Stable Bucks, Cart Retrieval Schmucks and More Stooge Yuck, Yuck, Yucks

Well, the June 19th city council meeting is behind us and we have a budget. As anticipated, the council agreed with most of the budget and passed it unanimously. That didn't surprise me, because the staff has consistently done an excellent job of translating the wishes of the council into a workable, balanced budget year after year.

The evening was not without it's noteworthy moments. During the debate of the Great Shopping Cart issue, pulled from the consent calendar for discussion by avid Mansoor supporter, Phil Morello, who was joined in his condemnation of the current program by a man who very much resembles my theoretical character, Your Neighbor. No surprise there - it was predicted here in an earlier post. The council moved to continue with the program as-is.

During the debate our young jailer/mayor proposed that a letter be written pointing out the offending markets - a suggestion/direction offered by Your Neighbor. As you might suspect, he was cautioned about doing that by council member Katrina Foley, citing the potential for law suits. The mayor, in his own, special way, replied that, "I simply want to bring attention to the fact of what's going on in our city." Yes sir, our "Great Communicator" in action.

Later in the meeting, during the budget discussions, the subject of a City Manager Newsletter, similar to the one distributed by Homer Bludau, City Manager of Newport Beach, came up. The mayor voted "no" on this issue, and stated during the debate that he felt we had plenty of communications with our residents now. Talk about inconsistent! Of course, he must feel he has plenty of communications with his "improver" buddies, so why bother with the rest of us? Fortunately, the rest of the council saw that it's a good idea and directed the City Manager to move forward with it.

The big topic, THE LETTER, was the last item on the agenda. After some heated discussion and public comments where all but one speaker spoke against Bever's epistle chiding President Bush for his stance on the current immigration bill, the council, to no one's surprise, agreed to send it off to The President over Mansoor's signature. Since it was clear that there were at least three votes, Mansoor included in his motion a condition to permit all those council members who voted for it to be included as signatories. So, all three of our municipal stooges, Mansoor, Bever and Wendy Leece, will sign the letter. Boy, that will sure get the President's attention! Linda Dixon and Katrina Foley voted "no".

So, as far as we know, the following is the text of the letter proposed to be sent to President Bush. The signatures are a little bit of literary license applied under the circumstances:

"Dear President Bush,

On behalf of the Costa Mesa City Council, I wish to convey our position on illegal immigration. We feel it is vital that local governments such as ours communicate our concerns in this area. Our community suffers significant social, civil and law enforcement impacts, which appear to be the result of unfettered illegal immigration.

Promoting the deeply flawed SB 1348 is an affront to all law-abiding Americans. Passage of such legislation would be a disaster for our community and nation. We strongly oppose amnesty by any other name; just making something legal does not set things right, and will not address the impacts Americans suffer.

Since December 2006, we have had an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent assigned to work in our city jail. In the last six months, an astounding 262 arrestees have been flagged as probable illegal aliens from points around the globe who will be subject to deportation after their jail time is served. This demonstrates at a local level that existing laws can work if they are applied.

The immigration system is not "broken," the only thing that is broken is the will to uphold the law. Your administration's lack of will to meet its obligations regarding immigration enforcement is disrespectful toward all American citizens and legal immigrants.

Please uphold the existing federal immigration laws. Please provide all federal, state and local agencies the necessary resources and training to assist where they can. Federal funding is also needed to reimburse local governments' social, civil, and incarceration costs of illegal immigration.

Mr. President, we are weary of the massive local impacts of unfettered illegal immigration. We do not want amnesty for tens of millions of illegal aliens; we do want strong enforcement of our existing immigration laws.

Sincerely,

Moe, Larry and Curly"

I've seen it suggested recently in the Daily Pilot blogs that the council majority should quit trying to concern themselves with the national immigration debate and tend to their municipal knitting - the job they were elected to do. However, since at least one of them apparently sees a bright - if I can use that term in his case - future in the broader political arena for himself, I suspect we'll continue to see them poking their noses in places where they don't belong.