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Who was that masked man?
No, hiring former Cudahy contract City Attorney Arturo Fierro as an at-will City Attorney for the City of Anaheim, starting tomorrow, is not much better than hiring him with a six-month severance. Yes, it would be less expensive for the City once he is removed. But it gives him time to do the damage that the City Council might want done.
Fierro’s contract with the states that he will not be pursued legally by the City if he should provide it with bad advice and that the City will defend him if he is ever sued for giving bad advice. This may be boilerplate language — I believe that Michael Houston had similar provisions in his contract — but they are particularly intolerable when bad legal advice — failing to err on the side of preserving documents — may be exactly what the outgoing City Council wants.
From November 9, when the outcome of the election will be over, through around Christmas Day (which is about the first instance when the incoming City Council can remove him), Fierro would be making some extremely significant decisions for the City, especially if the current Council majority looks likely to lose its power. Some of those decisions could involve his being asked to wave his City Attorney wand and approve of actions that might be taken to constitute a cover-up of wrongdoing under the previous majority — as well as the man who will still be Anaheim’s City Manager, Paul Emery.
For many reasons, Fierro gives the appearance of being a creature controlled by Councilman Jordan Brandman, himself controlled by Former Mayor and current power-behind-the-scenes Curt Pringle. His son is Brandman’s campaign manager; his daughter-in-law is Brandman’s Council aide; the Brandmans and Fierros have been working together for some time. It would be entirely foreseeable for him to give legal advice regarding protecting the outgoing regime even against the wishes of the incoming one — which would not, in any event, be in a position to speak to him officially as a majority until December 13.
A lot of damage can be done in that time. The tie-breaking vote, as is often the case, belongs to Lucille Kring, who is not as likely to have been involved in the inner workings of the current City Council majority, but has been content to follow the lead of Kris Murray and Brandman as issues arise before the Council. A cover up would not be aimed at protecting her, both because she has the least to cover-up and she is the person whom the Pringle Ring can most easily cut loose. It will be interesting to see whether she protects the rest of the majority nonetheless — which could be the act with the greatest likelihood of getting her personally into trouble.
The Anaheim City Council and much of its top Staff have been skating on the edge of legality for so long that it would be no surprise if they didn’t always stay in bounds. Do we really want Jordan Brandman’s crony making the decisions about what to allow to be shredded and what to preserve? There is a perfectly good, seemingly apolitical, Acting City Attorney in place right now, in the person of Kristin Pelletier. She should be left in place, or replaced by some other apolitical attorney in the office, until the new Council can appoint a permanent replacement.
Can Kris Murray add Legal Knowledge to the long list of dimensions of her ignorance? Her assertion that deciding to hire NO ONE after a recruiting process is grounds for fraud charges against the City, is surely one for her “Greatest Hits” ! If anyone else slowed their auctioneer-speed teleprompter delivery long enough to realize what they were saying, such thoughts would remain silent. Never for her.
She seriously said that?
That stupidity sounds more like Kring, but good for Murray fighting for the crown.
I hope that they start the process over. Kring, I think it was, has a great soliloquy towards the end of the debate where she says (paraphrasing from memory here) that they had sought various people for the job and nobody wanted it but now Arturo Fierro wanted it and that was good reason to vote for him.
If people were reluctant to take the Anaheim City Attorney job, MAYBE THAT WAS BECAUSE THEY KNEW ABOUT THE ATROCIOUS ANAHEIM CITY COUNCIL MAJORITY! (I doubt that it has been a big secret in the public administration biz.) If that majority changes in these elections, excellent candidates may come FLOODING in seeking to take that position.
I sure wouldn’t want to defend a council member who claimed shooting citizens was good because it saved us from going through a trial.
Only the guilty ones! You see, innocent people don’t go on trial!
I’ve heard an awful lot of trumped up fear mongering about what would happen if we do this, or don’t do that, but this would have to be the silliest attempt I’ve ever heard of.
New City Council can call a special meeting and not wait for the next scheduled Council meeting. So reduce that time for response.
Given how clearly whack-a-doodle working for the Council has to be, it has left only 25 people either so desperate for employment or ready to make their own special deal with those clearly making them, that we got 2 dozen applicants, and only 7 of those were appropriate enough to be moved forward by the recruiters for Council interviews. So when they say this guy is the most qualified, I am frightened enough to believe it. That said, frankly anyone willing to apply for this job is not someone I want holding it. RESET BUTTON. NOW.
Oh, and while it looks like Murray has all her marbles it is clear the bag has a hole in the bottom, government OFTEN rejects ALL BIDS and BEGINS the process again in all other negotiations and requests for proposals and qualifications. It is standard agenda language to reject all bids and put the issue out for new bid. No it is NOT fraud to NOT select anyone, there is no obligation to employment when asking for proposals. Does she EVER slow her mouth down enough to HEAR HERSELF? NOT QUALIFIED TO HOLD OFFICE. PERIOD.