DESIGNATED FANNY-SMOOCHER SPEAKS OUT

Lawyer and Planning Commissioner
Tim Sesler - apparently it was his turn in the rotation to defend the current power elite - published a commentary in the Daily Pilot a couple days ago,
HERE, in which he apparently takes exception to a comment I wrote as part of an obscure Facebook thread a few weeks ago in which I described Mayor
Jim Righeimer as being reminiscent to another "
strutting dictator" in World War II Germany. Maybe I selected the wrong dictator - you pick one...
THE "OFFENSE (S)"

During the City Council meeting on April 15th Righeimer freaked out, reading part - but not all - of the comment in question and demanded an apology not only from me for my "heinous" crime, but from the four people who had the audacity and bad taste to "
like" the comment, too. I wrote about it early the next morning,
HERE.
MORE STUFF...

The Daily Pilot also wrote about it on April 16th, and included a video clip of Righeimer's rant,
HERE. And, on April 23rd, the Daily Pilot published a commentary I submitted explaining that I have no intention of apologizing for the comment,
HERE.
YEAH, WE KNOW, TIM...

This brings us back to Sesler's commentary, which, by the way, never does mention me by name, although it is very clear who he means.
MADE ME SMILE

I was amused as I read Sesler's tirade, which criticizes me for comparing his benefactor, Righeimer, to a dictator while, simultaneously, comparing me to
Joe McCarthy.
A LOAD OF MANURE!

Sesler postulates that "
the average resident" perceives Righeimer as doing "
a Herculean job of bringing Costa Mesa back from the precipice of financial disaster." Of course, in keeping with the Augean Stables metaphor,
HERE, that's about as big a load of manure as one might attempt to pile on the pages of the Daily Pilot.
CHANTING THE MANTRA

Sesler chants the party line about "
burning through millions of precious reserves", completely ignoring the fact that those reserves were there specifically for that purpose - to get us through tough times. The economic downturn the end of the last decade, which was reflected in Costa Mesa by the precipitous drop in Sales Tax Revenues, was a calamity - but Righeimer didn't "
fix it" - the rebounding economy did.
LAWYER'S RETIREMENT PLAN

What Righeimer did do, however, was create a huge retirement nest egg for several law firms by incurring significant legal bills for the city in amounts heretofore unseen in City history. Perhaps that's why lawyer Sesler was so quick to be at the front of the line for fanny-smooching with his commentary. Certainly, based on the comment thread attached to it - more than 50 as I write this and climbing - he's had to elbow his way past several other sycophants for that privilege. They're left to further obfuscate in that thread.
CREDIT WHERE NONE IS DUE

Sesler raves about the wonderful job Righeimer, the dictator, has done paving our roads, but conveniently neglects to mention that the paving in question was already in the pipeline before he took office.
THE "RESERVES" MYTH

He touts that the mayor is responsible for "
rebuilding our rainy day reserves", but neglects to mention that those dollars came at the cost of reduced staffing levels throughout the City, mainly from Public Safety positions. The mayor, the dictator, prefers filling potholes to filling vacancies in the Police and Fire Departments. Today we have more than 50 open positions - well over 10% of the authorized, essential positions are vacant. He'd rather see a freshly-painted traffic lane line than have enough officers available on the streets to keep our city safe. It's apparently more important to him to be able to scamper around town quickly on new asphalt than for police officers to respond quickly to emergencies.
A TOP-HEAVY, TROUBLED ORGANIZATION

What Righeimer
HAS done, though, is create an upside-down organization, with the so-called "
Executive Offices" staffed to overflowing with public relations guys and party planners. I mean, what city our size has a "Chief Executive Officer", two "Assistant CEO's" and a "Deputy CEO"? The answer is -
NONE! One might say that those positions are necessary for effective oversight of the organization. Well, if that's the case, how did the now-notorious 60th Anniversary Celebration become such a financial (and potentially corrupt) disaster? Just who on the 5th floor was asleep at the switch on that one? Under Righeimer's regime they've done such a poor job of managing, with so many questions being raised, that they've actually had to add an additional Deputy City Clerk just to handle all the public records requests! These are
NOT signs of a healthy, well-managed organization, and you can lay it all at the feet of Mayor Jim Righeimer and his council majority.
ME, THE SUPER HERO!

I'm amused that Sesler, the sycophant, refers to me - quite tongue-in-cheek - as a "
superhero", and that he and his running buddies have attempted to link me to the good folks at
Costa Mesans For Responsible Government (CM4RG) - the non-partisan, grass roots organization that attempts to shine the light on the foibles and missteps being made by the current council majority. They are folks that actually study issues, participate on community committees, volunteer at community events and
DARE to step to the speaker's podium and offer opinions to the City Council and commissioners. They are among those Righeimer derisively refers to as "
the same dozen people" who speak to the council frequently. Of course, I am not part of that group, but I do admire much of what
they are trying to do. I'm certainly not their "
leader" - contrary to
what a couple sycophants have implied recently. The good folks at CM4RG are quite capable of forming their own ideas, creating strategies and carrying them out without any help from me.
A COWARDLY ACT

I was
NOT amused when Sesler criticized councilwoman
Wendy Leece - not by name, of course - for defending my right to express my opinion of Righeimer and his actions. I'm actually amazed that Sesler - a lawyer who swore an oath to follow the law, not only in his day job, but as a Planning Commissioner, too - so willingly and enthusiastically supports Righeimer's efforts to quash any form of criticism. I guess taking an oath these days doesn't mean much - at least, not if we use Sesler and his pals as benchmarks.
NO APOLOGY, JUST ANSWERS

So, while I will re-emphasize that I have
NO intention of apologizing to Mayor Righeimer, I
DO want to thank sycophant Sesler for ripping the scab off that wound and for keeping it in the public eye. Every single day since this event first occurred one or more people - many of them complete strangers - have asked me about it, and wondered if Righeimer is
REALLY that bad - is he
REALLY like
THAT dictator? Of course, I must honestly answer them, right? I tell them,
NO, I don't think he would exterminate an entire population if given the opportunity, but,
YES, his behavior mirrors many of the characteristics demonstrated by that most notorious of WWII dictators. And I give them examples of what I mean - there are plenty of them.
LIKE HOGS AT A TROUGH

And, I'd like to thank Sesler's fellow sycophants and boot-lickers - including a couple of his fellow-planning commissioners - who joined in on the comment thread of his commentary. They practically shoved each other out of the way like so many hogs trying to get to the trough, as they tossed out the other party buzz words - like "
hater" for example. Some of them use that term for anyone who expresses an opposing viewpoint. It only demonstrates the
vacuousness of their arguments, so it makes me smile when they do it.
PLEASE, PLEASE KEEP IT UP...

To Righeimer, Sesler and all their little friends, I say, please, please
DO continue to kick this can down the road. Every time you rip the scab off it creates multiple opportunities to explain the issues to folks that we might otherwise not have had a chance to encounter. When they hear the truth - not the fabrications and obfuscations bloviated by you and your minions - they understand just how much damage you have done, and are doing, to our city. They understand your desire to put personal political agendas ahead of what is right for the city. They begin to understand how you act like rules are for someone else, but not you. Most of the folks who engage us in discussions, for example, simply cannot understand why the mayor of a city would have such a hard heart for the men and women who try to keep us safe - so we explain it to them. They cannot understand why you all have such ill will toward the loyal city employees - those who keep the wheels turning and have done so for decades - so we tell them. They don't comprehend the depths of our legal difficulties brought on by your actions, and the millions of dollars you've caused to be spent on lawyers - so we tell them. So, thank you for those opportunities - with the elections looming on the horizon, your timing is actually perfect.
UH, ABOUT THAT BROWN STUFF...

And, to Sesler and his buddies on the comment thread - please remember to carry sanitary wipes with you. That brown stuff on your noses actually will probably rub off easily with a little elbow grease.
Labels: CM4RG, Jim Righeimer, Timothy Sesler