Tongue in Cheek Folks

My last post, "The little rube for mayor" was tongue in cheek and designed to get people thinking, talking and acting to ensure this self serving politician is identified for who and what he is. If you have not had a chance to spend some time reading his web site, "Clean Up City Hall" it is a must read. This egotistical, self inflated; snake oil salesman is the biggest threat to city employees, retirees and workers that has ever come to town. You thought Mike Aguirre, Pat Shey, Gerry Sanders, Richard Rider or Steve Francis were dangerous? None of them hold a candle to this lunatic.

To begin to understand his agenda, mission or goals you need to take a look at the white paper, "Target San Diego" which talks about the agenda of the right leaning Republicans and the groups spearheading this fight. CPI or Center on Policy Initiatives in San Diego commissioned this paper which was written by Lee Cokorinos in November 2005. This document is seventy-nine (79) pages in length and provides an inside view of the little rube and the mayor's mind and why they have done many of the things they have to labor and specifically the SDPOA since elected. It gives a clear roadmap of the little rube's agenda and what his goals and aspirations are. If you focus your attention starting on page 25, with the "Americans for Tax Reform and the Project for California's Future" you will begin to understand the reasons the mayor has steadfastly refused to acknowledge the need for increased revenues and additional or increased taxes of any kind and the little rube's fixation with outsourcing. I would strongly urge you to read the ENTIRE document closely.

At the bottom of page 27, you will find the little rube's philosophy for change; "Your primary mission is not to educate, but to persuade." To educate you must be specific; articulate; provide consistent and honest information. To persuade you simply have to sound specific; sound articulate and appear to be providing consistent and honest information. The little rube is a master of the spin machine; fabricating numbers to suit his agenda; and providing a portion of the truth making it difficult to debate his position.

On page 33, the "Reason Foundation" a center-right foundation is explained. To understand the government reforms and privatization the little rube presses for so hard, reading the information here along with the various magazines highlighted (Reason; The Economist; The Nation; The American Enterprise; and Privatization Watch). In the last sentence on page 35, the little rube appears. But on page 39, "The Performance Institute and the Assault on San Diego" starts with a statement by the little rube; "If we can show reform in San Diego, it becomes a model nationwide." On page 43 the real "Little Rube" comes to life when he hits town. Since his arrival, he has begun a systematic program to implement his agenda and build his credentials for his movement to the next level of government office. The little rube is clearly positioning himself for a run for mayor in 2012.

Our task is to shadow his every move and counter his lies, spin and half truths. To accomplish this we need to have real numbers in hand, educate ourselves so we can educate the naïve taxpayer/voter. The little rube is going to attempt to persuade these naïve taxpayers/voters, knowing they are angered by the downturn in the economy, the loss of their retirement savings, medical insurance and in many cases their jobs (his spin and exaggerated numbers and the UT have fueled this anger). He will play on this anger to persuade them to go along with his cuts, modifications and eliminations of wages, benefits and in many cases jobs. We must educate these same people with factual data and show what the little rube's agenda will do to this city.

We cannot sit back and grimace at his comments; yell at the TV; curse the paper; or allow him to put forth initiatives for changes to the Charter without countering his every word. We need to be pro-active and get in front of his campaign to persuade by educating the public. We must be attentive to his words, actions and agenda. We can use his own words and actions against him. He is playing a game of politics and following an agenda that is in conflict with some of his own past words and actions. We must focus on Law Enforcement ONLY. We must focus on the wages, benefits and working conditions of the job we know. Allow Fire, MEA, 127 and the others to focus on what they do and their wages and benefits. We can only argue and defend what we know. So let us keep it simple and focus our energy on the proposed cuts to law enforcement and the reductions to our wages and benefits and what the long term costs will be.

If you did not see the October 7, 2009, City Council meeting, I would suggest you do so. It can be seen online at the City's Web site on CityTV, in the archive section. The little rube was caught in a couple of miss-truths and allowed to use a Power Point to present his view of the future deficit. This presentation will no doubt be seen on the 14^th at the little rube's town hall meeting. What is alarming about this is at the same meeting it is clear the only person on the current City Council who understands reality and has any ethics is Todd Gloria. The "Green Rock" AKA Marti Emerald, clearly is out of her league and has highlighted just how ignorant she is to the reality of politics and what is going on in the world around her. We are in trouble folks. The "Dim Bulb" AKA Sherri Lightner is just as bad as the green rock. I think if you combined their IQ's, you would not come close to reaching 100.

The little rube is holding a "Town Hall Meeting" on Wednesday, October 14, 2009, at 6pm at the Scripps Ranch Library. If history repeats itself, the audience will be filled with right leaning, extremely conservative types, with the idea city workers are overpaid, lazy, incompetent thieves whose wages and benefits need to be eliminated and reduced while the majority of jobs could be done cheaper and better by outside contractors. There was applause with every mention of eliminating DROP, reducing retirement benefits and reducing wages at his last town hall meeting.

We must counter his lies with facts and the truth; we must counter his spin with reality; we must be the teacher in the room, providing education to the taxpayer/voter as the little rube attempts to persuade. We have to first be in attendance. We need to visible, professional and active. Asking questions; countering lies; stopping the spinning of reality and educating as we do so. I will be there; who will join me?