There’s a sign in the OC Register’s newsroom that served as guidance for reporter’s there; “Your Mother Says She loves You? Check it out!” And in Fullerton, there’s no greater example of a mother’s love and protection than the online postings of soon-to-be-ex-Fullerton council member Travis Kiger. With about two days of counting left, Kiger trails Jan Flory by about 28 votes and with every passing hour, that 28 vote margin might as well be 28,000.
On the FFFF blog on November 14, Diane Kiger, Travis’ mother, came out of the closet and vowed to no longer hold her tongue. She left this post on the blog:
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Diane Kiger on November 14, 2012
We need a win from Travis. After seeing the results of the federal and state elections, a win for Travis would provide, for me, a glimmer of hope that voters/taxpayers do understand the financial issues and how they will impact our future as cities, states, and country. If we do not vote for people who have a grasp of our current economic climate (caused in LARGE part by public employee unions) and are willing to make hard choices to change it, woe is us. BTW, I’ve been quiet during the election (for obvious reasons) but I’m done. I will now feel free to express my views on FFFF. The good news is that the candidate who passed on the question of what reforms were needed in Fullerton at a candidate forum and who was endorsed by FPOA, will not be on the council!
You can never be sure if this was an anonymous commenter using Kiger’s Mother’s name but then there was this note posted on her Facebook page where she connects the dots from the national presidential race to the local one for city council:
As goes the nation, so goes Fullerton. And please don’t tell me the voters of Fullerton spoke. An elderly woman who, when asked in a candidate forum, how she would fix the financial crisis in Fullerton, said she couldn’t even balance her own check book let alone answer that question. She received 1800 votes. And a young man whose main concern was some old bones in the cornerstone of the police station, received 4000 votes. The candidate who passed on the question as to what reforms needed to happen in Fullerton received 11000 votes. Of course he was supported by the police and fire unions. When the city faces financial ruin (mostly because of fire and police pensions), you have only yourselves to blame because you did not vote for the person who was willing to make the tough changes now. As for police and fire, do not think this vote will keep you safe. When the bond surety companies face you in court, you will be looking at a giant. And he is not sleeping.
The writing styles are very simiilar as well as the language used which leads me to believe Diane Kiger is in fact the real Diane Kiger. And sorry Mom but the voters of Fullerton did speak.
It may come as a shock to Ms. Kiger, if her only source of news is Tony Bushala’s blog and the OC Register, but there are a huge chunk of voters in Fullerton who don’t like her son’s politics. An unpopular move to seek quotes from the OC Sheriff’s Department in order to replace the Fullerton Police Department and a vote to return aid that paid for DUI checkpoints because of a belief that these sobriety checkpoints are unconstitutional invasions of privacy don’t sit well with many voters. And there’s a considerable chunk of voters in Fullerton who don’t want their city government sold to a multi-millionaire who backed Kiger in June and in November.
There’s already cries of voter fraud or voter tampering in comments on the FFFF site; the only thing funnier online is watching re-runs of Karl Rove losing it on election night when Ohio was called for Obama.
Should Kiger lose and barring a Bushala-financed recount, there will be many Fullerton residents showing a great deal of thanks on Thursday.
I will tip my hat to Ms. Kiger for backing her son (as every mother should) and for commenting on FFFF under her own name which clearly places her in the minority. After all, for blog and its legion of anonymous comments who hold transparency so dear yet say the nastiest things behind a veil of privacy, Ms. Kiger sets a good example of attaching her name to her words.
Photo from the LA Times.com
I proudly claim the above as my posts. Inspite of the fact that my son would probably tell me it is fruitless to argue with you, I do need to make a few points.
1. My source of information is not just FFFF and the OC Register. I’m an avid reader and news “junkie”. I even watch MSNBC at times because I want to know what the liberals are saying. I am my own person and have been interested in politics long before my son became involved in the local scene.
2. Of course exploring the OC Sheriffs was not popular. But you missed the point of my FB post. Past financial decisions by previous City Council’s requires that the city make some unpopular decisions and if they don’t the future will look even bleaker than it does now for the city. Jan Flory even said in a candidate forum that she voted for the 3@50 because she was pressured to do so. And that’s who Fullerton has voted for again!
3. I fail to see why Tony’s support of Travis is an issue and FPOA’s support of their candidates is not. Say what you want but FPOA is one entity. The members all think alike and all support FPOA financially and, therefore, their candidate of choice. Same thing. I’ve also not heard anyone be able to give evidence to Tony’s sinister motives to support Travis. I guess that is because people can’t even believe that someone could actually want something for the good of their community rather than their own personal good. BTW, if you think all members of FPOA don’t think alike, why didn’t any of them stand up at the council meetings and express their disgust with the Kelly Thomas murder by fellow officers or the lies said by their peers at the council meetings about my son and other council members. They were strangely silent.
4. Travis personally has made no comments about voter fraud on the blog. Do you not understand what a blog is and that anyone can comment? Many of the comments on their do not represent his opinions. Such is the nature of a blog.
5. You may not agree with his positions, but Travis is a man of integrity and did not play the “political” game. If he did, he would have layed low, not ruffling any feathers, and then been re-elected. Then he would have had four years to act (including being involved in police contract negotiations.) But he did not do that. He made decisions from the beginning in what he believed was in the best interest of the Fullerton tax payers, not the public safety officers. He ran a campaign based on the issues. The public safety officers of Fullerton ran a campaign based on lies about him. You may not agree with all his decisions but he certainly did not play the political game.
This political process was an eye-opener for me personally. And, frankly, it makes me sick.
Ms. Kiger — I applaud you for commenting under your own name. Mr. Bushala is buying Fullerton’s government and your son is a willing participant. Mr. Kiger’s views are not in the majority and I’ll note that as a limited government Libertarian, he still accepted benefits accorded him as an elected official. Travis may not have made any comments about voter fraud on FFFF, but he is the webmaster there and allows all manner of comments some of which are downright mean-spirited and libelous. Shame on him for doing so.
Dan, being a Libertarian has nothing to do with accepting public benefits for doing a job– which is the right thing to do.
Do you think that elected officials should work for free? If so, why? If not, why are you attacking Mr. Kiger for doing what you agree with?
Mr. Kiger is also the webmaster at OrangeJuice. He has absolutely nothing to do with moderating comments, which are controlled by the editors at the site. Unless you can demonstrate that Mr. Kiger has been given the explicit authority from the owner of the site to moderate comments, you should retract your comment and publicly apologize. Demanding that Mr. Kiger overstep his bounds and moderate comments is irresponsible.
You know better than to attack Mr. Kiger on these two very flimsy claims. I get that you don’t like his politics. You have more than enough to criticism in that arena without jumping off into the land of flimsy and weak.
Bruce Whitaker and Shawn Nelson have made a big deal of NOT accepting benefits for serving on the council. The City of Tustin just did away with paid benefits of council members. Mr. Norby has made a career of living off the public teat despite being very anti-public employee union. You run on a campaign of government being the problem and then accepting those benefits of office make you a hypocrite. And I’m more than certain Travis is one of the editors of the FFFF blog in addition to being webmaster.
Great, then direct your criticism at Whitaker, Nelson, Norby, et al. You also didn’t answer the question: Do elected officials not deserve a salary?
Your statement that individuals who cite government as the problem and accepting benefits are hypocrites doesn’t hold water. The Framers of the Constitution spent quite a bit of time and energy limiting the powers of our Government while specifically requiring that members of Congress to be paid. You’re presenting a false duality and worse– you can’t link it to something that Mr. Kiger has said, which would actually make him a hypocrite.
“I’m more than certain Travis is one of the editors of the FFFF blog . . .”
Well, if that isn’t true, you just committed libel. Should I contact your webmaster and have your comment removed? Speaking of hypocrites . . . Seems like a pretty obvious double standard. You can’t prove your claim, but you demand that Mr. Kiger prove any claim made by any comment on FFFF?
Don’t get me wrong, there’s some pretty nasty stuff said on FFFF, but a pretty significant portion of it is directed at Mr. Kiger himself. To hold a webmaster responsible for it is just silly and you know it.
Again, how about you just focus on the man’s politics? That’s enough ammo for you.
Ryan — you have a poor understanding of what constitutes libel. I have no trouble with elected officials being paid. But when running on a platform that government employees are parasites and accepting pay and full benefits for part-time work, it simply makes you a hypocrite. Mr. Kiger has written for the FFFF blog and is their webmaster. That makes him one of the individuals responsible for the content that appears.
There are bodies of government where elected officials are not paid. Orange and Tustin City Councils to be specific. The framers of the Constitution did not account for the make up of local government.
I’m sorry, correct me where I’m wrong:
Did you not just publish, in writing, a (potentially) false claim that damages Mr. Kiger’s reputation, thereby causing him harm?
Pretty sure that’s libel 101– but hey, educate me.
Mr. Kiger writing for FFFF and being the site’s webmaster does not, in any way, make him responsible for the comments published on the site. You’re assigning potential duties (which actually don’t exist per 47 U.S.C. § 230) of the site’s owner to Mr. Kiger. Unless you can prove that Mr. Kiger is the owner or that the owner has specifically delegated the task of moderating comments on FFFF to Mr. Kiger, then you’ve got a problem.
It would appear you’re making it up as you go along.
Unless a candidate has said that no public employee deserves to be paid or to receive benefits, accepting benefits assigned to an elected official does not make one a hypocrite. You’re injecting your own politics onto those who don’t agree with you, and that isn’t fair. There’s a significant difference between arguing that a given public employee is compensated too much based on what the public can afford and mandating indentured servitude of public workers and elected officials.
I’m pretty sure the Framer’s insistence that elected/appointed officials be paid stems from not wanting to limit government participation to the independently wealthy.
I think it’s fair to apply that principle to local government. Sure must suck to be poor in Tustin and Orange. I think you agree, no?
Mr. Kiger has done enough to damage his own reputation; he doesn’t need my help. Seriously Ryan, do you read the FFFF blog? Do you hurl accusations of libel over there at all? Is Pam Keller a baby killer? They allowed that to be published on FFFF. And not every comment is approved for publication. Someone made a clear choice to allow Pam Keller to be called a baby killer. Read Travis’ blog posts from before his days as a candidate.
This is a blog that publishes the compensation of public employees and teachers with the implied message that everyone is way overpaid. Ryan, you’ve nuked the fridge. Congrats.
We’re talking past each other, Dan. I stopped reading FFFF when they let Stanley back in the room.
1) I’m not condoning how they run their blog, or any of the content in it. I’m pointing out that you’ve misrepresented what a Webmaster does, which isn’t right.
2) I’m not accusing anyone of libel. I’m using your statement as an example of hypocritical behavior and I’m not taking sides. You stated I have a poor understanding of the concept (which may, in fact, be true.) I provided an argument to refute that . . . which you apparently glazed over.
I don’t know Ms. Keller very well, nor am I aware of any baby killing activity past or present. I would suggest that the comment was made in satire, but I certainly didn’t read the original post and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone was attempting to state a fact.
3) I’m not defending anything Travis said or will say. In fact, I’ve been critical of his some of his positions. I’m defending a councilperson’s right to accept a salary while still being able to criticize public employee contracts.
I fail to see how that’s nuking the fridge, but I do like the dis of Crystal Skull. You’re welcome to the last word if you want it, but please consider my actual points and not what you think I wrote.
for a public official, libel requires a writer to publish text that is knowingly false with attempt to defame and with reckless disregard for the truth. If you know it is false and run with it anyway — that is libel. Same rules if they are a public figure. If its just a plain citizen, proving the statement is false with intent to defame suffices for libel. Nothing I wrote about Kiger even rises to the standard of libel.
Ms. Kiger, thank you for commenting under your own name. Maybe you can get a message to Travis, since if any of us try to ask him to his face, his bodyguard Chris Thompson steps in between and challenges us to a fist fight. Can you ask Travis how insulting two children, who were 5 and 3 years old at the time helps bring peace, truth, justice, good governance and transparency to Fullerton? I still can’t pinpoint a reason, if you could ask him for me I would greatly appreciate it.
If Mrs. Kiger indeed blogs on the FFFF site, I hope she takes her son by the ear and hauls him behind the woodshed. The vile language used in reference to Flory is beyond reprehensible. Mr. Kiger is the site’s webmaster; allowing (or encouraging) the kind of vituperation aimed at Flory says something deeply troubling about the man’s character and integrity. You can only hide behind the First Amendment for so long–eventually you have to show some kind of decency and take a stand.
Mrs. Kiger,
I would expect you to proudly defend your son. Of course, that means that you are about as biased as anyone could be on earth toward what Travis is and says. Just take a look at the TV news and watch every gang-member’s mother defending “her boy” even after he was convicted of some heinous crime. So, no surprise there.
FFFF isn’t even remotely a reliable source of information. The fact that you even consider it as a a source of information further reduces your already shaky credibility.
Your son isn’t just fiscally against the Fullerton Police Department, he is anti-police in everything he does. The amusing thing is that he (and you) refuse to just admit it. Everything Travis says and does demonstrates that he has can’t stand anything about modern law enforcement. But instead of just admitting it, he tried to exploit the general public’s support of public safety by claiming he supports police and fire. Travis is so incredibly disingenuous and dishonest about his feelings about police and fire that it is comical. He put out mailers and door hangers with him in front of a fire engine. That is laughable. If he had a shred of honesty in his bones, he would be up front and come out and just say what he truly believes, instead of hiding behind a fire engine with his daughter. Disgusting.
The fact that you “fail to see why Tony’s support of Travis is an issue” shows how blindly you support your offspring. Any ONE person who is willing to spend hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars to buy a City Council is troubling at best. When Tony shows up at a City Council meeting at 11:30pm, shaking his head and directing the Council as to how it should vote is absolutely chilling. The fact that you could endorse such activity demonstrates how little you yourself can be trusted.
If Tony wanted to actually help the community, why didn’t he build a homeless shelter with his money, or feed the homeless, or work with the youth of Fullerton? No, he chose to buy a City Council, and I do mean BUY. No member of the FPOA ever directed a single vote the way that Tony Bushala has directed every vote since your son took office. A FPOA member has never demanded a council member to get into his/her vehicle after an unfavorable vote to be chastised for voting the wrong way. Only Tony has done that.
FPOA represents 150+ people, plus thousands of supporters. When 1000 Fullerton residents showed up to oppose the OC Sheriff’s vote, it demonstrated actual Fullertonians, not the people that Tony Bushala pays to show up at Council meetings. It’s no wonder that Tony or your son can’t muster more than a dozen people for any of their causes.
Travis is a man of integrity? Are you kidding me? Mrs. Kiger, why was it the past 2 council meetings that your son said about as close to NOTHING as he could and still attend the meeting? Your son had comments about everything under the sun for meeting after meeting after he took office, but kept putting his foot in his mouth. So someone (Tony?) told him to keep his mouth shut for those last two meetings to not give his opponents any ammunition. That is integrity?
If your son had an ounce of integrity in his bones, he would have put his true agenda on his flyers and mailers. He would have shouted his opposition to police officers and fire fighters from the rooftops, but he tried to deceive the voters by posing in front of fire trucks and more. But your son didn’t do that, which speaks volumes as to his true character.
There is not a single police officer, fire fighter, or public safety group that supports him. You can say it’s all “unions”, but you’re fooling yourself. I suppose you and your son subscribe to the same conspiracy theories as his pal Whitaker.
The only question I have is will Travis pay for his own recount or will Tony pay for it? Fair question and the answer speaks volumes about whater or not Travis is his own man
Whitaker and Kiger started out with the same endorsements and financial backer. While Whitaker supports Mr. Kiger’s behavior, he is not directly associated with Kiger’s active role in spewing personal attacks and hate on the FFFF blog.
Kiger is losing votes (He should have been up there with Whitaker) because of his own behavior and actions.
There is no conspiracy here.. there is even a conservative majority in the city council if Kiger loses the race (now 32 votes behind).
Travis, you talk about being a good Christian. I encourage you to be more Christ like. I’m sure it will help you find clarity. You may have some good ideas, but your current behavior is holding you back.
God bless.
Travis,
A blog is a place to exchange ideas and persuade. Not to post provocatively and allow your nameless minions to spread untruths and hate.
If you can’t have an intelligent conversation with someone.. just shut your mouth.
Intimidation is no longer going to work for you and your disgusting group of anonymous crazies.
I agree with the other poster… How about following the golden rule? Or at least 9 of the 10 commandments?
Look on the bright side.. if you lose, you can start blogging again instead of hiding in the shadows.
And the other poster… if Kiger had integrity, he’d continue to blog as he used to..
What’s the male equivalent of “OLD C*NT”? Words from your own site..
If you didn’t know Kiger… those words are not in the bible.. you probably should edit them from your site.
You must be a hand full for your place of worship.
I better stop now so that I don’t stoop to your level.
All the best!
Dan, are you kidding me? Travis hasn’t paid for anything in his nano-second long political career, why would he start now? He is bought and paid for, lock, stock and barrel by Tony Bushala, and no one (not even his mother) can argue otherwise.
Mama Bear Kiger:
It is common knowledge that your son is the webmaster for the FFFF Blog. You are correct, a blog is a place to gather opinions and debate. The FFFF blog started out as a way of calling out and making fun of political figures. It has developed into a hateful place where nobody (other than their own select group) is sacred. It most often resorts to name calling and personal attacks. I am not sure how you can say that anyone associated with this blog has integrity!
Even this 12 year old kid knows that:
https://theliberaloc.com/2012/10/18/12-year-old-takes-fullertons-travis-kiger-to-school-on-bullying/
I can empathize with your need to defend your son Mrs. Kiger, but sometimes the “Mama Bear” needs to take the blinders off and put the baby cub back in its place. Good luck with that!
Ryan,
You’re hair splitting has caused you to get lost in the weeds and miss the point.
Travis runs that blog. He bills himself as its co-founder and operator. That makes him responsible for the kind of blog it has become, which is a sewer and a swamp full of crazies. Bushala and Kiger didn’t have to let FFFF become that, but they set the tone, and the crazies followed. That is on them.
FFFF must be in full denial or on a bendor; no posts since Sunday and nothing on the Kiger race.
I don’t have any problem with what you just posted.
With the caveat I’m trying to get out of the weeds and discuss policy– but whatevs.