Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Paradigm Shift for Encinitas politics


With longtime councilman James Bond retired and Jerome Stocks voted out in an upset, there has been a major paradigm shift in Encinitas.

Relative newcomer Lisa Shaffer impressed the voters with her thoughtful and calm demeanor and longtime local Tony Kranz proved to the voters that he is committed to this town and is steady and intelligent.

The dedicated anti-Stocks crowd, who have been labeled as fringe wackos, let Jerome do the heavy lifting for them as he became increasingly hostile and grumpy in public.

Many locals saw the Shaffer, Kranz, Muir signs in Gary Murphy's yard (by the Roadside Park on W. Leucadia Blvd) and gave him grief. The organized anti-Stocks crowd is poised to make Muir the next Encinitas Boogey Man, but I implore you all not to do this.

Gary Murphy advised to give Muir some breathing room and give him a chance, with Stocks and Bond out Muir deserves the chance to prove himself as an independent and not some lapdog.

The most interesting council person is now Kristin Gaspar, who many view as nothing more than a Rotary Club plant to mindlessly vote along with Stocks and Bond. Now that we have a diverse city council we will find out who the real Gaspar is. This is a great day for both Muir and Gaspar.

The biggest paradigm shift is the approval of a 4 2 year strong mayor system. My personal opinion, this is huge mistake. A strong mayor might seem like a good idea, but Encinitas is comprised of 5 distinct communities that are basically unique little mini cities. Leucadia, Old Encinitas, New Encinitas, Olivenhain and Cardiff-by-the-sea. We need a council to work out and decide issues, not an individual personality with an agenda. But so be it.

Election night overall was a push back against the cynics. Romney getting crushed was proof of that. Let's move forward with class and dignity and help the new Encinitas city council make the right decisions for the future of our town.

18 comments:

  1. 10 News site (not that they're known for their stellar reporting) has Lisa at 11,141, Tony at 8,881 and Stocks at 6111 with no mention of Muir and 100% of precincts reporting. Bad information?.. Either way I'm happy that Lisa and Tony have been voted in. Congratulations to them and to our town!

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  2. We DON'T need a Mayor. In fact an elected Mayor will give developers a non-moving target to accomplish their desires.

    Unfortunately there wasn't enough public discussion about this issue. The only good thing to come of it is the two year term with makes it harder for developers and better for citizens.

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  3. Ignore Muir's record as Jerome's campaign manager, running mate, and crony. We all just need to have a beer with the guy.

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  4. Ignore the fact that we just voted for a guy who is receiving one of the fattest pensions in the history of mankind - his job will be to negotiate with city employees over their own pensions.

    How are those negotiations going to go for the taxpayer? methinks not good.

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  5. Just think, if Stocks hadn't railroaded in Muir instead of the logical appointment of Kranz who came in third, or Schaffer, who Maggie requested fulfill her term, Stocks would most likely have been re-elected.

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  6. The County Registrar of Voters site says:

    Yes on elected mayor.

    Yes on two years.

    No on four years.

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  7. The County Registrar of Voters site says:

    Yes on elected mayor.

    Yes on two years.

    No on four years.

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  8. Can't Jerome just keep holding elections until he gets voted back into office? (Like he did with the 2008 Sand Replenishment Tax?)

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  9. Another key benefit is Mike Antilean's power base just evaporated. He's now just a derelict without a master.

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  10. The families of Muir and Gaspar frequently enjoy spending time with Mr. Andreen at his bologna meetings and award ceremonies. Mr. Andreen also has his development industry funders. Mr. Andreen has a lot of fun doing his dirty work and has little else to do. He is not going anywhere.

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  11. lets see who goes to his useless bologna circle jerk awards ceremonies now that the Witch is Dead.

    Lets give Muir and Gaspar a chance to prove they can think on their own and know how to listen to citizens and look out for their quality of life over big time developer interests.

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  12. If they fail, we'll just vote them out too...

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  13. Muir is a stooge; Gaspar is hot air - they are quaking now that their Master is banished. Fatty Muir will add to that $170,000/year public handout now - OINK!!!

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  14. I am currently in the process of moving my family and my practice to Encinitas.For the past month of so, I've been browsing through the reader responses and the developing dialogues as posted in your local on-line publications. As excited as I am to be relocating to a truly beautiful place I'm a little concerned at the frequency and degree of malicious communication I've observed. At the same time, I'm encouraged to be moving to a community where my services are needed. As soon our family gets settled in at home, I'm planning to rent an office and I want to extend my sincere invitation--please feel free to stop by and say hello. Considering the apparently unabated verbal abuse, I'm hoping people in the community understand that this pattern of behavior has the tendency to escalate. For the time being, and because the need seems so immediate, you need to know that the most severe types of escalation are likely to follow a continuing pattern of blatantly personal attacks. It is also important for me to add this: generally speaking, anonymous commentaries (as well as those attributed to pseudononymous screen names) are relatively easy to trace to actual sources.

    Thank you,
    Dennis Bell, PhD

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  15. Dennis,

    You'd have had to be here watching City Council the past few years to understand the reason for all the negativity.

    I think the new City Council will work together for the betterment of Encinitas, and I think the public discord will subside.

    Welcome to Encinitas.

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  16. Yes, welcome Dennis. There are a lot of good neighbors here who respect each other's space and time. It's the ones who don't usually that get verbally abused by a few. If you're moving here because you like the area, you're in good company. That's why most of us did. It's the big time change everything developers who build here so they can live somewhere else more peaceful that bother most of us. In my simple opinion.

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