CM PRESS # 444

LOBDELL MOVIN' ON UP

As we previously reported, Bill Lobdell, who has lately been writing a twice weekly column for the Daily Pilot, has been hired by Costa Mesa CEO Tom Hatch as a PR flak for the city.

Lobdell will bill the city $ 75.00 per hour for his work with an apparent cap of 40 hours per week. 

Thus, he is expected to make up to $ 3,000 per week, or a total of around $36,000 for the 90 day contract. 

That beats writing a column for a newspaper all to hell.  Newspapers are notorious for paying next to nothing. 

One wonders how this is going to go over with Costa Mesa employees who are getting pink slips.

We also wonder if some will think that Lobdell is too liberal for the gig.

Here's a link to Lobdell's final regular column in the Daily Pilot.
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ANOTHER BAD COP STORY
Link
At least eight Glendale Police Officers are put on leave over a variety of things they allegedly did.
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CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS,  WHO HAS YOUR BACKS?

WHY AREN'T YOUR APPOINTEES TO THE TWO COMMISSIONS SPEAKING OUT AND DEFENDING YOU AND YOUR NECESSARY ACTIONS TO GET RID OF COSTA MESA'S RED INK?

In Costa Mesa, you Council members don't have much opportunity to assemble a team of people around you that you can trust and who will help you do your jobs. 

You really only have the five seats on the no-Planning Commission and the five seats on the no-Parks and Recreation Commission in which to put people who are paid and who should be on your side.

Why are we just hearing silence from most of these people?  Are you sure you've put the right people in these positions of responsibility or have you put fair weather friends there who want to hide and who are afraid to speak out for what's right?

Here's your no-Planning Commission: Edward Salcedo, Sam Clark, Colin McCarthy, Jim Fitzpatrick, Robert Dickson.

Here's your no-Parks and Recreation Commission: Dan Vozenitek, Jeff R. Mathews, Kim Pederson, Dean Abernathy, Ethan Temianka.

We believe we may have seen a couple of these people being stand up guys, but others seem to be hiding. 

Shouldn't you, as the City Council, make some changes to these two commissions if you have people there who are just seat warmers and who won't back up your policies and positions?
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SHRILL CHICKEN LITTLE AT IT AGAIN 

Here's the latest moronic post from this shrill chicken little Geoff West that is appearing in the Daily Pilot:  His post is in black bold. Our comments are in blue italic.

Geoff West at 9:55 PM March 20, 2011
Here's a better quote - from Gary Monahan AFTER he found out about Huy Pham's death and while he was celebrating St. Patrick's Day at his gin mill: "I've got the biggest day of my life here. I have a business and I'm trying to survive my business. I just got the word like an hour ago. How do I just jump into something else and go down there? My heart goes out for what happened today, but I can't fix it."

Monahan is right. "Mayor" is a part time job. It doesn't support Monahan's family or his employees. St. Patrick's day is the biggest day of the year for an Irish Pub. And, what could he do to change things? A man fell or jumped off a roof. The reasons are unclear. Employees, who apparently and unreasonably believe that they have life time jobs, then threatened Council members who were on the scene. Adding the Mayor to the mix wouldn't have helped a thing and may have added to the turmoil and danger.

Yes, sir. There's a class act for you and a real "leader". When the city he heads as mayor has the biggest crisis in it's history - one that demands leadership - he chooses to stay at his pub in his kilt and cute little hat and continue to pull those beer taps.

This is a sad event, but it is not the biggest crisis in the City's history. This individual (if he didn't just slip and fall) chose his course of action.  Why he did this, we don't know. 

We do know, however, that it is psychologically unhealthy to create a workplace atmosphere in which employees believe too strongly that they are part of some very close knit family instead of employees.

A certain camaraderie is good for morale, but when it goes too far it can lead some to put all their emotional eggs in that one "family" basket and identify too strongly with their job and their fellow employees.

A real leader would have dropped everything - as Wendy Leece did - and raced to City Hall to BE SURE the employees were being cared-for.

Nonsense. Wendy Leece is no real leader.  She's part of the problem.  All she's done is help create a toxic cultic atmosphere in which employees are conditioned to believe that they are part of a "family," and that they are under attack by "evil" elected officials and even citizens of  Costa Mesa who want to harm the family.  This is the stuff of Jim Jones.

As we've written before, all that is going on is that the City Council is doing its job in trying to get Costa Mesa's financial house in order. 

And, like private sector businesses, it is also trying to get its employee costs in line.

Employees are not part of a family.  They are part of a work force.  They were not told that they would have life time jobs when they were hired.

In good times, they did well.  Now, the economy is in the dumps. Just like people in the private sector, City employees, maybe for the first time, are feeling the results of our down economy.  That's life.

The illiterate yapper, husker2112, stumbles and fumbles and demands a recall for Leece when she's the only member of the City Council to demonstrate REAL leadership.

Again, Leece has not demonstrated real leadership.  She's not demonstrated any leadership at all.  She's just emoted.

A previous poster is correct - she didn't need an armed escort home and undercover police posted outside her house. All that "recall" yammering should be directed elsewhere - you can guess the name(s).

West, where did you get the information that someone needed "an armed escort home and undercover police posted" outside that person's or persons' house(s)?  West, who told you this?  Who was it that needed the armed escort and the undercover police?

We guess West is  referring to Mayor Pro Tem Righeimer and Council member Mensinger since it was reported (accompanied by a photo) that a City employee tried to physically attack one or both of these two elected officials and had to be restrained.  It was also reported that City CEO Tom Hatch was told by another employee that Hatch wasn't welcome at City Hall.

However, West's information seems to go beyond what was publicly released. So, where did he get his information?  Who, on the inside, is giving West what seems to be confidential information? Or, is he just making this up?

And, if it is true that our elected officials and top manager need police protection from employees of the City, doesn't this show that the shrill hate speech that began before the last election has just helped push some individuals with psychological problems over the edge?

And, shouldn't employees who pose a threat to our elected leaders and city management be terminated immediately and prosecuted if the facts show this is appropriate?

Hopefully, our many good employees will psychologically immunize themselves against attempts by some who have hate in their hearts who will try to use employees' understandable feelings of uncertainty in these financially troubling times to push these employees to improperly act out.

Many of us in the private sector have gone through many ups and downs. Firings, layoffs, business failures and more.  Again, that's just life, and life is just about overcoming obstacles.

[About the photo of West.  No, we don't know what he has under his shirt either.  To us it looks like a microwave oven or maybe a hand towel dispenser from a men's room.]

Link to Daily Pilot article where the above post by West appears.
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Those are our opinions.  Thanks for reading them.