Finally, A Budget Framework...

OVERPAID PLANNING COMMISSIONERS PROVE MY POINT
Before I forget.... the Costa Mesa Planning Commission, at their meeting Monday night, exceeded my expectations - kinda. As I earlier predicted, their one-item meeting was going to be a quickie - I speculated that it would be finished in a half-hour. Well, I was wrong, but not by much. The meeting began promptly at 6 p.m. and concluded at 6:27, so the boys did themselves proud. And, since they will only be meeting once a month through November, that means the good taxpayers of Costa Mesa paid them what amounted to more than $800.00 per hour for all their "hard work" on Monday. Don't you feel good about that?

*****

FULL STUDY SESSION AGENDA
Today was a busy one for our City Council. As mentioned yesterday, they had a full agenda, with a Study Session packed with interesting items - including Wendy Leece's proposal to sanctify the City Council chambers with a plaque carrying the motto, "In God We Trust". Since the session was not televised live I have no idea how that played with the remainder of the council members.

PAINFUL REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY REALITY
Then they adjourned to the council chambers for a meeting of the Redevelopment Agency - the council in a different dress. That was a quickie, during which they made decisions protecting the city in the event the state successfully snatches redevelopment dollars from us.

MUSICAL CHAIRS
Then the lights were dimmed and the council played musical chairs and swapped name tags and re-convened as the city council to consider one item - the proposed Memorandum of Understanding between the Costa Mesa Firefighters and the city.

FIREFIGHTERS OFFERED MORE THAN WAS ASKED...
To summarize, the questionable areas that existed a week ago have been hashed out by the negotiators on both sides and an acceptable proposal was presented for the council to consider. Presentations by senior city staff with, added input by the leaders of the firefighters association, made clear that this was an acceptable proposal. In fact, the firefighters actually presented more savings than the city originally requested.

STUBBORN OR STUPID?
It was very frustrating, but not unexpected, that Mayor Mansoor just couldn't grasp the numbers no matter how many times it was explained to him. Of course, this is who he is - a man with very limited intellectual resources being asked to comprehend what began as some complicated issues. In the end, though, I think it was just stubbornness on his part. Led by the solid discussions by Katrina Foley, Wendy Leece and Gary Monahan, the proposal as presented was passed on a 3-2 vote, with Mansoor and Bever voting No.

BEVER'S CONTRIBUTION? ONE WORD...
It was interesting to note that, despite all his bluster on the Daily Pilot blog over the past few days, Bever said only one audible word all night. That was when he said "second" to Mansoor's substitute motion to delay voting on this issue until the next council meeting on the 18th. That motion failed. Bever offered not a single word - not even any of his occasional grunts - during the discussion. He asked no questions, posed no alternatives - it was as though he was asleep. In fact, he may have been for all we could tell. One might have thought someone had cut out his tongue, for goodness sake.

THE BERRYS BLUSTER
Maybe Bever felt the tag-team of his neighbors, Mike and Judi Berry, said enough so he didn't have to. Believe me, I thought they said more than enough, but at least Judi didn't whine about cutting the Mutt Mittens from the budget this time around. And who knows what Mike said?! Sometimes it seems as though even he doesn't know what he's saying.

PETTINESS ON DISPLAY
When the final vote was taken Mansoor, clearly peeved, abruptly said, "That's it. We're adjourned."

NOW LET'S MOVE FORWARD
This budget process has been taxing for all concerned. City Manager Allan Roeder, Steve Mandoki, Marc Puckett, Bobby Young and the rest of the senior staff did a masterful job of presenting the council with workable solutions. Some of those are still dependent on a certain level of sales and property tax dollars. However, with the passage of the issue tonight, they now have a skeleton on which to begin adding muscle and bone. So now the city staff can move forward unless other curves are thrown our way. They can begin to plan for the potential early retirements they anticipate this fall and they can begin to manage the 104 unpaid furlough hours each employee - except the firefighters - will be expected to take between now and the end of August next year.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL FOR A JOB WELL-DONE
Congratulations to all involved for a job well-done. To the employees of our city, thank you all for understanding the extent of the problem and for your dedication in working together with the senior staff to resolve the problems. The firefighters, in particular, are to be commended for presenting a workable solution with some very sticky service issues that had to be addressed.

MANSOOR AND BEVER UNWORTHY OF OFFICE
I cannot close this post without observing, one more time, just how ineffective Mansoor and Bever have been in this process. It seems as though everything is black or white to them. Their inability to grasp - either through stubbornness or denseness, or both - the intricacies of this process demonstrates just what happens when the electorate is wooed by a one-note samba during a campaign. Mansoor and Bever used the fear of your dark-skinned neighbors to win their seats, which concealed the fact that neither man has the grey matter necessary to do their jobs. That is certainly something to keep in mind in the future as one or both may seek another elected office.

Some Budget Cuts Restored, Just Not Enough

WORTH THE PRICE
As expected, the Costa Mesa City Council meeting was worth the price of admission, even though one of the potentially most contentious issues - the proposed tougher solicitation ordinance - was continued until next month. I guess they may have realized that their plan had some major holes in it - like the lack of a Job Center, for example.

ANTICIPATED FIREWORKS DO MATERIALIZE
The proposal by Katrina Foley and Wendy Leece to restore previously chopped programs to the budget generated many comments from community members and rancorous discussion between council members. Allan Mansoor set the tone for the evening's discussions when he launched into a tirade against Katrina Foley during council member comments for her behavior at the previous meeting nearly a month ago. He demanded an apology for being called "ignorant" by Foley at the last meeting. He didn't get one, and rightfully so. At that meeting he, Eric Bever and Gary Monahan displayed ignorance of family issues as they stubbornly voted in lock-step to chop family-oriented issues from the budget. I guess our young jailer/mayor (is he still a jailer?) has a heightened sensitivity to being called ignorant, for which I take some small degree of responsibility since I've reminded readers of his limited intellectual horsepower for several years. Since this was the first meeting which did not include the dinner part of the "dinner session", maybe Mansoor was just hungry. He really shouldn't miss any meals because his teeny brain needs all the nourishment it can get...

MONAHAN, THE MARTYR
As anticipated, Monahan again played the martyr, acknowledging that he knows he will get "beat up" for defending his position of nit-picking the little issues on the budget because the city is "in trouble". Well, duh, Gary - we all know that. Why didn't you spend your time massaging the big-ticket items in the budget? Maybe we should be asking the unions for a 6% pay cut instead of 5. Maybe he should be giving up his family health care plan - that would save a couple staff jobs. Oh, no.. he simply must use our current budget crisis to further oppress the less fortunate among us - those folks with brown skins. Honestly, I don't know how he faces those folks at church on Sunday...

SHOPPING CART ISSUE PASSED
The council decided to go along with the recommendation by staff regarding the shopping cart issue. Monahan recommended the threshold for the requirements be raised to 15 carts from 10. It will take several months to get the details sorted out and the store owners informed. Eventually, this plan will save the city $48,000 that it pays to have abandoned carts scooped up and returned to the proper stores. I wonder what it will cost us in goodwill with the stores in town, and how any potential merchants will feel about locating here with this measure in place. Oh, yes - the section of the ordinance giving the "developer majority" on the Planning Commission final say was included - lord help us all!

MASSAGE PARLOR MORATORIUM PASSED
The urgency ordinance requested by the Police Department to delay approvals of new permits and licenses for massage parlors and therapists was approved. Chief Shawkey told the council that he will use the 45 day moratorium to work with the City Attorney to craft tighter regulations for such businesses to help head off those that might be fronts for prostitution.

CONCERTS IN THE PARK RESTORED
Due to the efforts by Foley, Leece and others, the concerts in the park were restored. The Costa Mesa Community Foundation came up with $4300 and the Fire and Police unions donated $2500 each to help produce three concerts in the park. It is possible that a fourth concert will be salvaged if the community can come up with $1000 - Foley committed to contribute $500 of the $1500 necessary to produce that fourth concert. The council unanimously supported the restoration of the remaining concerts.

NEIGHBORS FOR NEIGHBORS, TOO
Leece moved that the Neighbors for Neighbors program be restored by using previously allocated funds from the Community Foundation. The vote was 4-1 in favor, with Monahan voting no.

MOBILE RECREATION PROGRAMS REJECTED - AGAIN
The Mobile Recreation Program was again rejected, despite the fact that the Costa Mesa Library Foundation and the School District both have participated in programs. Foley and Leece voted to reinstate it, but the three stooges on the council chose to take the short-sighted path and rejected it. Now the city will simply moth-ball the $82,000 vehicle and kiss off the opportunity to have a very positive impact on over 400 kids a month in our city.

TEEN AND YOUTH RECREATION PROGRAMS REJECTED - AGAIN
The Teen Program and the Youth Recreation programs were, once again, rejected by the men on the council. The council voted to receive and file the sister city and grad night programs, which means they remain unfunded in this year's budget.

IGNORANCE AND ELITISM
So, the men on the council demonstrated for their constituents one more time that they really have no clue when it comes to issues involving children and the importance of after school programs for them. Of course, we expect that kind of ignorance from Bever and Mansoor, since they have no kids that we know of. Monahan's insensitivity, however, is pure elitism - he can cover the cost of his children's private schools and all the after school amenities that goes with it by simply raising the price of a drink at his bar. The hardworking folks on the Westside that are the main beneficiaries of those chopped programs don't have that luxury. Monahan's "let them eat cake" attitude is disgusting, but not unexpected. I warned you about it last year during the campaign. Pay attention next time, will you please?

WHAT'S WITH BEVER?
By the way, is it my imagination or has Eric Bever decided to hibernate for the summer? His participation in the debates last night was nearly zero, and when he did speak he made no sense at all. If he plans to ride out the remainder of his term like this - basically phoning it in - perhaps someone should consider launching a recall effort so he can be replaced by someone who actually seems to be interested in city issues.

WENDY STANDS HER GROUND
And, finally, I must again commend Wendy Leece for standing up to the guys on the dais. She clearly has a much better grasp of family-oriented issues and, as an instructor at Juvenile Hall, she sees the end result of kids having little or no guidance and direction. I'm certainly not her biggest fan, but cannot help but admire her tenacity over the past couple months.

Strap Yourself In - It's Budget Time

Once again the Costa Mesa City Council made for interesting viewing last night.

BUDGET PRESENTED TO THE COUNCIL LAST NIGHT
City Manager Allan Roeder provided a confirmation of the budget schedule. He placed the budget into the council's hands at the end of the meeting. It will be available for review on the city web site by the end of the day today and in libraries and at City Hall for resident review by the end of the week.

STUDY SESSION ON JUNE 9TH
There will be a council study session at 4:30 on Tuesday, June 9th in Conference Room 1A, City Hall, at which time public comments will be gathered and the council will have a chance to be briefed on the budget. Roeder then told them that he will schedule an "adjourned" council meeting immediately thereafter so the council will have a method of giving the staff direction on the budget. Direction may not be provided during a study session.

PUBLIC WORKSHOP ON JUNE 11TH
There will be a public budget workshop on Thursday, June 11, but the time and venue have not been firmed up. In years past it was conducted in Conference Room 1A at City Hall.

FINAL BUDGET VOTE ON JUNE 16TH
The council will, hopefully, vote on the final budget at their meeting on June 16th. If they get hung up there will still be a couple weeks in which to work out the problems. (See Roeder comments below)

MANSOOR - INFLEXIBLE DENSENESS
Once again the proposals by the Fire Department for new revenue sources received rough treatment by some of the council members. Our young jailer (is he still a jailer?)/mayor, Allan Mansoor, demonstrated that he's more than willing to let the fiscal well-being of our city and residents take a back seat to his own personal political dogma. During the discussion of the EMS fees Mansoor demonstrated, once again, that he's about half-a-brain short! He seems perpetually unable to follow even the most slightly complex issue.

BEVER - A NEAR-TERM HERO
To the cheers of many residents, Eric Bever brought the EMS fee issue back to the council for re-consideration. After a lengthy discussion and input from many residents the council voted unanimously to overturn their last vote and reject the EMS fee plan. This means the city will now have to find ways to cut around $900,000 from the budget... We'll see how long Bever's halo continues to shine after the budget is finally approved.

RESOLUTION OPPOSING FAIRGROUNDS SALE
Near the end of the meeting Roeder presented a resolution opposing the sale of the Orange County Fair and Exposition Center property - something the governor has suggested, along with many other state properties, to balance the state budget. The Fairgrounds generates more than $185 million in revenue each year.

BUDGET PRESENTED IN PLAIN, WHITE WRAPPER
At the end of the meeting, just before 10 p.m., Roeder presented the proposed budget - significantly, in a plain, white cover this year - to the council and encouraged them to take their copies with them.

NEAR-SIGHTED COUNCIL HAS TROUBLE AHEAD
Keep in mind that, with the actions the council took tonight declining the proposals of the Fire Department for additional revenue sources, they effectively removed about $1.25 million from the budget. That means more cuts to balance the budget.

ROEDER SETS THE SCENE
I've been writing about this for months because I've spent a good deal of time talking with members of the Finance Department staff and others so I have had a pretty good idea of just how deep a hole our city is in. But don't believe me. Let me quote City Manager Allan Roeder as he closed his presentation of the budget to the council tonight. First he told them, "... we are going to have to make some decisions..." implying that they will be hard decisions.

ALL TAXES BARELY COVERS PUBLIC SAFETY
Roeder went on to say, "If you took all the property taxes this city collects it's less than half what it takes to fund just the police and fire. If we did nothing else in this city - no streets, no parks, no open space, no recreation - property tax alone would be less than half of what's required for police and fire alone. If you took all of your property tax and all of your sales tax it just barely covers those two departments. And those are the departments you task to protect people, to provide the very important emergency medical services we talked about this evening so those are not areas, I would submit to you, ah, that are good candidates for cutting back on what we just heard this evening are essential services."

DID YOU GET THAT?
Are you paying attention? I hope those statements got your attention, because that's what our elected leaders and the staff will be dealing with over the next two weeks. Roeder's not kidding around with this stuff. There will be no surgical trimming of the budget this year - it's meat cleaver time.

WE'VE ALREADY MADE DEEP CUTS
During council member comments, in response to a question by Katrina Foley about how much has already been cut out of the budget, Roeder told the council that, "...the plan that we brought to you on April 14th, the one that you approved, slightly less than 90% of the $19 million plus that must be reduced to balance the budget is all cuts." He went on to describe the other 10%, roughly $1 million in additional funding - grants and the like - that will contribute to balancing the budget. Again, in response to a question by Foley, he affirmed that this is in addition to nearly $8 million in cuts made at the mid-year budget review.

THIS COUNCIL LACKS FORESIGHT
This council has demonstrated an unwillingness to consider new funding sources as presented to them. It has chosen not to put the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) and the Business License fees on the ballot for voters to consider for possible increases. It perpetuated the RRIP program last year when it was clear that the city was heading for rough water budget-wise. That program has cost the city coffers well over $1 million over the past three years.

BLOODY BATTLES AHEAD
Neighbors, the next two weeks are probably going to be the bloodiest in recent memory. When the council votes for a new budget in two weeks there will be many, many unhappy people in our town. The employees will probably be the most unhappy because salaries and benefits are where we spend the bulk of our money - nearly 75% - so they are the logical places to look for cuts. Most residents have their own pet projects they don't want to see de-funded, but unless something magic happens over the next fortnight we will be seeing a much smaller city staff left to deal with our demands for services. It ain't going to be pretty.

BRING YOUR IDEAS
If you've got some great ideas for helping with the budget, get on the horn and call the city staff or a council member. Send them an email or letter or just hike over to City Hall and talk to someone. Attend the study session next Tuesday or the workshop on the 11th. Now's the time to donate your brain to this process because we obviously don't have enough grey matter on the dais to solve the problems.

DON'T TIGHTEN THAT BELT, EAT IT!
Some folks seem to think this year our city will be doing some serious belt-tightening. Actually, it's probably going to be more like boiling that belt so we'll have something to eat!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Your "New" Costa Mesa City Council!

ADIOS, LINDA, AND THANKS
Last night, after bidding departing council member Linda Dixon a fond adieu with a nice video tribute prepared by the city staff and accolades from Wendy Leece and Katrina Foley, the new City Council was sworn in and seated on the dais. Congratulations to Katrina, Eric Bever and Gary Monahan.

AT LEAST SHE'S THERE...
It will come as no surprise that Katrina Foley WAS NOT elected as Mayor. No chance of that happening with this council. At least they allowed her to remain on the dais and didn't force her to sit in the audience!



MANSOOR AND LEECE (SOUND FAMILIAR?)
Allan Mansoor was nominated by old newcomer Gary Monahan as Mayor, which was seconded by Wendy Leece. Mansoor was unanimously elected to a term which should take him to the end of tenure on the council in 2010. Mansoor then nominated Wendy Leece as Mayor Pro Tempore (seconded by Monahan after a pregnant pause) and she was also elected unanimously.

POLITICAL GAMES
So, we're right back where we were a couple years ago, with Wendy stuck to Mansoor's hip like a barnacle. And, we're all set up again for the old "dais shuffle" that Mansoor and Bever pulled a year ago when they swapped seats. Watch for Mansoor to give up his seat to Wendy again in about a year so she can run for re-election as "Mayor" - a huge leg up on the competition. Ah, the political games we play in good old Costa Mesa.

MR. U. KNOW-WHO RANTS
One amusing sidebar did occur during public comments. A local activist - Mr. U. Know-Who - seemed to almost blow a gasket as he instructed the council on their responsibilities regarding the two school foundations. He accused the foundations of violating their agreements with the city and violating the law. I thought the poor, deluded man was going to stroke out right there at the speaker's podium.

BERRY BLATHER
Bever's campaign chairperson, the perky Judi Berry, instructed the council that they need to think about cutting salaries or staff to balance the budget and included an illegible graph as part of her presentation. She was followed to the podium by her husband, Mike, who continued the script with his own rant. What a team!

DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON THEM
I'm apprehensive about what to expect from this council. They've been described in some venues as the most conservative council in recent memory. I think that's probably accurate. I suspect we'll see some moves to restrict individual freedoms from this group and will almost certainly result in further legal challenges as the next couple years pass. History shows us how they vote on many issues. Mansoor and Leece, in particular, seem determined to overlay their extreme right-wing views on our community. This does not bode well for our city, and the Latino population and those entities that provide a support system for them, in particular. This group is still smarting from the whole "Benito Acosta" affair (Monahan mentioned it during campaign forums) and will likely look for opportunities to strike back.

ENJOY THE BREAK
We now have a month to gather our thoughts, celebrate the holidays and try to figure out just what to do with the budget come January. Comments from residents last night implied that everything should be on the table - even staff cuts. Funny, I didn't hear any of the council members volunteer to work for a dollar a year until the crisis is over - maybe that will come in January (he says, stifling a snicker).

The Home Stretch!

MY MAILBOX OVERFLOWS WITH CAMPAIGN EFFLUENT
With the elections only a couple days away and the finish line in sight, not much that happens regarding the local campaigns surprises me. My mail box continues to overflow with the effluent of political campaigns, each one more blatant than the last, extolling the virtues of one or more candidates, trying to convince undecided voters that their guy (or gal) is the best, hands down.

I HATE POLITICS
I really do hate politics because of what it does to people during campaigns - which sometimes begin immediately after they are elected the first time. It makes some of them even more brazen than they've been in the past. Minor character flaws seem to get amplified, much like the old Steve McQueen horror movie, "The Blob". Their audacity just seems to grow and grow and grow until it threatens to envelope everyone and everything around it.

WHENCE THE "GOOD OLD DAYS"?
I don't much like what it does to me, either. Sometimes I long for the good old days - those nearly three decades when we first lived in Costa Mesa and paid only peripheral attention to local politics. I just knew that we were in good hands - or so I assumed. Unless someone tried to take my home via eminent domain or the public safety folks failed to respond, I thought things were just dandy. I suspect I was not unlike most folks, even today.

I BEGAN PAYING ATTENTION
However, at the beginning of this decade I began paying attention and, much to my chagrin, found many things that seemed curious - including some of the folks that were running for office. So, I began paying attention more closely and began writing letters to the editor when I thought something was particularly strange. That's how this whole "blog" thing began - with letters to the editor.

MY VIEWS PUBLISHED
Cut to this year. We have a very, very interesting race for the Costa Mesa City Council this time around. I've discussed this previously several times. I formed opinions about all the nine candidates and recently wrote a letter to the editor to the Daily Pilot providing my views and choices for this election - nearly 1500 words worth of opinion - and the editors published it last week. I'm always very grateful when the editors of the Daily Pilot deem anything I submit worthy of publication. Sometimes they will eviscerate my submissions - this time they published every word and made it better, to boot. That letter is HERE.

FULL "MAILBAG" TODAY
Sunday they published eight letters in their Mailbag section, including a couple that addressed the local city council race, one of which was directed specifically at me. That entire section may be read HERE.

"IMPROVER" DUO PENS RETORT
The letter in question was penned by long-time residents and Westside "improvers", Kathleen and Christian Eric. Both are lovely people. Chris has lived in this city all his life. Both have been leaders in the self-named "improvers" group that has taken over our city government this decade.

CITY TAKE-OVER BY SELF-NAMED "IMPROVERS"
They, the "improvers", have boasted about getting their candidates elected to the city council, including current members Allan Mansoor, Wendy Leece and the incumbent mayor Eric Bever. They neglect to tell their readers about their first "victory" - the perpetually inept Chris Steel. Old Chris - I can call him that because he's my age - ran unsuccessfully for city council nine, count 'em, nine times before the angry knot of "improvers" snatched him up and made him their candidate. While no evidence exists to prove it, many suspect bullet voting achieved what the wisdom of nine previous electorates had fought off - Steel was elected.

STEEL'S TERM A DISASTER - ALMOST
His term was a disaster. He demonstrated the wisdom of those previous electorates when he showed up at council meetings completely unprepared for the agenda items. Not only was he a clumsy politician, he was incompetent, too. However, he did do one thing right - he turned his back on one of his biggest supporters - the racist who authors the CM Press blog. That move got him "un-elected" the next time around - a fact that the aforementioned author gloats about frequently. More on him later...

$7,000 STILL UNRESOLVED - WHY?
In their letter the Erics take me to task for supporting Katrina Foley, Jim Righeimer and Bill Sneen for the three open seats this year. The focus of their rant is to bolster support for Bever and twelve-term councilman Gary Monahan. I've explained at length here and in my Daily Pilot commentary just why I think neither of these men should be returned to the dais. In Monahan's case, that decision became even stronger recently when the story of his apparently mis-applied $7,000 consulting fee ended up as a line item on his Form 460, Campaign Contributions list. That story has still not been satisfactorily resolved.

MONAHAN IS IN IT FOR HIMSELF - PERIOD!
The Erics paint a word-picture of Bever and Monahan that would have the readers believe those men can actually walk on water. Nothing could be further from the truth. Monahan has evolved from an unskilled, politically inept neophyte when first elected 14 years ago into a cunning, conniving political operator who is in it for what he, personally, can get out of it. The $7,000 fiasco is a perfect example. When termed out of the city council two years ago he successfully ran for a seat on the Costa Mesa Sanitary District Board and immediately initiated a move to give that board a pay raise. A year ago, when it looked like he might be angling for a way to get back to the municipal trough again, he stood before the city council as a private citizen and lobbied long, loud and hard for the issue of a directly-elected mayor to be placed on this ballot we face in two days. Although that move was vigorously supported by then-mayor Allan Mansoor, the council chose not to present the issue to the voters. Monahan's plan would not have placed the directly-elected mayor under any kind of a term-limits rule - I assume he viewed himself as "mayor for life". Monahan has worn out his welcome and should not be considered again this time around. He's in it for himself, not for the city.

BUFFOON IN MAYOR'S CLOTHING
Bever has demonstrated time after time that he's a frustrated stand-up comedian. He has played fast and loose with the rules of conduct imposed by the Brown Act - passing notes around on the dais to influence votes, for example. He is arrogant almost beyond belief, as witnessed by his flagrant disregard of public opinion when he didn't show up for the Daily Pilot interviews of the candidates - the only one who didn't show up - and failed to make the final two candidate forums. He continues to feel he is above the law by displaying illegal campaign banners throughout the city, refusing to remove them when contacted by the city code enforcement officials. The rules apparently are for someone else.

SHOVING THE MINORITY ASIDE
The arrogant Bever and his "improver cohorts", Mansoor and Leece, have overtly taken steps to marginalize the voices and opinions of both Katrina Foley and Linda Dixon - the two highest vote-getters four years ago. They not only consistently ignore them, they voted to physically shove them off to the side so they don't even have to look their way during debates of issues.

"LIVELY"? - PUH-LEEZE!
The Erics frame the resultant frequent rancorous discussions as "lively". Give me a break!

WHY DID THEY IGNORE RIGHEIMER?
I found it very interesting the Erics failed to mention Jim Righeimer's name at all in their little rant. Righeimer, Bever and Monahan are running as a de facto slate this time around, with many, if not most, of the heavy hitter endorsers supporting all three of them. I wonder why that Kathleen and Chris ignored him?

MR. U. KNOW-WHO IS BACK
I also must mention that another letter among the eight in the Mailbag was apparently penned by that self-same author of the CM Press - one M. H. Millard. Yes, old Mensa Marty once again appears on the pages of the Daily Pilot and, once again, rips his comments directly from the pages of his blog.

MENSA MARTY SAYS "ANYONE BUT FOLEY"
Old Marty makes no bones about his choices this year - he recently posted a blog entry that said, basically, "anyone but Foley", who he has ridiculed and denigrated non-stop since she was elected four years ago. Old Marty is an influential guy here in town. He was again named to the Daily Pilot's DP 103 - number 93 this time as he slides down the list and, hopefully, into oblivion next year. It's too bad the editors of the Daily Pilot didn't include the caveat that nominees for it's list must be a "positive influence", instead of simply "influential". It's truly sad that so many of our local elected and appointed politicians take their marching orders from a nationally notorious White Supremacist - a man who uses the fact that the former head of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke, considers him "one of the most brilliant writers and analysts in the European American civil rights movement" to market his pathetic books.

THE FEAR-MONGERER
Old Marty continues to try to scare the voters by using falsehoods, fabrications and flat-out lies in his publications and public pronouncements. Unfortunately, some folks will believe him - he's a persuasive guy - until you understand his underlying motivation, that is.

MY CHOICES - FOLEY, RIGHEIMER AND SNEEN
So, dear friends, I will tell you one more time. I voted for Katrina Foley, Jim Righeimer and Bill Sneen because, as I've said in the past, I think the combination of skills, experience, and leadership they individually and collectively bring to the dais may go a long way to moderate the divisiveness and rancor that has existed over the past few years. The challenges that face Costa Mesa in the near future will require a city council that can set aside individual bias and make decisions that serve all the stakeholders - residents, business owners and visitors, alike. I think Foley, Righeimer and Sneen can be the nucleus of that team.