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Vern Nelson is a stalker. He is forever sending messages, “Hey babe, when ya gonna post something again?” He’s right – I have been away, and I wish I could say I’ve been on vacation. I’ve been working my tail off – Extreme Home Makeover: Aging Parent Edition, minus the corporate sponsorship funded budget for help. While I am not quite finished, I have come to the surface for a gulp of clean, fresh air before diving for the ocean floor again. Considering what is taking place in Anaheim when I look around for the first time in a while, I may have to stay above the surface for a bit.
The toxic goo of local politics is getting thicker, or perhaps family emotion has worn my skin thinner than usual. After spending a day tired, filthy, and emotionally buggered with overhauling Mom’s place, I realized with horror that I spent the few precious free moments left to me arguing with anonymous internet hatemongers, disputing their fictionalized accounts of statements or actions they hand-crafted to hit me with, despite the complete lack of fact in their tales of Cynthia as evil personified.
I try to wear their lies as a badge of pride, after all despite how often I fall short of my own goals to be a better person, they still have to make up stuff because they cannot find anything I have really done that is bad enough to blog about. Frankly, even their made-up crap is pretty thin. While lies should never go unchallenged, I am trying to find balance in how much time I offer to those who have no respect for it.
I much prefer writing to elicit the shared experience of a perfect stranger replying to something I have written, and the reaction of, “You too? I thought I was the only one who noticed that!” I am especially encouraged when something written on a blog, by myself or someone else, spurs others to action, or initiates a new gathering of like minds intent on making the world a better place. Those experiences are worth what I pay the osteopath to stave off carpal tunnel.
Part of that change does involve calling bullshit on politicians who have forgotten that it is our money they are spending, and they are supposed to be spending it for the public benefit. Their own agendas do not factor into the program they are supposed to be promoting. Accountability is not hate. And I notice those who call those statements personal attacks tend to derive their own personal income from the politicians being held accountable. I guess that’s where the “personal” comes in.
One of the people I truly believe wishes to share that experience of changing things for the better is Mayor Tom Tait. The attacks on him are a primary reason I stay online, I simply detest the idea that he is out there alone with his back exposed, and I think all good people should be standing in solidarity with him right now. We have no clue how much venom he faces, day after day. I do not know if I could show up at City Hall and push the button for the 7th floor, knowing what waits for me when the doors open. I am very glad he does it.
Many evil things have been said about the man, primarily by those too gutless to put their names on their posts. Their accusations of a Mayor run amok with a staff equally as out of control are unfounded, and baseless. One of these “writers” has taken great joy in filling my email inbox with venom aimed at the Mayor, and aimed at me for defending the Mayor. The charge is that if I would simply look into some of these allegations with an open mind I would see who he really is.
The most recent accusations about the Mayor were particularly brutal, and in a weak moment I ran a Public Records Request, asking for information relating to events brought up by someone clearly immersed in the anti-Tait KoolAid. If there was anything to the allegations it would come out with these records.
Wel,l the records came back, primarily e-mails, a few City documents, enough to tell the tale of who is creating problems at City Hall and who is not. On three different occasions that Tait had been blamed for bad behavior, I could clearly see the fault was not with him, nor was it with his staff. In pushing me to investigate, the Flying Monkeys inadvertently exposed the exact opposite.
News of Public Records Requests travels like wildfire, and before long Mayor Tait checked in with me. Now keep in mind at this point he had to know I was in possession of documents that could give a very bad time to people who had thrown immense resources into tormenting the man. It would have been easy for him to encourage me to print it. A lesser man would have sent me those messages himself, knowing they reveal some incredibly bad behavior from those intent on his demise.
Anaheim is fortunate that Tom Tait is not a lesser man.
Instead he asked me not to escalate the battle. The information was not linked to anything that makes a difference to the average taxpayer, money was not misspent, there was no public good to be had in outing those who see him as the enemy. Could I please help him keep the peace?
The gentlemanly gesture from Tait is more than the other side deserves. But because it is Tom Tait, because I can see how hard he works to be the diplomat, I will respect his request. I am sure he would have preferred that I not say anything at all. But I want them to know that the Mayor covered for them. I want them to know that they owe him one. Big.
I’m afraid they will see his act of kindness as weakness to be exploited. I hope I’m wrong, I hope that perhaps going forward they can show more civility to him, and help to get along. I’ll be watching City Council for signs of renewed hope that perhaps we can focus on doing the business of the people of Anaheim rather than throwing bottle rockets into each others’ camps.
At some point, like Matthew Broderick’s computer learning to play War Games, one must come to the conclusion that in the end nobody wins. Right now I believe the losers to be the taxpayers of Anaheim who see little progress at City Hall because everyone is busy trying to jump to the front of the photo op. (Or put their names on a press release.) It is time to say enough, and focus on the business of the people.
So thank you Mr. Mayor for helping us all to try being better people than we were yesterday. I hope you don’t get your ass kicked for it.
As for me, while juggling home and hearth is difficult for now, when I am done Mom will be safer and I will be free to focus more intently on what is happening in my community, without worrying about her built environment. While I was out, I have been offered freelance opportunities that provide venues to continue creating that shared experience in saying, “You too?” with a wider audience. I look forward to Vern not having to haunt me online, while I check for mid-day puppy videos. Back soon.
Sadly, I can tell you from experience that one’s making a public records request is itself subject to a public records request. This could then be used to duplicate the previous public records request.
Personally, barring some unexpected development, I’ll refrain from retracing your steps — but you know politics in OC…. I’m glad, at least, that pitching the malicious story at you backfired; we could use more of that.
Vern is rather tall and thin (or was last time we met in person).
I believe that makes him “stalk-like”, rather than “a stalker”.
He is also “a fine pianist” and “a very smart guy”.
I offer these in the off chance that you may need other, more accurate, terms with which to describe him in the future.
Keep your head up Cynthia.
In honor of National Grammar Day, Paul, would you allow me to insert a goddamned comma after “up”?
I already fixed some spelling for him, in those five short words.
But paul, that is when it makes the best target. Not letting it get me, honest. And nearly ready to be back fulltime. I see elsewhere I was premature to think we might be enjoying a new age of civility, looks like no such luck. What is wrong with these people?
Avarice.
In “Game Theory”, you put yourself in your opponent’s position and consider what decisions they would make. There is a six-month course on Tactics at the Infantry School, Ft Benning, GA. on this subject.
It is a given that our opponent is far more intelligent and has much more resources that us.
Now, make the reasonable assumption that our opponent has control of not three or four, but all five council members. (Just look at who paid to elect Tait and the others).
What then? The best answer would be is that our opponent would play “Good Cop, Bad Cop”. Have three council members vote badly, while the other two act as if they were good council members. This tactic could minimize the public outrage. Public outrage can destroy our opponent’s political power, and they know it. Why is “Anaheim United for Peace” now being started by Disneyland supporters?
If the above were correct, and our opponent has control of the Mayor, wouldn’t Mr. Tait be acting and performing the same as he is now?
His instructions from Disney would be to minimize the public outrage?
Almost the only actions to stop Disneyland’s abuse of Anaheim would be public outrage. If Tom Tait was a decent and honest person, not controlled by Disney, he would be fighting to create the public outrage necessary to stop the Disney Corporation, not quell it.
Wake up Cynthia, and smell the destruction of our city.
I am sorry Mr, Fitzgerald, I do not agree with you. Tom Tait is going through Hell, he is being punished for his integrity. The corporate interests thought they were buying themselves a Mayor, they thought wrong, When they discovered he was not going to do as ordered they have done everything in their power to destroy the man. He happens to believe diplomacy and decency will win the day. Personally I would like to see him beat the ever loving crap out of them.
As far as our opponents, yes they most certainly have more money, But I do not believe them to be more intelligent that those of us standing in defiance, and I know they lack the courage of their convictions, because those convictions are built in the shifting sands of money and greed. And yes, avarice. I am just naive enough to believe that good wins over evil in the end.
OK I have not seen it happen recently, but I believe it.
Mayor Tait is a courageous man, by embracing reforms that are opposed mostly by the interests controlling our city. These interests have blurred the common ground of the residents, of healing and improving our city, and charged Anaheim with a high level of toxicity. One of their traps is to have their people constantly demonized, caricatured by the opposition. This unnecessarily turns people off, who otherwise would agree on the merits of the facts
Ricardo that is one of the more wise and accurate statements on Anaheim I have read in a long time.
Cynthia – Would a within district residency requirement with “at large” voting work for Anaheim? – that seems to work for Santa Ana.
I don’t know what Cynthia will have to say on that, but: NO. And it does not “seem to work” for Santa Ana.
As I’ve written numerous times, I think the most important improvement to democracy to come from district elections would only come from “single-member districts” – where each member only runs in their own district, UNLIKE Santa Ana. And that is, that it would make it 6 or 8 times easier and less expensive for a regular person to run, and to get to know all the voters in their district, and to not have to depend on – and beholden to – corporations or unions.
Also as far as Santa Ana, like I told your neighbor Cook recently, maybe if you guys changed to “single-member districts,” you could finally get a conservative or two into the Santa Ana Council, and/or a couple of whites or Vietnamese for the first time in many years.
Well, it would be a compromise and it would somewhat better for Anaheim than the system that they have now.
No it wouldn’t. It would simply allow Anaheim Hills to pick which candidate from West Anaheim it found most congenial, much as Santa Ana north of 17th can do with respect to those from wards south of 17th — except much more effectively and decisively. It’s not a “compromise” at all.
WOW, I’m agreeing with the “liberals” here on the single-member districts. The system in Santa Ana is NOT working that well, in my humble opinion.
Well, brother, youve got plenty conservative company, in Anaheim. Tom Tait, Brian Chuchua, Larry Larsen, John Leos, Hoagy Holguin, Kathy Smith…all prominent Anaheim conservatives who support the reform. And Cynthia too, I believe, although she was a gradual convert.
How do Buena Park, Garden Grove, Fullerton, Stanton, Orange, Brea, Placentia, Yorba Linda and Tustin vote their city council districts?
Trick question, right? I can answer for Santa Ana and Newport Beach — which actually do have districts.
One might ask, how is Anaheim different from, say, my beloved Brea? Well, one difference is that even if Anaheim creates eight districts, each of them will have a larger population than all of Brea.
Not a trick question – I think that it would be be a significant factor to know how cities near Anaheim vote for council members in determination of whether or not single member in-district voting would work for Anaheim. Remember, Santa Ana’s council district (Wards) voting is “at large” with an in-district residency requirement. I don’t know how NB works it.
Fullerton: The candidate(s) with the most votes fills the open seat(s). In elections with more than one open seat, voters cast a vote for each vacancy.
1 open seat = 1 vote per voter. Candidate with the most votes fills the seat.
2 open seats = 2 votes per voter. Top two candidates fill the open seats.
No primary and no campaign contribution limits.
NB does it the same way as Santa Ana. No other OC cities, to my knowledge — including all the ones you mentioned — have council districts at all. That’s why I suspected a trick question.
How about looking at how it works for every bleeding city in California larger than Anaheim (and some that are smaller)?
Diamond says:
“No other OC cities, to my knowledge ..have council districts at all.”
Okay GD – so would that work for Anaheim as well?
We’ve been trying it in Anaheim, skally — and no it doesn’t. West Anaheim, for example, hasn’t had a Council member since 1998.
Vern says:
“..it would make it .. easier and less expensive for a regular person to run .. and to not have to depend on – and beholden to – corporations or unions.”
That’s funny Vern – I would assume from your statement that you supported Prop 32 – is that right?
No? … hypocrite ….
SHut up with the “hypocrite,” smart ass. No, I didn’t support 32 which unilaterally disarmed unions while giving corporations enough loopholes to keep giving as much as they want.
That’s got nothing to do with wanting my politicians to be free from big-money influences which is #1 corporations and #2 unions.
WTF “hypocrite?” Have a nap old man.
Watch out, skally — he WILL stalk you!
Greg Diamond Posted:
“We’ve been trying it in Anaheim, skally — and no it doesn’t. West Anaheim, for example, hasn’t had a Council member since 1998.”
Well then …. go by my suggested compromise and West Anaheim WILL have a Council member. You are not going to get what you are asking for – you better take me up on my offer – ha, ha.
West Anaheim deserves a Council member of its own choosing, imperialist running dog.
We are going to get what we are asking for. The question is how much Anaheim will have to pay to the ACLU in attorney fees before it happens.
Somewhere way further up the thread Skallywag asked me about Santa Ana’s style of district elections working for Anaheim. I think my answer got lost on the interwebs, so I will try again.
I should have watched the CAC meetings to learn more about what is out there, I am interested, but as I said above, life has been eating my homework. So I can only form half-baked opinion based on what I know, and that is subject to change based on additional info, but here it goes.
Oh, and yes, I am fairly pissed that it appears only 2 of the members of that committee seem even remotely unbiased going into the process. This is not about stacking the deck to get your own way it is about finding what is best for Anaheim. For once can we put the urinary contest away and think about the City as a whole, please?
That said…I think Santa Ana’s system is as bad as it gets. All of the negative and none of the positive. Sorry.
The positive I am looking for is the opportunity for some idealistic everyday voter to run for office and not get creamed by the money machine. In a city the size of Anaheim, that is impossible, it just is. Our community is so geographically wide and dispersed that someone in the 92808 zip of Anaheim Hills (nearly Corona) can go their entire lives without ever setting foot in 92804 and vice versa. In fact there is no legal place called Anaheim Hills, the whole enchilada is City of Anaheim. When I gather signatures for something and ask people “are you registered to vote in Anaheim?” I very often get a reply of, “No we are from Anaheim Hills” usually with a look that tells me they are insulted to have their Escalade-driving, Juicy-Couture-yoga-pants-wearing, soccer-mom selves confused with “flatlanders.”
Sorry, squirrel.
Anaheim really is not one cohesive town, nor is it “two Anaheims” we are a lot of small neighborhood communities tied together by a single civic government, and the only thing we really have in common is a hatred of Santa Ana. (kidding.)
So at-large voting does nothing to enable the decent but working class person with the time, energy, and leadership skills to do a good job, so they can run and win without selling their soul to corporate Anaheim. I understand corporate Anaheim will always be involved, we cannot say ONLY working class Joe can run, but at least minimizing the area the poor schmuck has to cover gives him/her a fighting chance against glossy mailers and $1,000 buy-in wine fundraisers. Which reminds me-WTF Lucille Kring?!
Then the issue of having candidates only from your district comes up. Nice that they cover less ground, sorry it limits our choices, and certainly affects accountability. Now oddly enough this opinion was taught to me by…wait for it…Keith Olesen. He is a neighbor, a friend (I think we are still friends, not so sure how he feels…) and one of the few people on the earth whose respect I would genuinely covet. Or at least back when his bullshit detector was on “magnify” setting, that was the case. Not so sure where he is at these days since promoting Murray replaced porn as his hobby of choice. That sounded dirtier than I meant it to.
Anyway, he explained the downside of districts being the creation of mini-fiefdoms, or as he put it, something to the effect of, “we can’t get these selfish bastards to get along as it is, you wanna give ‘em all their own effing kingdoms to rule?” Then they all want field offices to be close to “their people” and of course field offices come with staff, it just never ends. The territorial nature of that system demands that they horse trade. I’ll support your library if I can get you to back my Police substation” where does it end? And the always delightful dumping ground. “Let’s put the toxic waste dump in District 7, we hate that guy anyway.” Now if you live in District 7, and your rep is working hard to fight the toxic waste dump, you have zero recourse against the self-centered jerks who cut a deal to drop it in your back yard. You cannot vote the others out. And if you think it won’t happen, watch tonight’s Council meeting as they cut the Mayor’s budget for staff. No Mayor Tait does not have less work to do than Curt Pringle did when he set that budget a decade ago, Council just decided that everyone’s manhood should be the same size so they will reduce Tait’s to the size of Brandman’s. Why am I so crude when I am with Vern? I need to not come here so often…or maybe just order the club soda.
Then you have the limited choices of Districts. What if there is nobody in my District 7 I like, and a really great candidate lives across the street, someone I would totally love to see run and represent me but because she lives on the other side of the street where District 6 left off, she cannot run to represent me and someone already sits on District 6. Can we get a variance process so the good candidate across the street can run to represent an adjoining district if enough voters sign their petition? And how do we go about recalling the scumbags who dropped the toxic waste dump in District 7? There needs to be a mechanism for accountability.
So there is a ton of work to do and I do not have the answers. I hoped (stupidly) that the CAC might actually come up with some viable options. I know, I know, I also believe that my corgi understands what I am saying when she cocks her head sideways and that breaking a cookie before eating it lets the calories drain out. That is why I am never left in charge of anything more dangerous than a keyboard.
But now we have the lawsuit, and the only thing I hate worse than puffed up egotistic jerks strutting around their fiefdoms and dropping toxic waste dumps in my district is writing a check to the ACLU and getting that system of government anyway. If a mugger wants my wallet I am going to give it to him before he notices my wedding ring too.
So I support districts, recognizing the very real downside, and mostly just not wanting to lose a lawsuit and pay legal fees. That said I am grateful to Los Amigos and OCCORD (check me for a fever) for forcing the issue because people deserve to vote on this and it is not going to happen any other way. So while I wish there had been a vehicle other than a lawsuit I am glad at least something is forcing the general discussion. And ultimately if we didn’t write the check to the ACLU the Council majority was just going to find a way to give it to Disney anyway.
Did that answer your question?
I agree with Keith O.
And since – “Anaheim really is not one cohesive town” – I would say that making district fifedoms would make even less of a cohesive town.
Thank you Cynthia – now I am going back to the battles in Santa Ana.
Large California Cities With Council Districts Are Basket Cases
“Proponents of council districts like to say “Anaheim is the largest city in California without council districts” as if that isolated fact were an argument in and of itself. Anaheim is also the largest city in the California with a major Disney theme park. So what?”
http://anaheimblog.net/2013/03/05/large-california-cities-with-council-districts-are-basket-cases/
So are you now gonna be Jerbal’s representative on this blog, skally? I hope he’s giving you a commission out of what he gets to write that crap.
Click on it if you want, readers, but I can summarize: Anaheim’s the tenth largest city in California, and by FAR the largest one without districts. Out of the 9 cities bigger than Anaheim Jerbal cherry-picks three – LA, San Diego, and Oakland – that famously have fiscal or crime problems, and then throws in four smaller ones.
In the 12th or 13th paragraph, long after Skallywag has stopped reading, the tiny shrunken good angel on Jerbal’s right shoulder forces him to type, “I do not claim a causal relationship between these cities dire financial situation and the fact they elect their councils by district.” Which is a good fucking point, there is none.
I’d been debating whether to attack this piece based on the six large well-run districted cities he conveniently cherrypicked OUT – San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach and Bakersfield. Or whether instead to lampoon his contention that everything is GREAT in Anaheim WITHOUT districts – no crime, no unrest, no fiscal issues. Or whether to just ignore his scurvy blog, which is of course the virtuous path.
Anyway, Skallywag, I know you think of yourself as a conservative, and you should not be shilling for Jerbal who is NO conservative. He talks the conservative talk, but his job is to manufacture arguments for whoever pays him. And right now he’s being paid by the power structure in Anaheim – probably SOAR – and they don’t want districting for the simple reason that they want to keep the power structure exactly as it is so they can continue bleeding corporate welfare from the taxpayers there. (When districting happens they’ll work hard to make that to their advantage as well.) Don’t shill for that.
By the way, one of the “basket case” cities Jerbal uses as an example is your Santa Ana, which I thought you said was going great with its ward system. And also, didn’t you say you were done talking about Anaheim and were going back to the town you know?
I don’t shill for anyone Vern – you should know that.
Well then don’t.
It was an attempt to keep the conversation going – and it appears that there was a pretty good conversation on this article at that blog.
What is your definition of a blog “shill”?
I don’t see why anyone would listen to whatever Matt Cunningham is saying until he admits who is paying him how much to say it.
Yes, that argument is easily defeated. But why should one bother, when it’s clear that he’ll say anything to get his check?
Good to know that the Anaheim groups “HATE Santa Ana”. I will keep that in mind.
That was a joke HS.