Follow along as we parse the various claims made from Mark Muir, the longtime member and support of the crony club's City Council Majority.
Fiscal Prudence - As was pointed out before on this blog in a post titled, Thief!, this is "borrowed" almost word for word from Councilwoman Barth's website.
Community Improvement - Remember, Muir has only been on council for 10 months. He's never voted on Hall park property designs or any issue related to the park, EXCEPT to approve the redistribution of $7m from current projects and to borrow up to $8M. He did show up for the photo op.
- Better beaches EXCEPT the main public safety component - the lifeguard tower.
- Traffic / transit - Voted against locally operated shuttle service at 5/16, council vote.
- As fire chief ok'd eliminating lifeguard tower in phase one of Moonlight Beach master plan.
- As fire chief let response times in Leucadia, throughout Encinitas and especially in Olivenhain fall far below "Best Practice" goal. May 23 meeting . . . both Lisa Shaffer and Tony Kranz challenged Fire Chief Muir's record.
- As Fire Chief, both fire station architectural rehabilitation projects are over budget and did not dispute reallocating $1.6M from fire station rehab fund to pay for Hall property park at the July 11 meeting.
The Olivenhain history is particularly puzzling from the outside looking in. It would seem Fire Chief Muir created the problem, or holds the primary accountability for response time failures, yet there is a group that views him as a hero with the opening of the new mini-fire station, another photo op. Failing upward is a good description.
It's clear that these aren't lies, there is enough truth to convey the basic idea. These are weasel words along with the previously noted "borrowed" statements used without attribution. He could have even used weasel words to rip off Barth's campaign statement by saying, "I must agree with a candidate who summed up service by saying . . . " which would still be taking someone's words, but passively praising the unnamed source. At this stage the only ethical thing to do is admit it and make the best of it.
To return to the Muir Campaign Door Hanger . . . On the left hand side:
Current City Council Member - appointed against public sentiment to the council in November by Stocks, Bond and Gaspar to fill Maggie Houlihan's seat; Mark has never participated in council goal setting meeting or two-year budget deliberations. (He did vote on changes to the budget at the mid-year review on May 16.) He seems to like being the designated motion maker for the majority though.
Former Encinitas Fire Chief - yet on Feb. 22 this year Muir dodged the vote on the firefighters contract because he was on a cruise? Seriously?
Encinitas Chamber Community Hero award - awarded when Gary Tucker and Mike Andreen were "in charge". This duo in action during Chamber of Council mishandled funds allegations were something to behold - as was the council majority's utter failure to address the issues.
Encinitas 25 Years Top Leaders Award - presented by New Encinitas Business Network; that is, Mike Andreen again. What was the criteria? Can you identify the voting panel, etc?
San Diego Taxpayer's Association Golden Watchdog Award: This award in no way names or even singles out Muir personally for this award. It states:It's clear that these aren't lies, there is enough truth to convey the basic idea. These are weasel words along with the previously noted "borrowed" statements used without attribution. He could have even used weasel words to rip off Barth's campaign statement by saying, "I must agree with a candidate who summed up service by saying . . . " which would still be taking someone's words, but passively praising the unnamed source. At this stage the only ethical thing to do is admit it and make the best of it.
To return to the Muir Campaign Door Hanger . . . On the left hand side:
Current City Council Member - appointed against public sentiment to the council in November by Stocks, Bond and Gaspar to fill Maggie Houlihan's seat; Mark has never participated in council goal setting meeting or two-year budget deliberations. (He did vote on changes to the budget at the mid-year review on May 16.) He seems to like being the designated motion maker for the majority though.
Former Encinitas Fire Chief - yet on Feb. 22 this year Muir dodged the vote on the firefighters contract because he was on a cruise? Seriously?
Encinitas Chamber Community Hero award - awarded when Gary Tucker and Mike Andreen were "in charge". This duo in action during Chamber of Council mishandled funds allegations were something to behold - as was the council majority's utter failure to address the issues.
Encinitas 25 Years Top Leaders Award - presented by New Encinitas Business Network; that is, Mike Andreen again. What was the criteria? Can you identify the voting panel, etc?
A “throwback” award was given to the Del Mar, Encinitas and Solana Beach Fire Departments and the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District, “North County Fire Departments’ Cooperative Efforts,” for their money-saving personnel-sharing agreement. Begun in 2009 and enhanced last year, this agreement saved taxpayers in these cities $1 million in its first year.Endorsements - misspelled Sheriff's Assoc. and it is worth noting that firefighters are among Mark Muir's harshest critics.
Why the vast unknown? Just like this [Coast News] article quotes empty phrases, at council meetings Muir uses these kinds of phases and buzz words like best practices, re-examine criteria, look at different methodologies, etc. What the hell does he mean? And self describing himself as a fiscal conservative or government efficiency fighter should send the hypocrisy meter into critical zone. Yes, let's have a deep and hearty laugh over Mark protecting the public purse from overly generous pension benefits. He says,
“I almost kind of put myself in a position like (San Diego Mayor) Jerry Sanders, (when) you’re part of that pension thing,” Muir said. “And now you’re fighting the pension thing because you’re in a different role.”Mark Muir could never be accused of being articulate. But, even simple sentences could link a series of empty phrases to describe a world view, a belief system an overarching goal. With this candidate there is nothing.
With non-sensical strings of walrus words, weasel words, taking credit for others words and work, stretching credible truth, sham awards and friendly sounding equivocating responses to please everybody leaves us with too many questions. Mark remains an affable character and polite to public and colleagues, a refreshing change. He still remains a mystery in loyalties, goals, purpose and world view. Let's get some answers Wed. night, Oct. 3rd.
Olivenhain Town Council Candidate Forum
Wednesday night at 6:30 pm!(Note time change from all previously published information)
Audience members will be asked to write their questions on index cards. The questions will be consolidated and all the candidates will answer the same questions. People are asked not to submit questions for a specific candidate. Candidates are allowed 2-3 minutes for introductory remarks and 1-2 minutes for concluding remarks
