The Birds, the Bees, and the Wolfpack, Part III

He was pushed.  And yes, he jumped

Here’s a quick reminder about our former Mayor: there is no dispute that Bob Filner’s interpersonal habits, short fuse, and juvenile impulse control in the presence of women were blatant failings.  The problem is, these failings were embedded in a unique individual whose political agenda was like long-awaited manna to the voters who elected him. 

Tension, arguments, and righteous proclamations have erupted during these past months among San Diegans (mostly Democrats) genuinely torn between condemning a “progressive” political leader for his personal defects and giving up their hopes for a new, more enlightened social and economic agenda for San Diego -- a no-win dilemma. 

But there’s much more to the story.  Last week, in an effort to shed light on likely suspects in the political defenestration of just-elected and swiftly-deposed Bob Filner, we herded the San Diego “wolfpack” into one side of a large meeting room for some mug shots.

Members of the wolfpack (aka growth machine) are recognizable by their unique coziness with and influence over elected and unelected city officials and their uncanny ability to access public subsidies for their own (or their clients’) private projects. 

As you noticed, the room overflowed with bankers, big business owners, consultants, convention center purveyors, developers, financiers, hoteliers, law firms, lobbyists, newspaper owners, Port of San Diego interests, and the real estate establishment, in addition to sports team owners. 

It’s a formidable crew, never loathe to do whatever it takes to retain control over what they consider their turf.  For a personalized look at some of the alpha dogs in this pack you might take a look at this informative story recently posted by the Voice of San Diego. 

Today we’ll get a look at the insiders from Bob Filner’s office.  They’re a clue to the mystery of how Bob Filner was pushed and why I also say he jumped.

While it’s common knowledge that the ex-Mayor’s relentless habit of coming onto women provided his political enemies with enough free ammunition to hound him out of office, there’s an irony here: the story that was assembled to bring Bob Filner down had less weight and substance than the seeds of his real undoing – his underestimation of what it would take to successfully run the city as Mayor in the face of fierce resistance by San Diego’s elite power structure, as well as certain members of his own party.

Here’s how I laid it out many months ago: Even a virtuoso player like Mayor Filner can’t do it on his own.   A first-class leader needs first-class backup.  Perhaps more than any leader in our city’s history, this Mayor needs a strong, dedicated, high-quality group of advisors and staff members to back up his proposals, shore up his policies, strengthen his outreach, and advance his goals.

Despite his experience as a city councilman, despite multiple terms in the U.S. Congress, despite his lively mind, sharp wit, ethical agenda, boundless energy, and first-class vision, Bob Filner didn’t do sufficient homework on what it takes to run city business while keeping his political adversaries -- inside and outside the door of his 11^th floor office -- at bay.

You’re invited to join me on another mindful walk through the Mayor’s office.  This time we'll do a closer job of noticing.

Everyone noticed that Bob Filner became Mayor of San Diego with the help of Tom Shepard -- an unlikely campaign advisor best known for bringing to fruition the campaigns of a great number of (predominantly) Republican candidates, including former Mayor Jerry Sanders.  

You might remember that in the Mayoral primary, Shepard was the campaign manager for the unsuccessful Nathan Fletcher.  Not one to spend time licking his wounds, Shepard sent people in a tizzy with an announcement sent to Fletcher supporters: 

"Yesterday, Bob announced I will be running his Mayoral campaign.  Now I’m asking you to take a fresh look at Bob Filner and consider joining me in support of his candidacy. I believe Bob offers the best hope for realizing Nathan’s vision and spirit that inspired us during the primary campaign."  A curious proposition… ominous, in fact.

Bob Filner obliged by offering Fletcher a “high-profile job” once he took office, an opportunity Fletcher rejected for a vastly more attractive alternative -- a $400,000/year position doing odd jobs… this-and-that… at Qualcomm. 

It was hard to have to notice that once Filner became Mayor, Tom Shepard and associates stayed on as friendly advisors -- a function they had performed for previous Mayor Sanders.  In Filner’s defense, his options were limited.  Given the city’s longstanding political history as a conservative business, developer, and tourism town there was a paucity of expert, experienced, and trustworthy advisors and staff readily available to work alongside a new Mayor like Filner.  The leadership of the local Democratic Party bears considerable responsibility for a chronic failure to focus on training, nurturing, and supporting strong new leadership within the party and to develop a smart and forward-looking political and economic agenda for our city and region.

On top of that, Filner was repeatedly undermined by fellow Democrats who identified more closely with the empty mumblings of the con-man Nathan Fletcher than the old-time liberal convictions of the pugnacious Bob Filner.  Democratic Party leader Jess Durphy went AWOL much of the time.  His replacement Francine Busby seemed to be permanently sitting on the fence.  Political powerhouse Lorena Gonzalez predictably chose self-interest over principles.  And Democratic city council president Todd Gloria -- who could have offered the new Democratic Mayor useful know-how, cooperation, and moral support -- chose to publicly screw Filner at every turn (a princeling honing his skills at regicide).  It was and remains an unsavory portrait of the Democratic Party with dismal prospects for the city's Democrats. 

I noticed, and maybe you did too, that Bob Filner compounded his difficult predicament by making  some peculiar... no, bad... no, deadly choices in setting up his office.  Maybe  he was just heeding an ancient military lesson about keeping your friends close but your enemies closer.  If so, Filner misjudged the cunning of his enemies as well as the loyalty of his “friends” -- fatal mistakes, as it turned out.

His choices were poor, even for his campaign staff.  The crew he brought with him was frustratingly ignorant of city matters.  But Filner was a quick learner with a gift for winging it.  He succeeded in flying solo through much of his campaign.  Once he became Mayor that technique would no longer work. 

The first nail in his coffin was his choice for Chief of Staff.   Vince Hall may have been a known entity to Filner in a sea of unfriendly faces and may have had his strengths, but he was the wrong person for this demanding and complex job.  His volatile temper, inconsistency, cluelessness about municipal processes, and rigid administrative style thwarted the creation of a cohesive, purposeful, and well-functioning office.  

It’s true that stability and smooth functioning take time to achieve (think back to the rapid staff turnover, internal juggling, and development scandals of the early Sanders administration).  But Filner’s Chief of Staff repeatedly turned his back on experienced and knowledgeable true allies.  He seemed indifferent to the complicated staffing needs of the office and the intricacies of city politics. He turned a blind eye to subversive rumblings and monkey wrenches.  He iced-out knowledgeable supporters, shut his door to staff complaints, and stiffed news reporters.  Was it hubris? insecurity? being in over his head?  His departure came too late.

Another nail in the coffin was former councilmember Donna Frye, a shoo-in for the position of Director of Open Government.  Her first-hand experience with city governance, policies, and San Diego politics were invaluable resources, but she was continually blocked by the Chief of Staff and excluded from the Mayor’s inner circle of advisors.  For reasons of her own she chose to remain quiescent rather than fight for the internal changes she believed were necessary and for her place in the sun.  On the heels of an altercation with Vince Hall she abruptly walked out.  She had come into Filner’s office as an asset and departed three months later as a liability, bitter that her dedication and efforts toward increasing transparency in city government were thwarted by an obstructive Chief of Staff and squandered by the Mayor.

This valuable ally was soon to be transformed into a potent opponent.  Working in sync with her longtime friend and legal advisor Marco Gonzalez and their mutual associate attorney Cory Briggs, she called for Filner’s resignation. The anti-Filner forces were already gathering momentum to bring the Mayor down and the action of this trio became the bugle call to all Filner-detractors, antagonists, and opponents that the time was ripe to redouble their efforts to run Filner out of town.  (For a long and detailed account of the Frye/ Gonzalez/ Briggs action I recommend this interview by Citybeat’s David Rolland.) 

As reported, the action of this trio was based on allegations of harassment by a set of women, one of whom was the Mayor’s Director of Communications Irene McCormack.

The appointment of Irene McCormack provided an especially long nail in the Filner coffin.   McCormack(-Jackson) let it be known that she took a significant salary cut when she left her good job at the Port District to go to work for the new Mayor.  Discerning people will notice that she was actually facing termination at the Port and was rescued and hand-delivered to the Mayor’s office (by Port Commissioner Bob Nelson, perhaps, or?).  Soon she became the Mayor’s personal handler and companion at his afternoon and evening appearances at community events and meetings.

The fact that McCormack took frequent detailed notes about her personal interactions with Mayor Filner was revealed at a press conference when she and her attorney Gloria Allred publicly accused the Mayor of sexual harassment.   During the many months that McCormack chronicled her case against the Mayor she had refrained from sharing her discomfort and distress with fellow staffers, although she must have discussed details with other women associates and helped them relive and publicly report their stories from times past.  The question of how many dollars it will take to erase the memories of some uncomfortable encounters is a tantalizing one, indeed.  The city will eventually cough up some generous settlements.

Then there’s Allen Jones.  From the beginning, people noticed that, given his long professional career in private real estate and land development, the appointment of Allen Jones as Deputy Chief of Staff seemed inconsonant with Filner’s preference for development policies that benefit the public over private interests.  Jones, like Chief of Staff Hall, had worked for Filner in the old days.

Before long, Jones had backed the Mayor into a swamp of legal disputes involving Sunroad Enterprises' high-profile development project in Kearny Mesa, ironically the same one that had given Jerry Sanders severe heartburn a few years ago.  Could it be that Jones’s binding ties were not to the Mayor but to the people who dealt in oversized buildings, upzoned land uses, and creative deviations from city code?  From day one, his peremptory attitude alienated ought-to-be Filner supporters.  He was a thorn in the side of Earth Day’s founder and promoter Carolyn Chase.  And he shut the door on the legal perspectives of public interest attorney Cory Briggs, who subsequently joined up with Donna Frye and Marco Gonzalez to force the Mayor's resignation -- he with accusations of development-related corruption and “caving-in” and they with assertions of female harassment.

Lee Burdick also played a complex role in the Bob Filner saga.  Hired as Director of Special Projects and Legal Affairs, her position in the Mayor’s office was ill-defined and second tier.  She had a talent for keeping her head down and, like Donna Frye, was not included in Filner’s inner circle, despite her informal title as the Mayor’s in-house attorney.   Burdick (once partner in an influential San Diego law firm whose clients included the CEO of Sunroad Enterprises) had joined Hall and Jones in rebuffing legal recommendations and advice from Cory Briggs, particularly concerning the Sunroad project.  He was disappointed, he felt betrayed.  These unsatisfactory encounters with the Filner administration were the final straw.  He hardened his heart and finalized his decision to join forces with Gonzalez and Frye to let it all hit the fan.

At some point -- noticing the handwriting on the wall -- Vince Hall gathered his marbles and left the game, shooting off some disloyal and self-serving parting words on his way out.  Lee Burdick stepped into the position she had been hankering after and assumed the role of Chief of Staff to a beleaguered Mayor and a much-reduced office.   

The nail driven by City Attorney Jan Goldsmith was a doozy.  I’ve noticed all along (haven’t you?) that the City Attorney overplayed his hand from the day Filner took office.  The (quasi-legal) strategy emanating from his office to obstruct, thwart, demean, limit, and ultimately oust the Mayor from office was as vigorous and relentless as Todd Gloria’s or Kevin Faulconer’s, but less visible to the naked eye.  Goldsmith’s efforts to organize a recall-Filner campaign… his deference to the sheriff’s intimidation of the Mayor’s staff (who knocked at their doors in the dead of night to question them about what went on in their workplace)… his role in the bugging of the Mayor’s office… his schemes to lock the Mayor out of City Hall… his unwholesome coupling with Lee Burdick… should make us all tremble for our own safety.  

What’s this about unwholesome coupling?  Let’s take a peek through the keyhole at a startling and hushed-up set of events:

• The Mayor’s office was bugged.  Someone spent time listening in on staff conversations in the Mayor’s conference room and office of the Chief of Staff.  For how long is anyone’s guess.  
• Lee Burdick found out about being bugged when the Mayor was away in therapy.  She went for a chat with the City Attorney.  Seems like Goldsmith already knew about the bugging.  The Chief of Police was called in but he didn’t follow up.  Lee Burdick also decided not to follow up.  Is anyone curious about who was responsible for bugging the Mayor’s office? or why no one wanted to find out?  Shhh, it’s still a secret. 
• Burdick and Goldsmith changed the locks to the Mayor’s office.  To keep out the cleanup crew? the mysterious bugger? the Mayor? 
• Burdick met with the City Attorney to discuss how to really keep the Mayor out.  They agreed that a temporary restraining order could legally bar Filner’s reentry into his office.  If they did it right, he could be kept out of the entire building.
• Burdick solicited signatures from the remaining Mayor's staff claiming that the Mayor’s office had become a hostile work environment for each of them.  Filner got wind of the plan.  He blew up and it fizzled.
• Attorney Gloria Allred put an ageing city volunteer in front of TV cameras to tell the world that the Mayor’s presence in the City Hall lobby created a hostile work environment for her and that the Mayor should be prohibited from returning to City Hall.   Coordination? or just a coincidence.
• Bob Filner scheduled negotiating sessions with the City Attorney (briefly including Gloria Allred) and opted to save himself from a financial wipe-out from the litigation being heaped upon him.  He submitted his resignation as the eight-month-old Mayor of the City of San Diego.

Truth, they say, is stranger than fiction.

………………………………………………

Many questions remain: 

Was there a wizard behind the curtains, coordinating the multi-pronged assault on Mayor Bob Filner?

Was Lorena Gonzalez an early instigator of the Marco Gonzalez /Donna Frye/ Cory Briggs trio that sparked the brutal siege to bring down the Mayor?  Was her friend Nathan Fletcher the intended heir of her largesse?

Was Bob Filner’s fall facilitated by sabotage from within by some of his staff, consultants, and advisors? 

Were there other options for the politically experienced and public-minded Frye/ Gonzalez/ Briggs trio to expose the mayor’s purported failures and transgressions?

Shouldn't there have been a public process through regularly-scheduled  elections to judge the Mayor rather than a public execution via public relations firms, press conferences, and the news media? 

Might the trio have dissociated themselves from the Mayor's perceived “corruption” and made sure the public knew that, in their eyes, Filner was not a true Progressive or even a good Democrat?

Might they have advised the San Diego public to politely but firmly turn down the Mayor's annoying advances, should he ask them for kiss or a date? 

Might they have warned the public to be watchful, to protest, to oppose his initiatives on Sunroad, to sue him if necessary, and then refrain from electing him to a second term? 

Isn't this what we have done in the past when dealing with elected officials we disagreed with or even detested? 

What did these politically sophisticated activists assume was going to happen if/after Bob Filner resigned?  Who did they think would be a suitable replacement?  Did they tally the costs?  Did they even care?  

To give them the benefit of the doubt, is it conceivable that this savvy trio acted on their emotions and impulses and simply forgot to think about the consequences of their actions? 

It’s time to wrap up this tale. One day there’ll be an intrepid investigative reporter who’ll spill the rest of the beans.  As for now Filner is out.  The interim Mayor, with the help of the City Attorney and other good-old-boys, is doing his darndest to wipe away the last trace of Bob Filner and return San Diego to the days of yesteryear.   So hold onto your hats.  We're going to spin the wheel and pick a new Mayor.  Soon we might find out what real rape and pillage is like.

Shut your eyes, Nancy Drew.  You're in an x-rated city.

The birds, the bees, and the wolf pack, Part II

Did Bob Filner jump? did he fall? was he pushed?

Forget you, Nancy Drew.  You’re being replaced by Perry Mason, super-sleuth defense attorney from old TV days.  Every week at the zero hour this guy would laboriously rise up in the middle of the courtroom and pull a rabbit out of a hat.  First he'd say something enigmatic to the judge, then to the jury.  Soon he’d turn to the seated onlookers and dramatically finger the real culprit… swindler… murderer… for a histrionic wrap-up to another solved case.

Problem is, the case against Bob Filner doesn't lend itself to cheap theatrics.  The complexity and political fallout of Bob Filner's ouster bring his political demise closer to classic tragedy than pulp fiction -- not merely for him personally but for the future of our city.  

So let's stick with the diligent approach of Ms Drew to arrive at some answers to this mayoral mystery: did Bob Filner jump? fall? or get pushed? and when the curtains are drawn back will we find a master manipulator slinking around in the shadows? 

A quick recap: The overblown Bob Filner pseudo-sex-saga (are you married... I’d like to kiss you... come to dinner with me) elicited an outpouring of righteous indignation from all corners of the city -- from Democrats and Republicans, males and females, reporters and readers, heavyweight professionals and the up-and-coming.

And a bevy of hometown political strivers got into the act -- the Jan Goldsmiths, Kevin Faulconers, Todd Glorias, Sheriff Gores, Nathan Fletchers, Carl DeMaios – decrying the former-mayor’s “disrespect” for women and shedding crocodile tears for the rainbow of plaintiffs who were hand-delivered on schedule to local reporters, TV anchors, and the national media to bare their mortification and shame to the viewing public. 

After hounding the mayor out of office our Republican city council members and Democratic council president glommed onto a megaphone provided by the local news media to broadcast their litany of coded slogans: Heal our city! End the civic nightmare! Get San Diego back on track!   

Translated that means: Turn the clock back to the Jerry Sanders era of business-as usual!  Purge all traces of Bob Filner’s political, economic, environmental, and social agenda from the political record!  And from public memory!

On the surface, ex-mayor Filner’s agenda seemed benign.  He promised voters he would: 1) bring new faces to the table; and 2) use the tools of government to benefit the public at large, not just the financial interests of the private sector.  Yet the evidence is clear that from the day he stepped into his 11th floor office, efforts were underway outside and inside City Hall to abort his term as mayor... to get rid of him ASAP.  

Within a week the City Council President (a fellow Democrat) began undercutting the mayor's agenda.  Within a two weeks the City Attorney began commenting publicly about the mayor's temper and other "behavior issues," an approach he recently acknowledged was part of an overall "strategy."  Within a month Filner was being caricatured in the U-T and on-line press as the outsider… the other.  By summertime he was being painted by nationwide commentators as the pervert.  Through concerted efforts he was methodically quartered and drawn... demonized.  It was an ugly process.

What made Bob Filner so intolerable to the city’s traditional power brokers and political rivals to justify a crusade so wildly disproportionate to the low-level harassment accusations leveled against him?  His behavior toward women was foolish and puerile but the threats he posed to the San Diego wolfpack must have loomed large… he-man sized.  The threat of new faces? new voices? the plan to benefit the public?

It’s still too early for definitive identification of all the faces behind the ouster of Bob Filner (the upcoming mayor’s race and ensuing battles for control will fill in many of the blanks) but we’ve got plenty of clues to start us off. 

So here’s the plan: all suspects in what has been labeled a political coup will be herded into one big room and sorted out. Players from outside the mayor’s office will be directed to the left side.  Players from inside the mayor’s office will keep to the right.  A path down the middle will be kept clear for surreptitious comings and goings by people straddling the fence.

Here's who gets sent to the left:

The birds, the bees, and the wolf pack - Part I

Part I: A story about sex… more or less

Once upon a time there was a man with an unquenchable impulse to invite women out to breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  He seemed oblivious to a fact most other men understand -- there are circumstances when it’s okay to sweet-talk a woman and other circumstances when it’s not. 

For a man known to be adept and dynamic at public speaking he was oddly banal and unimaginative at the art and practice of seduction: are you married… you are beautiful… your eyes mesmerize me… I want you to have dinner with me. 

This man, according to TV and news accounts, routinely crossed the proverbial line.  It was reported that he surprised some women with a kiss on the cheek, or forehead, or mouth – even, purportedly, a french kiss.   Two or three women said he patted the vicinity where their rear ends reside.  There were reports of fumbled attempts to touch a breast.  A few recalled provocative whispers in their ear. 

Several women said he detained them with a firm grasp of his hands on their hands or his arm wrapped around their shoulder in the region of their clavicle.  Professional women with business ties to the tourism industry told tales of being flummoxed by his too-chummy style.  A tough, well-seasoned rear admiral divulged her discombobulation when he placed his index finger on her cheek.  A volunteer at the city hall senior desk reported she was a victim of his bantering but now she’s a survivor.

Each day a new woman got seated in front of the tv cameras to describe her personal mishap with this man.  For some it provided a few minutes of free airtime to publicize a newly-published book or company or business.  Or to make a case for a quarter -- no, make that half-a-million dollars in compensation for emotional distress and psychic injury.  

As reported by commentators and the news media from coast to coast, this man’s unwelcome passes were startling, confusing, unnerving, and enduringly haunting to dozens of independent, upstanding, self-sufficient, fully-grown women.  He was mercilessly caricatured as a monstrous serial cad capable of transforming sturdy women into “victims” in need of societal protection and even restitution.   No proof needed.

Oddly, no woman has come forward with a story of retaliation, revenge, retribution, loss of employment, reduction in salary, bad letter of recommendation, cancelled contract, torn-off clothing, slapping around, or attempted rape if or when she refused this man’s request for dinner, a hug, or a kiss.  Nevertheless, he was deemed responsible for singlehandedly precipitating an epidemic of PTSD among San Diego’s most accomplished women.

The man in question is Bob Filner, long-term U.S. Congressman and short-lived mayor of San Diego.

Some readers will criticize me for not being sufficiently PC

The Filner Headlock Exposed

Mere words cannot do justice to the abusive and degrading maneuver commonly called the Filner Headlock.  Consequently, please heed this important warning:

 The following photo essay is explicit and revealing.  It is not intended for the fainthearted or for adults and/or children with unusually delicate or immature sensibilities.

However, for the stouthearted among us I ask you to take a peek at a variety of permutations of the infamous headlock technique ascribed to our mayor. 

Then I ask you to select the picture that corresponds most closely to your mental image of what a Filner Headlock really is.  Would it be a:

girly-girl headlock?

rough stuff  headlock?

 don't you worry headlock?

phone sex headlock?

gotcha headlock?

interracial headlock?

sweetie-pie headlock?

hoopster headlock?

 gone golfing headlock?

got your sunblock headlock?

  

never-mess-with-a-blonde-headlock?

same sex headlock?

what's-sauce-for-the-goose headlock?

 or maybe an old-fashioned headlock?

A mindful walk through treacherous territory

 Today I’m on a mindful jaunt through America's finest sexiest city.  Not just ordinary sexy but exuberant sexy... in-your-face, over-the-top sexy.  It’s a walk that calls for extra-special noticing (though not much letting go).

I notice that there’s a three-ring circus in town, selling its special merchandise to participants and spectators alike -- an exotic brew of beer-soaked hormones, pheromones, secretions, and sundry other exudations.

It’s being peddled on Fiesta Island at the annual beach bacchanal known as the Over-The-Line Tourney -- a boozy, raunchy, let-it-all-hang-out display of tantalizing semi-bare bodies engaged in personal pleasures and pursuits and not-necessarily-innocent fun and games.

It was widely available at the LGBT Pride Parade – a comparable extravaganza of raunchy, let-it-all-hang-out semi-bare bodies engaged in the celebration of freedom to be and liberation from the shackles of conventional restraints and taboos.

It’s a staple at the upcoming multi-million dollar Comic-Com International – another wild blow-out promoting freedom from (or on behalf of) shackles, alluring and revealing getups, escapist fantasies, and sky’s-the-limit flights of fancy.

We can call it a concatenation of profligate events -- to say it the fancy way.   A magical alignment of the moon and stars -- if you're a romantic.  A capitalist capture of the lucrative business of selling sex -- to be prosaic.   It's a sign of how cosmopolitan, uninhibited, and open-minded we San Diegans are.  We're way cool.

I notice that the same potent brew is fueling another major event in San Diego -- a blaring sideshow about sex… raunch… personal pleasures… liberation from conventional restraints… not-necessarily-innocent fun and games.  The big difference is that the public isn't allowed into this one for a for a first-hand look.

This raucous major event focuses on the sex life of our mayor.  It deals with the

A mindful walk down Sunroad Lane

To tell you the truth, these mindful walks can give me a headache…notice and let it go… notice... let go…

When I started these walks it looked like letting it go would be the hard part.  Turns out the noticing part is worse -- because what I’ve been noticing is really screwy.  In fact, it stinks.

I notice that while Republican voters no longer dominate San Diego elections, the city's entrenched wheeler-dealers (still predominantly Republican) persist in manipulating, controlling, and subverting city government, the news media, and public opinion.

I notice that the spiked cudgel wielded by the U-T San Diego (reduced to a 3rd-rate tabloid under heavy-handed revamping by owner Doug Manchester) is the designated weapon to batter, bludgeon, and defame those who dare challenge the hegemony of San Diego's developers, bankers, hoteliers, downtown partners, Chamber of Commerce, and Republican Party-backed officials.  The editorial page churns out distorted, uninformed, hypocritical tirades with nary a blush.  Doesn't a city like San Diego deserve better?

I notice, unhappily, that our news alternatives (with some notable and promising exceptions) still hang out at the shallow end of the pool, content with sniping, feinting, and water-pistol wars.  San Diegans desperately need more wave-makers and intrepid underwater explorers.     

[And speaking of water -- it's worth your while to read this excellent story in the VOSD about the politics of San Diego's water supply.  We can't afford to lose you, Will Carless!]

I notice that our local legal system lineup of superior-court judges, federal attorney, sheriff, district attorney, city attorney, police chief, and lobbyist-law firms frequently distorts the legal system in the service of (i.e. aiding and abetting) the city’s power brokers.  One recent example among many? an unseemly coupling between our city attorney and court judge to prosecute Jim Jeff Olson for chalking anti-bank slogans on sidewalks near Bank of America.  

I notice that these law-enforcement Rockettes

A mindful walk through the mayor's office

Turns out that mindful walks aren’t guaranteed to be soul-soothing.  But one thing’s for sure -- they’re invariably eye-opening.  Once you start noticing, you’ll find plenty of things you never noticed before.

You'll remember that last week I walked the walk in La Jolla.  A few days ago it was Mission Valley.  Yesterday it was downtown.  But I’m putting aside downtown and Mission Valley for the time being and inviting you to keep me company on today's mindful walk... through the mayor’s office... figuratively speaking, that is. 

Picture us on the 11th floor of City Hall.  Take a seat alongside me in the outer vestibule of the mayor’s suite.  Notice the elevators and toilets to our left.  Notice the worn carpeting and sullen lighting.  Now follow me into the inner sanctum.  

Be mindful how you walk.

Inside you’ll notice a brightly-lit chamber

Hanging on... letting go

I took a mindful walk through downtown La Jolla this morning.  It was my version of a meditative exercise that’s supposed to smooth your soul and clear your mind.  Here’s how it’s done: you put one foot in front of the other in the usual way of walking while you notice what's around you. 

First you notice.  And then you let it go.

Notice…and let it go. 

These are some of the things I noticed on my mindful walk:

    •    marred and scarred sidewalks; cracked and fissured streets (the touted La Jolla Village patina?)

    •    cheerful tourists snapping photos of one another and guessing the name of those lavender-blooming trees (jacaranda)

    •    scores of cormorants, pelicans, and raucous sea lions lolling, diving, swimming, and engaged in uninhibited large-bowel activity on the LJ Cove bluffs, in flip-off contempt of microbial scrubdown experiments

    •    June gloom

    •    signage announcing a new-to-the-neighborhood Goodwill resale shop just a few storefronts down from Roche Bobois

    •    a surge of remodels and dense multi-family construction

    •    dozens of homeless men and women, some on benches, some hauling loaded carts in the direction of the Vons recycling depot

 I also noticed that the noticing part of a mindful walk is easy.  The letting go part is another story.  And I’ve noticed that it’s not just me who has trouble letting go.

Take the U-T San Diego, for example.  I’ve noticed that since Bob Filner became mayor the people at the U-T started acting act like crazed dogs, compulsively gnawing at old bones and obsessing about the mayor’s personality quirks.  They publish half-stories that omit core information a reader needs to get a full picture.  Their editor tears his hair out

Belly-whopping off the deep end

I know, I know, we're only human.  We all make mistakes.  Everyone's been known to lie or cheat or steal (only for a good reason, of course).  At times we're devious or lazy.  Sometimes greedy.  Vindictive, too. 

Given our shortcomings, I ask  you this: is it fair to demand higher standards from our elected officials than we might impose on regular folk like you and me?  Here's my answer: it's more than fair; it's self-evident common sense to hold out for brain-power and high ethical standards from politically-inspired individuals who climb into the public arena and vie for the prize of holding the public welfare in the palm of their hands.  

You look for professional standards and expertise from a dentist, don't you? from your trainer at the gym? the butcher at Vons?  Does it make sense to accept anything less from your elected politicians who have the power to shape, improve, or make a mess of your daily lives and surroundings?

You'd prefer them to be hard-working, conscientious, open-minded, practical, and honest, right?  To honor their responsibilities as public servants, no?  To surround themselves with trustworthy and intelligent advisors who respect the welfare of the public, true?  To be a cut above the least among us, yes?

So how come we countenance moronic decisions that purport to be in the best interests of San Diego’s 1.3 million residents but, in reality, stick a thumb in the public eye?

Keys to the Kingdom

For the first time ever, the San Diego public has been awarded the Keys to the Kingdom.  The grantor of this unique gift to the people of San Diego is former council member Donna Frye and her Open Government project, developed during her three-month stint in the office of Mayor Bob Filner.

Finally, regular citizens and ordinary folk (you and I) have ready access to just about everything we wish to know about the ins-and-outs of City Hall.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to how you can get formerly-hidden public information, including ingress to the services and attention you expect and deserve from your city government.  Okay now, time to follow the bouncing ball.

•  First, go to the city’s website at www.sandiego.gov.  Once there you’ll find the downtown skyline and Mayor Filner’s engaging smile -- amidst a cluttered hodgepodge of disparate offerings.  Ignore them all and let your gaze wander to an oasis in the middle of the screen that says Open Government.

•  Then click your heels together three times.  An additional click of your mouse on the Open Government box will transport you instantaneously to a serene page where you can calmly pick the path you want to pursue. 

•  Could be that the only thing you wish for is to be able to watch the City Council in action.  Or replay reality to check on how your council member voted a few months ago.  Let’s say you’re wondering what your neighborhood planning group is arguing about (presumably on your behalf).  Perchance you want to know what the city's 50 or so appointed Boards and Commissions are up to.  It’s all there at your fingertips -- click where it says Meeting Agendas and Minutes to begin your journey toward enlightenment.

•  Information about the California Public Records Act?  The ‘open government’ Brown Act?  Easy as pie -- click on the Outside Resources link. 

• Not everyone wants to know the size of San Diego retirees' pensions... but if you do, read on.

Spare us from our good boys

You’ve already read my take on bad boys. Now it’s time to flip the coin and ponder San Diego’s good boys. 

Lately, good boys have been coming out of the woodwork.  You can spot them a mile away by their gee-whiz grins and GQ grooming.  Their toothy, soulful smiles can break your heart.  Of course they’re super-civil and never raise their voices in public.  You wouldn’t hesitate to bring these dewy-eyed boys home to meet your momma. 

Don’t do it!  What you see is NOT what you get from these two-dimensional paper dolls… Stepford wives in drag.  Who are these people, you ask?  

Let’s start with the godfather of them all:

Is it heartburn or the stirrings of true love?

What you always wanted to know...

One time or another we've all experienced that unsettled, mid-gut sensation.  Strangely, it always feels the same -- whether the cause is dread, pleasurable anticipation, or a pesty upset stomach. 

This affliction has gone viral ever since San Diego elected a mayor who happens to possess the following attributes: 

• the habit of straight-talk (Bob Filner says it aloud whenever the emperor has no clothes) 
• common sense (he deals with obvious, ordinary facts and cuts through subterfuge)
• an agenda oriented toward the broad public welfare (good jobs, neighborhood benefits, local representation, face-to--face interaction)
• independence (no kowtowing to the established and influential downtown elite)
• a sense of humor (sometimes going for the jugular)
• an openly-admitted tendency toward intolerance (specifically targeting local corporate welfare schemes and generous financial giveaways, as well as noxious air, water, and neighborhood pollution)
• ambitious ideas to create a healthy, vibrant, diversified economy and cultural environment in San Diego (maritime/port development, top-notch understanding of the benefits of binational coordination, going 'green,' reinvigorating community planning and regeneration, stringent standards for city contracts, endorsement of  'the arts')

Yes, Bob Filner is giving a lot of San Diego greybeards a bad case of heartburn.  How?

Wish I could have written this

 Here's an article I wish I could have written.  Thanks go to Jim Miller and the San Diego Free Press.  Click here for the full story.
 
...Mayor Bob Filner is now engaged in an intense struggle with City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, big hoteliers, and the UT-San Diego because he has refused to sign off on the sweetheart deal negotiated by his predecessor whose legacy is quickly evaporating as you read this.  Specifically, Filner wants legal protections for the city if the dubious deal goes to court, a shorter tourism marketing agreement, a cut of hotel fees for city services, and a living wage for hotel employees.

Other than their questionable notion that the 2% tourist surcharge is not a tax, the real agenda behind the attack on Filner is San Diego’s elites’ desire to maintain their privilege and the advantages that have come to them from decades of shadow government.

As Mike Davis, Kelly Mayhew, and I wrote in the introduction to Under the Perfect Sun, “San Diego has too frequently been a town wide open to greed but closed to social justice. Like its Sunbelt siblings—Orange County, Phoenix, and Dallas—it has a long history of weak and venal city halls dominated by powerful groups of capitalist insiders.  ‘Private Government’ has long overshadowed public politics.”

More recently in Paradise Plundered: Fiscal Crisis and Governance Failure in San Diego, Steve Erie, Vladimir Kogan, and Scott MacKenzie similarly illustrate how San Diego’s political and business elite have done a fantastic job of “using public resources to maximize private profit” with little to no oversight from our “shadow governments.”

What Filner is doing here is important and historic: he is standing up to the entitled private interests who have run San Diego for its entire history.  He is saying no to shadow government, plain and simple.  For this, he deserves to be praised.

In essence, the war against our new mayor is a class war.  Filner has upset the apple cart of San Diego politics and threatens to end the reign of private government that enriches powerful interests by using public resources as a piggy bank for the affluent.  They rigged the game, made the rules, and now they think it’s outrageous that anyone has the temerity to challenge them–even if he is the democratically elected strong mayor of the city.

The argument driven by the UT-San Diego and echoed in much of the San Diego media that Filner is the problem because he is uncivil is a pathetic joke.  You should take it as an insult to your intelligence. What is truly offensive here is the level of entitlement that many of the city’s moneyed interests and Doug Manchester’s mouthpiece have and how readily much of the rest of the local media serves as an echo chamber when they cry foul just because they have to deal with a mayor who is more interested in the public interest than private profit.

Sanders and the long legacy of weak to criminal mayors that he belongs to was the embarrassment, not Filner.  They brought us government by and for the 1%.  But perhaps the hue and cry emanating from San Diego’s corporate crew needs to be put into context.  So, before you get all hot and bothered at the terrible prospect of the tourism industry being forced to be accountable, pay living wages, and give something back to the city, let’s review the current state of affairs nationally and locally and see who has really been getting away with economic murder...

...And, importantly, despite our city’s relentless boosterism, “The tourism industry had the lowest median earnings in 2011, $24,422 for a year of full-time work.”   That’s just a bit above the poverty level for a family of four, hardly the stuff that dreams are made of in “the world’s greatest country and America’s finest city.”  Low wages such as that sound a lot more like what keeps our local economy running for the benefit of the city’s elite while the rest of us struggle.

Thus Mayor Filner’s insistence that the tourism industry should be obliged to pay living wages is a righteous argument.  His belief that industries that get public subsidies give back is also a just and eminently reasonable position.  And his concern that any deal that benefits the tourism industry also needs to be clearly good for the city legally and economically is both correct and a breath of fresh air.  If he is successful we’ll get a deal that will help create better jobs and lift all of us up at the same time.

So of course those very elite and the local politicians and media that have buttered their bread for time immemorial are howling with outrage because San Diego’s new mayor is holding them accountable.  Much like the perpetually enraged Republicans at the national level they just can’t master the fact that they lost the election.  And even some of the weak Democrats on the City Council just can’t seem to understand that they shouldn’t keep operating by the old rules.

Sorry guys, you’re not running America’s Finest Tourist Plantation anymore.  If you are going to get $30 million in public funds to promote your industry, you need to give back and pay a living wage to your workers.  Period.

Shame on all of them for whining, but shame on all of us too if we allow the tabloid ready, petty, personality-based news coverage in the local media to bring down the mayor as he stands up to the real bullies in town who are determined to keep profiting at all our expense whether we are their underpaid workers or taxpayers made to fund the promotion of private greed.

The truth is that, warts and all, Mayor Filner represents a new day in San Diego.  If you believe that our government needs to be open and accountable and that the interests of social justice are more important than Manchester and company’s bottom line, then you should support him.

Top dog

I suppose there are women who would do battle to become the queen bee (Lorena Gonzalez flies to mind) but they're the exception, not the rule.  On the other hand, the lineup of San Diego males practicing back-stabbing techniques to become emperor… potentate… sultan…snakes the entire length of I-805 and back again.  

Our local warriors come in different shapes and modes -- from the programmed-android Carl DeMaio... to the sybarite Doug Manchester... to the changeling-striver Nathan Fletcher... to the overweening Jan Goldsmith... to the Brutus-clone Todd Gloria (why he'd identify with James Mason instead of Marlon Brando is beyond me).  They're panting hard at the prospect of unseating the obstinate Bob Filner, on whose head the crown currently rests.

It's not even springtime past the 2012 November election but the word is trickling out that 2014 (just around the corner) is the year of choice for a pitched battle to recall Mayor Filner

Getting away with murder (part II)

Some of my friends think I pick on San Diego unfairly.  They ask me, Don't all cities have a similar quotient of greed, corruption, mediocrity, deceit, and political blowhards as we have in San Diego?

I won't equivocate.  The answer is...yes. 

So why single out our city? Because San Diego is unique in one peculiar respect: we practice an overweening reverence for gentility.  We lionize propriety.  We relish an identity as America's finest, nicest city.  Some guys might even stretch the description and say we're pussy-whipped.  But the more orthodox label for our singular compliance is civility.

San Diego is obsessed with civility.

Getting away with murder

New series: What you always wanted to know…

Dear NumbersRunnner,
This question has been on my mind for a long time but it's one I've been afraid to ask: How come so many San Diegans get away with murder?    Yours truly, TQ (Timid Questioner)
 

 Dear TQ: Murder is a serious allegation.  If you'll settle for the lesser charge of white-collar crime (the FBI says it means "lying, cheating, and stealing…the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals…"), you need only take a look at some of Don Bauder's investigative stories about our hometown white-collar crooks. 

But yes, when it comes to San Diego miscreants of a political persuasion these guys really DO get away with murder – both the metaphorical and bloody types. 

Consider the case histories of two recently-departed politicians -- ex-mayor Jerry Sanders and ex-councilmember Tony Young.  Both are now sheltered in the cushy bosom of our city's witness protection program, aka the San Diego Chamber of Commerce and the Red Cross, with annual salaries of over $300,000 and $200,000, respectively.

Mayor Jerry Sanders was delivered into the plump arms

Devouring Bob Filner

Predictions of doomsday have officially fizzled.  This past November voters elected the liberal Democrat Bob Filner as mayor of the city of San Diego and -- happy to report -- the world (as we know it) remains intact. 

In fact, our city seems pretty much the same as ever.  For example: 

• Our downtown heavyweights still scurry around in perpetual motion, determined to infiltrate and control the mayorhood
• Our elected officials still get that faraway look in their eyes as they prime their pumps for higher office or a lucrative move to the private sector
• Our local news media (daily newspaper, weeklies, online deliverers) still cling to their fixation on one-upping the new mayor with snarky, sneaky, snippy, snaky, sneering, snarly, and snide political coverage – unable to set aside overblown egos and get down to delivering responsible, informed, mature journalism
• Our failed mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio still pursues his obsessive compulsion to privatize government functions in the city of San Diego -- a dry run for his dream of privatizing state and federal government