Jerome Stocks, Community Hero

Encinitas Mayor Jerome Stocks saves Widow from Homelessness


It made the feature of Turko files Monday October 29,  as shown in this clip.  Only one problem, the sub text, the narrative that this conveys is full of holes as described below.

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What's wrong with this narrative that glides along many themes of our political culture.  It's the story of a strong forthright elected leader who is willing to buck the bureaucracy--it can be local, state or the federal government itself.  The meme (great word for the little factoids that most people build their images of the world on) is one that is fostered most by the tea party crowd that has captured the Republican party.

This five minute segment on the local news featuring a crusading reporter Michael Turko, illustrates how a good story beats reality every time--especially, when you have the dramatic elements of an elderly widow being thrown out of her home by a heartless city government. The reporter goes to the very top, the Mayor, and within a few days, together they have reversed months of government intransigence to allow the tearful grateful women back into her home.  Two heroes, splashed over television and the Internet, that just may sway an election and change the structure of a small city.

If Proposition K passes, it will allow the current mayor, Jerome Stocks to continue to help the people of this little city in ways such as this, and if the proposition for direct election to this office passes, he can continue to protect people from an overbearing government.

The entire premise of this television feature is illusory.  The reporter, Michael Turko, described how his first report got the Mayors attention.  The word "mayor" was accentuated to mean what most people think a mayor is, the chief executive officer of a city.  Only one problem, the City of Encinitas has no such position.  Jerome Stock's position is that of "titular" mayor, meaning he is one of five equal members of the city council who have delegated executive authority to a city manager.  His only authority beyond any other member of the council is to preside at meetings.

He is, in actuality,  the unofficial leader of a  controlling majority of the council, and as such he leads this majority that did select the official executive officer, the city manager.  It is he who controls the city inspector and code enforcement and who made the decision not to allow the woman to occupy her home.  Mayor Stocks has no authority to overrule this decision.

What was not discussed in the little melodrama presented last night, is that it's unbelievable that this women had not corresponded with the members of the council asking them to intervene during the several months since the fire shut her out of her house.  And if so, what was the rationale for not allowing a reversal of the decision.  If the city manager was wrong, does this not raise a question of his competency, or was he following a regulation that should have been defended by the member of the city council who was interviewed, namely Jerome Stocks.

It can't be both, that Stocks actually has the authority implicitly conveyed by this television segment, yet he did nothing before this presentation-- that just happened to break one week before a highly contested election. This is not only an election where he is running for office, but also on Propositions that changes the structure of the position of mayor.  I  described the reality of three flavors of the role of mayor in California that is based on state law, in this article Props KLM.

This little Turko Files episode reinforces exactly the difference between reality and illusion in city government that this article describes.

Al Rodbell
alrodbell.blogspot.com 

Isn't Turko the dude that didn't realize NIMBY's weren't delaying the Hall park construction the last few years, and the City didn't have the funds to build the park? The city manager still refuses to release information on the cost of issuance of the third round of park bonds. Another million bucks? That would be a lot for an $8 million net. That might be why it is secret until after the election.

Mark Muir can't/won't say what that cost is and indicates that he doesn't know, but that he forwarded that question to the City Manager, who is apparently covering the council's asses.