Spoke too soon  

We thought that the last Council meeting presaged a change toward reasoned commentary. Not so.

The emotional – and either irrational or irrelevant or both – claptrap returned Friday. It’s in a letter and commentary published in the Daily Pilot. Sadly, some of the babble came from a Council member. (Article here )

Cartoon means Council Majority are bad people

Mr. Egan drew an emotional picture of a cartoon showing a tiger standing over Lady Columbia. He related the tiger to the “raw political power” he opines is evident in Costa Mesa, symbolized by the lady in distress.

Remember the propaganda blogs? Like any propagandist, he’s appealing to emotion to make a point he can’t make with facts. He cites irrelevancies instead of reality. For example, he shows how the present Council ignored citizen input by allowing a speaker from Sacramento to talk longer than three minutes.

It's the Council's meeting

Reality? Speakers address the Council, not the audience, for the Council’s information. The rules are to help the Council and maintain order.

The audience has no “rights” to limit other speakers, or to interrupt them. A speaker can apply in advance for more time for her presentation. The speaker he mentions did so, was granted the time, and then he was interrupted by audience rudeness.

In another irrelevancy he illustrates the “Maiden of Costa Mesa” being abused by the tiger of a local Republican Party official calling the City “ground Zero.” Scott Baugh did make that reference in regard to the focus of the unions on defeating the Charter in Costa Mesa.

Suggests they're corrupt

He implies corruption as he mentions contributions from the legal firm defending the City from a Union diversionary suit. Would you believe it? The donation(s?) to a candidate Mr. Egan doesn't like offended him and spell out some kind of nefarious conduct to him.

It's only evil if it's from folks he doesn't like   

Mr. Egan, however, has been silent on the donations from the trash hauler that have been in the news again. The donations were to candidates for the Sanitation Board, which awarded a “we guarantee no competitive bids will be sought” contract to that company.  And, of course, Mr. Egan has not criticized the “no bid” sweetheart contract that company enjoys due to the votes of the Sanitary Board members it helped elect.

We want lots and lots of steps to a charter

We’ll ignore his misuse of the adjective “fraught” (laden with, pregnant) to try to prove that the City needs to hold an election to select citizens to get together to study the Charter issue, and discuss it, and write a charter that will suit everyone. That hasn't worked well anywhere else in California, but maybe Mr. Egan has inside information. 

Other jurisdictions have learned that these commissions often do not produce a document. Or else the charter they write is so twisted that it rapidly increases unfunded obligations until the city is forced into bankruptcy.

All motivations scrutinized 

Since Mr. Egan criticizes donations to campaigns for their ability to motivate corrupt behavior, should we look at his (possible or assumed) motivations? He was lambasted for bragging about shooting at crows with a slingshot, which may have hurt his feelings. And, his wife, a very outspoken opponent of the City Council majority members, was passed over for a position on the Planning Board.

Even those who should know better

Sadly, one of the Council members, Leece, joined the jackals yapping at the Mayor by pontificating about a comment he made, out of context. Righeimer mentioned that the CMPD is well-paid, top of the line in benefits and pay. Leece and the hyenas are screaming that CMPD pay and benefits is actually in the middle for Orange County cities. Their point? Elusive, at best.

We didn't notice Leece or the hyenas at the “Meet the Mayor” event where Righeimer demonstrated an excellent grasp of the City’s rules, projects and management. The jackals were quick, however, to wonder how much benefit the owner of the facility would get from providing the pizza for guests. That seems a lot like accusing Mrs. Fields of bribing people with the free cookies her stores hand out in malls.

Stark picture, unconvincing argument

The picture painted by Mr. Egan was colorful, and maybe even frightening. The emotion didn't prove his points, though. Perhaps his crow-intimidation technique is more effective than his Mayor Annoyance diatribes. He might want to concentrate on his strengths.

Council member Leece would serve her constituents better by cooperating to get cooperation. Open attacks on the Mayor aren't likely to help get what her constituents need and want. At the very least, keeping the peevishness private presents the appearance of a Council that works together like adults.

 

So, we stand corrected: the “anti-everything” faction didn’t stop to think, they stopped to take a breath for their next screaming accusations and pontifications. 

Too bad