Who in the world is Jane Blair?

The UT just ran this bizarre story about the Gaspar/Dalager mailer and a lady named Jane Blair. The UT couldn't contact her and the phone numbers on the records didn't work.

According to the UT, Gaspar said Blair is her former client. Blair gave $5k for the mailer. You'd guess she's more than a former client? Also, I thought that Gaspar's job was to sign the checks not interact with the clients... and by the way I think it is against the law for Gaspar to identify Blair as someone with a health issue, without her permission. She just happens to have her permission?

A lady wearing a Gaspar shirt who had been seen in the Gaspar booth came down and was hounding the ETA booth during Octoberfest. I'd say she was as disturbed as Tony with what she saw. She didn't like Gaspar getting a bad grade from the ETA. She had been there for a long enough period of time when I came back from lunch that ETA members were considering contacting security to help avoid a scene. I thought that would be a scene itself, so I went straight to her and asked her what we could do to make everyone happy (and avoid a scene).

She introduced herself as Jane Blair and gave me an email address for Jane Twining to contact her. At that point she seemed very reasonable and probably supports most ETA actions.

She said that Gaspar had not said no to the ETA's invitation to address policy questions and thought we were making it up. I told her that we had wanted to work with Gaspar and that it was not good for the ETA to not have her participate and have all the candidates treated fairly. I asked if I could send her the emails and if she decided that Gaspar had not brushed off the ETA that we should take action to reconcile any misunderstandings. The emails are below.

This is a photo that of a lady an ETA member says was the Jane Blair (-Twining) that was hounding the ETA booth at Octoberfest.

Here are the related emails [i've changed all the private email addresses].

From: KMC
Date: October 1, 2010 2:25:08 PM PDT
To: Kristin and Paul Gaspar , kristin@kristinforcouncil.com
Cc: twiningblair@...net
Subject: Fwd: ETA Candidate Interviews

Kristin,

One of your (apparent) campaign workers came down to the ETA booth area at Octoberfest. I was happy that when I arrived that she was willing to work with me to avoid an incident. She also seemed very willing to help work to fix any misunderstandings and to get you on record for your positions.

I sent her the email below. She has not responded or acknowledged receiving it.

If you want your positions known or believe you have been represented unfairly now is a good time to have any outstanding issues reconciled.

K Cummins


Begin forwarded message:

From: KMC <>
Date: September 26, 2010 8:45:09 PM PDT
To: twiningblair@...net
Cc: eta@encinitastaxpayers.org
Subject: Fwd: ETA Candidate Interviews

Jane,

As we discussed, there seem to be two things to reconcile: 1. the root of the misunderstanding and 2. where to go from here.

Below is the last email between Kristin and ETA officers as far as I know. I can confirm that no response was sent back to me from Kristin. The last email I got from Kristin was July 14th.

I was stunned that you took issue with the statement that she refused because she wrote to ETA President Sheffo, "While I will not be participating in the interview process, I would very much appreciate the opportunity to review the listing of topics which are of importance to the ETA." [bold added] Both Joe and I took that as a "no I won't participate" and sent her emails to that effect (see below). I was even ready to put my ETA membership on the line if Kristin would work with us on her participation. At least I wanted to come up with a system that would make all participants comfortable. I was very unhappy that we went through all the effort to end up with a product that could become something about the ETA ratings rather than what the candidate's positions are, and I knew this risk would worsen because Kristin didn't participate.

Kristin did not respond to:

Speaking for myself, I really don't want to report that you refused to participate on any terms. What do you need from the ETA, us, or the process, to have you come out and speak to a panel of ETA members about your view on fiscal and management policies?


I hope giving you this information (see emails below) will help us find a way to clear up our (possible) misunderstanding. If a mistake has been made it is time to identify it, fix it, and make up for it.

Where do we go from here?

We could start by posting Kristin's response to the grades online and noting it in our literature? That is already built into the approved documents that we have. Whether or not she can be interviewed now will have to be decided by the ETA board, if that is what she wants to do. I'm for it, however an issue with fairness to the other candidates has already come up. It will probably need to be addressed and suggestions will be appreciated.

I don't actually know your connection to Kristin's campaign. I'm going to be asked. What is your role?

K Cummins
760.xxx.xxxx


Below was attached to the same email so Jane could see that we had let Kristin know that we took no to mean no.

From: KMC
Date: September 2, 2010 7:17:22 PM PDT
To: Kristin and Paul Gaspar
Cc: Kevin Cummins , J. Sheffo
Subject: Re: ETA Candidate Interviews

Kristin,

I hope you will reconsider. We have a diverse set of members who are ready to participate in the interview process. There is a consensus among them that we will end up with a product that will help the public know about the positions of the candidates on fiscal issues. At the very least, we want your position to be known so that people can use your stated position to make informed decisions.

We are not a disinterested organization. We do want fiscal and city management issues to be discussed.

Many, but not all, of the active members do have a history at city hall. The ETA will be fair to all participants and there are a number of approaches we can take to ensure that. I wouldn't be involved if the process wasn't going to be reasonable, fair, and useful.

Months ago you refused to give me your perspective on an important council vote. It was one that you had even said you researched (ERGA). At that time, you wrote as a candidate all questions would be "free game" and that you would be happy to answer questions as a candidate.

Speaking for myself, I really don't want to report that you refused to participate on any terms. What do you need from the ETA, us, or the process, to have you come out and speak to a panel of ETA members about your view on fiscal and management policies?

K Cummins


On Sep 2, 2010, at 1:54 PM, Joseph Sheffo wrote:


From: Kristin and Paul Gaspar
To: jsheffo@encinitastaxpayers.com
Sent: Thu, September 2, 2010 1:21:44 PM
Subject: RE: ETA Candidate Interviews

Joe-

Thank you for your email. While I will not be participating in the interview process, I would very much appreciate the opportunity to review the listing of topics which are of importance to the ETA. I am hopeful we will have a chance to discuss in the future.

Hope this email finds you well,
Kristin