MORE INFO ON THE FAIRGROUNDS SALEW
ell, the dust is beginning to settle after the late (early?) meeting of the
Orange County Fairgrounds Authority Tuesday night - actually, 12:10 Wednesday morning - and some subsequent information makes this whole process even more fascinating.
MICKADEIT - "DEAL DONE IN A BAR"
For example, Orange County Register columnist
Frank Mickadeit tells us in his column,
HERE, that the deal was dead until
Gary Monahan resurrected it on cocktail napkins at his gin mill late Friday night. His account of this event is very interesting.
KUDOS TO MONAHANBefore going further I must com
mend Monahan for his role in salvaging the deal, both Friday evening and during a marathon session on Saturday. That, plus his matter-of-fact comments in the proceedings Tuesday night, probably kept it from going down in flames. He correctly pointed out, after much rancorous discussion, that we didn't really have a choice. Only by approving the deal with
Facilities Management West would the City avoid having absolutely no influence on the future of the Fairgrounds. If the State, as it threatened, did put the property back on the market Wednesday it would likely be lost forever. And, as Monahan quietly alluded to, there was the chance that the State w
ould simply lease the property, voiding the impact of Measure "C" and permitting an unlimited variety of uses.
THE LISTEarly in the discussion Monahan provided seven bullet points - a list of benefits to the city that this deal represents:
1 - Maintains control of the property's use.
2 - It receives a steady income from the property.
3 - We're not investing City tax dollars for the purchase of the property or for operations of the property.
4 - Unfettered ownership of the property when the lease terminates.
5 - Protects the community uses on the property as well as the annual fair.
6 - Benefits from protection from damages and liabilities.
7 - Has the opportunity to receive big ground lease payments once the state loan is repaid.
SPEAKERS STILL NOT HAPPYClea
rly, many speakers Tuesday night, among them former Mayor
Sandra Genis, were unhappy - that's no surprise. Each of them had a passionate interest in keeping the Fairgrounds as-is. I understand their angst. However, this deal is much, much better than they could have expected under almost any other scenario. I hope, as time passes, they will begin to see that more clearly.
NO TRANSPARENCYThe trail of speakers on this issue during public comments made it clear that few were happy with the deal as they understood it. I phrase it that way because there was much confusion about just which version of the deal we were addressing at this point. Many of them thought this was a bad deal, that lacked transparency as it progressed and without any kind of guarantees for transparency in the future. They're not wrong...
PAINFUL ETCHINGB
urned in my brain is the exchange Tuesday night between OCFA Chairman
Allan Mansoor and of the Facilities Management West team. I think a peek at the streaming video of the proceedings,
HERE, will help you understand just how that went. Drag the timer bar over to 39:50 if you're in a hurry. That's the point where Mansoor begins his inquisition of Facilities Management West partner,
Richard Dick, who was speaking in the absence of their normal negotiator,
Guy Lemmon. Mansoor posed to Dick an issue that, in Mansoor's words, was "
a deal breaker"... he told Dick that "
it's my understanding some of the attorneys from Facilities Management West were, um, and t
his is what I've been told, I was not there, were considerably less than respectful to some of our city staff." He went on to express more concern about the alleged disrespectful treatment of the Costa Mesa team and stated, "
that troubles me more than some of these details that are in this written agreement." waving the papers in the air. Oh, really, Allan? Is that right? You care more about some hurt feelings than a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the city with a life span of more than a half-century? Are you really that obtuse? Guess so, because he persisted.
PRODUCT SPONSORSHIPMansoor then went on to qu
estion Dick about the product sponsorship segment of the MOU, observing that there is a cap on the amount the OCFA would receive. Of course, this issue had been hammered out over long, long meetings by teams of negotiators. It sure looked like Mansoor was attempting to modify the agreement that had already been approved by the City team and Facilities Management West. Dick attempted to give a little history and pointed out that the issue Mansoor was raising was just part of the approximately $300 million in net income to the city under the deal. Mansoor persisted, asking if there was a reason it couldn't be a percentage. Dick responded by saying, "
Excuse me, but I didn't think we were coming here this evening to negotiate." Mansoor persisted and Dick said, "
I didn't think we were in a negotiating position on rent."
TAG TEAM MATCH - FAIT/DICK VS. MANSOORThis
is where it got to be fun. At that point, around 46:45 on the counter,
Kenneth Fait, head honcho of Facilities Management West, came to the podium - apparently tired of seeing his guy getting pilloried by Mansoor - and tried to calm the issue down. He apologized for any incivility by his team. He emphasized that "
Sir, we're going to be in it forever, and how that works out - we better get along." Mansoor persisted, pointing out to Fait the difference between "
hard, aggressive negotiating and unprofessional actions". In response to that Fait said, "
I apologize, but we've offered you the max rent and I'm not going to offer you a penny more." He pointed out that it represents about $371 million "
coming down the pike here." Mansoor persisted, indicating that he just wanted to know why there's a cap. Fait explained that, "
If it's just money you want, we've offered you the max that we're going to offer." Mansoor said, "
I appreciate that, but it really doesn't answer my question, simply a question of why there's a cap." Before Mansoor could finish that stateme
nt Fait said, "
Because I want all the profit beyond that! It's very simple - I want all the money beyond that. It's really simple - that's mine! I've offered you what you're gonna get. That's a good working relationship. You know, I'm a private entrepreneur, I hope to make more than the money I'm paying you." He and Dick then left the podium and took a seat in the audience.
WAS THE DEAL BLOWN?At that mo
ment many of us watching the proceedings thought that Mansoor, in his ignorant, clumsy way, had blown the deal that had taken hundreds of hours of negotiation to bring to this point. With his apparent complete lack of grasp of business dealings and negotiations - probably due to spending 16 years in the black and white world of a jailer - he was going to destroy all the efforts of our negotiating team. In a headline in my previous post I asked, "Is he that stupid?" Here was your answer - Yes, he is.
CALMER HEADS PREVAILEDFortunately, calmer heads prevailed. Fait and
his team didn't do what some of us might have done - tell Mansoor to take the deal and shove it where the sun don't shine - and, after long and contentious discussions, the deal was finally approved by the OCFA Board, 4-1.
Katrina Foley, to the surprise of a few observers, voted "No" on the deal.
WOULD THEY TRY THIS AGAIN?I
doubt if any of the participants would choose to try to put together a deal of this complexity in such a short time if the State had not held a gun to our heads all the way. And yet, they managed to do it. Good for them.
LATINO CAUCUS LURKING?Now the details must be hammered out and the State must do
it's part - that's no slam dunk, either. Our "amigos" in the Latino caucus are lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to stick a knife in the jugular of this deal by not passing the required legislation. We can only hope that they won't hold the political posturing of our mayor with his "Rule of Law City" resolution against the entire city and block the sale for spite. We hope they are bigger than that. Time will tell.
NINETY DAYS OF PINS AND NEEDLESSo, we now move forward toward a probable
September 30th closing date for the escrow with fingers tightly crossed that nothing else will occur to quash the sale.
MANSOOR ILL-EQUIPPED AND UNWORTHYOne thing became crystal clear Tuesday night - Allan Mansoor has demo
nstrated, one more time, just how ill-equipped he is for higher office. While watching him Tuesday night it was obvious why he was not one of the members of the negotiating team. His limited intellect, lack of formal education and narrow life experiences have left him unprepared for a role in this kind of activity. No matter how hard he prays, no amount of divine intervention is going to change that. As we approach the November elections I'll remind you of just what a short-sighted, ignorant, political opportunist he is and how unworthy he is for your consideration for the Assembly seat he's seeking. History shows us that he will provide us with plenty of opportunities to point out his shortcomings between now and November.
Labels: Allan Mansoor, Facilities Management West, Fairgrounds Sale, Frank Mickadeit, Gary Monahan, Guy Lemmon, Katrina Foley, Ken Fait, Orange County Fairgrounds Authority, Richard Dick, Sandra Genis
Yesterday, while Richard Dick stood before the City Council to tell them of the evils of Jose Solorio's AB35, another part of the Facilities Management West team was dispatched to Sacramento to speak before the Assembly Appropriations Committee about the bill. Their PR folks were kind enough to send me a link to the text of the presentation their spokesman, Guy Lemmon, was planning to make before that committee Wednesday. You can read it in its entirety HERE.
sing AB35 and supporting the purchase of the Orange County Fair and Event Center by Facilities Management West. That letter, and his response to the criticism Tuesday evening, made it clear that he's a big supporter of Facilities Management West's bid. You can find his letter HERE.
"We have recently distributed a letter to the committee regarding our opposition to AB35, the measure before you today. Our letter lays out in some detail the history of the transaction, and how the sale authorized by the state contains benefits far more lucrative and beneficial than what is vaguely promised in AB35. 
based on Monahan's letter, officially opposes AB35 - which is absolutely not true. There has been NO official position taken on that bill in open meetings. However, the way this council operates, there may have been discussions in closed session and decisions made, but the law requires that such official positions be made in open session. No discussion of this issue has taken place and no vote of the council instructing Monahan, as mayor, to relay an official position has been taken.
We are left with a couple conclusions to draw from this situation. First, Monahan went rogue - off on his own, without consultation or acquiescence of the majority on the council - and sent his letter to Sacramento. Or, second, his letter DOES represent the position of the majority on the City Council, but that it was arrived at secretly, in violation of The Brown Act. I see no other alternatives.
Late today Solorio's bill passed the Appropriations Committee on a 10-2 vote. Read about it HERE.
