CM FROGS TRY TO SCARE RESIDENTS ABOUT THE CHARTER
The proposed charter for Costa Mesa is similar to the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution combined.
It gives Costa Mesa home rule and some freedom from rules and regulations that faraway legislators in Sacramento come up with and sets up the way we're going to govern ourselves.
You see, Sacramento has to treat all cities the same under general law. So, if legislators from, say, the northern part of California all get together and pass rules and laws that make sense up there, we also have to live with them here in Costa Mesa where they may make no sense to us at all and which may actually work against our best interests.
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CM FROGS |
Folks, the
CM Frogs--a lefty bunch of malcontents-
-aren't unique in history.
Back during the American Revolution they would have been called
loyalists. They're the ones that wanted America to stay under the thumb and boot of faraway England.
And, back then, there were plenty of loyalists who made strong arguments to stay part of England.
Fortunately, those who wanted local control won. You know the rest.
Today, with the benefit of hindsight, most Americans would say that if they had been alive during revolutionary times, that they would have been on the side of those who wanted local control. The reality, however, is that most of them actually would have been loyalists.
That's how it is today in Costa Mesa.
The people who don't want freedom are trying to kill the charter. And, those leading the charge are
Stephens (he's a business attorney with offices in Newport Beach and he's also a liberal Democrat),
Weitzberg (originally from N.Y. and a liberal Democrat), and
Genis (a liberal who claims to be a Republican).
BOOGETY BOOGETY, HERE COMES THE SCARE TACTICS OF THE LOYALISTS
Last night, the
CM FROGS who are running for the Council, and especially
John Stephens (he's a business attorney whose office is in Newport Beach, not Costa Mesa) tried to scare people over two provisions of the proposed charter:
Section 103 and Section 401.
Here's Section 103. Read it and see if you hide under your bed. We doubt it will scare you. It doesn't scare us. All that Section 103 does is provide a rubber clause so if things come up that aren't anticipated in various other clauses, they can be taken care of .
Like similar language in the U.S. Constitution this is a health, welfare and safety clause to benefit the citizens of Costa Mesa. Nothing more.
Section 103. General Powers; Seal
The City of Costa Mesa, by and through its legislative body and other elected or
appointed City officials, as may be applicable, shall have and exercise all powers
necessary or appropriate to a municipal corporation and the general welfare of its
inhabitants, which are not prohibited to it by the Constitution of the State of California,
and which it would be competent for this Charter to set forth particularly or specifically,
as fully and completely as though they were specifically enumerated in this Charter. The
enumeration in this Charter of any particular power, duty or procedure shall not be held
to be exclusive of, or any limitation or restriction upon, this general grant of power.
General powers of the City include, but are not limited to, the powers necessary or
appropriate to promote the health, welfare and safety of its inhabitants. The City shall
have and use a common seal and the official seal hereinbefore adopted and now in use
by City shall continue to be the official seal of the City.
And, here's Section 401. Nothing scary here either. But, read it for yourself.
Section 401. Purchasing and Contracts
(a) Definitions
(1) “Municipal Public Works Contract," as used in this
section, means an
agreement for the erection, construction, alteration,
repair, or improvement
of any public structure, building, road, or other public
improvement of any
kind, which is paid for solely with city sources of revenue
(local funds not
derived from state or federal government agencies).
(2) “Other Municipal Contract” as used in this section means
any contract,
purchase order, or other agreement used to procure services,
equipment, ATTACHMENT 1
Page 1 of __
and supplies of any kind, which is paid for solely with city
sources of
revenue (local funds not derived from state or federal
government
agencies).
(b) Exemption from the Public Contracts Code
The City is exempt from the provisions of all California
statutes regulating public
contracting and purchasing insofar as such contracting and
purchasing are solely within
local control and are municipal affairs, except as provided
by this Charter, City
ordinance, by agreement approved by the City Council,
or as otherwise required by
applicable law.
(c) Annual Value of Exempted Contracts
Annually, the City Council shall set a value at which
Municipal Public Works Contracts
shall be exempt from formal public bidding and such contract
awards shall follow such
procedures as are set by ordinance or resolution of the City
Council. Such procedures
shall include safeguards to
ensure that the best value and
quality of work is being
obtained for the City, and compliance with Government Code section 1090 and the
California Political Reform Act.
(d) Establishment of Procedures
The City Council shall establish, by ordinance or resolution,
all standards, procedures,
rules, or regulations to regulate all aspects of the
bidding, award, and performance of
any Municipal Public Works Contract or Other Municipal Contract greater than the
annual value of formal bidding exempt contracts set by the
City Council.
(e) Other Municipal Contracts
The City may, without exception, enter into Other Municipal
Contracts. Other Municipal
Contracts shall follow such standards, procedures, rules,
and regulations as set by
ordinance or resolution of the City Council.
(f) Prevailing Wages
No Municipal Public Works Contract or Other Public Contract
shall require payment of a
prevailing wage unless:
(1) Prevailing wages are legally required to be paid by the
requirements of
federal grants, State grants, or other federal or State
law;
(2) The project is considered by the City Council, by
resolution, not to be a
municipal affair of the City; OR
(3) Payment of prevailing wages is authorized by resolution
of the City
Council. If payment of a prevailing wage is authorized
hereunder, then a
prevailing wage schedule for municipal public works
contracts shall be
established by City Council resolution or ordinance.
ATTACHMENT 1
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(g) Fair & Open Competition
The City shall promote fair and open competition for all
City public works construction
projects so that all contractors and workers, whether union
or non-union, are treated
equally in the bidding and awarding of Municipal Public Works
Contracts and Other
Public Contracts.
(h) Contracting for Construction Services
In determining whether to use the City’s own workforce for
any public works
construction or to contract for such services, the sole
considerations shall be worker
availability, quality of work, and costs savings to the
City. No municipal law or rule shall
require the use of employees rather than contract providers
for any construction service.
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Don't believe the liberals and lefties, folks. A charter puts some power into the hands of the citizens of Costa Mesa where it belongs.
The example we use and which even the dumbest of the lefties should understand, is to think of all the cities of California as being like rooms in a hotel.
Further suppose that the hotel only had one thermostat to control the temperature in all those rooms, and that it wasn't in your room. Would you like that?
Wouldn't you prefer to control the temperature the way you like it in your own room?
The charter gives you that type of equivalent control over the affairs in our city.
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|
Harold Weitzberg (with the top
of his head removed) |
HAROLD WEITZBERG, known around the CM PRESS HQ
as Hollywood Harold, is really a liberal New York Democrat if you ask us.
New York!? Democrat!?
Well, Harold has actually lived here in Costa Mesa for 29 years, but you just can't take the liberal New York Democrat out of someone in only 29 years. Don't be a schmuck.
The liberalness seeps into one's brain during one's formative years and it takes some serious deprogramming to remove it.
As
Harold was posing for our picture, we secretly removed the top of his head and tried to put in some solid conservative ideas--like smaller government, lower taxes, big "I" Improvement of our city--but we're afraid they didn't take.
Weitzberg is one of the
CM FROGS, along with his fellow
Democrat John Stephens and
make-believe -Republican Sandy Genis. Say, did you know that
John Stephens is an important business attorney?
Anyway,
Weitzberg pretty much agrees with
Stephens (the business lawyer) and
Genis on most things if we understood him correctly at last night's forum.
Weitzberg and
Stephens (he's a business lawyer) have both followed the basic marketing dictum of telling people your three most important principles. The rule is give three and only three.
So,
Weitzberg's three principles are: Unity, Safety, Prosperity.
And,
Stephens' (he's a business lawyer) three principles are: Commitment, Trust, Judgment
It didn't appear that
Genis was part of the group think and she didn't seem to have any principles at all.
By the way, and as we wrote before,
Weitzberg's daughter is married to
Robin Leffler's son.
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3Ms vs CM FROGS LAST NIGHT AT CANDIDATE FORUM
A couple of hundred, mostly geezers, showed up to hear the seven Costa Mesa Council candidates last night.
Folks, none of the candidates was likely to fall off the stage or do pratfalls. And, they didn't.
To learn about candidates at an event like this, one must look for subtle things. And, we'll get to that with candidate
Stephens a little further on. Say, did you know that
Stephens is a big shot business attorney? He wanted everyone to know that last night.
One candidate,
Al Melone, we can dismiss right away. He's not really a serious candidate. His major issue is eliminating fireworks so his dogs don't get frightened.
All three of the
CM Frogs--
John Stephens,
Sandy Genis and
Harold Weitzberg were wearing their smiley face, kiss the babies masks to hide who they really are and they spent most of the evening
agreeing with the
3Ms. Yeah. Funny, huh? So, if they agree with the
3Ms, why are they even running?
Well, they
don't really agree. Their core lefty philosophies are far different. But, that's what they were trying to hide.
The
3Ms (Mensinger, Monahan, McCarthy) want a right sized government that puts more of our tax money into making Costa Mesa a nicer city that can attract upwardly mobile young families here who will help us improve the schools, drive down the crime rate and do all the other things that productive citizens just do as a part of their very presence during their daily lives.
The
Three Frogs (Stephens, Genis, Weitzberg) are lefties.
Stephens and
Weitzberg are also
Democrats. And,
Genis might as well be a
Democrat. They like big, bloated government, charities up the wazoo, illegal aliens. They want more taxes on citizens, and like to hold squishy kumbaya sessions where everyone cries and smiles at each other and feels good, but nothing is ever fixed or improved.
So, how can three lefties--and they are lefties--such as
Stephens, Genis and
Weitzberg agree so much with three conservatives such as
Mensinger, Monahan and
McCarthy?
It's as we told you. They were wearing masks. They wanted to fool you.
Where the two teams of three did disagree openly is on the charter.
The lefty Frogs don't like it. Ah, well, they've changed that a little. You see, they now say they think a charter is a good idea, just not
this charter. Sigh. Ho hum. Typical lefty politicians trying to have things both ways. They stick their fingers in the air to see which way the wind is blowing and go with it.
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Big shot business atty Stephens |
John Stephens slips up
And it was on the subject of the charter where
John Stephens inadvertently let his mask slip a little.
Remember, we're dealing with subtle clues here.
What we saw wasn't pretty.
Here's why. Before he slipped up,
Stephens bragged that he's a
business attorney. A real big shot. Big important guy. [You peons are so lucky to have such an important guy running for office, don't you know.]
In fact, he's the guy--a
Democrat, by the way--
who went to court to stop citizens from voting on the charter in June.
Yup,
Stephens kept us from voting because of a technicality--the City Clerk didn't get the paperwork in on time. A lot of taxpayer money was wasted because this guy didn't want us to have the vote.
Now, what does a real important guy like
Stephens do every day? He spends hours drawing up various legal documents: leases, buy/sell agreements and various types of contracts. Hold this thought.
Here it comes. The mask is coming down for a moment. When
Stephens spoke about the charter that we'll all finally get to vote on in November, that he opposes, he said it was a
cut and paste charter.
Those three words, used by
Stephens to disparage the charter --
"cut and paste"--coming from a self-described
business attorney should tell you something.
If those words had come from one of the other candidates you could simply dismiss the candidates as being ignorant, but coming from
business attorney Stephens makes those three words a horse of a different color.
Why?
Well, remember that thought we told you to hold--the one about
business attorneys spending hours drawing up various legal documents?
How do you think they do that?
Right.
They cut and paste. No attorney starts with a blank piece of paper to draw up any legal document.
They have books (and now computers) full of every type of legal document you can imagine, along with alternate clauses and sections that they
CUT AND PASTE.
Go to a
business attorney to get any sort of document drawn up and they'll ask you for some basic information; your name, the parties involved, etc.
Then, they use the search and replace function on their computers to cut out old names in existing documents or document templates and paste in your name and new facts. And, they have hundreds of canned alternate clauses they can cut and paste when needed.
So, when
Stephens whines that the charter he doesn't like is a
cut and paste job, we hear someone who is, at the very least, being disingenuous.
Of course the charter is a paste and cut job. They all are. No one in their right mind tries to re-invent the wheel or come up with a legal document out of thin air. Geeze! What planet does
Stephens think we come from that we don't understand this?
And, disingenuous, we do not need on the City Council as we try to improve Costa Mesa to compete with the shiny cities to the south for the best citizens and businesses.
We do not need more slum like conditions in this city and that's what the lefties will give us.
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More later when we get time.