Paul Lynde had a wife too.
Posted on 10/12/2010 5:52:58 AM PDT by Kaslin
Why would the union that represents LAPD officers even think of endorsing liberal Jerry Brown to reprise his disastrous turn as California's governor? Because politics is full of compromising positions.
There is a story, probably apocryphal, often told about Winston Churchill. It’s the one in which he’s in conversation with an aristocratic woman, to whom he makes a proposal. “Madam,” he says, “would you sleep with me for five million pounds?”
“I suppose I would,” says the woman. “We would have to discuss the terms, of course.”
“Would you sleep with me for five pounds?” asks Churchill.
The woman is insulted. “What kind of woman do you think I am?” she asks.
“We’ve already established that,” Churchill says. “Now we’re haggling about the price.”
Apocryphal or not, the story illustrates a common human foible: For many people, perhaps most people, there are few deeds so repugnant as to preclude their consideration given the promise of sufficient reward. Everyone, as the saying goes, has his price.
If that’s the case, are we all not whores?
“Tut, tut, Dunphy,” you say. “Strong language there.”
Maybe so, but the word “whore” has been much in the news lately here in California, owing to an off-color remark made by someone on gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown’s staff and inadvertently captured for posterity on voicemail. Ah, the blessings of modern communication technology. It allows a candidate to reach out and grub for endorsements from anywhere, and if the target of said grubbing isn’t around to answer the phone or perhaps is screening his calls and is not in the mood to talk politics, the candidate can leave his rambling and incoherent appeal on voicemail in the hope that the grubee will call back with the good news the candidate hopes to hear.
But those blessings are mixed, aren’t they. The candidate must master the machinery lest the machinery master him. He must learn to terminate the call before engaging in chitchat with his retinue, especially if a member of that retinue is in the habit of referring to the candidate’s rival as a whore.
One can imagine the scene in the Brown campaign office. Brown makes the call to Scott Rate, a member of the board of directors for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the labor union that represents rank-and-file LAPD officers. (Full disclosure: I am a longtime member of the LAPPL.) Brown gets Rate’s voicemail and leaves a message making a play for the League’s endorsement, demeaning the head of another law enforcement association in the process. Brown concludes the call, or rather thinks he does, and then goes on to discuss Meg Whitman’s position on law enforcement pensions.
“She’s a whore,” says someone in the room, referring to Whitman’s agreement to exempt public safety personnel from proposed changes to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
And you know the rest. As soon as the recording was released — about a month after the call was made — the newspapers and airwaves were filled with the feigned outrage of people who pretend they’ve never said anything just as bad or even worse about someone of whom they disapprove.
Though I would never consider voting for Brown (except, say, for five million pounds), I won’t join those pretending to be offended by the whore remark. What does offend me is the fact that the LAPPL even considered endorsing Jerry Brown in the first place. It’s not as though we haven’t seen this show before. There are abundant reasons why someone of a conservative bent would shudder at the thought of Brown’s return to the governorship of California, but speaking as a police officer I’ll address only one: judges.
Recall that it was Governor Jerry Brown who in 1977 appointed Rose Bird as chief justice of the California Supreme Court. In her time on the court she voted to overturn every one of the 64 death penalty cases that came before her, prevailing with a majority in 61 of those cases. So exasperated were the voters of California at her refusal to implement the law as enacted that she was ousted by a 2-1 margin when she stood in a reconfirmation election in 1987. (Two other liberal justices, Joseph Grodin and Cruz Reynoso, were given the old heave-ho along with Bird.)
One can only imagine the sort of judges a Governor Brown version 2.0 might inflict on California. Whatever faults Meg Whitman might have from a conservative perspective, it’s safe to say she won’t be scouring the law schools and the plaintiffs’ bar looking to throw a black robe around the next Rose Bird. If Brown were to win, is “Justice Gloria Allred” so completely beyond imagining?
For those of you who might assume that the Los Angeles Police Protective League is always in the bag for conservative candidates, would that it were so. It is one of the occasional frustrations of membership that I see League endorsements handed out to liberal candidates for state office, and this year is no exception. The League has made endorsements in 39 races for the state assembly, with 28 of them going to Democrats. In the state senate the figure is even more startling: the League has endorsed eleven Democrats and not a single Republican. (Interestingly, the League’s “Membership Voter Guide” omits all references to party affiliation.)
League officers explain this disparity by acknowledging the simple fact that California is run by Democrats and that the League’s endorsement is a bargaining chip to be used in ways that will benefit its members. Perhaps this is so, but an endorsement from the League should not necessarily be assumed to reflect how a majority of LAPD officers will vote. But when it came to this year’s governor’s race the League’s choice was clear. The League solicited input from the membership before making its decision, and nine out of ten members who responded favored Meg Whitman. Had the League not endorsed her it would have faced an open rebellion from its members.
And for those who, like that unnamed and uncouth Brown staffer, feel that Meg Whitman has prostituted herself on the pension issue so as to secure the League’s endorsement, it’s important to point out that LAPD officers do not participate in California’s statewide pension system. No matter who wins the governorship, he or she will have no impact on the solvency of L.A.’s pension funds.
It’s also interesting to note that while the Whore-gate story got big play for a few days, it soon lost its prominence in the news cycle. Would it have been as quickly relegated to the back pages had it been a Republican using identical language about a female Democrat? You already know the answer to that question.
The election is still three weeks away, plenty of time for more October surprises. NOW has already jumped in bed with Jerry, endorsing him only hours after Whore-gate erupted. Maybe Gloria Allred will trot out another teary-eyed former member the Whitman domestic staff. If she does, you can smirk all you like. But whatever you do, don’t call her a whore.
Why would the union that represents LAPD officers even think of endorsing liberal Jerry Brown
Cop unions are just like all unions - sleazy, corrupt, and tilted heavily to the left. Every now and then one will break away and endorse our guy, but it's the exception and there's usually a heavy price to pay with their normal left wing constituency. Brown is that constituency in the LAPD case and he was simply trying to bring them back on the plantation where they have been before and where they will be again in the future.
Another famous Churchill story——a woman political opponent said to him, “If I were married to you, I’d put poison in your coffee.”
Churchill replied:” And if I were married to you, I’d drink it.”
Explains everything...except why an LAPD officer would dub himself Truman Capote's gay lover as a nom-de-plum.
Don't forget, it was Brown, himself, who quickly responded, "I'm going to use that..."
REFERENCE California debt may be half a trillion dollars: They knew in 11/29/09..........and earlier.
Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee, 11/29/09
FR Posted by SmithL
Just days before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators finalized a water package, including an $11.1 billion bond issue, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer warned them not to do it. California is already deeply in debt, Lockyer warned, has huge budget deficits and can't afford another big bond issue. "The days of blithely heaping more and more debt burden on the general fund are over – at least they should be," Lockyer said.
The earmark-laden bond issue, the package's single most controversial element, raises an interesting question: Just how deeply in debt are our state and local governments? The answer: No one knows for certain, since debt is scattered through myriad agencies in many forms, but well over a half-trillion dollars is a fair estimate.
Lockyer's warning pertained to the state's "general obligation debt," which currently stands at $59 billion, and there are an additional $50-plus billion in general obligation bonds that have not yet been sold.
The biggest chunks of debt, however, are the unfunded obligations for pensions and health care of retired public employees. (Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Absolutely.. heard it plain as day.
Who’s in bed with Jerry Brown? Well,half the residents of San Francisco’s Castro District for starters.
Great stuff! Although it's probably not true I once read that Churchill once had an exchange with a woman at a dinner party that went:
Woman: "Sir,if you were my husband,I'd poison you"
Churchill: "Madam,if you were my wife,I'd let you".
Unions in CA don’t give a hoot in Hades about the State or the people of CA. They’re amoral! The NEA doesn’t give a hoot in Hades about the children. It’s all about them and lining their corrupt pockets along with brainwashing all students and turning them into Kool Aid Liberals.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill#Anecdotal_dialogue
If you don't believe me, ask Linda Ronstadt.
What California voters do NOT hear is Brown boasting about his latest home.
Brown and his wife, former Gap executive Anne Gust, own a custom-designed, $1.8 million house in one of the San Francisco Bay area's most prestigious neighborhoods—a Zen-inspired, five-level architectural gem perched high in the wooded Oakland Hills.
The three-bedroom home comes with bamboo floors, a spiral staircase, breathtaking views of the bay and roll-up family room windows that let the sea breeze wash in. The office on the top floor has a private entrance. A spa level features a sauna and wetbar, while a dumbwaiter services every floor, making it easy to send a bottle from the wine cellar to the dining room.
When fog isn't hovering over the bay, the home provides a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, according to a brochure of the home when it was on the market in 2007.
HOW CAN BROWN AFFORD A MILLION DOLLAR HOUSE WITH NO VISIBLE MEANS OF SUPPORT?
The mystery of Jerry Brown's pension (Jerry's a double-dipper)
Orange County Register via DrudgeReport | 8/13/2010 | Brian Joseph
FR Posted on Friday, August 13, 2010 by GVnana
As Cali gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown grabbed the spotlight with his criticism of Bell city officials and their outrageous salaries and pensions, The Orange County Register Watchdog got to wondering: How much will the Democrat for Governor make in retirement?
That, as it turns out, is a very difficult question to answer.
After more than a month of investigation, the Watchdog can only say for certain that Brown and a handful of other top officials are eligible for generous benefits under a special pension fund so obscure that few people in government know how it works and many thought it had been eliminated 20 years ago by outraged voters.
Under the law, Brown should have accrued, at most, 16 years of service credit in this special fund, known as the Legislators’ Retirement System, or LRS. Actuarial statements produced by LRS, however, indicate that an unnamed person of Brown’s age and earning Brown’s exact salary has been credited with 25 to 29 years of service. The difference would mean tens of thousands of dollars in additional pension payments for Brown each year.
Brown’s campaign staff acknowledge the unnamed person sure looks like the gubernatorial candidate but have been unable to explain the discrepancy over service. Officials at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which manages LRS, have similarly refused to cooperate ... -snip-
But perhaps most eyebrow-raising is the service of a current LRS member identified in actuarial reports only as 65 years or older with 25 to 29 years of service and a salary of $184,301. -snip-
The person listed in the actuarials appears then to be Brown. -snip-
The only problem is Brown should have only 16 years of LRS-eligible service: four years as Secretary of State (1971 to 1974), eight years as Governor (1975 to 1982) and four years as Attorney General (2007 to 2010). (Excerpt) Read more at taxdollars.ocregister.com ...
Heh-——thanks for the link.
Dunphy is absolutely right about the judge thing. Keeping Jerry Brown away from appointing another Bird Court is reason enough to vote against him even if there were no other.
Actually, Jerry was frightful at hiring, period. I mean, he hired Gray Davis as chief of staff.
Then there is
Woman: “You, sir, are drunk.”
Churchill: “And you, madam, are ugly. But tomorrow I will be sober.”
” Unions in CA don’t give a hoot in Hades about the State or the people of CA. They’re amoral! The NEA doesn’t give a hoot in Hades about the children. It’s all about them and lining their corrupt pockets along with brainwashing all students and turning them into Kool Aid Liberals. “
EXACTLY
Thanks for the info
Paul Lynde had a wife too.
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