As I have said before in Encinitas there are two definite factions and nary a meeting in between. The current majority faction on the council being the Good Ole Boys Association with its new de facto leader Jerome Stocks who took party power after the downfall of Dan Dalager. Stocks is aided with the help of folks like Doug Long, Tony Brandenburg, Kristin Gaspar (Good ole gals?) and occasionally (and with more frequency) James Bond. The Minority Faction being the group that hasn’t quite found itself yet with its leader Teresa Barth and members like Rachelle Collier, Tony Kranz, and (sometimes) Maggie Houlihan.
A lot of the time I get criticized for being a self proclaimed member of the majority group that seems so hated by the people online (but apparently loved by the voters considering that they continue to stay the majority power year after year). But what people don’t realize is that I don’t support all the ideals/actions of my majority group; and at heart, I really just want to restore sanity to crazy Encinitas politics and see what’s right for the city. So all you haters hear me out!
Last Tuesday, Council on a 3-2 vote approved that our (kinda) new mayor will be Bond (…….James Bond), with the forever loved, admired, and adored Jerome Stocks as deputy mayor. The motion was put forward by Gaspar and approved by majority.
The Barth-ites are all up in arms because not only did the Good Ole Boys get their way, but they did it about one year after Jim Bond specifically told Teresa that she was going to get a council leadership position this year to avoid ‘putting her out in the cornfield’ and letting her get stepped over again. Bond made it clear that he changed his mind on this position and thinks its okay to stick her in the cornfield because he was unimpressed with what he thought were behaviors unfit of a mayor during the last election cycle, and thus could not support any kind of Barth leadership. Was it really that he was appalled at her behavior, or just that the good ole boys making a political power play to back seat Teresa again? I don’t know, but what I do know is that it really doesn’t matter.
Being mayor in this city means just about nothing and isn’t something to get fired up about. The fact that Jim Bond is mayor does not mean there is going to be some kind of broad policy change on the council. Some people would argue that the mayor has liberty to put whatever he wants on the agenda, but with the new 3 vote rule, the council has the same liberties.
Being mayor in this city means just about nothing and isn’t something to get fired up about. The fact that Jim Bond is mayor does not mean there is going to be some kind of broad policy change on the council. Some people would argue that the mayor has liberty to put whatever he wants on the agenda, but with the new 3 vote rule, the council has the same liberties.
I think the person who is happiest after this vote is Stocks just due to the fact that it means Teresa isn’t in a leadership position for at least another two years (the majority will get their way next year too). There exists a lot of baggage between Stocks and Barth over that fraudulent harassment suit. Can you blame Stocks though? Sure, political retaliation over a ceremonial position that arguably should be Barth’s this year isn’t great; but I would be mad as hell too if I were him. Anyone with one eye and a half a brain could see that whole harassment thing hadn’t a leg to stand on.
Here in lies the place where I get really impartial and it affects my journalistic commentaries. After the harassment scandal I just have such a hard time even looking at Teresa Barth. Setting politics aside all she did with what I refer to as ‘Harassgate’ was run up a $15,000 bill for something that was absolute nonsense backstabbing and create massive city council in-fighting. Personally (and this is going to sound extremist), I still want her to write the city of Encinitas a $15,000 check. If you really think about, tensions would not be nearly as high as they are on our council had it not been for that incident, and without those tensions Barth could feasibly been voted in mayor by now. On this one, I’m going to make the ruling that I think she made her own bed and now she has to sleep in it.
Here in lies the place where I get really impartial and it affects my journalistic commentaries. After the harassment scandal I just have such a hard time even looking at Teresa Barth. Setting politics aside all she did with what I refer to as ‘Harassgate’ was run up a $15,000 bill for something that was absolute nonsense backstabbing and create massive city council in-fighting. Personally (and this is going to sound extremist), I still want her to write the city of Encinitas a $15,000 check. If you really think about, tensions would not be nearly as high as they are on our council had it not been for that incident, and without those tensions Barth could feasibly been voted in mayor by now. On this one, I’m going to make the ruling that I think she made her own bed and now she has to sleep in it.
Now, here is the problem with what happened on Tuesday. Directly after the vote Houlihan accused everyone and their mother of being in violation of the Brown Act. This is only going to create more infighting and polarizing of the council. What are you thinking Maggie? And if you admittedly can’t prove anything, why even bring it up? And let’s be honest here, we all know that:
1) the majority could have easily figured out this political move without talking before the meeting, they wouldn’t even need to meet in secret before the meeting to figure this out.
2) All 5 council members are talking about agenda items before meetings all the time, not just the majority, and not just on the subject of who they appoint to the ceremonial mayor post.
3) If this is the worst offense against the Brown Act we have in Encinitas then we’re not doin’ too shabby.
With all this mayor controversy when it comes down to it at the end of the day at least both factions can come together and hold hands and jointly exclaim: ‘At least Andreen isn’t our mayor’ and take solace in that fact!
Your views and perceptions of goings ons would certainly be altered if seen through a reality prism, but I have no doubt you believe the slant you do.
ReplyDeleteThe facts do not justify it, only the misleading interpretation of events that has been offered by the Stocks spin Masters would.
They are good.
From the North County Times Monday, Dec.20, 2010: ROSES AND RASPBERRIES
ReplyDeleteA raspberry to Encinitas councilmembers Jim Bond, Jerome Stocks and Kristin Gaspar for choosing petty politics over civility by failing to appoint Teresa Barth as either mayor or deputy mayor.
This is the second time in as many years that Barth, recently re-elected to a second term, has been passed over for the posts, which are rotated on a yearly basis.
Former Councilman Dan Dalager, defeated after revelations of possible ethical and legal violations, was the outgoing mayor.
Bond's vote for himself comes despite comments he made last year that he would support Barth the next time around. Newly elected Councilwoman Gaspar - who opined during the campaign that the council "has too often been distracted by petty personal feuds and hyper-partisanship" - deserves special censure for making her first official act a motion that only reinforces those feuds.
The fact that the office of mayor is almost completely ceremonial makes such silly games even more lame.
BALOO: Your opinions are even lamer. I suggest a sabbatical from the blog to gain some maturity, experience, and some factual knowledge.
@ Cardiffian - No one Made you read.
ReplyDeleteDevelop an actual argument or idea instead of the random and unexplained "you're lame"
It's wonderful that you have the ability and aptitude to come up with something as clever as: "you're lame because....uh, um, uh....because you're lame"
God bless the rest of the world for having better things to contribute than these kinds of comments or else the american legal system would be reliant on the "you're lame" defense.
Baloo
ReplyDeleteYou responded to Nothing in the comments or ideas from cardiffian, only to the lame comment.
That's lame.
Chris
ReplyDeleteI only replied to the lame part because that's the only thing that was original from the Cardiffian, the rest is from a north county times article. Also, There is really nothing to comment on when it comes to the rest of the article. The blog post that this was a comment to covers everything discussed in the NCT article, me rewriting it would be annoying and redundant.
In short: Good for you that you are able to copy paste an article that is mainly reporting without much opinion; however, that does not mean you have an argument.
To this day, no one knows whether the actual claim of harassment had any merit. While, politically, it may have been a mistake for Teresa Barth to make the "in house" complaint (she didn't attempt to actually file a lawsuit, to my knowledge), she apparently felt morally obligated to do so, also on behalf of a staff member, or members, who were afraid to come forward. She stuck her neck out, and in a sense, got it lopped off by Jerome Stocks and his cronies.
ReplyDeleteThe fact is, Council CHOSE to hire an outside attorney in order to "get rid" of the harassment allegations, on the technicality of said attorney's opinion that Teresa Barth has no standing to complain, as she is an elected official, not an employee. According to Dianne Bond, who is also an attorney, that technicality is bogus. She represents clients claiming harassment; Dianne Bond claims Teresa would have standing to sue. No judge ever weighed in or gave an opinion on whether or not Teresa had or has standing to sue. And of course no judge, and no attorney, ever weighed in on the actual MERITS of the harassment claims.
Glenn Sabine, our city attorney, could have just as easily written up his opinion on the matter, if he concurred that Teresa had no standing to complain of harassment. That was the ONLY issue that was addressed, NOT whether or not Dalager was harassing Teresa, or others, at City Hall. Because Council chose to hire an outside attorney to BYPASS having to determine if there ACTUALLY WAS ANY HARASSMENT, then the full responsibility of the $15,000 cost of hiring the outside attorney falls on Council, NOT on Teresa. To suggest that Barth should be responsible for the expense of Council's ill advised (in my estimation) decision to hire an outside law firm, is ridiculous and fallacious, if one considers, without prejudice, the actual facts, as a previous poster commented "through the prism of reality."