Ah, Supervisor Gibson. He’s the gift that keeps on giving. And in this case, the gift that keeps on costing the county. And keeps Tribune reporter, Bob Cuddy, fully employed. Case in point, a March 7 story, “Gibson’s email search daunting; Sifting through 5 years of files while ensuring privacy isn’t easy – or cheap.”
No, indeed, it isn’t cheap, but thanks to the Public Records Act, it’s gotta be done when former Los Osos CSD Director, Julie Tacker, decided she smelled a possible rat in the Gibson Canoodlegate and sent in a PRA for the emails. And since she thinks there is a rat in the pile of paper but she doesn’t know where it’s lurking, so she requested the whole pile, which has to be sifted.
So there sits a county employee and a county attorney, rustle-rustle-rustle, a Rumplestiltskin-like pile of paper before them, spinning it all into redacted gold, line by line, page by page, 1,300 down and 14,000 more to go.
Ridiculous, you say? Well, if you think somebody’s the sort of character who breaks the rules with impunity, is up to no good, who sneaks around behaving badly, then when found out, games the system and basically indicates that he’s above the social norms of behavior, well, you might be inclined to think that this personage has likely been up to no good in other areas of his career not involving romance. Like maybe this personage has been skating over the line and has gotten involved in other wrong doing or illegalities.
So you put in a PRA and the County starts sifting and runs up the bill, which in this case, may end up costing a few thousand dollars with a 50/50 chance it’s all a wild goose chase. And Bob Cuddy writes another story and the Tribune sells a few more papers. And the Supervisors are left to roll their eyes again and lie quietly in the bed Mr. Gibson has made for them.
Speaking of Rodents
I never thought I’d live to see the day when I would praise Libertarian Wing-Nut, Congressman Rand Paul, but I’m here to praise him for his stunt: Filibustering for 13 hours on the floor of the Congress to demand the answer to a question he already had. Silly, yes, but by gosh, he had the guts to filibuster the way it should be done – in public, his face and name all over his remarks, ‘splaining to any and all what his objections are about, what his point is, right there in the middle of Congress, in public, instead of using the silent, secret un-American shiv in a back room the way Senator McConnell does it.
So, good on Rand Paul. Some of his blathering trivialized the whole drone-killing debate – Rest peacefully, Jane Fonda, you’re in no danger – but at least Paul dragged the beast out into the public eye where it needs to be. I can only hope that the debate doesn’t get stuck in the “Let’s Kill Jane Fonda” nut-case mode that the media loves, but can seriously engage the public. Drones are here to stay and whether we use them well or ill, whether they increase our freedoms or diminish them, depends on how we act now to control their use. And that discussion will have to be guided by adults and the rules of engagement will have to be debated by adults who understand that the real world lies somewhere between appallingly sociopathic Dick Cheney’s “dark side,” and the sitting duck smile of Dr. Pangloss.
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13 comments:
Ann, first of all, I'm glad to see Rand Paul standing up for his convictions. Last time that happened was when Strom (segregationist) Thurmand did it for nearly 24 hrs. I hated it, and him, but that is representive goverment.
We do not need constant observors in the sky. 4th Amenndment stuff. Hell, where are the progressive thinkers on this????
As far as Gibson, whatever is spent to force back the curtain, on his dislike for the rules of proper government, is money well spent.
Let us not forget what he did to D. DeVaul and the issue in protecting the most vunerable.
Spending the nights with the homeless (just did it again 3 weeks ago at the Mission) gives a person a different perspective. Gibson has very little concern about the citizens in this area.
It seems extremely strange the sickening infatuation, that some people have for Gibson, like a teeange crush....Oh well, I'm not married to 'em
Perhaps the better story is the genesis of Tacker’s creepily obsessive, nasty, bitter fury directed at Gibson. Is she morally outraged at his behavior? Really? (We won’t go there). Is she just a defender of truth, justice, and the Cal Coast News way? Or is it maybe that there’s a sewer on the way and Tacker is madder than a wet hen because of it. Could that be it?
For those who’ve grown weary of the circus; of the Tacker/Owen/Margetson et. al. apologists; of the general dumbing down of political discourse in this county (and country); might I suggest SLOSense on facebook. Check it out. You’ll get a hell of a lot more than “Bruce Gibson is a rat and Julie Tacker is a heroine” over there. It’s a good read. Don’t let the loud; the rude; the obsessed; the score-settlers; the fact-challenged; the extremists hijack our local government without a fight.
Julie has every right to request all the e-mails she can from Gibson. That said, she should also have to pay for each and everyone BEFORE they are handed over to her. Taxpayers should not be burdened with an activists witchhunt.
Tacker's affairs will also be drawn into and open up during this circus. She has lots of baggage and has pissed off a lot of folks, not just in Los Osos, but throughout the County. That's called fair game in the sewer she has so long protested.
Gibson is wrong, but Julie Tacker is absolutely the wrong person to be trying to call the kettle black. No matter how hard she tries she will never lose her past in this community!
I doubt she sees anything of herself reflecting back onto her quest or how she is probably doing Gibson a favor by tarnishing any credibility some think that there should have been to this incident.
I have tried to understand that last comment. It wasn't until I realized the time of the posting did it become clear. 2:20 in the middle of the night, it was after closing time at the Merrimaker, makes sense now. Step back from the bottle..............
Sorry just tom, I didn't drink any alcohol last night. You might try reading more to be able to grasp complex sentences.
Tom, she's addicted to Oxycontin and suffers from schizophrenia. Her stepson told me. In short, you're talking to a retard.
So what does the Merry Maker or have to do with Gibson or Julie?
Oh you're correct, Julie knows all about the Merry Maker from personal experience as well as the
Gibson-type affairs with her very own Jeff! Well maybe Julie knows less, at least Gibson didn't get his roll in the eucalyptus pregnant.
You think Julie wants Gibson's e-mails so she can learn what she did wrong?
Billy sez:"Don’t let the loud; the rude; the obsessed; the score-settlers; the fact-challenged; the extremists hijack our local government without a fight."
Ah, but love 'em or hate 'em, those folks ARE part of the process, part of the civic mix, and the Public Records requests are always a two edged sword.The price wel all pay for "information" and "transparency" in our government.
Tom:Hate to tell you but drones are already overhead and will become a part of our society; for good (forest fire-fighting aides, police tracking bad guys in the woods, environmental/planning uses, all sorts of things,) or for ill, unless carefully overseen and hemmed 'round with smart, thought-out laws. So, I'm glad Rand Paul at least started the dialogue.
IMHO the lack of transparency in decision making seems to follow Gibson around in all walks of life, from his marriage to his actions as a first time out of the gate public official, thus causing all the vociferous cynicism.
Many middle-class folk in Los Osos witnessed his breach of promised transparency in decision making big-time wherein his warped version of transparency never saw sunlight.
But, his k-m-a-if-you're-not-rich wastewater scheme seemed to serve & appease his just-leave-town constituents just fine.
I guess that's probably a chapter to look back upon & certainly bear in mind at the next election.
Well, FOG, I disagree with your assessment of just-leave-town constituents. Really, how many of them were there? A handful maybe.
Gibson served them? No, the community served itself when more of us wanted to pay for a sewer assessment than not, many more than the 20 votes that stopped the last project.
And if you are talking about how Step wasn't chosen, didn't you see that recent Letter to the Editor that was published both in the Bay News and the New Times from the woman concerned with the unexpected cost of a grinder pump? Just imagine the letters of concern (maybe more like freak-out) from all the households faced with yard and driveway reconstructions, new electrical boxes and electrical inspections to accommodate a Step system! Talk about a lack of transparency - those of us questioning those very real individual homeowner (NOT project) costs got no answers from the Step proponents. People were afraid of the cost of the unknown to their own pocketbooks, at least you know the top dollar on the project costs, minus your own connection trench and tank decommission.
Not good to live under delusions FOG, not good......
Keep at it 'Toons.
STEP is D.E.A.D.
The Foggy Thinker is still stuck in the his own "Los Osos don't need no stinkin' sewer" swamp. Maybe he should join "all" of his apparent friends who have "supposedly" been forced to move out to somewhere where they don't need sewers? My guess is that he will not move, but continue to complain because his personal choice wasn't selected.
Time to totally ignore him and the few like dolts and concentrate on how Los Osos will be like in the not too distant future, ie paved streets and improving home property values brought to us by a modern sewer. And a big THANK YOU to Bruce Gibson for working "with" Los Osos!
They never answered and never will because they don't have one. They like being the victim & not having to take responsibility for themseles, the environment or the concerns of their neighbors who did not want the step system. Instead, they tried to create victims out of all of us. Victims of their delay tactics & increasing the costs for all of us. Am I a bit annoeyd and bitter- yup. Am I thrilled that the community is being sewered, hell yes. Does it make me happy to see them whine about it still while we laugh at them? Absolutely! They created misery in my life and my friends and watching theirs play out on tv is karma in real time.
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