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Fred_Williams's avatar

Fred Williams

San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing

JF, you make an important error in your analysis. You wrote: "It would appear that you are unfamiliar with the concept of representative government. The unions did not propose DROP, the city did. They came to us with the proposal and we accepted it. Your elected officials read the ordinance several times and approved it. Then, the elected representatives of the taxpayers voted to accept the program." The flaw is that you claim these people "represented" us. In fact, it's well known that the last two decades of City Council membership has NOT represented the interests of the taxpayers, residents, and citizens of San Diego. They have represented the interests of Ron Saathoff, John Moores, Alex Spanos, Jack McGrory and other professional political prostitutes who gamed the system and robbed the city blind. DROP was conceived, designed, vetted, and decided upon behind closed doors. The only thing that was public was a vote in chambers where a lot of untruth was committed in both the description and alleged prospects for the program. JF, you've surely attended council meetings? Do they pay any attention to members of the public who speak in opposition to their plans? No, they do not. Once it's on the docket for a vote so the public can get wind of it, it's already a done deal. Nothing any member of the public says makes a bit of difference whatsoever in San Diego. So don't blame us for what we had absolutely no control over. On the other hand, consider how the firefighters union endorses candidates and then directs enormous sums of money and manpower to elect them. That's exactly the reason Saathoff could get his extra special personal deals from the complaisant council he controlled with your union dues. Please, don't blame the rest of us for the misdeeds of the firefighters union boss and corrupt city staff like Jack McGrory. Claiming that we ever had representation at the negotiating table is an error that I'm sure you'll now gladly withdraw. Best, Fred
— January 19, 2009 7:14 a.m.

Is Moores Jumping Out Just in Time Again?

Don, I found this in Gerry Braun's desk drawer. Apparently, it was supposed to be at the end of the Mayor's big speech... MAYOR SANDERS SPEAKING AT THE BALBOA THEATER: ....Now before you head for the doors, I want to announce one more thing. See, before I ever got here, there were a couple bad deals made behind closed-doors...and well, as a former cop I've just got to say they were against the law, and as Mayor, I have to say they're also against the public interest. I know downtown boosters who fund my campaigns like to claim that John Moores has done a lot of good. But it's not true. In fact, John Moores has siphoned hundreds of millions of dollars from the city right into his pocket. He bribed at least one member of the Council, and he's now preparing to skip town with the money he stole from us. I'm not going to let that happen. As Mayor, I'm requesting the City Attorney and District Attorney both initiate legal proceedings to get our money back, and charge John Moores for his crimes. At the same time, we're going to be looking into charges for Alex and Dean Spanos. Again, previous councils and mayors gave them hundreds of millions of your tax dollars. They're skipping town when San Diego's broke, no matter what stories Fabiani might be spinning, and we better get our money back before they go. Frankly, this is not only for financial reasons, but for moral reasons. I could not stand here as your Mayor and former police officer sworn to uphold the law, and turn a blind eye to the fact that while the rest of the city suffers, blatant crooks are laughing at how they robbed us blind. San Diego deserves better. What will we do with the money we get back? I'm committed to spending it solely on housing and care for the less fortunate in our midst. It never made sense to lavish cash on billionaires while ignoring the hungry and homeless. We're going to right that wrong. The era of delay, deny and deceive are over. We won't delay prosecution of Moores and Spanos, and Jack McGrory better hire himself some lawyers too. We won't deny that those deals were wrong and must be revoked. We won't deceive the citizens by claiming Moores and Spanos are in any way public-minded when they divert tax money to their pet projects. My fellow San Diegans, we cannot go forward unless we right the wrongs of the past. It's time. As your Mayor, I will do everything in my power to get our money back, and bring these civic criminals to justice. Thank you, and God bless San Diego.
— January 19, 2009 7:01 a.m.

San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing

We're on the road to 400 posts now! Thanks, Mayor Sanders...your inaction inspires us. I wonder if anyone downtown reads this kind of online debate, or if they're stuck too far up their own backsides to appreciate citizens having the pluck to post about the problems facing the city. So "budgeted" positions were removed? Well, golly. We're all so verrrrry impressed. From what I've been reading, we eliminated safety attendants for kids skateboarding, but only did an accounting gimmick with CCDC regarding the tens of millions we give away to well-known Peregrine fraudster, ballpork beneficiary, and deceitful downtown developer John Moores. I guess all his friends in the tight-knit downtown oligarchy are wishing him a happy divorce. Eleven million plus yearly, plus exclusive development rights, plus immunity from prosecution, plus humiliating displays of public ass-licking by our elected officials is a small price to pay such a wonderful guy. Mayor Sanders is letting the city know where his priorities stand. Kids can go to hell. Big-money sports barons need his help, and he'll pull any strings available to make sure they get their cash out before the city tanks. After all, according to the UT, John Moores is a hero and role-model to us all. This is the bulshytt peddled to us by our alleged leaders as reform. The unions are complicit in this scam, while good people like JF and the Gunny seem shut out of meaningful participation except through the medium of commenting anonymously online. Professional political prostitutes are convinced they're superior to all the rest of us. There just cannot be anyone smarter than a council representative who is sent as a delegate to community meetings. Their sole job is to soothe and quiet, all the while building up their contacts for that dream job as a lobbyist, or if they get lucky an election to public office. Madaffer, Inzunza, Hueso, Gloria...the roster of staffers who then get elected is long and ugly. They have this mindset of infallibility, working on a constant sales job to the ignorant populace about how wonderful they all are. So insulated from the world the rest of us live in, incomprehension is the standard rather than the norm downtown. Smug is not strong enough to describe their bloated self-esteem and sense of entitlement. Yet, we've allowed them to run the city. Run it straight over the cliff...and John Moores is still siphoning gas out of the tank. It's easy to predict that our current system will abysmally fail, and there will be widespread anger. Anger can lead to reform. If I were a firefighter, I'd be banging heads together with my brawny arms, and turning a fire hose of public outrage on those union traitors...especially Saathoff. The complaisant days of sleepy San Diego lazing on the quiet beach are numbered. Sanders and the rest of the downtown crew can get in front of the tsunami of discontent, or be drowned like rabbits.
— January 15, 2009 7:46 a.m.

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