And Now A Few Thoughts About Jim Righeimer

 FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
We're a few months into the new council terms and there are a few things on my mind that just need to be said.

POWER SHIFT ON THE DAIS
The balance of power has shifted from one controlled with a dictatorial hand by Jim Righeimer over the past half-dozen years, where anti-employee initiatives, developer-friendly ordinances and personal political considerations drove the decisions made by the City Council to one where a more reasonable form of governance has taken over.

RIGHEIMER'S CABAL
Righeimer and his buddy, Steve Mensinger - unceremoniously dumped by the electorate last November - formed the core of that manipulative cabal.  They were supported by Eric Bever, then the lamest of lame ducks, Gary Monahan, in their quest to reinvent city government - to try to operate it like a business.  This resulted in some epic failures and have cost the city in millions of legal expenses and settlements.  And now there is Allan Mansoor - again.

MANSOOR HAS NO SKILLS
Mansoor has demonstrated - both during his previous tour on the City Council and as an Assemblyman - that he is an incompetent, completely ineffective politician.  He lacks the ability to articulate complex issues and build a consensus.  He is personally responsible for Righeimer's existence in Costa Mesa politics.

RIGHEIMER - THE WORST THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO OUR CITY
Righeimer has proven to be a cunning, conniving, political weasel and, in my humble opinion, is the single worst thing to happen to this city over the more than four decades I’ve lived here.  He waltzed into town more than a decade ago and was immediately placed on the Planning Commission by Mansoor, in what certainly looked like political payback for his and Dana Rohrabacher’s support in the 2006 election.  Since that time he has run roughshod over the rules of procedure, attempted to remake City Government with two failed charter attempts, gutted the finest police department in the county in a fit of anti-police malice and made our city less safe by putting potholes ahead of public safety.  The list of his missteps goes on and on.  With an unbreakable majority that included Mensinger and Monahan they sold out our town to developers and sober living interests.  Their actions have depleted our self-insurance fund due to the numerous lawsuits they’ve evoked.  They turned City Hall into a toxic work environment.  Righeimer’s actions resulted in poor Huy Pham leaping to his death as more than 200 illegal layoff notices were distributed. Former Interim Police Chief (twice) Steve Staveley, in his letter to the staff upon his departure, described the Righeimer-led council as, “..incompetent, unskilled and unethical.”  As it turned out, he was being much too kind to them.  The list of Righeimer’s misdeeds goes on and on...

STEALING THE PROCESS - DISENFRANCHISING LATINOS
Righeimer’s legacy will include all of the above, but the worst may be his hijacking of the process of turning Costa Mesa into a vote-by-district city.  The original legal challenge that caused that process to be put into motion was supposed to result in a greater opportunity for political representation of the Latino community that makes up roughly 37% of our population.  That could have happened with a 5-district configuration, with one of them being predominantly Latino.  At the last second Righeimer commandeered the process and inserted a 6-district plus directly-elected mayor scheme onto the ballot.  I attended all the public meetings on this issue and not a single person - not one - expressed a favorable view of that particular configuration.  Righeimer demanded that the consultant demographer include that configuration in the deliberations, then forced it onto the ballot.  I will forever regret not writing an opposing ballot discussion - nobody did.  The result of that theft will be that the Latino population of this city will have a much-diminished opportunity for representation from within their community than with the 5-district option.  Watch for Righeimer to try to manipulate the process of the integration of the new district voting scheme at the election two years from now.  It will take two election cycles to fully integrate the new system.  And, of course, Righeimer will be termed-out of his council seat in 2018, just in time to run for directly-elected mayor.  What a coincidence.

CURIOUS COINCIDENCE
Speaking of coincidences, with the influx of developer and sober living money into our city over the past several years, I find it noteworthy that both Righeimer and Mensinger have decided to completely remodel/rebuild their country club mansions.  It’s particularly interesting since Mensinger was out of work for a couple years recently.  I’m not trying to tie them to any kind of corruption - just observing the curious coincidence.  You can weigh that for what it’s worth.

KEEP YOUR EYE ON HIM
I'm confident the new council majority will return the city to a more appropriate direction and undo some of the more onerous effects of the Righeimer Regime.  I caution you all to keep on an eye on him as he jockeys for position for a run for that directly-elected mayor position that will become available next year.  He's a hack politician out for whatever is in it for him, with a demonstrable hatred for public employees and is not a factor for good in Costa Mesa.  Just assume that every time he opens his mouth a lie is about to be heard.

A Small Crowd Remembers Huy Pham's Death

REMEMBERING HUY PHAM
Friday night, on the 6th anniversary of Huy Pham's tragic death at City Hall, a small group of friends, co-workers and activists met on the east side of of the building near the employee entrance where Pham died to spend a couple hours remembering that young man whose life was cut short.

FEW MANAGERS ATTENDED
Fire Chief Dan Stefano and Public Services Director Raja Sethuraman were among the city management team in attendance.

GENIS WAS THERE
Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Genis attended and mingled with the small crowd, sharing stories of the event and other events since that day.

NAGHAVI ATTENDED
Former Public Services Director and Deputy Chief Executive Officer Peter Naghavi also remembered this day and attended, bringing flowers and lighting a candle in Pham's memory.

EGANS AND LEFFLER
Others included former Planning Commissioner and member of the city legal team, Eleanor Egan, and her husband, Tom - a former member of the Newport Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees.  Robin Leffler, President of Costa Mesan's For Responsible Government, the group that helped sponsor this event, also attended.

HELEN NENADAL
Former Maintenance Supervisor Helen Nenadal, who spent the past few years as an employee as the President of the Costa Mesa City Employees Association (CMCEA) before retiring the end of 2013, attended and shared wonderful memories of her time working with the City and of Huy Pham.  You can read what I wrote about her retirement HERE.  She's shown here with Naghavi and others.

VISITING THE TREE
At one point several of the attendees walked around to the west side of the building to visit the tree that was planted in the lawn there in Pham's memory a year after his death.  Some wondered why no plaque has been placed to memorialize his passing.  Seems like a very good question.

FEW STAFFERS TOOK THE TIME
By the time I left just before 6:00 p.m. the crowd had thinned.  It was interesting to note that, with the exception of those mentioned and shown in the photos, few staffers nor managers even slowed as they passed the makeshift memorial site.  Of course, so few of the existing staff were onboard at that time that I suppose this lack of interest is understandable.  It was sad that not a single member of the City Manager's staff made an appearance by the time I left.

A WATERSHED MOMENT RECALLED
It's a shame that more folks didn't make it to this small remembrance.  Huy Pham's tragic leap to his death on that date was, in my opinion, a watershed moment in Costa Mesa's history.  It marked the downhill slide orchestrated by Jim Righeimer, Steve Mensinger and with a willing accomplice in Gary Monahan - who likely spent last night the same way he spent St. Patrick's Day six years ago - pouring beer for celebrants in his gin mill.

WE WILL BE BACK...
Because of the importance of this sad event, there will be more than a few of us who will NOT let the City forget it.  We'll be back...

Huy Pham Will Be Remembered Again Today

"GET TO CITY HALL, NOW!"
Six years ago today, at approximately 3 p.m., I received an urgent telephone call from a friend who works at the Costa Mesa City Hall telling me to drop whatever I was doing, grab my camera and get to City Hall - NOW!  No further explanation, just the repeated instruction to get to City Hall immediately.  Well, I trust this friend, so I did, indeed, stop what I was doing, grab my camera and drove a little too quickly to the Costa Mesa City Hall.

CLEAR SIGNS OF TROUBLE
When I turned into the parking lot off Fair Drive I immediately saw emergency trucks parked near the employee entrance on the east side of the building, with yellow Caution tape strung around.  I knew something was seriously wrong.

NAGHAVI'S GRIEF
As I parked my car I saw Public Services Director Peter Naghavi, obviously very distraught, briskly walking toward that site.  I later took a photo of him sitting on a curb in the parking lot, sobbing.

LEARNING OF PHAM'S DEATH
As I worked my way around the side of the building I encountered folks who told me what happened.  Huy Pham, a then 29-year old maintenance worker who had been out on a medical leave due to a non-work related injury, was one of the more than 200 employees who were to receive layoff notices that day.  He apparently got the word unofficially, came to City Hall, went to the roof of the building and leaped to his death.

IMAGES BURNED IN MY BRAIN
As news vans packed the parking lot and their helicopters circled overhead, memories of that day will never leave me.  Even though the images I captured that day clearly show the drama of that incident, those I did NOT record remain burned in my memory - I suspect I will never forget them.... Like new City Manager Tom Hatch being consoled by Pastor Mike Decker... Like Transportation Manager Raja Sethuraman restraining Pham's supervisor as he moved to confront Jim Righeimer - the man who will carry Pham's blood on his soul forever...  Like my brief conversation with then-interim Police Chief Steve Staveley, who began his second tour in that role just two days earlier... And the tears - so many tears on the cheeks of employees as they heard about this tragedy and came downstairs to console one another.

MONAHAN'S WORST MOMENT - OF MANY
I've written about this day many times, and always on the anniversary - St. Patrick's Day.  The fact that it occurred on that holiday is relevant because, upon hearing the tragic news then-Mayor Gary Monahan, instead of dropping what he was doing and going to City Hall to help manage the situation and console distraught employees, he chose to remain in his little kilt at his gin mill and pull beer taps, selling green beer and having a good old time.  He told one reporter at the time that it was, "the biggest day of my life".  I was disgusted then and remain so to this day.  That event, and more that would follow, demonstrated what a poor excuse for a human being Monahan is, and that he was unworthy of the trust placed in him by the electorate.

WORST DAY - BEGINNING OF AN ERA
Last year I wrote about this tragedy HERE.  Please take the time to read that entry and follow the links embedded in it to other entries I've written.  This event marked one of the worst days in the history of our city.  It marked what can be considered the beginning of the Jim Righeimer era in our town - when his flawed vision for the city and his ham-handed ways about trying to achieve his objectives have left an indelible scar on our city that will last forever.

LAYOFF NOTICES RESCINDED AFTER COSTLY LAWSUIT
The layoff notices issued that day, which precipitated Pham's death, proved to be illegal after a long and costly court battle and were rescinded.

DESTRUCTION OF THE CMPD
A few months later Righeimer led the march to disband the ABLE Helicopter program - the benchmark by which other municipal airborne law enforcement programs had been measured.  He had already instructed Staveley that the staffing level for the CMPD was too high and imposed an artificially-contrived number that gutted the department.  That, combined with the bogus lawsuit filed by Righeimer and councilman Steve Mensinger against the men and women of the CMPD, created such a toxic environment that more than 50 experienced officers either retired early or left for other jurisdictions, creating a vacancy issue that we still deal with today.  Righeimer refused to let then-Chief Tom Gazsi begin recruiting efforts to fill those vacancies for nearly a year.  Incidentally, Gazsi is among those who have moved on - retiring from the CMPD to become the Chief of the Los Angeles Port Police.  According to current Police Chief Rob Sharpnack, if we have no further drop-outs it will still take until the end of 2018 to fully staff the department - and that's at the artificially-created lower staffing level.  And the crime statistics rise.

STAVELEY WAS CORRECT
In June of that year, 2011, Staveley - a law enforcement leader of national renown who brought stable, skilled leadership to the CMPD twice when it was so necessary - abruptly resigned.  In his wake he left behind a long letter outlining his thoughts.  With his permission I reproduced it verbatim in an entry, HERE.   His criticism of the city elected leaders was spot-on, which has been validated in the years that have passed since that date.

DEMONSTRATIONS
In the days and weeks following Pham's death we saw many demonstrations at City Hall.  There was a formal remembrance of his passing, with his family present.  On a rainy day more than 100 individuals circled City Hall under umbrellas for a prayer vigil in his honor, HERE.  A year later a tree was later planted on the opposite side of the building in Pham's memory.

ATTEMPTS TO DESTROY HIS IMAGE
In the wake of Pham's passing there was a focused effort to sully his image by claiming he was some kind of drug-addled doper - a falsehood spread far and wide on social media by sycophants of those in power.  Pham apparently was taking pain medication for his injured foot.  That campaign demonstrated the lengths some folks will go to in order to destroy a reputation.  Shame on them!

NO CELEBRATING FOR ME
So, today I will not be celebrating St. Patrick's Day the way most will do - by joyfully wearing green and slugging down too may beers to mark the day.  I will not be going to Monahan's pub, although I won't be surprised if some folks visit to remind him of this day.  The CMPD is joining many other law enforcement agencies by enhancing patrols, to try to keep the roadways safe from drunk drivers.

A SMALL REMEMBRANCE TODAY
No, this afternoon I will join others who remember that day as we pay our respects to the memory of Huy Pham at the site where he died, in the parking lot on the east side of City Hall, near the employee entrance.  From 4-6 p.m. folks will gather to respectfully remember that young man and his life cut short by circumstances that should not have happened.

I WON'T FORGET...
And I will NEVER forget nor forgive the circumstances that created that tragedy and the people responsible.  Rest in Peace, Huy Pham...

Ketchum And Libolt Remembered

 HEROES TO BE HONORED
Tomorrow, Friday, March 10, 2017, is the 30th anniversary of the day Costa Mesa Police Officers James "Dave" Ketchum and John "Mike" Libolt died in a helicopter crash with a Newport Beach helicopter that took their lives.  This event will be recalled in a private memorial service at the Costa Mesa Police Headquarters beginning at 11:00.

INVITEES ONLY
It was my plan to attend this event and report to you about it, just as I did five years ago when a similar event was held.  You can read about that event in my entry HERE.  Please follow the links in that entry for more information about the crash.  At the time Police Chief Tom Gazsi - since retired from the CMPD and currently the Chief of the Los Angeles Port Police - was the Master of Ceremonies.  It's unclear whether Gazsi has been invited to attend the event tomorrow.  Unfortunately, I'm informed that the public is NOT welcome at this event - that it is reserved for invited retired officers and other guests - so we will have to see what kind of local media coverage is provided.

ABLE FORMED - AND THEN DUMPED
This tragic crash was a cornerstone for the subsequent creation of the ABLE Helicopter Program - a joint venture between Costa Mesa and Newport Beach in which helicopter services were shared beginning in 1996.  The City of Santa Ana was also a participant, paying a fee to the Joint Venture for Helicopter Support.  Unfortunately, in 2011 then-councilmen Gary Monahan and Jim Righeimer recommended that the ABLE Program be disbanded - and it was.  In fact, so thoroughly was the dissolution of the ABLE Program that it's nearly impossible to find a single reference to the program in the City archives.  One item is available - a report on the dissolution of the program, HERE.

A PARK NAMED IN THEIR HONOR
As most know, a municipal park has been named for Ketchum and Libolt as a permanent remembrance of their bravery and sacrifice for the residents of this city. The park, at 2150 Maple Avenue, was dedicated on November 21, 2003.

A MOMENT OF REMEMBRANCE
So, wherever you are, I hope you will join me in a moment of silence at 11:00 a.m. Friday, March 10, 2017, in remembrance of two brave Costa Mesa Police Officers - Dave Ketchum and Mike Libolt.