Foley Challenges Mensinger/Righeimer Participation
POLICE ASSOCIATIONS NEGOTIATIONS INVOLVED
Last Tuesday afternoon there was a Special Closed Session of the Costa Mesa City Council in which negotiations of the contracts for the Costa Mesa Police Management Association (CMPMA) and the Costa Mesa Police Officers Association (CMPOA) were to be discussed.
NORMALLY A BRIEF BEGINNING
Under normal circumstances the council would meet briefly in Council Chambers, take role, the item would be "read into the record" and they would then adjourn to the conference room in the 5th floor bunker, er, Executive Offices. That usually takes just about as long as it took you to read this far.
NOT LAST WEEK!
Last Tuesday, though, that process took 19 minutes and resulted in a piece of video that you really MUST watch. You can view it HERE.
FOLEY - MAYOR AND PRO TEM ARE "CONFLICTED"
Both Mayor Steve Mensinger and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer were late for the meeting. Councilman Gary Monahan - wearing a sun visor advertising his pub, apparently to protect him from the glare of the hot lights - was in charge as they began the process. Councilwoman Katrina Foley - a lawyer - took exception to the mayor and mayor pro tem being permitted to participate in the negotiations for the CMPMA because the terms of that contract are identical to that of the CMPOA and members of the CMPMA had been members of the CMPOA, and the mayor and mayor pro tem are prohibited from negotiating on that one because of their civil suit against the men and women of the CMPD.
ATTORNEY LETTER
Sandra Genis referred to a letter from a law firm, apparently representing one of the associations, in which they asked for Mensinger and Righeimer to be barred from participating in the CMPMA negotiation discussions.
DUARTE SAYS NO...
City Attorney Tom Duarte told the council he had considered the issue and he and his staff had determined that both men are NOT conflicted out of the CMPMA negotiations.
WATCH PATIENTLY
I'm not going to paraphrase the video. The quality of the video is quite bad - the video is halting and, in the beginning, the audio is not very good, either. Stick with it and just listen to the dialogue. At one point, once Righeimer and Mensinger finally showed up, you'll hear Righeimer call the president of the CMPOA a liar - stating flat out that he lied to the Grand Jury. I found that curious, since Grand Jury testimony is supposed to be confidential.
IT'S WORTH THE TIME
Viewing this video, with all it's technical deficiencies, will be a worthwhile expenditure of your time. It demonstrates the contentiousness of the relationship between the top two elected officials in the city and the men and women hired to protect and serve us. It also demonstrates the value of Katrina Foley on the dais. She and Genis will form a team to be reckoned-with in the months to come, even though they certainly will not agree on every issue. Both are well-educated, high-achievers in their chosen professions and clearly the two smartest people on the dais. The seating arrangement has them at opposite ends of the dais, so I suspect watching them in action will sometimes be akin to watching a fast-paced tennis match. It certainly will be worth the price of admission.
Last Tuesday afternoon there was a Special Closed Session of the Costa Mesa City Council in which negotiations of the contracts for the Costa Mesa Police Management Association (CMPMA) and the Costa Mesa Police Officers Association (CMPOA) were to be discussed.
Under normal circumstances the council would meet briefly in Council Chambers, take role, the item would be "read into the record" and they would then adjourn to the conference room in the 5th floor bunker, er, Executive Offices. That usually takes just about as long as it took you to read this far.
NOT LAST WEEK!
Last Tuesday, though, that process took 19 minutes and resulted in a piece of video that you really MUST watch. You can view it HERE.FOLEY - MAYOR AND PRO TEM ARE "CONFLICTED"
Both Mayor Steve Mensinger and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer were late for the meeting. Councilman Gary Monahan - wearing a sun visor advertising his pub, apparently to protect him from the glare of the hot lights - was in charge as they began the process. Councilwoman Katrina Foley - a lawyer - took exception to the mayor and mayor pro tem being permitted to participate in the negotiations for the CMPMA because the terms of that contract are identical to that of the CMPOA and members of the CMPMA had been members of the CMPOA, and the mayor and mayor pro tem are prohibited from negotiating on that one because of their civil suit against the men and women of the CMPD.ATTORNEY LETTER
Sandra Genis referred to a letter from a law firm, apparently representing one of the associations, in which they asked for Mensinger and Righeimer to be barred from participating in the CMPMA negotiation discussions.DUARTE SAYS NO...
City Attorney Tom Duarte told the council he had considered the issue and he and his staff had determined that both men are NOT conflicted out of the CMPMA negotiations. WATCH PATIENTLY
I'm not going to paraphrase the video. The quality of the video is quite bad - the video is halting and, in the beginning, the audio is not very good, either. Stick with it and just listen to the dialogue. At one point, once Righeimer and Mensinger finally showed up, you'll hear Righeimer call the president of the CMPOA a liar - stating flat out that he lied to the Grand Jury. I found that curious, since Grand Jury testimony is supposed to be confidential.IT'S WORTH THE TIME
Viewing this video, with all it's technical deficiencies, will be a worthwhile expenditure of your time. It demonstrates the contentiousness of the relationship between the top two elected officials in the city and the men and women hired to protect and serve us. It also demonstrates the value of Katrina Foley on the dais. She and Genis will form a team to be reckoned-with in the months to come, even though they certainly will not agree on every issue. Both are well-educated, high-achievers in their chosen professions and clearly the two smartest people on the dais. The seating arrangement has them at opposite ends of the dais, so I suspect watching them in action will sometimes be akin to watching a fast-paced tennis match. It certainly will be worth the price of admission.Labels: CMPMA, CMPOA, Gary Monahan, Jim Righeimer, Katrina Foley, Labor Negotiations, lawsuit, Sandra Genis, Steve Mensinger
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 1/18/2015 12:54:00 AM
5 Comments:
Thanks for the link to the video. Very interesting!
Yes, a great watch. I really think Duarte and the city staff have dug a hole for themselves (and possibly the city) and it may come back to bite them.
Righeimer was grandstanding shamefully, but he did tell at least one lie in his diatribe. He will do anything he can to try to turn the city against the officers, even if it has nothing whatsoever to do with the subject at hand. He's as much a joke as Gary is with his stupid hat. If he can't dress in a professional manner on the dais then he should just stay home. He's useless anyway.
Looks overall like the boyz are not taking kindly to the women with the intelligence pushing back. They are going to make their lives hell for at least two years. I hope Katrina and that firm continue on this course, as it is well overdue.
I can only imagine what happens behind closed doors in a situation like this.
Hopefully there were no bugs, drones or surreptitious recording going on, although I suspect there was.
Sometimes it takes the courts to solve these type of conflicts, as was suggested in this video.
I suppose only time will tell?
Does anybody believe Riggy is not working the puppet strings and controlling "Mayor" Steve?
Monahan's hat is just one more "xxxx you" to citizens- "I'm termed out, there's nothing you can do or say to me, shut up and support WEED."
Why does Gary continue to get "free" advertising for his establishment???? His constant events ie.... birthday party, goodbye to Ed, and his hat and shirt logos!!!
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