Fullerton Mayor Greg Sebourn
The Fulleton Police Officers Association is now the largest single source of campaign spending in Fullerton City Council elections. It is their political influence that keeps us from having true civilian oversight of our own police department… –Fullerton Rag
Fullerton Stories recently posted a two part interview with newly minted Mayor Greg Sebourn, covering such topics as development and attracting and retaining businesses in town. Part II of the interview ends with publisher Davis Barber asking Mayor Sebourn to comment on his relations with the Fullerton Police Department in the aftermath of the negative campaign waged against him by the police union during the last election cycle…
*Just one question: How many Fullerton Police Officers or employees actually LIVE in
Fullerton? Back in 1959, over 85% did.
I know for a fact that none of the six who killed or helped kill Kelly Thomas do. (I have been a good boy and will go to my grave with those addresses and phone numbers.)
i take that back – looked at my records – the THREE that killed him HANDS ON – Ramos, Cicinelli, Wolfe – all live in other counties. Don’t know about the other three who stood around and watched.
Whoa, there. That quotation up at the top belongs to Matt, not Greg.
Whoops, that was confusing. I fixed it.
The title too. The colon suggests Greg said that too. I will tweak that real quicklike.
There. Done. A comma so you are addressing him…. and a exclamation point so you’re addressing him loud enough for him to hear!
Damn now it looks like Greg S and the police union are one and the same. An editor’s job is never done…
I’m fixing it. You can unfix it or refix it in the morning.
I thought Tony Bushala and his money fixed what ails Fullerton. What happpend?
*The Fix is In…no doubt. But the true fix will be a Federal Consent Decree and a demand for Administrative Accountability from electeds and appointeds. This obviously is occuring in more communities in this country than anyone might like and perhaps it is a bit cruel to use Fullerton as the whipping boy, however – they are the one’s that didn’t fix it immediately and they are the one’s that allowed it to become a Natiional Story and they are the one’s that made it alright for other locations like Ferguson, MO and many parts of Florida….have been allowed to run wild without immediate corrective action. Lack of Action is just as bad a precipitous poor actions….the results are sometimes even worse in the long term. Fullerton will have to take the brunt of corrective action because it failed to do so on the front end. It may not even be fair….but that is what needs to be done…and everyone knows it.
The Fullerton Rag post on Mayor Sebourn and his relationship with the FPD points out some troubling statements made by our new mayor.
Mayor Sebourn is parsing words when he claims that the FPOA and the rank and file are totally different. Why would Mayor Sebourn try to make a distinction that does not exist? The FPOA PAC put out a mailer that stated erroneously that I had a cushy well paid taxpayer funded position. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. As former Chairman and current member of the Fullerton Park and Recreation Committee, I have received no salary or fees for my services since my start date of February 2011. But no acknowledgements of that misstatement has been forthcoming from the FPOA or any of its members.
Questions:
Should the public be concerned when an organization made up of Fullerton police officers puts out hit pieces based on a false premise against me when I was not running for any office?
Do any misstatements of fact make you more likely or less likely to have confidence in the truthfulness and integrity of any of those same individuals that are represented by the FPOA?
Honesty and truthfulness are not virtues that one can turn on and off. If you are proven to be careless with the accuracy of your statements in one venue, you are likely to do the same in another venue.
On his campaign website, Council member Sebourn listed the past corruption of the FPD as an issue. He stated that it was important to rebuild trust in the FPD. The only way to rebuild trust is for our council members to hold that department accountable to the people it serves. I for one am more than a little tired of politicians bringing up issues that concerns the electorate and then apparently putting that issue on the back burner as soon as their victory party ends.
Question: Has the Fullerton electorate been fooled again? I report, you decide.