TMC: Thirty Miles of Corruption

THEY SAY WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER OPENS, and such was the case for 21 year-old Falcone(y). He may have come in 3rd in the June 2019 election, but within months it would be announced former Mayor Rusty Bailey would not be running for re-election, but instead helming the Riverside homeless shelter operated by Path of Life ministries. Bailey’s outspoken support of the homeless population (and the monies that followed) had created a magnet for the region’s homeless to flock to, and dang it if he wasn’t the person to right that ship…and maybe make a buck or two in the process!

As is with everything political in Riverside, Bailey’s handpicked successor was already waiting in the wings, our own Mayor Patricia Lock-Dawson. By handpicked, TMC means the general consensus of the good-ole’-boys of Riverside: the entitled, elite crowd with their connections throughout the government, education, non-profit, and business sectors, who know what’s best for you and I; and certainly what’s best for them – OUR MONEY!

The handoff of power wouldn’t be without its difficulties though, primarily because of that pesky inconvenience known as an election. If young Philly couldn’t win an election dad-gummit, he’d try the next best thing: helping someone else win an election. And for the rest of 2019 and 2020, Falcone(y) was never far from the Mayor’s magnificent pantsuit of many colors, as he joined her campaign team as a volunteer – an option only afforded to those that live with their parents TMC would like to mention.

Pantsuits in every color of the rainbow! Don’t believe us? Google it!

FLASHBACK TO THE 2020 MAYOR’S RACE. And after winning a plurality in the March 2020 general election, the wheels came off then-Councilman Andy Melendrez’s campaign for Mayor in the months leading up to the special run-off election that November, an ignominy covered in great detail here at Thirty Miles.  Given the revolt against the good-ole-boy crowd in 2019 that resulted in four new Councilmembers being elected, many of them progressively “woke”, we viewed PLD’s win as more of Melendrez’s failure. The bottomline was still the same: young Falcone(y) had some political chips to cash in for his efforts. 

And he would cash them in for his first real full-time job, working directly for Mayor Lock-Dawson of course, and being paid for by you! And here’s where the story gets the most predictably interesting: TMC will expose how the tit-for-tat game works in the City of Riverside, which benefits the insiders and ensures the bloodlines of the good-ole’-boy racket lives on.

“PHONEY” HIRING PROCESS. Let’s start by taking a look at Falcone(y)’s hiring process. All jobs within the City have job specifications assigned to them. Those specs list the qualifications – experience, education, skills, etc. – the candidate MUST have in order to apply for that job. This helps to ensure that taxpayer money is spent hiring staff that can do their job from day one, prevents government jobs from just going to partisans, and ultimately makes the City better at its primary function: providing services to constituents.

So let’s take a look at job specs in 2020 for Falcone(y)’s job, Assistant to the Mayor:

We call your attention to “Minimum Qualifications,” which include a Bachelor’s Degree (or equivalent) “with a major related to public or business administration, public relations, communications or a closely related field, and “four years of responsible administrative support work and/or public relations experience” Now-22-year-old Phil’s major? Architecture & Art History…and Gender Studies (seriously, you can’t make this up). Phil’s work experience consisted of internships, volunteer positions, and a 17-month gig at the Mission Inn Foundation.

And Falcone(y)’s starting salary for not having the “minimum qualifications”? A tidy $56,184 per year with full benefits and pension. If only your kid had worked on Patricia’s Lock-Dawson campaign! But wait, it gets better … much better (at least for Falcone(y)).

THE CAN’T-MISS KID. Within 6 months Phil got his first raise: 9%. In typical City of Riverside fashion it was a raise for, well … doing nothing really; a salary adjustment because other workers at the City, who subjectively performed similar functions, made more, and gosh dangit, we just can’t have that in the era of equity, “minimum qualifications” or not! 6 months later along came a 5% for “doing his job”. 6 months later another 5% was tacked on as a cost-of-living adjustment. 6 months later another 10%, apparently for doing his job (whatever that was, which we will cover shortly) well. 6 months later another 3% for inflation, most likely driven by government wages outpacing the economy. A total cumulative raise of 37% in under 2-1/2 years (taking him to about $77,000/year)! Oh and did we mention a “hero pay” bonus of TEN THOUSAND dollars paid by you, the taxpayers, on top of it all for his remote deskwork during Covid! WHAT A HERO! All approved by “taxpayer advocate” Mayor PLD. We’d laugh, but the joke’s on us again!

Next time you hear about the “need” in Riverside to approve another tax, rate, or fee increase, TMC encourages you to think about whether the City really acts as your fiduciary.

ASSISTING THE MAYOR…BUT HOW? So what exactly did Falcone(y) actually do in the Mayor’s Office for this filthy lucre? Via the California Public Records Act, TMC had access to hundreds, if not thousands of Falcone(y)’s emails during his time as a “senior policy advisor” to the Mayor. What did we find? Let’s first go over what we didn’t find: any examples of Falcone(y) actually advising the Mayor on any policy, like he goes around town proclaiming. We found only a handful of examples of him fielding questions from the Mayor’s constituents, which he simply forwarded onto the appropriate departments.

What did he actually do? Well, 90% of his “City” communications dealt with beautification projects, like murals. The rest were mundane and inconsequential. We do know from his expense accounts that he attended a lot of meetings on behalf of the Mayor to regurgitate her message (aka, “we’re working on it”). But as we suspected there were MANY emails indicating Falcone(y) spent a lot of time working on the Mayor’s and his campaign, and his personal life. Which means he was at least part-time campaign staff paid for by you the taxpayer! 

PHONEY FALCONE(Y)’S LIFE AND AMBITIONS SUBSIDIZED BY THE TAXPAYERS! Exhibits A & B: Falcone(y) working on Mayor Patricia Lock-Dawson’s campaign on City time; Exhibits C, D, & E – Falcone(y) working on his own campaign on City time; Exhibits F, G, & H: Falcone(y) working on his personal affairs on City time … affairs like moving into Ward 1 just months before he announced his bid for the Ward 1 seat (can anyone say “carpetbagger”?)

Given that he was also a full-time student at Cal Baptist (another interesting plot we’ll delve into as part of Phoney Falcone(y) – Part III) and had several other community commitments to pad his resume for his eventual scheme to return to politics, there just weren’t enough hours in the day for Falcone(y) to work the 70 hours/week he regularly claims in political speeches he put in at the City…more like 20 we figure, and we think that’s generous. He was part of the bloat that is the Mayor’s budget, leftover from the Loveridge regime – groomed to be the protege, and according to Falconey, eventual successor, of Mayor Lock-Dawson. And that’s how it’s done here in the ole’ River City.

FALCONEY GETS CAUGHT. Of course, long-time government watchdog and taxpayer champion, Jason Hunter, had the scoop Falcone was campaigning on City time months ago, which is rumored to have been the impetus behind Falcone(y)’s sudden departure from City Hall late last year. Phil learned the hard way that in the dog-eat-dog world of Riverside politics, the Mayor’s re-election takes precedence over his election: tough lesson kid. Watch directly below for the video Hunter played during public comment for the Council and Mayor right before Falcone(y) “resigned to concentrate on his campaign”.

TMC’S ANTI-ENDORSEMENT. It’s 2 weeks until the Riverside general election, and we think voters ought to know who the candidate NOT to vote for in Ward 1 (our Ward) is: Philip “Phoney” Falcone(y). In Part III of this series we’ll talk about some of the whoppers Falcone(y) has been using on the campaign trail as part of his “fake it ’til you make it” strategy that ultimately ends we hear when he replaces Newsome as our Governor, presumably using Riverside as his stepping stone along the way. We’ll discuss who is supporting him, why, and what it means for the future of Riverside (hint: more bad news).

But before we sign off, we thought we’d get in one more kick to the derrière, from an interview now 26-year-old Falcone(y) conducted just a few days ago. See if you can spot the lie! He just can’t help himself! ROTFL!

Falcone(y)’s real age?

TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE REGIONAL COUNTIES MOST EVERYTHING, INACCURATE, RACIST, A.K.A “THIRTY MILES OF CR-P,” RACIST,  “LATINO WHITE SUPREMACIST SITE,” “SITE IS A JOKE,” “RACIST,” “SCANDALOUS,” “NEGATIVE,” DID WE MENTIONED WE HAVE BEEN LABELED RACIST?, “WARPED,” “RAUNCHY,” “LOW CLASS,” “VISIONS OF GRANDEUR,” “FULL OF B.S.,” “REPREHENSIBLE,” “IGNORANT,” “MISGUIDED,” “BULLYISH,” “INDECENT,” “REPUGNANT,””IMMORAL,” “FILTHY,” “VILE,” “SICK,” “PERVERTED,” “DEFAMATORY,” “STUPID,” “PATHETIC,” “DESPICABLE,” “DISAPPOINTING,” “BELOW THE BELT,” “A NEW LOW,” “SHOCKING,” “OFFENSIVE,” “OBNOXIOUS,” “INAPPROPRIATE,” “HURTFUL,” “MEAN SPIRITED,” “DISTASTEFUL,” “EMBARRASSING,” HORRIFFIC,” “SLANDEROUS” “FIT TO BE VIEWED FROM THE REAR” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE! YES WE ADMIT WE OUR ALL OF THAT AND MORE, WHICH IN CURRENT TERMS IS KNOWN AS “UNPOLITICALLY CORRECT.” TEMPORARILY BLOCKED BY THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE AT PUBLIC ACCESS SITES WITHIN THE CITY, THEN UNBLOCKED. I GUESS YOU CANNOT DO THAT ACCORDING TO THE ACLU. BUT IT LOOKS LIKE WE CANNOT TRUST THE ACLU THESE DAYS ANYWAY!  RATED ONE STAR OUT OF FIVE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY APPROVAL RATINGS.. … AGAIN, THANK YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT! CONTACT US: thirtymilescorruption@hotmail.com