Recall Mayor Cox
& Councilman McCann
The proponents of this recall campaign served the mayor and councilman at the Council meeting on October 30 (jump to 1).
The grounds for the mayor are:
Inefficient/Ineffective
Leadership: inability or unwillingness to negotiate compromises
has resulted in initiatives, antagonism and costly court cases; Bungled
termination of the City Manager; Poor staff morale.
Fiscal
Irresponsibility: excessive use of consultants; no bid contracts;
costly reports without council consensus; misuse of staff time; poor
understanding of budget problems: cancellation of fireworks and other community
events.
Violating Conventional Standards of Fair Play: encouraged
costly, politically motivated court cases against political opponents; ignores
environmental justice policies and laws; willing to allow the placement of a
peaker plant in violation of city ordinances and General Plan policy;
preferential treatment for political allies and out of town developers
The mayor is the main target, because she has been
running the council like a dictator and has been largely responsible for
bullying staff and the public. She shows favoritism dramatically when she hugs
the paid consultant for the peaker plant in public and gives more speaking time
to her developer friends. We have had numerous initiatives and lawsuits thanks
to her politically motivated non-negotiable positions. She actually refused to
meet with community members to discuss their concerns about a heavy industrial
peaker power plant a mere 350 feet from the homes of residents in the
southwest. She has run at great cost in staff time to the city three “Leadership
Academies” where she has attempted to brainwash the public as to her political
ideas about the city and how it should be run. To facilitate this she has
insisted that anyone who speaks to the public must rehearse in advance with the
city’s Communication’s Officer. Dirty
Politics seems to be her passion.
John McCann was
included because he sent his aide
to read a statement of support for this plant copied from the press release
of MMC at the November informational meeting.
At one time he voted in lock step with the mayor. At the moment he has
been willing to support other positions occasionally. He told a reporter a year
ago that the former City Manager was “cooking the books.”
He refused to explain himself or identify the manager by name. Obviously if
this charge is true there were other employees involved and there should have
been an investigation. Considering the city’s financial problems this should
have been a critical matter to pursue. He just let it drop.
Councilmen Rindone and Castaneda can’t be recalled
because they have less than 6 months left in office. Proponents would have
liked to remove them all because they support a heavy industrial use in a light
industrial zone 350 feet from residents.
The Grounds for the Councilman:
Inefficient/Ineffective
Leadership: Bungled termination of the City Manager; agrees with
almost everyone, but follows through rarely; overly influenced by opinion of
mayor; ignores General Plan policies and ordinances for favored developers.
Fiscal
Irresponsibility: has approved excessive use of consultants and no bid
contracts; allows developers to benefit at expense of existing residents &
businesses.
Violating
Conventional Standards of Fair Play: berates fellow council member in
public from dais; goes along with preferential treatment for out of town
developers.
This is the Secretary of State’s website that
explains how to recall a local official: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/recall.pdf