Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Officials Suing Employees Unprecedented?

IS THIS PRECEDENT-SETTING?
I asked myself that same question when the news broke about Mayor Jim Righeimer and his wife, plus his running buddy, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger decided to sue employees of the city - the Costa Mesa Police Officers Association (CMPOA) because they feared being set up by the police.

SO, I DID A SEARCH
So, I did a quick little to see if any other sitting elected officials had ever sued their employees.  Here's what I found...

A sitting Indianapolis council member sued his city for an arrest, HERE.

The mayor of Yuma sued the city council and city staff, HERE.

A Moreno Valley council member sued members of the city staff, HERE.

SO FAR, IT STANDS ALONE...
If you find more, let me know.  As far as I can tell, what our two top (I have a VERY hard time referring to them that way) elected officials have done - using such a broad brush by suing such a large group - has no precedent that I can find.  Let me know if you find more.




DESTROYING OUR "BRAND"?
In the meantime, the elected majority on this council has, once again, created a negative image of Costa Mesa for the world to see.  They tell us they're working hard to attract businesses to our city, spending our tax dollars for junkets to Las Vegas so they can attract more fast food outlets, etc.  They tell us they want Costa Mesa to be a place that will attract young families.  Well, does this kind of negative publicity accomplish that goal?  Quite the contrary!  Folks considering moving here, or establishing a business here, will take one look at this story and find another location.  These guys have been systematically devaluing our city for the past couple years and seem unfazed by the damage they are doing to a hard-won reputation.  They've made our city a standing joke - a low water mark for municipal management disfunction.  They've created such a toxic, hostile workplace that recruitment will become virtually impossible.  Way, way back, when they began the dismantling of our city government, I joked that their idea of the perfect municipal organization would be Tom Hatch and a handful of contract administrators - to manage all the outsourced functions.  Well, folks... that's where we're headed. Shame on them.

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9 Comments:

Anonymous Where's My Coffee? said...

I think the residents should have a class action against our council for incompetence, lying and malfeasance, harassment, embarrassment, emotional distress and bad breath.

8/21/2013 12:52:00 PM  
Anonymous Arthur Nern said...

At trial, will Stevie claim his phony badge-flashing airport incident was due to the "distress" he would suffer 6 years later?

8/21/2013 02:00:00 PM  
Anonymous sk said...

Give them enough rope and they will hang themselves.

8/21/2013 04:23:00 PM  
Blogger Joe said...

Geoff West,
Oustanding posts on all these recent events!
Who do I contact to get you nominated for one of those coveted Mayor's Awards?

8/21/2013 06:47:00 PM  
Anonymous Mike McNiff said...

Just saw a CM 60th birthday party ad on the Pilot's site. Unless that's a behaviorally targeted online ad, they might wanna take that down now. Best part was the tagline - "Make History While You Celebrate It."

Guess Jimmy and Stevie are taking that little motto to heart.

8/22/2013 06:04:00 AM  
Anonymous Mike McNiff said...

"There's no doubt the reason we picked this firm was because it specializes in litigation where the defendants have abused their power and authority."

Riggy to Mickadeit. He should know all about abusing power and authority.

It's gotten awfully quiet over here since the new registration system. Kind of miss all those trolls.

8/22/2013 08:04:00 AM  
Blogger The Pot Stirrer said...

You noticed! ;-) I guess that answers a lot of questions, doesn't it?

I REALLY do want both sides of issues discussed here, but I can only provide the forum, I can't force folks to comment here.

I guess we can presume that they only want to screech epithets and not really discuss the issues.

On the other hand, there is a new comment thread on the Daily Pilot that is now 75 comments long and growing... fun!

8/22/2013 08:13:00 AM  
Anonymous Mike McNiff said...

Absence makes the heart grow fonder...naaaaah!

8/22/2013 09:21:00 AM  
Blogger kwahlf said...

Mike- it's nice having people who are willing to give Geoff a verifiable phone number registered here.
Most of the council majority supporters aren't willing to do that. The registration here speaks for itself.

Joe- I agree!
Geoff should get a Mayor's Award for his reporting of events in our city. It's long overdue!

8/22/2013 08:11:00 PM  

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