t think so. Wonder why?

UPDATE: one more great comment

.....On the other hand, at about 6:00 p.m. tonight, someone who calls himself/herself “modjeskawater” commented on the recent “Voice of OC” piece (Auditor Reviewing Administrator/Public Guardian Time Sheets) about Williams—a piece that, unlike today’s OJ Blog piece, focused on the apparent discrepancy between Williams’ County timesheets and the district’s trustee travel records:

.....Elected officials and FLSA exempt executive and administrative management employees don't normally prepare hourly employee type of time cards in either the public or private sector. These documents appear to be just the county auditor/payroll dept. record of payment of a flat salary to an exempt executive manager/department head, not an hourly employee's timecards at all.
.....Quick online research at the county's HR website reveals the Personnel and Salary Resolution dated 2003, that discusses exempt vs. non-exempt, salaried vs. hourly employees. Read it. "The work period for exempt employees shall begin on a Friday and end on the 2nd Thursday thereafter. Employees in this exempt class may work more than or less than 80 hours in this two week pay period as determined by the Department Head." There is no overtime paid at this level. This document describes all exempt employees including the elected officials and the board of supervisors, administrative staff and other salaried employees.
.....The payroll documents referred to appear simply show a flat salary for an exempt employee and the private sector does the same thing. These type of records for exempt employees normally wouldn't reflect work activity on evenings or weekends referred to in a previous post by a reader because no overtime is paid.
.....The readers might consider speaking with a friend practicing labor/employment law (nobody listens to us) or the human resources field to get the straight scoop on this which will confirm my information in this post.
.....The travel information appears to be a college matter.

.....If this is correct, one wonders why, during the many weeks we have publicly referred to these apparent discrepancies, Williams never bothered to offer the above discrepancy-resolving explanation.
.....Further, if this information is correct, why, when given these records, did the County launch an investigation? Why not simply explain that the timesheets are not at all what they appear to be. If I understand him, modjeskawater is saying that these timesheets are a peculiarly misleading artifact of employment records for a certain class of employees. They are not records of the employee’s presence at the workplace.
.....And, naturally, modjeskawater’s point, if sound, does not address the other difficulties we have highlighted concerning Williams’ peculiar pattern of expenses during conference travel. Observe that the "discrepancies" issue is only one part of the case made against Williams by today's OJ Blog piece.

Orange Juice Blog goes after John Williams

This morning, Vern Nelson of the popular Orange Juice Blog posted a blistering attack on trustee/Public Administrator/Gardian John Williams:

Worst. Public Administrator. Ever. - Vote OUT John Williams!

For eight years now, the office of “Public Administrator – Public Guardian” been helmed by John Williams, who just might be Orange County’s worst “public servant” since Mike Carona was shown the prison door. Comfy as a bug in a rug in the OC’s corrupt, incestuous political machine, there’s severe danger this oft-investigated teflon Don will continue his reign of waste and incompetence another four years if he squeaks through the elections this year. Please, Republicans, independents and Democrats,before you check off, or speed past, that part of your ballot, you really need to hear about: 

• Williams’ lavish waste of taxpayer money building a top-heavy agency stuffed with cronies in unneeded six-figure “management” positions;
• the numerous citizens’ estates left languishing for years due to overworked demoralized staff, till they were eaten away by PA fees;
• the TWO scathing grand jury reports on his tenure, which have had no effect on this well-protected machine politico;
• this six-figure-salaried administrator’s latest double-dipping scandal;
• more and sundry malfeasance; and
• his TWO worthy challengers, and why it’s not a problem that there are two.

(Continued)

Pretty scathing. Read on. It only gets, um, scathinger.