WHITE McCAIN SHOWS RED NECK WITH “THAT ONE” STATEMENT, MEANWHILE BACK AT THE RANCH…
STEW THE BARBER GETS FINAL SNIP WITH CRIME FIGURES AND ‘DEVELOPMENT INTERESTS’ CLOSER
Temecula, CA – While most folks around these parts were watching John McCain ‘lash’ out at Barack Obama, who kept his composure, a few of us locals were down at City Hall, watching our own debate. The debate featured the two incumbents, Mike Naggar and Chuck Washington, sitting spaced between the challengers, James ‘Stew’ Stewart aka ‘Stew the Barber’, Rita V. Hernandez, and Albert ‘Al’ Abbott.
The moderator was Shawn Lumachi, who informed the chamber audience that there would be no cheering, yelling, screaming, and no waving, so yours truly just sat quietly taking notes in his t-shirt and black jeans. Each candidate got two questions in random order, to answer and a time limit was placed on the reply which candidates followed most of the time.
Initially the answers were cordial and thoughtful, but toward the end of the first session, the incumbents started to show a little strain. Al started unraveling the incumbents arguments with his sharp answers and numbers about the city’s past spending habits as Naggar told folks a number of projects have been on the drawing boards for 15 years. Naggar also emphasized that no one objected to the new Civic Center the times it has appeared on the Council’s agenda for discussion.
The incumbents also made it pointedly clear that they are not looking for the local citizens approval much past being chosen at the polls to serve. This is a bone of contention for Al who said folks should be aware and have a say on the ‘big ticket’ items the city spends money on. Naggar said the cost for such a referendum would be $150K, alluding to the cost being prohibitive. At this point the $170K Grandpa Kitsch overpass artwork, the $87K spent for the ‘Youth Master Plan’, and the $87K for the proposed concrete fountain with ’Temecula’ written on it entered my mind, but knowing Shawn’s rules, I kept my silence. Also after finding out that the city has $23M in the Redevelopment Agency, a ‘golden goose’ as Naggar put it, the ‘too much money’ objection for a referendum just doesn’t wash.
As Rita, Al, and Stew hammered their points home, and Naggar and Washington voiced loudly about their past accomplishments, ranging from ‘Citizen of the Year’, PTA participation, and Temecula’s standard of living, along with future projects like the French Valley Interchange (“cities don’t build freeways, we do” – Naggar), the wheels started to come off the ‘straight talk express’ and both incumbents grew passionate/agitated as the evening wore on. Rita brought up how the five council members always vote in accord, saying that it seemed ‘scripted’. But the crowning moment and the one that drew an aside from Washington to ‘the Barber’ after the meeting closed, was Stew’s closer that called attention to the current allegations (see Nicole Sack’s ‘Councilmen Face Allegations’ story in today’s Californian) about the possibly improprieties that now also color the upcoming election. As the last person to give his final three minutes, Stew brought the chamber din to a standstill by saying ‘the Emperor wears no clothes’ so to speak. Stay tuned as this story continues to unfold.
October 8, 2008 at 1:32 pm
hey pt, if you read the article about chuck you would understand about the money you speak of. you cant take art money and spend it on an election, it aint the way it works. there is this thing called the law, something you dont care about. you hate anything that the majority likes.
October 9, 2008 at 10:58 am
Right ON Mr. Pete.
Great post.
What did your shirt say? I couldn’t see it from the back of the room.