Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Correcting An Error And A New Mayor

REALLY...
OK, I know that title may be redundant, but that's not what I meant. Well, maybe it is...

REMEMBER THI
S ONE?
You will certainly recall my recent post about Register Watchdog Teri Sforza's "revelations" about Costa Mesa Firefighter's pay and Jim Righeimer's reaction to it, HERE.

MY ORIGINAL QUOTES
In that piece I quoted Sforza quoting Righeimer stating that,
"They could do the job with six people per shift, but they want to do it with 18 or 19 people because that's what their contract says." He goes on to say, "That contract is a political document. It basically says, 'We don't care how many people you actually need to do the job - you have to hire more.'" Well, when the print edition came out today, Tuesday, March 13th, that quotation was deleted from the article. It's gone from the online version, too.

BRIEF AND LAME EXPLANATION
So, I wrote to Teri Sforza for an explanation. Her reply was short and not-so sweet. She said,
"Mr. R. was misquoted. I always prefer number discussions to take place by email so that doesn't happen--but this time it did." That was it.

HE'S NOT REALLY "THAT" STUPID, AFTER ALL
So, I amended my entry with a short explanation and am posting this, as well, to try to correct the record. Apparently Righeimer isn't so stupid to think fire coverage in our city could be made with only six people. I apologize for misjudging his level of intellectual acuity based on a bogus report from what we assumed was a reliable source.


THERE'S A NEW SHERIFF, ER, MAYOR IN TOWN

And, just a reminder - today shortly after 4:30 at City Hall a new
mayor will be elected by our City Council. Gary Monahan has decided family and business issues preclude him from fulfilling the demands of that office, so he will step down, but remain on the council. A cynic might wonder about the proximity of St. Patrick's Day to his decision. After all, last St. Patrick's Day was, to quote him, "The biggest day of my life".

WHO GETS THE THRONE?
Speculation runs rampant around the city today on just who might be elected mayor. Of course, my money is on Righeimer, but you just never know. Some folks are speculating that it will be Eric Bever again. You may recall that Bever stepped down from that job a few years ago so Allan Mansoor could run as an incumbent mayor. If Bever IS elected mayor that means he might actually show up for most of the meetings and events.

STEVE IN THE BIG CHAIR?
Others speculate that non-elected councilman Steve Mensinger might be elected ma
yor so he can run for election (not "re-election") as mayor.

TESTING MY GAG REFLEX

Still, from where I sit it looks like Righeimer as mayor and his buddy, Steve, as Mayor Pro
Tem.

THE RIGHT THING.
..
Of course, the right thing to do would be to elect Wendy Leece mayor, but I just checked the weather report in Hades and there's no snow reported down there today.

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15 Comments:

Anonymous Barry said...

Wendy is not smart enough to be on the Council, much less our Mayor. I shiver at the thought. Her IQ is shockingly low. Her tenure on the Council has been marked by doing NOTHING. The only remotely policy-oriented thing she has done is to put a "God" plaque up at City Hall. I never see her come forward with any new poliicies or proposals. A wasted seat!! Put her back on the Parks Commission to approve tree requests.

3/13/2012 10:35:00 AM  
Anonymous CM Whine Press said...

Why does MM write propaganda here as "Barry" instead of in his own blog?

3/13/2012 10:43:00 AM  
Blogger Joe said...

CM Whine Press said...
Why does MM write propaganda here as "Barry" instead of in his own blog?

Me:

Because it's fun for him to use the same words in multiple places, allowing others to recognize his "special style."

And then he accuses Wendy of low IQ. Is it true he's auditioning for a Geico Caveman commercial?

3/13/2012 10:55:00 AM  
Anonymous Sam Grady said...

Geoff wrote...So, I wrote to Teri Sforza for an explanation. Her reply was short and not-so sweet. She said, "Mr. R. was misquoted. I always prefer number discussions to take place by email so that doesn't happen--but this time it did."

Sure Teri, I am sure you got an earful from Righeimer because you made him look bad. What ever happened to journalist standing by their stories? I guess in the OCGOP run OC Register, that does not happen.

Do you really believe her Geoff? It sounds fishy to me.

3/13/2012 11:18:00 AM  
Anonymous Sam Grady said...

Hey Joe, Phil will be here shortly along with Rick and Jenn with the same crap that Barry spouts.

3/13/2012 11:20:00 AM  
Blogger The Pot Stirrer said...

Sam Grady,
Yeah, I guess I do. If you watch Righeimer much you realize that sometimes he kind of speaks in tongues. It's not hard for me to imagine him saying something that she misunderstood. I don't think she would change a news story JUST because it made him look stupid...

3/13/2012 11:21:00 AM  
Anonymous fairy dust said...

I believe it was a misquote as much as I believe rig is good for costa mesa... oh and that unicorns exist.

3/13/2012 11:24:00 AM  
Anonymous Stay Angry My Friend said...

The Pot Belly would constantly be changing his story because it made him look stupid and also angry.

3/13/2012 11:25:00 AM  
Anonymous almostdone said...

I don't doubt he said that in a fit of rage (the earfull) and then after reading the comments in the OCR (from all over the country) decided he needed to back peddle and say "that's not what I said".
Even at a reduction of six firefighters per shift, that's closing two engines and consequently increasing the average response times over the entire city.
The question is... where's the line? What level of public safety do the voters want?
You could save a ton of money by not even having a real FD (or PD for that matter). Put out the call for volunteers.
All you'll have to do is accept response times in the 20 to 30 minute range and write off the critically ill or injured (and your house if it's on fire). That always happens to somebody else anyway so what the hey.
Maybe it will happen to Righeimer. He looks like he has Coronary Artery Disease to me.
From his position, he's made it pretty clear that he wouldn't mind waiting 20 minutes for help when he's having his heart attack. Would he?

3/13/2012 12:40:00 PM  
Anonymous Mike M said...

Did Riggy's Facebook pal that edited Venezia's Register story a few weeks back edit this one as well?

3/13/2012 01:24:00 PM  
Anonymous iptemiss said...

It was an obvious mis quote from the beginning. get over it, you had your fun for a few days now you are corrected (again, as on most other things).
Wendy as Mayor? obviously no chance but she is not fit to run a City in this century unless it is Amish
Would be cool to see Steve be Mayor, can he text and run a meeting at the same time. And no walkabouts. Hope he gets it but Eric or Jim will be good also.
Hopefully Wendy's daughter doesn't come up and plead for the mayorship for Wendy and then come up and plead for pro tem if it becomes open. Or maybe she is the one in the Marines and will be absent and save us wasted time while doing her Mom, and Mesa residents, proud serving our country. Can't wait and thanks Gary. Maybe party tonight, your place? The cops will be there waiting to pull us over anyway, might as well come.

3/13/2012 01:29:00 PM  
Anonymous Revelations 13: 15-18 said...

GW: "If you watch Righeimer much you realize that sometimes he kind of speaks in tongues."

Was there a "Saint Richard Simmons" in the Bible??

3/13/2012 02:38:00 PM  
Anonymous Mike O'Reilly said...

Were I Gauleiter Righeimer, and knowing that the mayor's office is mostly ceremonial throat-clearing anyway, I'd push for Wendy Leece. What a bold political stroke it would be! Us guys on the council may be shameless demagogues who care as much for Costa Mesa as we do about a raging hemorroid, but look what we've done! A woman mayor! See, we really aren't that bad after all! Are we? Hello? Anyone out there? Hello?

3/13/2012 05:02:00 PM  
Anonymous Sam Grady said...

It would take too much class to choose Wendy. They decided to go with "I did not sign up for this," rarely there Bever. What a bunch of tools. Thank goodness Bever will be gone in nine months and hopefully will take Monahan and Mensinger with him.

3/13/2012 09:43:00 PM  
Blogger Joe said...

MOR:

"..Gauleiter Righeimer.."

Nice one! With our Jimmy, it's truly tough to decide between the military title of Reichsmarschall (Costa Mesa, 2012: Riggmarshal) and the more civilian "Gauleiter."

Back East we had other appropriate labels..

3/13/2012 09:48:00 PM  

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