Monday, March 6, 2006
Negative News and Imported Views
(A new edition of "Just Wondering..." has been posted. Just
slide your cursor to the left and click on the link to view this
month's tardy questions)
Last week was another interesting week here at the old cauldron.
Our young jailer/mayor, Allan Mansoor, was hit with a lawsuit filed on behalf of Benito Acosta by the ACLU against the City of Costa Mesa and our mayor for his part in the denial of Acosta's opportunity to complete his comments, being roughed-up, dragged from the chambers and arrested on January 3, 2006.
The Los Angeles Times did a profile on Mansoor Sunday which quoted a few people interested in this issue, including the author of this blog. At least this profile used a fairly decent photograph of the mayor, unlike the photo used by The Register on the cover of their weekly supplement, The Current, recently. That one would scare small children sleepless.
Over the weekend representatives of the Montgomery, Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) landed in our neck of the woods to interview people for an article planned for their quarterly publication, Intelligence Report, that will address the immigration situation here in Costa Mesa. Their web site says, "the Center is internationally known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of hate groups." The SPLC's "Intelligence Project", founded in 1981 as "Klanwatch", tracks more than 700 hate groups throughout the country. A quick Google search reveals that their headquarters in Alabama has been bombed and several attempts on the life of their leader, Morris Dees, have been thwarted. Obviously, this group has found a way to make a few people very angry.
The author of this blog was among those interviewed so far, as well as others known to have opinions on Costa Mesa's immigration situation. Having read some of their writer's previous work, I have no reason to think the finished product will be anything but professional and accurate. However, I'm not particularly happy about having our city receive such potentially negative notoriety. We can thank our young jailer/mayor for that.
This week brings us yet another city council meeting on Tuesday, which means there will likely be a cadre of speakers standing before the council to address this issue again - and perhaps call for our mayor's resignation. That, of course, is not likely to happen. He's on a mission and probably won't listen to a few angry residents and out-of-towners who disagree with his decision any more than he pays attention to the female minority on the council. Of course, that's what got us to this point - Mansoor listening to a small group of frightened, angry residents who think the solution to all their problems in life is the expulsion of Latinos from within our city borders.
During a conversation with a friend recently we recalled a greeting card we'd both seen several years ago. It featured the "Peanuts" character, Charlie Brown, and reminded both of us of our young jailer/mayor. On the front of the card was was a drawing of Charlie Brown with one of his perplexed expressions on his face. Inside was the phrase, "There is no greater burden than unfulfilled potential". Sadly, both the likeness and the sentiment seem quite appropriate for our mayor, who appears to have been manipulated into his present untenable situation by those with a darker, broader agenda.
Only time will tell how much damage will be done to our city as this drama unfolds over the next few months. At this point it has created a giant fissure between the Latino community and our city government. The negative press coverage over the past three months certainly hasn't done our city's reputation any good. It's likely that this issue will "have legs", and stretch, unresolved, into the campaign season before us. I wouldn't be surprised to see the November elections for the two council seats available this fall devolve into a single issue contest - the mayor's truly bad idea. I do take heart, however, as I think about potential candidates for those positions and realize that there are at least a couple who might make a run that could bring much needed wisdom, maturity and level-headed leadership to the dais. We can only hope.
10:10 am pst
Last week was another interesting week here at the old cauldron.
Our young jailer/mayor, Allan Mansoor, was hit with a lawsuit filed on behalf of Benito Acosta by the ACLU against the City of Costa Mesa and our mayor for his part in the denial of Acosta's opportunity to complete his comments, being roughed-up, dragged from the chambers and arrested on January 3, 2006.
The Los Angeles Times did a profile on Mansoor Sunday which quoted a few people interested in this issue, including the author of this blog. At least this profile used a fairly decent photograph of the mayor, unlike the photo used by The Register on the cover of their weekly supplement, The Current, recently. That one would scare small children sleepless.
Over the weekend representatives of the Montgomery, Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) landed in our neck of the woods to interview people for an article planned for their quarterly publication, Intelligence Report, that will address the immigration situation here in Costa Mesa. Their web site says, "the Center is internationally known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of hate groups." The SPLC's "Intelligence Project", founded in 1981 as "Klanwatch", tracks more than 700 hate groups throughout the country. A quick Google search reveals that their headquarters in Alabama has been bombed and several attempts on the life of their leader, Morris Dees, have been thwarted. Obviously, this group has found a way to make a few people very angry.
The author of this blog was among those interviewed so far, as well as others known to have opinions on Costa Mesa's immigration situation. Having read some of their writer's previous work, I have no reason to think the finished product will be anything but professional and accurate. However, I'm not particularly happy about having our city receive such potentially negative notoriety. We can thank our young jailer/mayor for that.
This week brings us yet another city council meeting on Tuesday, which means there will likely be a cadre of speakers standing before the council to address this issue again - and perhaps call for our mayor's resignation. That, of course, is not likely to happen. He's on a mission and probably won't listen to a few angry residents and out-of-towners who disagree with his decision any more than he pays attention to the female minority on the council. Of course, that's what got us to this point - Mansoor listening to a small group of frightened, angry residents who think the solution to all their problems in life is the expulsion of Latinos from within our city borders.
During a conversation with a friend recently we recalled a greeting card we'd both seen several years ago. It featured the "Peanuts" character, Charlie Brown, and reminded both of us of our young jailer/mayor. On the front of the card was was a drawing of Charlie Brown with one of his perplexed expressions on his face. Inside was the phrase, "There is no greater burden than unfulfilled potential". Sadly, both the likeness and the sentiment seem quite appropriate for our mayor, who appears to have been manipulated into his present untenable situation by those with a darker, broader agenda.
Only time will tell how much damage will be done to our city as this drama unfolds over the next few months. At this point it has created a giant fissure between the Latino community and our city government. The negative press coverage over the past three months certainly hasn't done our city's reputation any good. It's likely that this issue will "have legs", and stretch, unresolved, into the campaign season before us. I wouldn't be surprised to see the November elections for the two council seats available this fall devolve into a single issue contest - the mayor's truly bad idea. I do take heart, however, as I think about potential candidates for those positions and realize that there are at least a couple who might make a run that could bring much needed wisdom, maturity and level-headed leadership to the dais. We can only hope.
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