I'd have whipped him, that's for sure (updated)

Remember being in Junior High School when a (fist) fight was anticipated? Most often one party didn’t show and the other swaggered around (secretly relieved) throwing punches at an imaginary opponent and daring the opponent to come out and fight.

The Anti-M candidates (Genis, Weitzberg, and Stephens) are really, really, ready to debate, but they’ve been cut off. But, they have credentials and accomplishments, and they really, really want to debate.

Cancelled out of debate

Costa Mesa United,  which is a non-profit group promoting youth sports, and is something like  a Home Owners’ Association (HOA), cancelled a scheduled Candidates’ Forum they were sponsoring that focused on youth athletics. They said the cancellation was because two of the candidates in the debate are on their Board of Directors (BOD).

As a HOA BOD member I can surely understand – it’s very important to maintain both the reality and the appearance of impartiality. My HOA faced a lot of heat (from a couple of the M’s, actually) about a perceived conflict of interest and impartiality because we have a member who is also an officer on an advocacy group. Cancel the forum that involves BOD members debating non-members? Of course, it’s a slam dunk (pun intended).

I wanted to fight, really

The three Anti-M’s immediately press-released and interviewed with sycophant bloggers about how ready they were to debate. To read it, they were all once very sports-minded, and they think youth sports are critical to Costa Mesa. (They didn’t say, but I’m sure they’re all in favor of motherhood and apple pie, too.)

A lot of the sports support they cite is from (kinda’) long ago and (kinda’) far away, with Stephens citing his pride in his work for Fountain Valley and other city teams, and Genis talking about her (what else) accomplishments in a past reincarnation as a CM Council Member – and Mayor. John, who is a lawyer – which he cited often last month – and has an office in Newport Beach, a prestigious area – also cited often, mentioned that he scraped cheese out of cookers after games, just like a regular guy. Apparently he even came to the meeting dressed to play -- or to impress -- or maybe just to pretend (see update, below).

The nefarious motivations surface

And, predictably, the pundits started offering hidden reasons for the forum cancellation: fear in a suspected future Council candidate (named Katrina) that an angry parents group would show up to confront Sandy (Genis) for advocating against lights on a playing field – Harper Park – in Fountain Valley. Oh, yes, and John’s perceived weakness in that his own children attend private schools and his sports-support happens in other cities.

Since all three are able politicians I imagine they had arguments ready for these criticisms. Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything specific that they actually do advocate, just “give the kids more” – money, I guess. The “throw money at the problem” solution is a point of contention in this race, anyway, so the debate might have become profound.

How it played out

However, according to the Daily Pilot, Stephens showed up with a baseball glove and hat, and Sandy wore a High School Sports shirt. Also according to the Pilot, about five non-CM4RG folks showed up, so I guess there weren't a lot of people there to ooh and ah about two candidates' costumes and pretended "sports-mindedness."

Walking the walk, not talking the talk

Mensinger got involved in politics by trying to get the city to pay for the grass seed he was buying for playing fields, gravitating eventually to the City Council. Monahan’s restaurant supports local youth sports and his kids attend local schools. McCarthy has sports support background and experience, and is and will be (a little child in the house, too), sending his kids to local schools.

Mensinger and McCarthy spend a lot of their “free” hours on youth sports, so they’re probably better informed about problems. But, whether their positions on the BOD gave them an advantage or not they have pretty good credentials for walking the walk in CM youth sports, which would have been an advantage over their opponents -- who don’t.

But to me, the important point was that unfairness could have been perceived. So Costa Mesa United had good reason to cancel the forum.

Easier to swish the air

I wish that the candidates who aren’t particularly involved in CM sports had identified specific Youth Sports problems or the solutions that they’d favor as Council members. There’s certainly plenty of information available if anyone were interested. It’s easier to throw punches at the air, though