Tag Archives: corruption

FBI: Racketeering and Arson Charges Filed Against Members of Ironworkers Union – Places of Worship Among Arson Targets

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Mike

by Michael D. Robbins
Director, Public Safety Project, PublicSafetyProject.org

Labor unions have a long history of violent crime in the U.S., including racketeering, harassment, intimidation, extortion, sabotage, arson, assault, murder, mass-murder, domestic terrorism, and more. This legacy of union thuggery continues to this day for many labor unions, and the guilty often go unpunished and are allowed to continue their anti-social criminal behavior.

Although some news reporters dubbed the O. J. Simpson double-murder trial as “the trial of the century”, another far more significant though shorter trial was given that label early in the twentieth century.

The McNamara brothers, James B. McNamara and John J. McNamara, were active in the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers, a labor union headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The union organized and represented workers in the construction industry, and was particularly active on the West Coast. Los Angeles Times publisher Harrison Gray Otis used his newspaper to accuse the union of being responsible for the dynamiting of construction sites that used non-union labor.

On October 1, 1910, in an act of domestic terrorism and mass-murder, a bomb exploded in the Los Angeles Times downtown printing plant building, murdering 20 people and causing considerable damage to the building. Soon after that, there was another bombing at the Llewellyn Iron Works in Los Angeles.

Evidence was found linking the two McNamara brothers to these bombings, and they were put on trial. The trial began on December 1, 1911. James B. McNamara ultimately admitted to bombing the Times building, and John J. McNamara confessed to dynamiting the Llewellyn Iron Works. On December 5, 1911, Judge Walter Bordwell sentenced James McNamara to life in prison, and John McNamara to 15 years in prison.

In a more recent case of union thuggery and terrorism, an indictment was unsealed on February 18, 2014 and arrests were made in a case charging 10 members of the Ironworkers Local 401 union with allegedly participating in a conspiracy to commit criminal acts of extortion, arson, destruction of property, and assault in order to force construction contractors to hire union ironworkers.

“The strong-arm tactics we have seen in this case are outrageous and brazen,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Edward J. Hanko, adding that “violence, intimidation, arson, and sabotage are crimes which won’t be tolerated. This investigation has been wide-ranging, but it is far from over. Now that this indictment has been unsealed, we expect to hear from more victims and will aggressively pursue all other leads we receive.”

If convicted of all charges, four of the 10 defendants each face a mandatory minimum term of 35 years in prison up to a statutory maximum of 130 years.

The indictment charges RICO conspiracy, violent crime in aid of racketeering, three counts of arson, two counts of use of fire to commit a felony, and conspiracy to commit arson. RICO refers to 18 U.S. Code Chapter 96 – Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations.

Eight of the 10 individuals named in the indictment are charged with conspiring to use Ironworkers Local 401 as an enterprise to commit criminal acts. The indictment details incidents in which the defendants threatened or assaulted contractors or their employees and damaged construction equipment and job sites as part of a concerted effort to force contractors to hire and pay Local 401 workers, even when those workers performed no function. Among the criminal acts set forth in the indictment is the December 2012 arson of a Quaker Meetinghouse under construction in Philadelphia. … Continue reading →

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Feels Measure “A” Too Important – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Scott Houston

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Mike

NOTE:

This letter to the El Segundo Herald newspaper is proof that Scott Houston supported the ELEVEN tax hikes in Measure A on the April 8, 2014 El Segundo General Municipal Electionu ballot.

Feels Measure “A” Too Important – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Scott Houston

I wanted to stay quiet. But this conversation is too important not to participate in, speak up and urge every El Segundo voter to support Measure A. We’ve been down this road before and, once again, our City finds itself in a precarious financial situation. Even with the additional revenues gained from the Chevron tax settlement agreement, our City will be running significant deficits of nearly $6 million for the foreseeable future if we do not address our structural deficit. That is why I am supporting Measure A.

Our City Council has worked diligently to maintain our services with less. And our City employees have borne the brunt of cuts due to our financial state – in fact, there are now about 20% fewer employees at City Hall struggling to provide the same levels of service we are accustomed to. Something has to give. We cannot continue cutting our way out and decimating the community we love.

While not a panacea, I believe Measure A is a major step forward in the right direction to finally address our city’s ongoing budget crisis. Let’s work together as a community to give our next Council the resources needed to balance our city budget. Please vote Yes on Measure A on April 8.

– Scott Houston

NOTE BY MICHAEL D. ROBBINS:

The City of El Segundo’s taxpayers are probably paying about $8 million per year in excess compensation to the city’s firefighter and police “association” (union) members and their managers. That is a great sum of money for small-town El Segundo. The firefighter and police unions ratcheted up their total compensation (salaries, benefits, and employer-paid pension contributions) to wildly excessive and unsustainable levels by endorsing, contributing money to, and campaigning for the City Council candidates who would give them the largest pay, benefits, and pension increases, and raise taxes to pay for it all.

That is why El Segundo firefighters (and those of many other California cities) are paid about $150,000 to more than $330,000 in total compensation each per year. When the firefighter and police union members get large unjustifiable compensation increases, their managers get even larger increases to avoid “salary compaction”.

Scott Houston is a firefighter and police union puppet. He supports them and they support him. Houston supports Measure A on the April 8, 2014 El Segundo city election ballot to pay for past and future excessive and unsustainable firefighter and police union pay raises and the resulting pension increases. The current firefighter and police union contracts expire on September 30, 2014, and the City Council will negotiate new labor contracts with the unions later this year.

If the voters reject Measure A, the firefighter and police unions will have to give back some of the excessive increases they received as rewards supporting the campaigns of City Council candidates. There is a conflict of interest when government employee unions campaign to elect their own bosses who will negotiate with them and decide their pay raises and pension increases in secret meetings.

Scott Houston ran for El Segundo City Council twice – in April 2010 and April 2012. Each time the El Segundo Police Officers Association (union) gave him their endorsement, a huge cash campaign contribution, independent campaign expenditures, and additional campaign support. Houston lost both elections due to strong grassroots campaigns against him.

Scott Houston supported Measure P, the firefighter union’s initiative (4/10/12 election), which was defeated by 90.1 percent of El Segundo voters. It would have disbanded our local fire department and transferred our fire and paramedic services, and firefighters, to the Los Angeles County Fire Department for inferior services. It would have eliminated 31 percent of our on-duty firefighters, two paramedic squads and all three paramedic transport ambulances, doubling hospital transport times. But it would have protected the firefighters from much-needed pay cuts. … Continue reading →

Posted in California, Economy and Economics, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Measure A - 5 New Taxes and 6 Tax Inceases, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues, Union Corruption, Videos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Feels Measure “A” Too Important – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Scott Houston

State Ballot Measures – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Mike

Please vote “yes” on Proposition 32 (bans direct union and corporate contributions to candidates) and “no” on Propositions 30 (income and sales tax hike), 34 (repeals death penalty), 36 (three-strikes dilution), 38 (income tax hike), and 40 (gerrymandered redistricting plan).

Proposition 32 helps prevent El Segundo and other South Bay and California cities from being pushed toward bankruptcy by city employee unions and corporations that buy influence with politicians who then pay them back with our tax money and raise our taxes and fees to pay for it. Typical payoffs are one million tax dollars for every thousand donated.

Corrupt and wildly overpaid firefighter and police unions are spending millions of dollars in deceptive campaign ads to defeat Proposition 32. These unions have been bankrupting our cities and jacking up our taxes and fees, so they can get total compensation of $150,000 to more than $300,000 per year, and retire at age 50 or 55, with a guaranteed pension paying up to 90 percent of their single highest year salary. … Continue reading →

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, California, El Segundo, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on State Ballot Measures – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

Why “Hate Crime” Laws are Immoral and Counter-Productive, by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on September 1, 2012 by Mike

Why “Hate Crime” Laws are Immoral and Counter-Productive

Hate crime law supporters weakened our criminal justice system and self-defense rights – and now they want to fix the system only for themselves.

By Michael D. Robbins, Director
Public Safety Project
P.O. Box 2193
El Segundo, CA 90245

PublicSafetyProject.com
Twitter: PSP_USA
YouTube: PublicSafetyProject

August 31, 2001

Revised September 4, 2001 and September 1, 2012.

Mr. Robbins is a Jew and the son of a survivor of pogroms (government sanctioned and sponsored torture and mass murder of Jews) in the former Communist Soviet Union.

This is the September 1, 2012 updated version of the article first posted on FraudFactor.com on August 31, 2001 as “Hate Crime Law Supporters Weakened Our Criminal Justice System and Self-Defense Rights”, and revised on September 4, 2001, at http://www.FraudFactor.com/ff_first_draft_0006.html. The original article and all revisions were written by Michael D. Robbins.

Public Safety Project – There are numerous problems with “hate crime” laws that increase the punishment for violent crimes, property crimes, and other crimes including intimidation primarily, if not only, where the victim is Black, Hispanic, Asian, Jewish, homosexual, or some other “minority” and the criminal expressed hatred as a motivation for the crime.

Although hatred based on race, ethnicity, religion, or legal but repulsive deviant sexual behavior is rude, vulgar, and despicable, in a free society, people have a right to be rude, vulgar, and despicable – as long as they are not violating the individual rights of other people, especially by directly harming them, their property, their business, or their reputation through slander or libel. The primary purpose of government in a free society is to protect individual rights and freedom, not to infringe on those rights and freedom.

Various compelling arguments have been made against hate crime laws, yet a significant and perhaps most compelling argument against hate crime laws has not been made except by this author, to the best of this author’s knowledge. This new argument is presented below as the first and primary argument against hate crime laws. Additional arguments follow.

Fixing Criminal Justice System Weaknesses Only for a Select Few

The most insidious aspect of hate crime laws is that they fix our weakened criminal justice system only for a select few and not for everyone across the board. Under hate crime laws, the government is discriminating and playing favorites based on race, ethnicity, gender, or homosexual or other deviant behavior (“sexual orientation”). Hate crime laws are promoted by activists in the most Leftist (“liberal” or “progressive”) soft-on-crime political factions that have consistently voted for Leftist soft-on-crime Democrats who have greatly weakened our criminal justice system and eroded our Natural Right as recognized by the Constitution to own and carry firearms for self-defense.

Multiple studies by Professor Gary Kleck have shown that defense with a firearm is significantly safer and more effective than any other method, including non-resistance. A firearm is a great equalizer, allowing violent crime victims to overcome criminal attackers who rely on physical strength superiority, numerical superiority, or both.

The Leftist political factions include Blacks, Jews, and homosexuals, who typically have 80 to 90 percent Democrat voter registration rates and vote as a block for Leftist Democrat politicians.

After weakening our criminal justice system and self-defense rights, thereby increasing violent crime and endangering everyone, Leftist politicians, political activists, and “community leaders” are now trying to fix the criminal justice system and increase criminal penalties only for their own benefit, when they and the groups they pander to become crime victims. They refuse to fix the criminal justice system for everyone across the board. Instead, they create special privileged classes in a patronage system where special privileges and protections are given in exchange for votes, campaign contributions, and other forms of campaign support.

Fix the Criminal Justice System for Everyone

If the penalties for violent crimes, property crimes, and intimidation are too lenient, then the penalties should be increased regardless of the race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual behavior (“orientation”) of the crime victim. This can be accomplished by electing conservative Republican legislators and through voter initiatives in states where voters have the right of initiative. We can make everyone safer by … Continue reading →

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Thank You – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Helen Armstrong

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Mike

Thank You

I am delighted that Carl Jacobson has been reelected to serve our community and has been selected by four of our five city council members to be our mayor. Only Marie Fellhauer voted “No.”

Carl has selflessly served our community with integrity and distinction for many years, giving much time out of his life for altruistic reasons. He has the experience and motivation, and now enough support on the council with Suzanne Fuentes and David Atkinson, to help get our city back on the right track.

I am also delighted that ninety percent of the voters rejected Measure P, and instead voted to keep our local fire department and paramedic ambulances.

Mike Robbins led an informative and persistent campaign against Measure P since mid-2010. It took much of his time and effort to educate and motivate our community on this important issue, and our city’s future will be better as a result of his efforts.

I am grateful that our community has good citizens who give so much of themselves and expect so little in return. I am also grateful for those in our community who cared and supported them and their efforts. … Continue reading →

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Video – El Segundo City Payroll Gone Mad, featuring Charles Payne and Mike Robbins on Fox Business Network

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Mike


El Segundo City Payroll Gone Mad, featuring Charles Payne and Mike Robbins on Fox Business Network

El Segundo City Payroll Gone Mad, featuring Charles Payne and Mike Robbins on Fox-T1155

This video features a segment from the Fox Business Network Varney & Co. show that was broadcast on August 17, 2010. The segment is an interview of former El Segundo City Councilman Mike Robbins about the wildly excessive and unsustainable city employee salaries, especially those for the firefighter and police employees.

Note that all the salary figures quoted in the Fox interview are Total Earnings only, and DO NOT include the cost of benefits and CalPERS pension contributions. The much larger Total Compensation figures, which DO include benefits and pension contributions, are available from Mike Robbins at PublicSafetyProject.org.

This video is in part an answer to the totally discredited KCET SoCal Connected propaganda video by producer Karen Foshay titled, “Small Town, Big Oil” produced by Karen Foshay. That KCET video dishonestly and unfairly attacked Chevron and the very honorable City Councilman Carl Jacobson in a very classical news media hatchet-job.

Note that the Fox show was broadcast long before the KCET SoCal Connected propaganda video. The KCET video was based almost entirely on false statements made by fired El Segundo city manager Doug Willmore, whom I have learned is very likely a pathological liar and an unreliable person to use as a basis for any news report or video. In fact, I am quite certain that that Willmore’s habitual lying was one of multiple good cause reasons for which he was fired. The KCET video was also based in part on statements made by an out-of-town, anti-oil political activist that nobody in town has heard of before.

The Fox interview helps explain why the fire and police unions endorse candidates for City Council, and contribute thousands of dollars in cash, campaign mailers, and other campaign support to their approved candidates. The police and fire unions endorse and campaign for the candidates who will give them the biggest pay raises, no matter how excessive and unsustainable, and who will raise your taxes and fees to pay for it.

The fire and police unions are the primary cause of our financial problems in El Segundo, not Chevron, as the fire and police unions want us to believe.

Chevron is a taxpayer, and the fire and police unions are tax takers. Chevron pays plenty of taxes, and the fire and police unions take plenty of taxes – about $8 Million extra per year in wildly excessive and unsustainable salaries, benefits, and pensions. The city does not pay to provide city infrastructure and services on the massive 951-acre Chevron property that it pays a fortune to provide and maintain in the residential and other commercial and industrial areas of the city. In fact, for that reason Chevron’s taxes may actually be too high.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: … Continue reading →

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, News, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Videos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Video – El Segundo City Payroll Gone Mad, featuring Charles Payne and Mike Robbins on Fox Business Network

Vote for independence – Letter to the Beach Reportor by Illeen Joscha

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Mike

Vote for independence

The newly-released city documents and e-mails tell all. The firefighter and police unions were behind this push to extort $10 million per year in new taxes from Chevron, to pay for their astronomical and unsustainable salaries and benefits that have averaged $211,000 ($342,000 maximum) per individual per year for firefighters and $178,000 ($304,000 maximum) for police.

These self-serving safety unions are supporting Scott Houston (who took a police union endorsement, large campaign contribution, and other support in 2010), Marie Fellhauer (a police union member herself), and Cindee Topar (former City Council campaign manager for a firefighter union member and a militant union official herself) for City Council. … Continue reading →

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Video – Scott Houston in Disbanding Our Fire Department 101 with Measure P

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Mike


Scott Houston in Disbanding Our Fire Department 101 with Measure P

El Segundo City Council candidate Scott Houston has completely misrepresented his true record, politics, and agenda. Houston is a tax-and-spend Progressive (ultra-liberal), not a fiscal conservative.

Houston claimed in his campaign literature that he wants to “maintain local control of our fire department”. However, as demonstrated by the video above and the links to the official El Segundo City Council meeting minutes, Scott Houston urged the City Council to enact Measure P as an ordinance that night, without letting the people vote on it, at the February 15, 2011 El Segundo City Council meeting.

Measure P will disband our local City Fire Department and force El Segundo to contract with Los Angele County for a significantly reduced level of fire and paramedic service, for at least ten years under state law, and under price, terms and service levels dictated by L.A. County under an adhesion contract mandated by Measure P, the fire union’s initiative.

Houston read a script nearly identical to the script read by Bryan Partlow, the fire union representative who sponsored Measure P because he is the only firefighter union member that lives in El Segundo. Both Houston and Partlow urged the City Council, to enact Measure P directly into law without an election, and if not then as their second choice, to schedule Measure P for a vote at an early Special Election within only a few months.

That would have given the firefighters’ union a huge unfair advantage, the union can fund and organize their campaign almost instantly, while the residents would be just ramping up their campaign after the election is over. The firefighters’ union can easily raise $100,000 or more almost instantly from among their union members, and they have dozens of volunteers to work their campaign because the firefighters only have to work two out of every six days, and they get paid to sleep.

Scott Houston was clearly upset when he spoke at the second Public Communications period, at the end of the meeting, because the City Council voted 3 to 2 to schedule Measure P for the next regular election, on April 10, 2012, when the he would run for City Council after he lobbied the Council to enact Measure P directly into law without letting the voters vote on it. Those would be the same voters that he would ask to vote for him!

And Scott Houston had proved by his own actions, that he will represent the fire and police unions rather than the voters and taxpayers. … Continue reading →

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo News, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Videos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Video – Scott Houston in Disbanding Our Fire Department 101 with Measure P

Smearing For Dollars – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Jerry Wellfonder

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Mike

It appears that former City Manager Doug Willmore has engaged liberal news organizations in a smear campaign against Carl Jacobson and Chevron, to get Carl unelected. Carl has been an honest, hard-working, selfless council member for many years. So why would Willmore smear Carl? Is this Willmore’s revenge against the only council member who voted to fire him who is also running for re-election?

It may be far more sinister than revenge. Willmore has two supporters and allies on city council – Mayor Eric Busch and Councilman Bill Fisher. Busch is not running again, and Fisher is Willmore’s only ally guaranteed to be on council after the coming election. If Willmore can get two more allies elected to the council in April, then he can get a multi-million dollar payoff in the guise of a “settlement” to his frivolous lawsuit against the city. … Continue reading →

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Fix the City – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Marc Rener

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Mike

Fix the City

Mayor Busch is so concerned about the current trash contract and the $123,000 that, he professes, “could” have been saved. Quit looking for spare change in the “city’s sofa cushions.” I would like to point out the fact that this mayor and others have continually skirted “other” serious costs to the city of El Segundo.

1) $197,000 a year: The parking structure (paid with 1.1 million taxpayers dollars), and a 34 year contract for parking places that still has over 25 years left to go. Reason? For a financial political payment to a politician.

2) Over 3 million dollars a year to the fire fighters union, not in wages, but special compensation, like the one that is continually paid year after year, even after retirement, just because at one time, in their past life, they received a diploma. Reason? Payment again for political support.

3) Over $225,000 a year, this is a “starting wage and benefits” for a person hired off the street as a director, who’s “qualifications” were to instruct the city to pay $80,000 dollars to hire a outside company to do a job “she” did not have time nor the “expertise” to do. … Continue reading →

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Fix the City – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Marc Rener