Our Mayor Stocks, Sore Loser's Sour Grapes

Jerome Stocks just can't stop himself.  I guess it is no surprise that this politician who seems to struggle with self control and monitoring his own words and behavior would yet again embarrass himself days before his last official duty - to resign.

He once again sneered to his peeps at SD Rostra about Tony Kranz.  This time he couches a reasonable request from a newly elected council member for a 3D rendering of the community park.  He throws out a number without any sliver of a citation.

Reality is that this is not out of bounds in the universe of architectural or engineering design.  Moreover, the city's planning department has the requisite software (bought with taxpayer money at a pretty huge expense) which can accomplish this without extensive skill or time.  It simply hasn't been done.

And no, I'm not providing all the research for a change.  He or his cronies can provide facts to refute or back his hyperbolic claims - with their creepy threatening undertones no less.

Please, Jerome, be still.  Knock it off and show some modicum of good grace. You lost.

We Know About Bullies . . .

Art by Sarah Saldana

Art by Ricardo Levins Morales 

Town Bully Jerome Stocks

Update below

Someone even wrote a song.

Update - Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012

Last night some council regulars created a satire of the council meetings, with a Mock Meeting held outside of City Hall in protest of the meeting being cancelled.

J'Accuse! Mayor Stocks and Mark Muir

Since the filming of the Mayor and ex-Fire Chief getting caught doing wrong, the community is disgusted and outraged. Some protests are mild and others seething. There are informed activists, local hot heads, low information stupid* voters, attention seekers and sincerely disgusted residents.  That's what government of the people and by the people allows - lots of voices and choices.

At the Oct. 10 council meeting the last speaker, who had to wait until the very last two minutes of the evenings meeting because Mayor Stocks holds the 15 minute oral communication speaker time limit as a rule which cannot be broken.  He of course fails to see the irony.  I digress, the clip shows no hot head, no campaign team member, no activist, no council regular.  This woman, Terry, speaks simple truths of humanity and responsibility as citizens.

The very first speaker in Oral Communications was none other than the videographer Joe Corder who accuses Mayor Stocks of a great deal more than just the Oct. 5th sign mounting behavior that has so mobilized public disgust.

These are the clips from 2010 when Joe went after Teresa Barth one week and the next week goes at her again as well as lumping all kinds of opposition talking points on Maggie Houlihan too (though she wasn't even running) - right before the election. Interesting that Joe revealed last night his private conversation from 2010 with Councilwoman Barth, yet Barth has held his confession and apology in confidence. Neither she, nor the late Houlihan used Joe's story for political reasons, mudslinging or petty revenge. I believe that is called integrity.

 

Along with our local papers, Channel 10 covered this story. Feel free to direct links to these clips, this post for those uninformed or low information voters who comment, but have no idea the depth of history in Jerome Stocks' history of malfeasance. This is the chairman of Sandag so these hundreds of video clips showing his bully, crony behavior should be more widely circulated.

*community suggested edit

Busted

We have aleady posted the fact that Stocks is putting up campaign signs early.

But now, a Coast News videographer filmed Mayor Jerome Stocks and Councilman Mark Muir illegally placing signs on Friday night themselves. This is what the Encinitas law regarding signs says that no signs can be put up before 30 days to the election. That would be Sunday, October 7.

Typical of Jerome Stocks in the video below, he attempts to intimidate the man filming and demand information as though the man filming is doing something wrong.  Caught red handed he completely acts like he is the victim of aggression.

How dare anyone expect Jerome Stocks to answer to any law or challenge to his (illegal) behavior?

It is difficult to stand up to power and privilege and Joe is a hero.  Thank You very much.  We are distributing this because some don't have online access.  Those who do, give them some link love and traffic at Coast News.

Stay tuned.  We haven't heard the last of this by any means.

Oh, and Mark - about your little truth problem with "I'm not running with Jerome."  Busted.

Decorum? Deplore Him?

Trust that the general voting public knows how they'd like to be treated at city council.

Last council meeting's public meeting on Encinitas Ranch Golf Authority (ERGA). 

Some clips.

Myths Encinitas

True Facts™ (clarifications at end)
After 11 years of public service, Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan died on September 16, 2011 and her colleagues in the majority at City Hall made a conscious decision to ignore her passing.  The flag at City Hall was not lowered.  The permit to hold a memorial was refused.  Her wishes to name a successor to her council seat were not only ignored, the special meeting was a TV/streaming blackout and the majority selection of crony fire chief Muir was an insult to injury for the representation of the Encinitas minority voices.

And, then the tipping point ultimately came in the Arts Alive! Banner program honoring Maggie Houlihan in recognition of her support for the arts as it was mishandled, misdirected and Jerome Stocks accused the sponsors in print of political purposes.

This is where the myth begins.  Jerome Stocks was immediately criticized by Maggie Houlihan's supporters, the Art Community and by the local papers.  He could have come away from all of this blow back without any political loss of face with the tiniest bit of diplomacy and good grace.  Instead, under the guise of serving the public (via property rights) he chose to drag this community through 9 months of controversy and divisiveness.

Our Mayor Stocks began his long campaign to create a justification for his petty, cruel behavior.  He has come to stand for utter lack of integrity in his role as mayor.  Stupidly, he continues to this day denying he said the things he is recorded saying.  He has, of course, relied on the cronies seated on the dais, Deputy Mayor Gaspar, Councilmen Jim Bond and Mark Muir to go along with and even expand upon each mythical aspect - be it the timeline, the participants, the City Manager role, the ironclad (it is not ironclad) process and procedure and straw man arguments. 

In late March of this year Houlihan's husband, Ian Thompson, notified the city council through Coastal Law Group that they would file a law suit against the city for infringement of 1st amendment free speech rights in this Art Banner ruling against showing the late councilwoman's image.  The ACLU also contacted the city regarding the violation of 1st amendment rights in this case.

Even here Stocks lied about the council being available to meet within Mr. Thompson's April 6 time frame when he said council members were out of town.  And when the council met and agreed to allow the banners to show Houlihan's image, despite the elaborate tap dancing by city manager, assistant city manager and the Deputy Mayor, the collateral damage was Stocks again refusing to give  any concession or any degree of cooperation as an act of goodwill.  He dug himself deeper into his mythical kingdom of "I'm right and everyone must pay for not obeying my words".

No signs whatsoever will be allowed in Encinitas until language of signage requirement is clear.  The video clip from this April 13 meeting shows the whole orchestrated narrative, including Stocks coaching the designated new guy motion maker, Muir in the next big waste of time, staff priorities and public goodwill - analysis of the false cause of banner outrage, unclear language. Even this ridiculousness was extended into August with another meeting to create a subcommittee - based on hired attorney (from Glenn Sabine's law firm) reading of the sign requirements. Jeebus.

From Dec. 18, 2011 to this Wednesday's upcoming meeting it will have been more than 9 months of Jerome Stocks personal animus for Maggie Houlihan has stirred controversy, created false narratives re-writing history and kept us from topics of real importance to citizens.  It has been painful and insulting to Maggie Houlihan's loved ones, supporters and close friends. This is wrong even to people who were not fans of Houlihan.  

It is simply not serving the public. It has cost the city in outside legal fees, staff hours and focus and valuable agenda time at the many council meetings with the mythical pretense of serving the public or as Stocks claims property rights or Gaspar claims of process and rules not being followed (no really, she said this) or Muir claims of really confusing language or Bond rambling, well Bond rambling. Throughout Councilwoman Barth is clear and consistent, the public implores and even the press  . . . doesn't matter at all to the club.

So, the Arts Alive Banners raised a lot of money at the  auction this spring, days after Artists 101 Colony director, Danny Salzhandler jumped the city hoops of filling out a form and then he set about removing the vinyl stickers the city Stocks had forced the group to place over Houlihan's image (at the cost to this group of $800).  DEMA and the Artist 101 have remained respectful and never overtly hostile to Stocks et al. 

All of this underscores what is shockingly bad behavior on Stocks' part and his co-conspirators in the majority.  Although he is the leader behind this myth making behavior, the council majority has in no way acted with any integrity.  Which brings us to this week and the agenda item for this Wednesday, approving the signage standards.  The complicit staff have dutifully buried a simple fact of one ambitious man's personal passions directing city government operations against a rival after her death. The latest mountain of bureaucratic bullshit. 

The agenda packet guided by quantity of words over quality of information follows: 

BACKGROUND: At the August 22, 2012 City Council meeting, Council Members Bond and Muir were appointed to a subcommittee to review and make recommendations regarding potential changes to the City’s Banners Program over the public right-of-way.

The ad-hoc committee met on two occasions on September 5th and September 12, 2012. At those meetings the ad-hoc committee identified the scope of issues, obtain legal input, reviewed potential draft language and obtained input from representatives from Main Street and Arts Alive organizations. Suspension of acceptance of Temporary Sign/Banner Applications for banners and signs over public right-of-ways by non-city entities has been in place since April 11, 2012. No new applications for banners over public right-of-way have been accepted during the suspension period. 

ANALYSIS:
The desire in addressing issues on banners over public right-of-way program is to obtain an option that allows continued use of the streetlight standards and other public right-of-way areas for non- profits community groups to promote civic events, cultural, historic or other messaging of community interest, yet manage risk to the City.

In order to continue a banner program allowing civic-minded, non-profit parties to provide banners over public right-of-ways, the following issues were considered:

• Exclusively promote non-profit, civic events or promotional or celebratory depictions related to the City; 
• No depictions of political figures; 
• Council reserves the right to cancel the program. 

Attachment “A” contains the current temporary sign narrative regarding banners over public rights- of-way in the Encinitas Municipal Code and the proposed language changes.

The proposed language changes were also shared with other community/business groups not in attendance at the September 12th meeting via email communications.

FISCAL AND STAFF IMPACTS: No fiscal impacts.

RECOMMENDATION: The subcommittee recommends that Council consider revisions to the Encinitas Banners Program over public right-of-way and direct staff to prepare necessary revisions to the Encinitas Municipal Code.

Current Language: D. Banners over public right-of-way shall be permitted subject to the standards established by the City and approved by the City Manager or designee. Said banners are for civic and non-profit City-wide recognized special events. The banner shall not exceed 45 square feet in area and shall be located only on City approved structures. The banner may be displayed no more than 14 days prior to the start of the event and must be removed within 3 days of end of event. Installation shall be to City specifications. Fees to recover City costs in reviewing the applications shall be established by the City Council.

Proposed:
“D. Banners over public rights-of-way.

(1) Banners over public rights-of-way shall be authorized by a City permit pursuant to this section and subject to the standards established by the City and approved by the City Manager or designee. Said authorization shall be known as the ‘City’s Banner Program.’

(2) Said banners shall exclusively promote or depict:

a. non-profit civic authorized events such as art festivals, athletic events, car shows and similar events; and
b. promotional or celebratory depictions of or related to the City such as points of interest, attractions and milestones. 

(3) Banners shall not promote nor depict the likeness of any political figures. The phrase ‘political figures’ shall mean former elected public officials, present elected public officials and current candidates for any elected public office. The phrase ‘candidate’ shall mean any person who has publically expressed or demonstrated an intention to run for any public office and/or filed the appropriate papers with a government agency to do so. The purpose of this subsection is to avoid public controversy regarding the perception of any such figures, either positive or negative.

(4) The Banner shall not exceed 45 square feet in area and shall be located only on City approved structures. The Banner may be displayed no more than 14 days prior to the start of the event and shall be removed within 3 days of the end of the event. Banners not related to a specific actual event shall not be displayed more than 90 days.

(5) Fees to recover City Costs in reviewing the applications shall be established by the City Council.

(6) The City Council reserves the right to terminate the City’s Banner Program at any time; provided, however, that any banner erected prior to said termination may remain in place for the duration of its authorization to do so.”
_________________________________END_________________________________

9/26/12 True Facts™ Clarification 1: Permit was not issued for the memorial gathering because when application was made, it was explained a permit wasn't required unless there more than 500 attending. This line is eliminated.
9/26/12 True Facts™ Clarification 2: Flag was not lowered due to Nov. 19, 2008 council vote to follow Federal regulations for flag lowering. City Link scroll to the end, page 9. This was an agenda item because ex-Marine City Manager Phil Cotton was against Jerome Stocks having directed staff to lower the flag for one of his favorite ex-mayors of Encinitas.

This is how adults deal with learning what is true and what is myth.  They acknowledge a mistake.

What remains central is that the city did not honor Maggie Houlihan in any way.

Misinformation Minute Launch

The August 22 meeting of the City Council was filled with the usual fact bending, staged exchanges, history revisionism, false assumptions, insubstantial staff reports, outright lies and other standard fare.  Sitting through these without feeling frustration and anger is difficult.  Culling through it all again to capture clips feels like punishment.  So today the clips below capture the essense of falsehoods in a minute.  For seasoned council watchers little more is needed, for people new to the scene it's a taste.

 Whoops! Forgot one (posted 11:52 am)

No Comment

See Encinitas You Need Us blog for more factual information on these subjects.

Myths Encinitas

The most magical mythical thing for Our Mayor Stocks is that he is a legend in his own mind.  The last council meeting was a robust display of his smug arrogance as holder of all knowledge necessary to a public hearing on the Crest Drive appeal shown in this clip, from yesterday's post, (Eddie Haskell character being a variation on the arrogance described in today's post).

For today's Myths Encinitas this tendency will be hereby called, Stocksplaining based on this definition where "person in authority position" is the position of privilege:

Splaining—[Privilege]splaining is when a person of privilege condescendingly tells an unprivileged person something [he or she] already knows, particularly something about [one's] own life and/or identity, e.g. a man mansplaining what it's like to be a woman to a woman. [Privilege]splaining is that delightful mixture of privilege and ignorance that leads to condescending, inaccurate explanations, delivered with the rock-solid conviction of rightness and that slimy certainty that of course [the privileged person] is right, because [he or she is the privileged person] in this conversation."

It would be difficult to cull through all of the videos clips of Jerome Stocks, even when he wasn't sitting in the mayor chair, and find one where he isn't Stocksplaining something to someone.  But this last clip is particularly interesting because his Stocksplaining to James Bond enraged Bond who has spent 20 years on the council and was mayor 4 or 5 times.  After all, old white men are the master splainers and being treated as an empty vessel needing to be filled by some self-appointed Jerry Jump-up expert is just outrageous for the old politico.

The room last Wednesday was filled with people who have a great deal of experience, they knew about their neighborhood, the project and some were experts in their field.  One in particular needs to be heard by more of our community who have battled with the engineering and planning departments, Boone Hellman. Mr. Hellman is just one of many with expertise and in this case real technical expertise. All of the speakers are worth hearing if you haven't yet.

Another aspect of this is how demeaning it is.  Women are all too familiar with the problem of men explaining things, and as historian and author Rebecca Solnit writes:

" . . . billions of women must be out there on this 6-billion-person planet being told that they are not reliable witnesses to their own lives, that the truth is not their property, now or ever. This goes way beyond Men Explaining Things, but it's part of the same archipelago of arrogance. 

Men explain things to me, still. And no man has ever apologized for explaining, wrongly, things that I know and they don't. Not yet, but according to the actuarial tables, I may have another fortysomething years to live, more or less, so it could happen. Though I'm not holding my breath."

In our little Petrie dish that is the Encinitas City Council, a microcosm - like hundreds of thousand of other towns our size across the country, is where we are all trying to advocate for ourselves and our communities in matters of governance.  This is a chance to connect the dots and empathise with others who have been marginalized, ignored, silenced, patronized, lied to or abused.

Stocksplaining doesn't rest well with anyone except Jerome Stocks himself, yet it's a feature not a bug. It is obviously a gigantic myth he holds about himself.  It's time for him to be voted out of the city council, along with his friend Muir.

More please . . .

What a remarkable sensation to experience the calm of civility at last night's city council meeting.  Were Mark Muir and Kristin Gaspar experimenting with a break from Stocks' signature bully style? Or was it simply Jerome Stocks being absent from last night's meeting?  Nice change . . . more please.

Even though the Deputy Mayor never lost the shiny, smily television presenter persona, the interplay of all of the council members in deliberations felt so much closer to the real exchange of information.  The public was treated with civility and respect. Teresa Barth wasn't made the butt of exclusionary tactics of manipulated Roberts Rules or sarcasm. (Bond's bit of snark easy to ignore). This is exactly what the people have been asking for, well, years.

It is worth asking why Stocks needed to take a working council date for his vacation cruise directly before a 3 week hiatus began? Sabine too?  Could it be the General Plan Update's update / criticism / scrutiny on the agenda?  I guess the same could be asked of Kristin Gaspar for her vacation timing during council meeting when the agenda held the subcommittee discussion, which her accusations against Teresa Barth had precipitated?  Or, when Mark Muir's vacation cruise coincided with the council meeting discussing pay raises for fire fighters?  Barth seems to have recorded the city calendar when it comes to vacation scheduling. Just sayin' . . .

No links, no citizen investigation energy expended today.  I'm happy.  Don't ruin it. Maybe clips or more another day.

You Can't Get Along

 

"Where is the outcry for this issue?" She answers simply, "This is an issue because you can't get along."  Kathleen Lees attempts to make a centrist, non-confrontive series of statements regarding the last minute agenda item tacked onto the July 11, 2012 Special City Council Meeting, the proposed ballot initiative for an elected mayor in Encinitas.  At the core she was naming the problem.

One of the reasons a series of complex posts were presented this last week was this very comfortable, simplistic rendering of the majority's unacceptable treatment of their elected colleague, Teresa Barth, for years.  This is a kind of incivility that millions of people around the country witness each and every day in our culture. It has become a culture of bullys and bigots.  Right here in our council the regular attendees, advocates for their own neighborhoods and interest groups (like last nights skateboarders, dog owners, scientists, traffic critics, sports enthusiasts and league businessmen) all want their voices heard and documented. Even the most outspoken, the bossy, the curmudgeons, the preachers and the politically wonky are supposedly given that right in a democratic system's bill of rights.

The posts on this blog, the clips here and the archived hundreds all show a majority council made up of those who would deny a fully open government, who show intolerance for dissenting opinions, make false acusations and manipulate the process for political gain. The political goal of a zero sum game means a complete blackout of their opposition.

As the clip text states:

Jerome Stocks and the majority on the council over the last six years have shown over and over again their utter contempt for Teresa Barth. Yet even today, with the simplistic "he said, she said" model of reporting by  local news it is all too easy to see controversy and a parity in viewpoints that just doesn't exist. Stocks simply refuses to allow Teresa Barth any position, any voice or any credit as a colleague. She has been "othered" since the day she was elected. That is reprehensible, but even more unacceptable is that Teresa Barth represents the voices of the thousands and thousands of Encinitas voters who have had their votes erased by disenfranchising their choice, their elected official.

We must demand to be heard.  Moreover, it is our moral duty to stand up to the bullying that our elected official is made to endure, despite her consistently respectful demeanor and robust support of the entire community.  If we are attacked for supporting our own right to voice our opinions our defending our public servant we simply don't have to play along.  Confrontation is our right, despite what Mayor Stocks or Deputy Mayor Gaspar may label it this week.

They're still Terrified of Teresa Barth

They are nothing if not relentless in their goal to completely silence Councilwoman Barth and the large number of voters who she represents. The goal in repeatedly bringing back and attacks on Barth seems to aim at destroying her opportunity to come out of exile as the Encinitas preferred mayor. What the hell scares them so much?  Like clockwork every 6 weeks there is some sort of Stocks led power play, masked as a kind of populist move to legitimatize the selection of mayor as fair and civil. 

Review following 2011 mayor selection evening when people turned their backs as Stocks and Gaspar ensconced themselves in the positions of leadership.  

At February 15, 2012 these two acted in concert to introduce a 2 year mayoral scheme that would make Gaspar mayor. This Mayoral Mambo was out of the blue and thankfully didn't get enough votes from their own team. 

Here is what Teresa Barth said at that meeting.  Even now, five months and two council attempts later to get questions answered by staff go ignored.  This is also revealed in the post that follows this clip.

This post from Encinitas You Need Us Blog is a reprint.  It is one of the popular posts on the blog.

They're Terrified

It was highly entertaining in these last few days to read all of the comments following Jerome Stocks embarrassing letter in responding to Teresa Barth's letter in Encinitas Patch.   First, it was appropriate for Barth to publish her perspective as her voice on the council is so consistently ignored, dismissed or drowned out by four others of the super majority. On the other hand Jerome Stocks gets his bully pulpit on the dais, control of the agenda, a North County Times (NCT) reporter who acts practically like his publicist and other media focus and framing.

Yet the Stocks letter is a gigantic overreaction to Barth's statement of her experiences.  He and his cronies have treated this woman's minority voice on the council with irrational fear.  What kind of power toppling abilities does she have that motions, agenda item requests, counter arguments, insights from other California cities, advocacy for residents, (even a vote for the mobile home tenants for God's sake) might she bring down for them?  These mighty majority act like theirs is very fragile platform. They may be correct. There are hours of meetings which are pretty fact-free or so orchestrated for confusion it is difficult to mount rational responses. There is not a lot of 'there' there.  We know its been years since anything has been built or accomplished.  Even the General Plan Update (GPU) is being sold as a hoax by the council who brought it to life.

Undeniably there is a great deal of money behind these big boys.  Nobody needs to be told that, although it would be helpful if we could be reading in the press the names behind those who back this cabal at city hall.  It is well past time for that preliminary investigation.

Yet, these comments in the letters here and here are a wonderful sign that there are so many articulate, informed and savvy people paying close attention to these (mental and emotional) lumbering brutes who think the city is theirs and the inhabitants are all asleep or imbeciles.  Wide awake comments at NCT's, A"So Much For Democracy" Raspberry discussion thread brought another batch of insight and resistance, though the regular majority's gang were still there crying about that mean (how dare she) Barth and anyone who would attack poor Stocks and Co.

If you wrote a comment speaking out for Barth, against the Crony Club - give yourself a pat on the back.  Several comments were inexplicably deleted.  I hope they might be recovered as they belonged with the rest.  Imagine if 40 people responded rapidly to an engaging story for challengers to the monopoly or to a hit piece.  This would be a revitalized, engaged community before the election was even under way.

6 weeks later . . . 

Mayor Stocks argues again and Deputy Mayor Gaspar has full blown Poutrage

following Councilwoman's speech and the many remarkable speakers in support of democratic process, dissent and Teresa Barth personally.

Activists / Advocates Speak Out - A Sampling of the Dozen

2012 Council Candidates also speak out. 

Lisa Shaffer published her statement prior to the this March 28 meeting and EYNU captured it. And Tony Kranz spoke out at this meeting with his own unique experience and perspective on the faux populist and criteria arguments.

Wed. night - Now 16 weeks later (whoops their skipped opportunities). This winner take all crowd in the majority again can waste time - supposedly on the people's business - to distract and abuse the public on this political attempt to garner complete control of the city council process in Encinitas.

This ordinance is STILL poorly written, still without answering repeated questions for more detail and still politically driven, and not much more. Nothing is broken here, it's fixed. The personal grudges of this majority are frightening in their relentlessness and viciousness. What do they fear? And a special note to the old guy who has vowed to bow out and vowed to change the mayoral selection to an elected option. Sometimes you just don't get what you want. Please let go of your grudge from years ago. You and Muir can take the higher ground.

ATTENTION:  All hands on deck for Wednesday, July 11, 6 pm special council meeting to be held at Encinitas Community Center.  The financial bamboozlement of the Hall Property park and the Moonlight beach improvements will be item #1,  this mayoral grab action is #2 on the agenda.  Bring your cameras and enthusiasm.

Myths Encinitas - People's business continued . . .

This week's second major myth is that this council majority primary interest is to conduct the people's business.  This is a continuation of Monday's Myths Encinitas.  The Deputy Mayor, in her role as Gaspar the Willing Host (variant of Casper the Friendly Ghost, a favorite here at Our Mayor and Gaspar the Empty Boast) again shows she is more than willing to be the presenter or hostess on behalf of the cronies. This includes the majority team and the people they are serving - a very short list who will benefit directly from an unchallenged status quo in all things. 

A subcommittee set of constraints is just the latest in the council administration policies being reshaped and rewritten over the last few years to keep the public tightly controlled and gagged if possible. But for context, it is important to show a whole series of acts to waste the people's time, the public's money for staged antics to silence dissent, marginalize minority decisions and control outcome at council meetings. All of these things are to codify, make legal, injustice and bullying behavior of the majority. Hours and hours of council time, public backlash, council "deliberations" (read: rationalization) is used to create controversy and confusion.  People's Business my ass - that is a joke.

This subcommittee business started with the strategy to take the offensive with a big emotional topic to mine votes in the upcoming election year  - the General Plan Update.  September Stocks ranted and raved fact free for about a minute and a half. His rudeness and ugly baby image gave the trigger point for, step 2 the outraged citizenry / businessmen. The next step was to position Kristin Gaspar to present the scripted plan to introduce a new council advisory body.  What followed this elaborate attack on the General Plan process was volunteering Teresa Barth to sit on a subcommittee with Gaspar to flesh out this newly scripted plan as the video clip below shows. 

Subcommittee Ambush for Super majority Goal. 

Just 2 weeks later the majority volunteers Teresa Barth to the subcommittee appointed to decide how to fill Maggie Houlihan's seat despite Maggie's videotaped wish that Lisa Shaffer be considered her successor and many public speakers questioning why the next highest vote getter at the last election, Tony Kranz.  Barth was clearly in favor of either of these options, yet she was ambushed again into legitimatizing the majority nonsense. We are to infer (or to read in minutes) that Barth was a full and equal member of the subcommittee. What do you think? 



 Back to the General Plan Blow Up offensive plan where Councilwoman Barth was roped into being a volunteer on the ERAC subcommittee meeting.  In this tirade by Councilwoman Gaspar which was illegally allowed to be presented by Mayor Bond as an non-agendized speech, unchallenged by the city attorney, unanticipated by Barth and on top of all that . . . Bond disallowed any rebuttal from Barth.  This is an ambush, an attack clear and simple.



By this time it was clear that Barth was being set up to appear as a traitor to the Maggie Houlihan constituents, unworthy as a potential mayor (with that procedure coming up soon) and virtually silenced to present her own case or mount an effective counter balance to an all-consuming super majority.  Teresa Barth remained and continues to hold stead as a community treasure in the eyes of the public  - despite these attacks. 

Over a period of a few critical weeks at the end of 2011 the people's business was ignored in favor of blowing up General Plan Update and creating a super majority on the city council. They also were able to kick Teresa Barth to the curb when selecting a new mayor based on fabricated nonsense from Gaspar's she-said, she-said presentation of undocumented subcommittee work.

On March 21 of this year Teresa Barth was able to make it clear she would no longer serve on any subcommittee until rules and responsibilities were spelled out.



And six months since later this super committee have codified a gag rule that completely keeps the people's business in secret.

This majority gang will never be accused of serving the peoples business or being critical thinkers or creative in their governance of Encinitas for the good of the whole population.  They are relentless though in their inventive winner take all strategies via disinformation, distraction and denial - if you'll excuse the alliteration. Again, making the claim of doing the people's business is comically stretching the truth.

Myths Encinitas

The most glaring myth lately (first of several) involves the Gaspar Gag Order passed at the last city council meeting by the majority. In essence these new procedures codify "secret meetings" and require "group-think" to be considered a good team player.  This is a complete myth.  A good team player provides his or her unique flexibility,  skills, strengths and insights to strengthen a team.

Another aspect of this myth of a good team player is the completely fabricated outrage to justify unacceptable behavior in ambushing and attacking Councilwoman Barth last fall.  Siince that abusive period Barth has refused any and all appointments to a subcommittee until rules are clarified.  This was to be that meeting and instead it was a bunch of bullies ganging up on her, ganging up on the public with the blessing of the city attorney and city manager. Go team evil.
 
And this myth begets more myths, like the mythical allegiance a good team member must provide to her attackers.  Throughout the 30 minutes of this agenda item #8 discussion the crony club that is our city council majority ignores public speakers, revises history, makes things up, redefines language, creates false choices, welcomes straw men and a whole fustercluck of cruel, condescending and dismissive silencing of Teresa Barth and the thousands and thousands she represents.  It's legal, but team evil is the only game in town right now. Some clips to judge for yourself follow.

Imagine for one moment you are a lone voice attempting to be heard as an equal team player even though you have a different opinion or perspective and moreover, you have alternatives for the team to consider. Most importantly, Barth points out that it is a mistake to consider the city council as the team when the focus should be on the public with the council being part of that team.

If you can sit through all of the next two clips, you might try to listen to how language is used, how sources are lacking and other critical elements citizens should expect from a deliberative governing body are completely missing.

It is really difficult to witness or listen to authoritarian language of absolute control presented with childish clichés in a tone of condescension from a neophyte like Kristin Gaspar.

• All discussions involving city staff will happen within an ad hoc committee setting. 
• The ad hoc committee will sign off on the staff report before it’s brought back to council.
• The ad hoc committee will only address topics discussed by the full council. 

Mayor Stocks wanted to slap on even tighter control with mandating the mayor alone being able to appoint subcommittees and name the chair.

The pile on doesn't end with the vote of 4:1.  Barth attempts to at least allow the guidelines to come back as an agenda item.  Not a chance.

Following this meeting Teresa Barth stated,

"I have served on a number of subcommittees during my past 6 years on council, including a committee with Jerome Stocks concerning former city manager Phil Cotton's compensation. Mr. Stocks recommended a significant raise and I recommended no raise. I have never received a complaint from any other council member nor have I complained about their comments or suggestions in the sub-committee process. Deputy Mayor Gaspar seems to believe that disagreement and independent research are somehow inappropriate.

Councilman Bond also commented about the need to "get things" done and having the public included slows things down.

Open Meeting laws (the Brown Act) do not apply to temporary sub-committees as long as there is not a quorum of elected officials on the committee. However, in light of the recent actions and comments by other council members, I believe the public should have the right to attend such meetings if they so desire. I proposed simple procedures that would have allowed the public to attend subcommittee meetings. The Council majority didn't agree."

Tomorrow there will be a second installment of this myth.  It is born out of the misuse of the phrase, people's business as a council responsibility.

All or Nothing

It's the ugliness of bullies taunting because they can, not because they gain anything of value from it except admiration from other bullies. How else to describe taking something simple and basic and turning it into mocking, marginalizing or silencing?

Encinitas super majority council headed by Mayor Stocks and Deputy Mayor Gaspar continually show their unwillingness to act on behalf of the entire community.  They don't just speak, vote and act on behalf of their backers in the community and outside the community, they silence other opinions and attack dissenting views.

During the Norby contract deliberations Councilman Bond was determined to play his assigned role of distraction and confusion as he trotted out baloney like this gem, "If you happen to be someone who supports the direction of the council you are special interests." This was part of a 7.5 minutes of reductive muddled opinions from a man who claimed his old bladder needed to be emptied.  After the break for Bond to pee, Stocks allowed the public speaker, Tony Kranz his 3 minutes at the very end of the meeting. Again, bully behavior defended at the last meeting with Stocks self-righteous speechifying about the distraction from the "people's business" of agenda items in favor of oral communications minutes.

Earlier it had been Deputy Mayor Gaspar's turn. Not new for her (see BARF and Poutrage)

And by the way, none of the super majority will tolerate any criticism from the public. This meeting had several speakers who confronted the council (Stocks in particular) and Norby. This was not handled with any grace or tolerance from the majority (Stocks in particular). All or nothing.

We Write Letters

Update: Video Clip added 5/18/12, 11 am

Ideally, well composed commentaries and letters like this one will be seen in many different venues.  In the event that an Encinitas voter doesn't read the Coast News paper or hasn't paid the online fee to read these citizen-generated pieces, this blog might be the place a connection is made.   For that reason we are advocating redundancy.  Good stuff shouldn't go unread. 

Message from the Mayor: ‘Your input is unwelcome and irrelevant’ 
By C.J. Minster May 14, 2012

Once again the mayor of Encinitas has demonstrated his disdain for what you, as citizens of Encinitas, have to say.

At the May 9 Council meeting, a resident requested a revision to the April 18 Minutes (not yet approved and posted) to reflect more accurately the main point of a statement she had made during Oral Communications.

Mayor Stocks, in his usual snarky tone, stated that the topics of the presentations should not have been in the Minutes at all, and that the City Clerk had erred by including them. He said that it is Council policy to have “action” minutes that only state who spoke during Oral Communications, but not what they spoke about. He said, “I’m not sure when we got away from that.” He went on to say, “There is absolutely no reason to take up what they addressed.” Video Link

Mayor Stocks’ statement indicates the following:

• He must not be reading the Minutes (even though Council must approve all minutes before they are posted) for, in fact, all Minutes for regular Council meetings from at least 2002 up to the present briefly describe what each person addressing Council during Oral Communications spoke about.

• Underlying his stance against including brief documentation of what citizens take time and effort to present is a message to the public that our input to the City is unwelcome, unimportant, has no relevance to what Council should consider or not consider, and is best forgotten.

But this time Mayor Stocks wasn’t able to rally support around his position. Council voted to put a discussion of this topic on a future Council agenda. Mayor Stocks was the only council member who voted against doing so (Jim Bond was absent).

Mayor Stocks, we get your message loud and clear, but we’re not buying it. And, we have a message for you: “You aren’t our king, and this City is not your realm.” Fortunately, we live in a democracy. Watch us vote you out in November!

Thanks to C.J. Miinster for this at the Coast News.

Update: Sorry for the oversight. Here is the full length video clip. Go to the 3 minute mark to capture the incident C.J. is writing about in her commentary.

Big Cheese Stands Alone - Again

This time Mayor Stocks as Puppet Master just didn't work out for him at the meeting last night.  It started with his usual rudeness with Lynn Braun when she spoke a moment or two beyond her buzzer during oral communications.

Recall the last half year or so when Stocks and Gaspar have used insistence on "rules and processes" to deny people, to attack people and to try to hand the mayoral position to Gaspar in a process-breaking manner? The ongoing hypocrisy of it is increasingly exaggerated as Stocks plays around with Roberts Rules, council policies and social rules of civility most every meeting.

To go back to the meeting as it unfolded, after Oral Communications Stocks leaped ahead to say he had removed the agenda item regarding Peder Norby's contract and he is going to appoint a subcommittee.

Whoa! not so fast there, buddy. The minions rebel. Good Times. Public speaker Lisa Shaffer correction of minutes, consent item #1, is simple and straightforward. But the bully in him takes over and it gets worse. It's like he just can't stop himself even as he makes things up. Must suck to be him. Even his deliberate mispronunciation of her name is loaded with venom. Oh yes, totally a lie about what has been done for some years now. Here are just a few examples from 2011 randomly selected after checking back more than a year. People do have their name and a brief statement of their topic.  Well, of course they do because oral communications is where a topic not on an agenda is introduced.  His action minutes rationale makes no sense, as Teresa Barth (more politely) points out.

 Rarely do we see the council majority so out of step with Stocks.  Kristin Gaspar's face was priceless.

"You're not the boss of me," she seemed to be saying.

Myths Encinitas

Our mayor had one whole council meeting with nothing on the agenda (due to a last minute cancellation of one minor element) except one item and some presentation / proclamation photo op events.

That one item was the state of the city speech he'd scheduled.  Surprisingly he presented his list with less possessiveness and grandiose claims than is his usual pattern.  He was in total game show host mode with voice cadance / quality and pink-cheeked glee.  But, his passive word choices were uncharacteristic and worth mentioning.

 Myths Encinitas, punctuated throughout in direct form and innuendo.  Today the ending is where this parsing of the state of the city speech begins.

"The state of the city is great! City council, city staff and public all provide teamwork essential to keeping the city on our successful path."

"Our successful path" might best describe the Stocks view that his way is the only way.
The lack of applause except for staff, Gaspar and a few others plus the awkward and prolonged silence all communicate a different state of the city and claim of teamwork.

The key elements in the art of working together are how to deal with change, how to deal with conflict, and how to reach our potential...the needs of the team are best met when we meet the needs of individual persons. - Max DePree

Was there any reason under the sun for Jerome Stocks to make three public speakers wait to speak until after he had the routine meeting business and reports completed? Does that sound like meeting the needs of the team or meeting the needs of individaul persons? No, it is a childish bully action. The articulate oral communication speeches testify to a public's protest of the mayor's mythical version of the state of the city.

We're not sleepy, stupid or content with the superficial eye wash. Hundreds of video clips, hundreds of blog posts, letters to the editor, citizen commentaries, thousands of public statements doled out in 3 minute blurbs attest to the utter disgust with the anti-team that is running roughshod over this community. Myths Encinitas governance needs to end.

Classy, did they say?

NCT staff-assigned Stocks apologist, stenographer Barbara Henry wrote another fact free bit of revisionist history.  The article  itself cites only one source, known far and wide as non-credible and a Jerome Stocks sycophant, to describe housing growth in Encinitas from the Stocks and Co perspective. This is Barbara Henry taking dictation and can be dismissed out of hand for what it is, simplistic propaganda to describe a complex issue.

Jump down to the comments for the mayor's alter ego, Coastal Watchdog's latest ugliness.  Ms. Henry must text Stocks as soon as the piece goes online, because he's yet again the first comment.  The campaign to divide, blame and claim what isn't his has begun.

The Coastal Watchdog said on: April 17, 2012 Teresa Barth is to blame for all of this nonesense[sic]. She attended and commented at each of the prior meetings and made sure to push all future growth into New Encinitas and none in Cardiff or Leucadia. As a council member she's supposed to represent all of the residents in eac[sic] of our 5 comunities[sic]. Shame on her!

How did the same paper's editorial boys describe this bully's actions just before this? "It was a classy, elegant . . "

Barf to garbage journalism without truth, ethics or talent.

Tonight's council meeting doesn't even have the one agenda item Stocks had allowed - a senior commissioner appointment, so his campaigning will fill the evening with his version of the state of the city presentation. Grab your boots and arrive early for seats up front and center. Keep the caricature above in your mind's eye for perspective.

Designated Fall Guy

No matter what the mayor keeps repeating, what the deputy mayor echos or what the city manager says in this clip; nobody really believes this guy made this decision on his own.

 

Scapegoat is probably the more appropriate term; that is, person who takes blame for another's action.

boob,chump,doormat,dupe,easy, mark, fall guy, fool, goat, gull, mark, patsy, pigeon, pushover, sacrifice, schmuck, sitting duck, stooge, sucker, victim, weakling.

Ugly words and ugly behavior on the part of those in charge. Let's get this guy some new bosses.