Former Anaheim Mayoral candidate William Denis Fitzgerald was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery during Tuesday’s Anaheim City Council meeting shortly after making another signature borderline slanderous three minute public statement where he called outgoing Council member Gale Eastman a white supremacist twice and accused Eastman’s husband, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, of having a full diaper.
According to the OC Register, Fitzgerald allegedly shoved Anaheim resident Larry Torgerson who took a seat next to Fitzgerald after Fitzgerald, a spokesman for Anaheim Home (which appears to be a one-person group), finished berating Eastman at her last council meeting. Torgerson alleges Fitzgerald pushed him after telling Torgerson that the seat next to Fitzgerald was taken.
Anaheim Police PIO Lt. Bob Dunn told TheLiberalOC that Fitzgerald was charged after a citizen’s arrest was made. A summons was issued and the details were forward to the Anaheim City Attorney who will decide what charges will be brought against Fitzgerald.
During Fitzgerald’s diatribe, Anaheim Mayor TomTait stopped the clock to call Fitzgerald a jerk which Fitzgerald responded by calling Tait one as well.
The LiberalOC has contacted Fitzgerald for comment and we have not received a reply to our query.
A post about the arrest was posted on the Orange Juice blog and it was pretty sanitized for the usually prolix blogger Greg Diamond, who included Fitzgerald in his alleged “good government” group that promotes anything Tom Tait wants.
Diamond wrote: “He was released on his own recognizance with a ticket requiring to show up to court. Witnesses say that he struck another person, associated with a retinue of supporters of Gail Eastman who attended her last meeting of her single Council term, who was trying to get past him in the aisle, knocking him several feet down the aisle. Mayor Tom Tait did not become aware of the cause of the arrest until sometime after the meeting.”
We’ll call bullstuff on that last sentence because there was a noticeable and audible reaction from the council on the dais at the moment of the altercation and Tait was looking directly at it. It’s on video for anyone to see. So Tait had to have seen it happen in real time, but we’re not surprised Diamond continues to run cover for this conservative Tea Party mayor.
CATER president Cynthia Ward was quick to throw Fitzgerald under the bus with a long comment:
Cynthia Ward
After years of his rantings, I did not think I could be shocked by Fitz any more, but then I didn’t think he could go lower than he has….yet he found a way. His remarks were beyond disgusting, beneath reprehensible, and while City Attorney Houston keeps telling the Council there is no recourse, I would very much like to see Gail talk to a real lawyer about potential slander because I believe remarks are limited to the business of the Council and Ron Eastman’s health is not one of those issues.
Fitz may feel the right to say anything he wants but I hope he is prepared for the fallout that comes with it. What a disgusting sack of humanity. I used to feel sorry for him, wondering if he was simply ill, but now understand this is a choice he makes, and sympathy is not due him in any way.
I only wish he would stop making reference to his status as a Veteran, if the whackadoodles of ANAHEIM HOME want to have him represent them that is fine, but I do not know a single Veteran (even those who detest the current Council majority) who share the views of Fitz when it comes to calling women the names he does and now to say such horrid things about Ron who is a GOOD MAN, (I believe he is also a Veteran) someone I greatly respect who has always been kind and courteous to me even when his wife clearly detested me, that takes some serious backbone, and I appreciate the effort he makes to be independent of his wife while being supportive of her, and he in NO WAY deserved what was said.
During the last meeting, Ron came down to City Hall to check on his wife after Fitz said HORRID things about her, and encountered Fitzgerald still there after his remarks, they exchanged words, but I saw the whole thing and Fitz was not threatened and Ron offered no cause for the things said last night.
I did not see his actions last night but was told by witnesses of him knocking someone to the ground, he is out of control, and actually does HARM to the causes he represents. Yes we know there are no environmental docs on the fireworks, and we know they light heavy metals on fire and let them drop into people’s back yards. And you know the NUMBER ONE REASON nobody wants to touch that subject with a ten foot pole to resolve it is because of the connection to Fitz, nobody wants to be seen to appear in agreement with him on ANYTHING.
So congrats sir, you seriously screwed yourself and your own causes.
But Fitzgerald’s fate was sealed much sooner when he called the Mayor a jerk. After all, any criticism of Saint Tait is an unpardonable sin in the eyes of Tait’s most vocal loyalists.
Wow, you go so far out of your way to write anything to make Tait and his supporters look bad! Why did you write about me when I wanted to beat up a neighbor that I wrongly accused of ruining Lorri’s sign?
You missed a great opportunity by not writing about my bad temper. Face it…my wife LG lost! Get over it!
please stick with your earlier identities; using MikeG is sock puppetry and I’ll just delete future references to Mike G. Additionally, show me a police report.
“.. Diamond continues to run cover for this conservative Tea Party mayor.”
You didn’t use the “Teab***er” pejorative – that’s progress ….
You mean, TEABAGGER?
I wasn’t being prolix because I was simply reporting what I had heard from people. I heard directly from Tait, for example, that didn’t see the shove, he just saw the subsequent commotion. He didn’t get the details of what happened — including that of the arrest — until after the later swearing-in ceremony at the Rock.
In other breaking news (“breaking” to you, anyway):
I’m not sure what you mean by “[Diamond] included Fitzgerald in his alleged ‘good government’ group that promotes anything Tom Tait wants” — which by the way is a gross mischaracterization (as is your custom) of CATER. Fitzgerald is not a member of CATER and he never has been. But, for all his other faults, he really does hate self-serving government rip-offs (as, at one point, did Lorri Galloway, and maybe she’ll end up there again soon) — so sometimes he can be a useful ally. September 2, 2013 — Labor Day, the day that I sent that message around to local activists — was one of those times.
Thank you, by the way, for reprinting the email posted by Brian Chuchua, as I had totally forgotten what had let you to make your wild assertions about Fitzgerald’s role in Anaheim’s reform. That message was a one-off, not part of a customarily used list, at a time when I and others were trying to rally people over Labor Day Weekend of 2013 to come out and filibuster Anaheim’s City Council when it tried to cram through the Stadium Parking Lot giveaway on the day that people returned to work after a long holiday travel weekend — the sneak attack that let to the creation of CATER and the continuing litigation over what happened at that meeting.
It was a general call to arms to arouse the public against this monstrous ripoff, sponsored largely by your conservative Republican friend Kris Murray to benefit your conservative Republican object of admiration Curt Pringle. (You can tell that it was embarrassing even to the City Council because all they have ever had to do to resolve CATER’s lawsuit has been to pass the flawed resolutions once again, but properly — as they did with the GardenWalk Giveaway — and yet they haven’t wanted to do it.)
Fitzgerald was added to the recipient list in the hope that he could bring more people to speak and delay the Council’s actions until it was late enough for them to lose a quorum. (My recollection is that at the time he was being relatively well-behaved in the City Council meetings, though I wouldn’t swear by it,)
I’ll repost all of this at OJB for those who, like me, would prefer to have such a discussion without its being controlled by our deftly misleading Chum here.
(1) Anaheim HOME does have members beyond Fitzgerald, although he clearly dominates the group — name them; there’s nothing with the SoS’s office on the group. There is no website. It’s pretty much a front for Fitzgerlad to use as a platform for vile speech.
(2) Fitzgerald has attacked and insulted Tait plenty of times at Council meetings before this, notably as he prepared to run against Tait earlier this year — not nearly as much as anyone else on the council; I’m not a fan of Republicans in Irvine, but I always address them with respect when I make a public comment.
(3) Lots of people, myself included, have pleaded with Fitz over the years not to undercut his often perceptive criticisms of local government issues with his nastiness and anger — but he’s old and stubbornly set in his ways. As Cynthia suggests in her comment, it’s too bad that so much good analysis (mixed in with lots of less good) of what’s really going on in Anaheim comes from a flawed messenger — but it’s not as if many others are volunteering for the role. — apparently, you have all been ineffective in convincing Fitzgerald.
“…benefit your conservative Republican object of admiration Curt Pringle.” You’re a horrid mind reader you know.
Greg, I am amused that your gross mischaracterizations of me are somehow less factual than mine.
His only mischaracterization is to impute the respectable epithet of “conservative” to budget-busting kleptocrats like Pringle and Murray … but I understand what he’s doing with that.
This story has nothing to do with Murray or Pringle, but I get that for you and your fellow Tait-bits, they are pure evil. If that is the case, why was Murray the top vote getter for council as Brandman was in 2012. Wasn’t Donna supposed to walk away and win a council seat? Stick to the story at hand Vern instead of what you read between the lines
Stick to the story at hand Danny and leave me out of it.
Sort of like your council candidacy? You were trounced by two guys who withdrew. If you’re going to run, run to win. Otherwise it’s all talk
Nice to know Tait can count on you and Cynthia to be his lapdogs. Because you will believe anything he tells you and excuse anything he won’t.
Damn you’re dumb. You get so much wrong. And how come Greg Diamond is on moderation?
Keep your shirt on Vern. I approved his comment
I love you Vern
Get in line.
Not one of you Tait loyalists admonished Fitzy for calling Eastman a white supremacist. Isn’t that over the top?
Let’s go for a drive in your new car Vern
I think that Dan doesn’t know what he’s doing any more. He wrote this story because he’s always associated Fitzgerald with Tait, and was always dying for ways to make Tait look bad any way he could – always through other people.
Reminds me of Matt who’s been on autopilot since the election. Jose Moreno was all, the other night, “why is that idiot still picking on me?” and I’m all, “he hasn’t got any new instructions.”
Oh I know what I am doing Vern. But I used the Register story and the meeting videotape to conclude Greg still runs cover for a conservative mayor while lecturing folks on how to be good Democrats. So what failed candidacies await Diamond in 2016?
I, like many others, suspect that Fitzgerald works for Tait. Legally speaking, I would go as far as to say that Fitzgerald is acting as Tait’s agent. The same goes for Cynthia Ward, Greg Diamond and Vern Nelson. Keep in mind, I spent some time with these people and their behavior reflected an employer’s prerogative, not ideology or self-interest. Also, it appears Tait enjoys employing eccentrics who then set up shell organizations like CATER and Anaheim Home.
However, Mayor Tait told me that Fitzgerald works for Curt Pringle. Either way, Tait is lying or withholding information and therefore obstructing justice.
With respect to Gail Eastman and her husband… My estranged, and one time close, cousin local lobbyist Carmen Morinello is a Tait Ally. He also worked on the infamous SunCal affordable housing project in Anaheim’s resort district, former councilwoman Lorri Galloway’s destined to fail pet project. When Carmen convinced me to advocate for Tait, as he did Galloway, he also tried to convince me that Eastman and her husband were very racist. Interesting…
I don’t think one needs much imagination to comprehend the people and coordination behind Tait’s tenure in Anaheim politics. I am waiting to be interviewed by the FBI and DA’s office. I won’t hold my breath… Tait, Morinello, Ward, Diamond and the whole lot would love to see me breathless…
Oh yeah, “Many other people” think the things Dan Lamb thinks.
There’s something in the water up there, I keep sayin….
Typical Team Tait, responding with personal attacks and intimidation. They don’t know how to do anything else. At some point, you know, you guys will need to stand for something as oppose to just posturing. But more important, you should all be behind bars for your fraudulent activities. What is next for CATER? How about you (Vern) tell us why you support Tait? I would love to hear the explanation. Why did you drop Galloway? Or would it be easier to just ask Diamond or Tait himself.
And by the way, how stupid and corrupt does OC Labor Fed look for supporting the Tait-Moreno facade? They obviously have no principles; they are only interested in power. I promise you all, one day I will be in a position to tell the people of California that many in labor will dump on liberal/democratic values the first chance they get.