Tag Archives: police union

Carl Jacobson selected as new El Segundo mayor, Suzanne Fuentes as Mayor Pro Tem – Marie Fellhauer and Bill Fisher lose first two key votes

by Michael D. Robbins April 18, 2012 The newly elected El Segundo City Council members, City Clerk, and City Treasurer were sworn in at the April 17, 2012 City Council meeting, one week after the April 10 El Segundo General … Continue reading

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo News, Firefighter Union Corruption, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Carl Jacobson selected as new El Segundo mayor, Suzanne Fuentes as Mayor Pro Tem – Marie Fellhauer and Bill Fisher lose first two key votes

Marie Fellhauer’s ethics lapses pile up as El Segundo election approaches

Police Union member Marie Fellhauer is running for El Segundo City Council.
Police Union member Marie Fellhauer is running for El Segundo City Council
Photo copyright © 2012 by Michael D. Robbins.


Marie Fellhauer is a Police Union member, and her multitude of ethics lapses make it more likely that she will represent the Police and Fire Unions rather than the Voters and Taxpayers if elected to City Council.

Marie Fellhauer has made at least four known ethics lapses:

  1. Fellhauer’s 32 percent absenteeism rate for Planning Commission meetings she was obligated to attend, and her misrepresentation of her Planning Commission record in her campaign literature.
  2. Much of Fellhauer’s campaign assistance is coming from Mayor Eric Busch, who took $10,900 in campaign cash and other support from the Police and Fire Unions in 2008, and paid them back with millions of extra tax dollars per year in a back-room sweetheart deal, and more than 11 to 23 percent pay raises during a recession when they were already grossly overpaid.
  3. Fellhauer knowingly accepted a $700 contribution from a local businessman who tried to cheat the City out of $55,000, and who was bounced off the Planning Commission by the City Council before his first Planning Commission meeting because a majority of the City Council did not trust him. He tried to steer the Golf Course Construction Management contract to a friend who bid $120,000, when the lowest and more qualified bidder bid only $65,000 for the same job.
  4. Fellhauer got caught in a lie where she tried to cover up her Police Union campaign contribution money at the League of Women Voters Candidates Forum.

Planning Commission Ethics Lapse

Marie Fellhauer’s known ethics lapses start with her Planning Commission appointment.

Fellhauer claims in her campaign literature that her appointment to the El Segundo Planning Commission is an example of Marie's Proven Commitment to Community.
Excerpt from Marie Fellhauer’s Campaign Literature.

Fellhauer claims in her campaign literature that her appointment to the El Segundo Planning Commission is an example of “Marie’s Proven Commitment to Community.”

However, Fellhauer has been absent for a third (32%) of all the Planning Commission meetings she was obligated to attend over the last two years, and absent for a fourth (25%) of all her obligated meetings over the last four years.

There are several problems here.

First, Fellhauer failed to meet her commitments for a very important city function for at least four years.

Second, once she realized she could not or would not meet her commitments, she should have resigned but failed to do so. It appears that Fellhauer retained her seat on the Planning Commission solely to use it as a stepping stone to higher office, i.e., City Council.

And third, Fellhauer misrepresented her record in writing in her own campaign literature to gain trust and confidence from voters. … Continue reading

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

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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City Manger’s Misconduct – Letter to the Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

City Manger’s Misconduct

New evidence of fired City Manager Doug Willmore’s misconduct was revealed with the latest public records release of city documents and emails (available at ElSegundo.org and PublicSafetyProject.org).

Willmore politicized City Hall. His secretary, Mickie Tagle, used city-paid time and public resources to do political opposition research against Chevron and against residents who criticized Willmore’s efforts to shakedown Chevron for an additional $10 million per year in taxes. One email showed she even tried to dig up dirt on me! Finance Director Deborah Cullen was also enthusiastically involved in Willmore’s shakedown efforts.

The emails show Willmore was doing Mayor Eric Busch’s bidding, taking direction from Busch in his attempt to extort more money from Chevron, without a majority of Council members even knowing about it. The city manager is legally required to take direction only from a majority vote or consensus of the City Council. Busch and Willmore targeted Chevron because they “can’t move” their refinery, and because of environmental politics.

The emails also show the fire and police unions have been behind this push to raise taxes to pay for their wildly excessive and unsustainable compensation and pensions. … Continue reading

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on City Manger’s Misconduct – Letter to the Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

Long memory – Letter to the Beach Reporter by Mary Olinick

I laughed when I learned Jan Cruikshank criticized Michael Robbins’ “Candidate Ranking” letter. I will be voting for Robbins’ three top-tier candidates: Carl Jacobson, Dave Atkinson, and Dave Burns.

It’s not surprising Cruikshank supports Robbins’ bottom-tier candidates – Cindee Topar, Cindy Mortesen, and Scott Houston. Houston is allied with the firefighter and police unions. He took police union money and their endorsement in 2010. He read a script almost identical to the fire union representative’s script at the Feb. 15, 2011 City Council meeting, pressuring the city council to enact Measure P into law without letting the people vote on it. And Topar was campaign manager for a firefighter.

Cruikshank was the firefighter union’s candidate back in 1992. … Continue reading

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Long memory – Letter to the Beach Reporter by Mary Olinick

Save Our City – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

SAVE OUR CITY

The El Segundo firefighter and police unions are putting our city at risk for their Royal Family sized paychecks and pensions. At the Feb. 7 City Council meeting, City Manager Doug Willmore explained how City Hall will be sold and leased back for twenty years, as collateral for a $10.3 million loan to pay for street resurfacing, other routine infrastructure maintenance and capital improvements.

El Segundo used to be a pay-as-you-go city, paying for infrastructure maintenance and capital improvements with General Fund revenues. But that was before the safety unions became very active in City Council campaigns, hired their own bosses, and ratcheted up their salaries, benefits, and pensions to ridiculous and unsustainable levels. … Continue reading

Posted in Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Save Our City – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Measure P Costs More For Less – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Measure P Costs More For Less

Voters must reject Measure P this April, or we will lose our local fire department, including firefighters, apparatus, and equipment; and we’ll pay more for less emergency services.

Measure P is not a merger of City and County fire departments, but a liquidation of the City fire department and a complete takeover by L.A. County. If Measure P passes, fire and paramedic services will be greatly reduced. El Segundo will permanently lose its three paramedic ambulances, because L.A. County does not operate paramedic ambulances, and El Segundo will lose its legal grandfathered status to operate them.

Residents will be forced to use and pay out-of-town ambulance companies, significantly increasing hospital transport times and costs in money and lives. … Continue reading

Posted in El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Measure P Costs More For Less – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

City Council Rescinds Tax Hike Proposal – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Arthur Christopher Schaper

City Council Rescinds Tax Hike Proposal

The El Segundo City Council has finally seen the light, the light of limited government that does not pawn off expenses on successful corporations.

The Council may not have yet mustered the political skill to curtail the outrageous pension liabilities that threaten to bankrupt the peaceful community south of LAX, but at least they have rescinded the option of floating a foolish tax hike that would harm a local and very national business in the city’s backyard.

Instead of trying to raise revenue, the El Segundo City Council needs to cut spending, cut entitlements, and cut any other unnecessary fiscal outlays. Like many, I respect the role of public safety officers, but local representatives, who receive a stipend to serve their communities, must step up and cast votes that represent the needs of the current community and future inhabitants, not just placate powerful public unions. … Continue reading

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A Holiday Prayer – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

A Holiday Prayer

For more than a year, I have written letters to inform residents about the wildly excessive and unsustainable city employee union compensation and pensions that threaten our city’s future. My facts and information come from official sources, mostly City Hall public records, and are independently verifiable.

One positive result has been the voters’ rejection of millions of dollars in new and unnecessary business taxes and residential trash fees. Another has been some, although greatly inadequate, city employee union concessions. … Continue reading

Posted in El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A Holiday Prayer – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins