When I first heard that Spencer Short was at odds with the firefighter’s union, I thought he had seen the face of Jesus and become a Conservative.
Spencer is a member of the Placer GOP Central Committee and is a huge fan of Beth Gaines over some sort of billboard bill she got passed (that may have been written by staff so that is wasn’t a repeat of Friday’s floor debaucle)…
Mr. Short also got $1,000 as part of the nearly $35,000 he had to spend to defend his infestation of the Lincoln City Council from the Firefighter’s Union.
I think the Union is regretting that decision.
Spencer Short has been the poster child for the shuttered fire station in Lincoln. He has been there the longest on the council and the Station sits idle with a ladder truck worth nearly $1.5 million in it.
Spencer wants it open.
So – he tried to jam a proposal through the council to open said fire station with 2 Firefighters per truck, not three. This would take the already minimal staff and spread them across more trucks. Imagine a three-man defensive line without a Nose Tackle.
It gets better – apparently, there is actually money to hire more fire fighters. The proposal is to hire two firefighters or a battallion commander. The two are similar in cost.
Logic says, if your fire service is on a skeleton crew – hire two dudes, and fast. Short wants a Batallion Commander so that fire station three can be re-opened with the two-men-per-truck option.
The Union Posted this on their facebook wall:
Dear followers of Lincoln Professional Firefighters. We are here to let the people of Lincoln know that your Firefighters want only the best for you. There was a decision made by city council last night on changing our ways of staffing. They decided to go from 3 person engine companies to 2 person engine companies. They did this to open the McBean station. This idea was not brought to our attention to be discussed as a department and implemented without input from the people that are actually on the engines running the calls. We do not support this plan and do not support how this was brought upon us. This plan can compromise our safety and quality of service and care for you. We agree that the 3rd station needs to open, but it needs to be done right with staffing of 3 personnel. Our stance is two engines with 3 would be more effective than 3 stations with 2. We know this posting might create discussion, some agreeing, some not. Feel free to ask questions. If this turns into a heavy topic of discussion, we are willing to set a date to meet and greet our citizens to inform you facts and stats to educate you on how exactly an engine company works. Thank you for your time.
Wow, Spencer Short can’t win for losing, he’s wrong again.
Some have roundly criticized me for refusing to drink the Beth Gaines Kool-Aid.
I have said repeatedly that she is incompetent. Today illustrates that like no other:
From the Capitol Report of the Bee:
Republican Assemblywoman Beth Gaines of Rocklin got more than she bargained for when she wrote an amendment this week to a budget trailer bill on mental health services.
Gaines asked that the word “underserved” be changed to “undeserved” in language that calls for a program designed to prevent mental illness from becoming severe and disabling. The program in Senate Bill 77 would emphasize improving timely access to services for underserved populations.
Democratic lawmakers huddled on the Assembly floor for several minutes Friday before they broke to ambush Gaines in a floor debate. They voted to prevent her from discussing other amendments she proposed to the mental health bill, but asked her to read the portion on the one-word change.
Then the Democrats took turns voicing their objections.
Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, D-Woodland Hills, called the amendment “patently offensive.”
Republicans came to Gaines’ defense, arguing that the language was a bill-drafting error.
Speaker John A. Pérez of Los Angeles disagreed, pointing out that Gaines initially stood behind the amendment when forced to read it on the floor.
Gaines ultimately asked members to vote against her amendment. Lawmakers obliged.
Thank you for reminding me why I worked for Andy Pugno. And the rest of you should thank Charles Munger and Republican leadership for pouring nearly $1million in to keeping her in office.
Here is the link to the original Blog in santaclarita.com website.
Yes, a Nazi. THAT kind of a Nazi.
In this link you will see that the State CRA endorsed Stephen Winkler for Saugus School Board (in the Santa Clarita Area). It quotes then CRA VP Bob Haueter who was also Buck McKeon’s Chief of Staff at the time.
Bob Haueter and the Buck McKeon Staff helped found the RAGSCV, a rival unit to the Santa Clarita Valley Republican Assembly. You might be wondering with two clubs in the area how one got their way and the other did not. Both RAGSCV and SCVRA endorsed in those races in 2011.
Stephen Winkler wrote a letter to the editor complaining about how Republican Groups did not endorse him!
When the conflict arose, CRA President Celeste Greig instead of forcing them to meet together for a local endorsing convention (What the CRA By-Laws say to do) decided to recognize the endorsements of the Buck McKeon CRA Group RAGSCV and invalidate those of the SCVRA.
Whoops. Stephen Winkler has apparently manifest his insanity for all to see since being elected.
Stephen Winkler is a Nazi – and has been making Nazi comments on the internet for years – so anyone that did any vetting would have known.
This extremely long article at the very end references that two local Republican Clubs endorsed Winkler. (Both are Buck McKeon controlled clubs – the Fraudulent RAGSCV and a YR Group made up of McKeon staff)
The article is a sick, disgusting treasure trove of nazi and vile bigoted comments made by Winkler and was written by someone in an obvious attempt to embarrass CRA and the Republican Party. Please note that Winkler has switched parties a ton of times.
Some of Winkler’s thoughts and insights?
“I despise a black in a presidential role, because this is not their proper role in life. They were not created for government nor for political leadership; they were created for service. I salute and honor all the hard-working blacks working as servers in our restaurants and on our airplanes. I thank you for the service.”
“My parents are long deceased; however, my paternal grandparents died in a concentration camp. I believe the Third Reich did the right thing in their situation. A country at war for her survival must demand unconditional enthusiastic support; they were unable to provide this and eternal justice was the consequence.”
And – we finish with a recent tweet of his:
Buck McKeon should issue an immediate apology to CRA and to all the living survivors of the holocaust and fire any staffers that were a part of this endorsement.
Bonus:
You have got to be kidding me Buck McKeon.
Amazingly enough – we are taking a break from our regularly scheduled beatings of Ted Gaines and Jim Nielsen to thank them for honoring the “No New Taxes Pledge”.
Bill Emmerson, Bob Huff, Jean Fuller and Mimi Walters voted to raise taxes $2.3 Billion and Anthony Cannella Joined them (but, Cannella never signed the pledge).
Most of us would never sign a pledge for anything – but at the same time, Taxes in America are absurdly high and no one can justify with a right mind voting for more funding for out of control government as they behave like alcoholics at a wine tasting.
If you sign something, honor it – otherwise, you show yourselves to have no integrity.
In this case, Ted Gaines and Jim Nielsen did the right thing and backed up their promise.
As a bonus – we also heard some good sound-bytes of Jim Nielsen complaining about all the anti-gun BS going down in the State Senate as well. If Jim Nielsen keeps this up, we may have to start calling him a Conservative…
I’ve heard these rumors for weeks, and now they are coming back from D.C.
I wrote previously about Tony Strickland showing up in Antelope Valley and receiving a “rude greeting” from BofE member George Runner and State Senator Steve Knight. They both told him to go back to CA-26 according to the article in the local Antelope Valley paper.
Well, it appears that Buck McKeon wants Tony Strickland, not Scott Wilk (Or Cameron Smythe) for Congress… according to my sources, so much so that he is going to retire early in order to improve Strickland’s chances of winning in CA-25.
CA-25 is considered a safe Republican District, but Buck McKeon as he has aged has lost his grip on the district somewhat and rumors of “scandal” have been getting louder.
McKeon “only” won by 9.5 points in 2012. I was told to look for McKeon to be out during the summer of 2013, I was told July – but it would not surprise me if he waited a bit later but not too late for the special election to be concurrent if this intel is correct. I personally think a simple retirement (aka not running in 2014) is more likely since McKeon is currently the chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee through the end of the 2014 term.
The bizarre dynamic is that this will pit Kevin McCarthy and the GOP establishment against Steve Knight and George Runner – further proof that political alliances are fleeting.
The tie in? In 2012 CA-26, Strickland lost, like every other Republican in a competitive district in California. CA-26 is a marginal district that is currently infested by Julia Brownley. Strickland wants an easier ticket to Washington DC…
… which leaves Assemblymember Jeff Gorrell, a moderate, military veteran who has told insiders that he is running in CA-26 for Congress. When you couple Jeff Gorrell’s insider activity, Strickland’s insider activity with the intel from Washington D.C. you have the complete picture of what is happening. The question is when.
Oh, and the voters of CA-25??? They appear to be an ancillary footnote once again.
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CA-25 takes in Antelope Valley (Think Lancaster / Palmdale), Santa Clarita Valley (Think Magic Mountain), part of Chatsworth-Northridge area along the 118 freeway to Simi Valley (which is in Ventura County).
CA-26 is almost completely encased in Ventura County with a bizarre slice of LA County.