December 2009
3 posts
Agran Supermajority in 2010?
Irvine City Councilman Steven Choi has confirmed his candidacy for the 70th Assembly District. According to Irvine GOP Chairman Allan Bartlett, Tim Clark has been hired to manage the campaign. This is sure to rile up the GOP establishment, who have pretty much lined up behind ultra-con Don Wagner. Nevertheless, Choi’s name recognition and robust voter base could be leveraged into a...
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Irvine Watch: Proposed Town Hall Meetings Move...
This Tuesday, the Irvine City Council had a fairly interesting meeting. Originally I tried to get this out on Wednesday, but they take forever uploading the video to the Council website. I tried to remotely view it live, but the video feed was messed up so I only got audio. Nevertheless, the highlight was Francine Verbarg’s (of Youtube fame) proposition for Town Hall style meetings...
Your Cell Phones are Harmless.
I just read this article in the OC Weekly which cites a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute by the Danish Cancer Society. Pretty much, there is no link between cell phone waves and cancer.(What a surprise) Additionally, UCI researchers have been saying the same thing for years. This is a big deal because some vocal people are genuinely convinced that building cell...
November 2009
2 posts
Happy Thanksgiving Tommorrow
and good luck shopping on Black Friday. I personally will not partake in the madness of Black Friday, but for those that do, the IPD will be out in force, deploying teams to shopping centers across Irvine. Unfortunately, they’ll only be covering the Spectrum, and the Marketplace (which is sort of more in Tustin). They will be out to be a visible presence and to respond to crimes in...
More Great Pork
Try 3.5 million dollars worth.
that’s the amount that has been paid out to Forde and Molrich, a PR firm with a no-bid contract.
In 2005, the Register reported that F&M was recieving a $564,000 no bid contract. It also reported that one of their first printing jobs, costing $75,000, could have been done for $25,000.
After that, F&M went underground, and switched to a subcontractor...
October 2009
4 posts
Notorious Contributors to Beth Krom's Campaign
I’d like to further expose the players in the Krommunist cabal that dominates Irvine politics.
James Ray-$2400- Great Park Board Member/ Developer
Mrs. James Ray-$2400
Dan Chmielewsky-$2400- Liberal Hack
Larry Agran-$1250- Great Park Chairman/ Irvine Councilmember
Mrs. Larry Agran-$1250
Michael Ray-$1000- Developer
CAIR PAC-$1000- AKA Todd Gallinger & Friends
Debbie Cook-$1000-...
No Bid Contracts at the Great Pork
And still, Larry “Boss Hogg” Agran claims a thourough audit is unnessecary.
From the OC Grand Jury Report:
No-Bid Contracts
Awarding of no-bid contracts by the City has raised the concerns of the Grand Jury. Of many no-bid contracts, the Grand Jury presents these examples.
Law Firm:
On May 27, 2005, another no-bid contract for legal services was awarded by the GPC, replacing...
Behind the Curtain: Larry Agran and Sandeep Baweja
Larry “Boss Hogg” Agran has a bad habit of surrounding himself with shifty characters. Now, one by one, they are being revealed as criminals.
Meet Sandeep Baweja, an Indian lawyer who was deeply connected behind the scenes in Irvine. He even served on the Irvine Public Schools Foundation, one of the largest education non-profits in California. Earlier this year, he admitted to...
September 2009
6 posts
Discovery Science Center may Expand to Great Park
Coincidentally, right after my profile of “Walkie” Ray, news arrives that the Discovery Science Center is trying to make a 12-acre education garden in the Great Park. Apparently this is part of the 1,300 acres that were already designated as botanical gardens. Botanical gardens are nice to have, but here’s the only dilemma: I don’t know if you’ve been to the base...
Profile: James "Walkie" Ray
Walkie Ray is generally unknown outside the OC Democratic elite, however he has an impressive philanthropic record. He was in charge of building the Discovery Science Center, was influential in creating OCHSA and Sage Hill, and serves on the Great Park Conservancy Board. He even won the 2007 Orange County Spirit of Philanthropy Lifetime Achievement Award. Unfortunately, there is a dark...
Who runs the Great Park anyways??
Courtesy of the recent news articles depicting the drama unfolding at City Hall, one has to wonder: Who’s in charge of the Great Park?? Coming soon in future posts will be a series of profiles exposing the Great Park Board, and I will attempt to rate them on my “Competency Scale”, and my “Corruptibility Scale”.
As to the recent events, here’s whats been...
Its Only Temporary!
On Sunday I decided to check out the Great Park Balloon so I could “watch the Great Park’s development unfold as construction activity increases”. It was a harrowing adventure at the least, navigating abandoned buildings and roads. Finally I found a tiny sign that led to the balloon near the freeway underpass. All of a sudden, the decrepit base transformed into a cute litte...
“If we confuse dissent with disloyalty — if we deny the right of the individual...”
– Edward R. Murrow
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