Costa Mesa's New Majority - The Three Stooges Reincarnate

Those of you who attended last night's Costa Mesa City Council meeting, or watched it on television or streaming video, realize that any attempts at harmony and conciliation by the minority members of the council, Katrina Foley and Linda Dixon, are a flat-out waste of time. The New Majority - our young jailer/mayor Allan Mansoor, the court jester, Eric Bever and the human rubber stamp, Wendy Leece - have demonstrated that it makes no difference what Foley and Dixon think on any issue. The New Majority - Costa Mesa's version of the Three Stooges - is going to do what it wants, period.

As predicted, they stacked the deck on the Planning Commission by re-appointing Jim (I'm a realtor here in town) Fisler, improver activist Sam Clark and carpetbagger Jim Righeimer. I'm not surprised that Righeimer was appointed. I covered that in my previous post. It does deeply sadden me that the bullies running the Orange County Republican Party have elbowed their way into Costa Mesa this way and appear intent on making it a de facto Farm Team for their party. That's my party, by the way, and it still ticks me off!

For me, one of the most interesting sidebars of the appointment process last night was the fact that, when considering candidates for the Planning Commission, Mansoor voted against long time resident, long time improver and long time Mansoor spear-carrier Paul Bunney not once, not twice, but three times! So, in baseball parlance, Mr. Bunney - You're Out! It looks like he was another loyal foot soldier cast aside by a heartless political opportunist following the drumbeat of his party. So much for loyalty, huh, Paul?

The evening, a long one that dragged out until well past midnight, was full of drama and comedy. At one point in the proceedings Linda Dixon held up a hand-written note, which she said was passed to her by someone on the dais - she didn't name the person. The note accused her of being unprofessional because of her "snide" remarks. Amazingly, as the camera showed us a wide view right at the appropriate moment, Eric Bever held up his hand like a little kid in pre-school who got caught throwing a spit wad. You will recall that Bever was also guilty of passing a note in an earlier council meeting in which he attempted to manipulate the agenda surreptitiously. Not only has he proven to be an arrogant buffoon on the dais, but he's obviously also a slow learner.

The highlight, or lowlight, depending on your position, came at the very end of the proceedings. Discussing the final agenda item, the implementation of the Youth in Government program that has been forming for more than a year, the ill will on the dais came to a head and burst like a ripe pimple as Foley and Mansoor got into it. Mansoor, like a petulant little kid, simply refused to discuss his reasons for not supporting the program. Foley pressed him and Dixon pressed him but Mansoor, who appeared to be off his normally feeble game this night, wouldn't budge. It was obvious that he simply didn't want to support a program that was initiated by Foley, regardless the benefit to the community. He finally forced a vote to receive and file the item - which effectively killed a program that is already underway. One of the objectives of this program was to give the youth of our community a close look at the way government works, to prepare them to participate at an informed level. Well, Mansoor sure did that last night. He showed those dedicated young people who had signed up and were ready to elect officers, that pettiness is part of politics and that one weak, heartless man's personal political future is more important to him than the youth of our community.

By the way, rumor has it that our young jailer/mayor is investigating the methodology required to convert Costa Mesa to a city in which the mayor is directly elected by the voters instead of being chosen by his peers on the City Council. Sounds to me like he's trying to set himself up as "Mayor For Life" - kind of like Idi Amin Dada in Uganda.

All you Mansoor supporters are going to rue the day you cast your ballots for him. Based on his performance last night, it's only a matter of time until he puts his hobnailed boots down on some of your rights, too. It's clear that he doesn't care about Costa Mesa - he cares about Allan Mansoor and will stomp on others who get in the way, regardless how loyal they might have been to his cause. I leave you to contemplate that and stew in your own juice.