Well children, with all that goes on here in this dusty little corner of the Sonoran Desert, it was only a matter of time that others would follow our lead. Just remember, Quartzsite, AZ was the blog that boldly dared to go where no bloggers had gone before. The blog that shifted the paradigm of young and old alike.
Then along came a spider, that sat down aside'r and http://quartzsitebagger.wordpress.com/ railed against Ms. Muffet and all the other characters in Far Far Away Land. That is until Marty had to deal with the cranky public defenders of QVilles "self styled activists".
Now, the dynamic duo of fatman and robbin' have surfaced as Got'em Cities latest blogosphere incarnations, http://saylavieqsite.blogspot.com/ and http://qbaguette.wordpress.com/.
Ok, you have to admit that these are far wittier and less vitriolic than the Bagger's attempt at parody used to make liable and defamation legal, and these posts are actually funny AND fact-filled! Way to step it up "B Team". Kudos to the imitators. As the old cabal falls apart, and the neo cabal rears it's uglier faux blonde head, it's nice that they've' found a positive use for their grey matter.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Taft gets the shaft, and other council hijinks.
Well, today's regular meeting of the Quartzsite clown council promised to be contentious and we were not disappointed or amused. Mayor Foster had placed items on the agenda to return the meetings to 7pm, as the town code stipulates, bring back a call to the public which would be placed at the beginning of the meeting, remove the authority of the town manager to hire outside contractors, and such.
Remember. the illegal "emergency" meeting on July 10, 2011 "draft minutes"stated that the suspension of the Town Proceedures and Policies Manual, including meetings held at 9am and no public comment were only to remain in effect "until the second Tuesday in September, or until two thirds of the council determines that an emergent circumstances no longer exist which create an imment risk to public safety, and the safety of elective and appointive officials, whichever occurs first". They just kept it that way because they like ignoring the rules.
Now Councilman Ogre-on has never meant a campaign promise he didn't dislike, so he ammended the agenda and removed Foster's items, with the other sock puppets nodding in approval like bobble heads on the dash of a four wheeler.
Then, they all went into executive session, came out and without any discussion they fired the evil Queen Taftalex! Despite this being the only campaign promise Ogre-on is willing to make good on, we must remember that it was his flawed orchestrations that got us into this mess, with Taft being placed on "administrative leave" instead of fired outright the first time. Now she can sue the town for changing the terms of her contract. But since it appears that she was terminated "without cause", I suppose they'll have to pay her "golden parachute" or be forced to admitt that the meeting her new contract was approved in was actually illegal. Of course, that would require admitting that Norma Crooks usurped the office of Councilperson, having been appointed in the aforementioned illegal meeting. How much you want to bet that Marty the barf bagger is providing free legal advice to the other ousted cabal members?
The overpaid engineers that are designing a do over of the wastewater treatement plant gave a fancy power point presentation about how it's only going to cost 5.9 million to expand, and without it there can be no growth. Here's a thought, if our leaders can't manage what little they've got, why are they even talking about growth and expansion? Put your house in order now morons!
Ogre-on's item to direct that the town mismanager spare no expense in pursuit of town debtors passed with Workman dissenting. It appears that she understands the lawsuits this sort of action will incurr. It also appears that Foster will dare them to go after the Big Tent, Lukkasson, Oldham et all. Naturally, Ogre-on had supplied no supporting documents for his agenda item, no definition of how debt was to be determined, provision for due process, or if this gives carte blanche authority to Bruno to enter into contracts for support services in excess of $5,000 without council approval, etc. Do you miss the old cabal yet?
Fraulein Bruno said she found us a possible high risk private insurer, but it's going to cost about $70,000 a year in additional premiums. No worries, she's cutting town staff to compensate for the expense that she helped cause by being unwilling to work with the Risk Pool. Oh, and she still managed to try and blame the insurance cancellation on Councilwoman Workman, according to an alleged "phone conversation" that took place on October 25th, after the Risk Pool already held the meeting to discuss notifying the town that they were cancelling. Nice try honey! Go back to Sacramento and peddle your snake oil because we aren't buying it here in Qville. Rumor has it that Workman filed a 23 page complaint against Bruno a week or so ago. I can say "revenge", can you?
We don't know what Councilwoman Anderson has against that nice man that's managing Desert Gardens RV Park, but she sure tried (and failed) to keep him off the planning and zoning board. The Council also approved that nasty town employee Susan Fonda to be on the Heath and Development Board. You will remember that Fonda quit as Manager for Quartzsite's branch of the Horizon Community Bank and moved out of town. Apparently her employment options have dwindled, because she came back here to be a seasonal vendor permit lackey. Another loser on the payroll. Why did they fire the qualified employees last year? Oh yeah, they knew too much.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Town Attorney Brannan turns "whistleblower"!
It appears that Marty the barf bagger had a meltdown and is now trying to cover his ever expanding ass.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
ADVICE TO QUARTZSITE COUNCIL:
ADVICE TO QUARTZSITE COUNCIL: GO BACK AND DO IT RIGHT!: TOWN MANAGER TAFT may need to be reinstated (to her duties) even if for a couple months to solve the CONTINUING problem the COUNCIL has with the Risk Pool and to thereby, save the Town its AMRRP risk-coverage...
.
BELIEVE ME, I hate to admit this, but (now "ex") Town Attorney Martin Brannan has been right a few times:
1. Judge Burke agreed with Brannan when Burke issued the TRO on August 27, 2012 against Orgeron's agenda items regarding Taft, Gilbert, Johnson and Garcia.
2. Council member Orgeron was forced to hear Judge Burke’s music.
3. Orgeron decided to become the de facto "Town Attorney" and argued with Brannan, that he (Orgeron) knew the law better than Brannan. IN THIS CASE, , the ADMIN LEAVE STATUS OF TAFT, Brannan had TRIED TO WARN THE COUNCIL, and HE DID IT IN PUBLIC at the AUG 28 meeting, just before the "executive session" which Taft was excluded from.
4. Orgeron apparently convinced the rest of the Council Taft could remain an employee, and “without cause” have her EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT unilaterally amended by the Council.
5. THE COUNCIL THEN DID SO, they amended her EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS, WITHOUT HER WRITTEN AGREEMENT, and without providing her any opportunity to address WHY they were doing so.
6. The COUNCIL VOTED TO AMEND HER EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS without discussion.
7. THE COUNCIL set new employment conditions ON HER: that she has to stay in her home from 8:00 am to whatever, blah blah blah..., yada yada yada...
8. Soon after the COUNCIL DID THIS: It is quite likely that when the Risk Pool became aware Taft had been put on “administrative leave” as of SEPTEMBER 28, through Taft or another Town official.
9. The RISK POOL BECAME AWARE THAT: instead of Taft’s employment CONTRACT being terminated for cause or without cause IT WAS UNILATERALLY AMENDED BY THE COUNCIL.
10. THE RISK POOL SAW YET ANOTHER EMPLOYMENT-RELATED DAMAGES CLAIM SOON BUDDING >>> FROM TAFT. The Risk Pool apparently sided on the side of caution (CONSIDER BRANNAN’S LEGAL THEORY HE WARNED THE COUNCIL)
11. THE RISK POOL APPEARS TO HAVE FREAKED OUT by SEPTEMBER 7 and then the RISK POOL TRIED TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THE COUNCIL, and asked that TWO COUNCIL MEMBERS BE IDENTIFIED TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THEM “IMMEDIATELY” <<<<< This NEVER has HAPPENED >>>> THE COUNCIL IGNORED THE RISK POOL REQUEST..
12. By SEPTEMBER 7, FOUR OTHER EMPLOYEES WERE COMPLAINING ABOUT AN ADVERSE-WORK ENVIRONMENT at TOWN HALL > THE Risk Pool was quickly made aware of this, it appears by Brannan (maybe).
13. Taft’s terms of employment are set forth in her contract and of course there will be some controlling law in such regards, however the Council UNILATERALLY CHANGED TAFT’S EMPLOYMENT TERMS, and MADE UP NEW employment- terms NOT IN HER CONTRACT AND THESE Terms are BEING FORCED UPON HER, WHICH HAS PRECIPITATED OTHER ISSUES that can give rise to A CLAIM against the Town, too,
SUCH AS:
a) These SPECIAL & NEW EMPLOYMENT terms WERE made public by the COUNCIL and local people have even (innocently enough, I suppose) been photographing TAFT in public when TAFT is seen out and about, because the community THINKS what the Council did to Taft is "legal" and citizens are thereby led to believe they might catch her doing something or somewhere she’s not supposed to be, & then they think their ‘evidence’ might HELP the TOWN bring about her dismissal,
b) FURTHER POSSIBILITY IS THAT THE UNLICENSED PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR Tony Ford (CIA agent for Bruno) has been following Taft,
THINK VIOLATION OF PRIVACY…..
14. FURTHER, THE RISK POOL advised the Council in the SEPTEMBER 7 WARNING LETTER, that personnel matters are the "most expensive" for the Pool to litigate, so the RISK POOL has a VESTED INTEREST in containing and mitigating ANY ADVERSE-EMPLOYMENT CLAIM WHICH COULD BE MADE BY TAFT.
15. FURTHER: ON September 7, 2012 Brannan tried again to remind the Council in a TWO PAGE MEMO that they were in a position to loose their INDIVIDUAL qualified immunity, if after he gave them advise, the went against it.
16. A. NOT ALL COUNCIL MEMBERS may be willing to be sued individually, based on ORGERON’S LEGAL THEORIES, >> 16. B. Brannan's position appears to be: iTAFT MAY BE IN A POSITION TO SUE COUNCIL MEMBERS INDIVIDUALLY, and they may have lost their qualified immunity BY WHAT THEY DID TO HER, against the Town Attorney’s legal advice.
17. RESTATING: IT IS MORE PROBABLE than NOT: Taft may have an adverse employment claim against the Town (WHICH ALSO MEANS THE RISK POOL !!!) and against the Council members individually, as they ignored Brannan's advice.
18. EVERY DAY TAFT IS SUBJECTED TO THE CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT (the admin leave status and the SPECIFIC RESTRICTIONS ON HER) which ORGERON WANTED and convinced the Council to institute by a vote, TAFT’S POTENTIAL CLAIM FOR ADVERSE-EMPLOYMENT DAMAGES INCREASES, and each day the RISK POOLS Risk because of this INCREASES.
19. TAFT NEEDS TO BE REINSTATED, and appropriately discharged, per her contract and the law, and THE RISK POOL has had enough of Orgeron and the Council who has thumbed their middle-finger at the POOL as regards all the hirings and firings and ADMIN LEAVE issues which have been going on since AUGUST 23, 2012.
20. THE COUNCIL NEEDS TO SHOW SOME real balls and leadership, and that WILL NOT HAPPEN through hiding behind Bruno’ skirt so they can avoid dealing with the Risk Pool, as the Pool asked for TWO MONTHS AGO.
21. It is a CONFLICT OF INTEREST for Bruno to have any involvement in the TAFT MATTER.
POSSIBLE CONCLUSION:
A. Reinstate Taft and then seek a VETTED replacement, THEN DISMISS HER 'with or without cause" in the LAWFUL DUE PROCESS set forth by LAW & HER CONTRACT; so as to SALVAGE the Town's relationship with the POOL:
B. Bruno obviously isn’t fitting the bill in the Risk Pool’s opinion, as BRUNO was NOT vetted by the Pool or the LEAGUE,
C. ONLY 23 days after BRUNO was appointed by ORGERON and his peons on the Council, WORKMAN VOTED “NAY” the OCT 5 RISK POOL ”Intent to Terminate” letter was issued to the TOWN, restating, virtually, ALL the EARLIER concerns the Pool had basically made on SEPTEMBER 7, before Bruno was hired.
D. BRUNO cannot act as a de facto TOWN COUNCIL.
E. TAFT IS in a position to not only SUE THE TOWN BUT the RISK POOL de facto, as the POOL is the loss coverage provider if TAFT has filed or does file an adverse employment claim.
BELIEVE ME, I hate to admit this, but (now "ex") Town Attorney Martin Brannan has been right a few times:
1. Judge Burke agreed with Brannan when Burke issued the TRO on August 27, 2012 against Orgeron's agenda items regarding Taft, Gilbert, Johnson and Garcia.
2. Council member Orgeron was forced to hear Judge Burke’s music.
3. Orgeron decided to become the de facto "Town Attorney" and argued with Brannan, that he (Orgeron) knew the law better than Brannan. IN THIS CASE, , the ADMIN LEAVE STATUS OF TAFT, Brannan had TRIED TO WARN THE COUNCIL, and HE DID IT IN PUBLIC at the AUG 28 meeting, just before the "executive session" which Taft was excluded from.
4. Orgeron apparently convinced the rest of the Council Taft could remain an employee, and “without cause” have her EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT unilaterally amended by the Council.
5. THE COUNCIL THEN DID SO, they amended her EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS, WITHOUT HER WRITTEN AGREEMENT, and without providing her any opportunity to address WHY they were doing so.
6. The COUNCIL VOTED TO AMEND HER EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS without discussion.
7. THE COUNCIL set new employment conditions ON HER: that she has to stay in her home from 8:00 am to whatever, blah blah blah..., yada yada yada...
8. Soon after the COUNCIL DID THIS: It is quite likely that when the Risk Pool became aware Taft had been put on “administrative leave” as of SEPTEMBER 28, through Taft or another Town official.
9. The RISK POOL BECAME AWARE THAT: instead of Taft’s employment CONTRACT being terminated for cause or without cause IT WAS UNILATERALLY AMENDED BY THE COUNCIL.
10. THE RISK POOL SAW YET ANOTHER EMPLOYMENT-RELATED DAMAGES CLAIM SOON BUDDING >>> FROM TAFT. The Risk Pool apparently sided on the side of caution (CONSIDER BRANNAN’S LEGAL THEORY HE WARNED THE COUNCIL)
11. THE RISK POOL APPEARS TO HAVE FREAKED OUT by SEPTEMBER 7 and then the RISK POOL TRIED TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THE COUNCIL, and asked that TWO COUNCIL MEMBERS BE IDENTIFIED TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THEM “IMMEDIATELY” <<<<< This NEVER has HAPPENED >>>> THE COUNCIL IGNORED THE RISK POOL REQUEST..
12. By SEPTEMBER 7, FOUR OTHER EMPLOYEES WERE COMPLAINING ABOUT AN ADVERSE-WORK ENVIRONMENT at TOWN HALL > THE Risk Pool was quickly made aware of this, it appears by Brannan (maybe).
13. Taft’s terms of employment are set forth in her contract and of course there will be some controlling law in such regards, however the Council UNILATERALLY CHANGED TAFT’S EMPLOYMENT TERMS, and MADE UP NEW employment- terms NOT IN HER CONTRACT AND THESE Terms are BEING FORCED UPON HER, WHICH HAS PRECIPITATED OTHER ISSUES that can give rise to A CLAIM against the Town, too,
SUCH AS:
a) These SPECIAL & NEW EMPLOYMENT terms WERE made public by the COUNCIL and local people have even (innocently enough, I suppose) been photographing TAFT in public when TAFT is seen out and about, because the community THINKS what the Council did to Taft is "legal" and citizens are thereby led to believe they might catch her doing something or somewhere she’s not supposed to be, & then they think their ‘evidence’ might HELP the TOWN bring about her dismissal,
b) FURTHER POSSIBILITY IS THAT THE UNLICENSED PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR Tony Ford (CIA agent for Bruno) has been following Taft,
THINK VIOLATION OF PRIVACY…..
14. FURTHER, THE RISK POOL advised the Council in the SEPTEMBER 7 WARNING LETTER, that personnel matters are the "most expensive" for the Pool to litigate, so the RISK POOL has a VESTED INTEREST in containing and mitigating ANY ADVERSE-EMPLOYMENT CLAIM WHICH COULD BE MADE BY TAFT.
15. FURTHER: ON September 7, 2012 Brannan tried again to remind the Council in a TWO PAGE MEMO that they were in a position to loose their INDIVIDUAL qualified immunity, if after he gave them advise, the went against it.
16. A. NOT ALL COUNCIL MEMBERS may be willing to be sued individually, based on ORGERON’S LEGAL THEORIES, >> 16. B. Brannan's position appears to be: iTAFT MAY BE IN A POSITION TO SUE COUNCIL MEMBERS INDIVIDUALLY, and they may have lost their qualified immunity BY WHAT THEY DID TO HER, against the Town Attorney’s legal advice.
17. RESTATING: IT IS MORE PROBABLE than NOT: Taft may have an adverse employment claim against the Town (WHICH ALSO MEANS THE RISK POOL !!!) and against the Council members individually, as they ignored Brannan's advice.
18. EVERY DAY TAFT IS SUBJECTED TO THE CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT (the admin leave status and the SPECIFIC RESTRICTIONS ON HER) which ORGERON WANTED and convinced the Council to institute by a vote, TAFT’S POTENTIAL CLAIM FOR ADVERSE-EMPLOYMENT DAMAGES INCREASES, and each day the RISK POOLS Risk because of this INCREASES.
19. TAFT NEEDS TO BE REINSTATED, and appropriately discharged, per her contract and the law, and THE RISK POOL has had enough of Orgeron and the Council who has thumbed their middle-finger at the POOL as regards all the hirings and firings and ADMIN LEAVE issues which have been going on since AUGUST 23, 2012.
20. THE COUNCIL NEEDS TO SHOW SOME real balls and leadership, and that WILL NOT HAPPEN through hiding behind Bruno’ skirt so they can avoid dealing with the Risk Pool, as the Pool asked for TWO MONTHS AGO.
21. It is a CONFLICT OF INTEREST for Bruno to have any involvement in the TAFT MATTER.
POSSIBLE CONCLUSION:
A. Reinstate Taft and then seek a VETTED replacement, THEN DISMISS HER 'with or without cause" in the LAWFUL DUE PROCESS set forth by LAW & HER CONTRACT; so as to SALVAGE the Town's relationship with the POOL:
B. Bruno obviously isn’t fitting the bill in the Risk Pool’s opinion, as BRUNO was NOT vetted by the Pool or the LEAGUE,
C. ONLY 23 days after BRUNO was appointed by ORGERON and his peons on the Council, WORKMAN VOTED “NAY” the OCT 5 RISK POOL ”Intent to Terminate” letter was issued to the TOWN, restating, virtually, ALL the EARLIER concerns the Pool had basically made on SEPTEMBER 7, before Bruno was hired.
D. BRUNO cannot act as a de facto TOWN COUNCIL.
E. TAFT IS in a position to not only SUE THE TOWN BUT the RISK POOL de facto, as the POOL is the loss coverage provider if TAFT has filed or does file an adverse employment claim.
(from Quartzsite Project, on Facebook)
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
La Paz County election results - unofficial
Well, John Wright pretty much said it all, so here you go:
http://www.parkerliveonline.com/2012/11/07/la-paz-county-election-analysis/
http://www.parkerliveonline.com/2012/11/07/la-paz-county-election-analysis/
La Paz County election: analysis
Some La Paz County races were too close to call Wednesday morning, with an unusually high number of provisional ballots still to be counted and a tight write-in race for County Attorney still being counted today.
La Paz County has confirmed that there are 810 ballots still to be counted countywide, which could shake up some of the races in the General Election. (A further breakdown of these uncounted votes is below.) Write-in votes are still being verified and further results may be available by around 4:30 p.m. today.
This leaves some races up in the air. Still, we can call wins in four of the races.
(1) District 2 Supervisor
King Clapperton will take District 2 Supervisor. With a comfortable 61% of the vote, 790 votes separate him and his nearest opponent, and there are only 330 votes left to be counted in District 2.
—
(2) District 3 Supervisor
Incumbent Holly Irwin will take the District 3 Supervisor race. 287 votes separate her from her opponent, and only 211 votes remain to be counted in District 3.
—
(3) County Assessor
Sharon Schuler, the incumbent for County Assessor, will take the race. Although there are 810 votes still out, there are exactly that many votes between Schuler and Kossnar. This means Kossnar would need to take all of the uncounted votes even to tie.
—
(4) County Sheriff
John Drum will take the race for Sheriff. He has a healthy margin of 1377 votes between him and his nearest opponent, and only 810 votes remain to be counted in the race.
—
District 1 Supervisor: Let’s take a look at the math.
It’s clear that D.L. Wilson is in the lead. 186 votes separate him from Gilbert, and 204 votes separate him from Page. There are 269 votes still out for District 1. This means that for Gilbert or Page to win, they would need to take an unproportionately high percentage of the uncounted votes. Considering that the percentage of the vote they each took so far was 28% and 26% respectively, these may be fairly high hurdles.
—
AWC Governing Board District 2:
Melissa Wright leads with 1105 votes to 775. With 419 votes still remaining to be counted in the AWC District 2 race, this means Jim Brouillette would need to take almost 80% of the uncounted votes, while his current trend in votes counted so far is 41%. Again, this would be a very high hurdle.
—
County Attorney: The results so far are as follows.
—
Provisional and late early ballots are being counted and may not be available in revised totals until next week. Write-in votes still being counted may be updated later today.
La Paz County has confirmed that there are 810 ballots still to be counted countywide, which could shake up some of the races in the General Election. (A further breakdown of these uncounted votes is below.) Write-in votes are still being verified and further results may be available by around 4:30 p.m. today.
This leaves some races up in the air. Still, we can call wins in four of the races.
(1) District 2 Supervisor
King Clapperton will take District 2 Supervisor. With a comfortable 61% of the vote, 790 votes separate him and his nearest opponent, and there are only 330 votes left to be counted in District 2.
—
(2) District 3 Supervisor
Incumbent Holly Irwin will take the District 3 Supervisor race. 287 votes separate her from her opponent, and only 211 votes remain to be counted in District 3.
—
(3) County Assessor
Sharon Schuler, the incumbent for County Assessor, will take the race. Although there are 810 votes still out, there are exactly that many votes between Schuler and Kossnar. This means Kossnar would need to take all of the uncounted votes even to tie.
—
(4) County Sheriff
John Drum will take the race for Sheriff. He has a healthy margin of 1377 votes between him and his nearest opponent, and only 810 votes remain to be counted in the race.
—
District 1 Supervisor: Let’s take a look at the math.
It’s clear that D.L. Wilson is in the lead. 186 votes separate him from Gilbert, and 204 votes separate him from Page. There are 269 votes still out for District 1. This means that for Gilbert or Page to win, they would need to take an unproportionately high percentage of the uncounted votes. Considering that the percentage of the vote they each took so far was 28% and 26% respectively, these may be fairly high hurdles.
—
AWC Governing Board District 2:
Melissa Wright leads with 1105 votes to 775. With 419 votes still remaining to be counted in the AWC District 2 race, this means Jim Brouillette would need to take almost 80% of the uncounted votes, while his current trend in votes counted so far is 41%. Again, this would be a very high hurdle.
—
County Attorney: The results so far are as follows.
- Dan Field – 371
- Tony Rogers – 341
- Steve Lundell – 270
- Glenn Buckelew – 267
- Martin Brannan – 10
—
Provisional and late early ballots are being counted and may not be available in revised totals until next week. Write-in votes still being counted may be updated later today.
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