In its excellent editorial, the Los Angeles Times has pointed out the Orwellian trend of the Trump Administration, http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-trump-climate-change-national-security-cdc-20171219-story.html. The editorial points out that this administration’s view is that it is the “anti-growth” policies to restrain global-warming that pose a threat to the U.S. security rather than global-warming itself as a threat.
Tonight, City Manager Jeff Epp, and Mayor Sam Abed also got a little Orwellian in their response to Councilwoman Olga Diaz’s question about Item 10 on the Consent Calendar: COMMUNITY SEVICES BUDGET AMENDMENT: Request the City Council approve modifying the General Fund Budget to delete the position of Director of Library and Community Services and add the position of Director of Communications and Community Services. She said she was unwilling to approve the creation of a new position that did not specify what salary would be allotted to that position. She was unwilling to sign what was basically a blank check. She pointed out that the salary for that position would obviously decrease the amount ($400K) of saving the outsourcing of the library was supposed to give the city. She moved to continue the vote on the matter until further information was made available to the council. Unsurprisingly, none of her colleagues seconded her motion.
Abed proceeded to mansplain to Diaz that it was up to the City Manager to determine the salary for city employees, the council only approved the brackets for employees’ salaries. In fact, he avowed, it was against the law for the council to interfere in such matters.
Diaz countered that Epp did need approval for the creation of a new position in the city. She noted that the city had already hired another assistant city manager, a move that seemed to counter Abed’s insistence that the city needed to cut costs to fend off the looming crisis of the unfunded CalPERS’ liability.
Abed insisted the Council couldn’t interfere with the city manager’s handling of personnel.
Councilman Mike Morasco asked Epp how the city was saving money if they had to hire another person after outsourcing the library.
Epp, obviously annoyed, patronizingly explained that money this position would come out of the general fund. If Diaz’s argument was valid, than any expense that the city added that came from the general fund would deduct from the savings of outsourcing the library. And, the salary for the position would be lower than the former position (Director of Library and Community Services.) He assured the council that the next budget would clearly indicate the $400K savings to the city.
Morasco concluded that it was Epp’s role to manage the city staff.
The item was approved with “three yes votes, Diaz voting no.”
So, Epp noted that the new position might have a lower salary than the previous Director of Library and Community Services, but he ignored the fact that the salary for the previous position was part of the calculation for the savings of the library. I’m sure that Epp will be nimble enough in his bookkeeping to wiggle the data to support his thesis of the $400K savings. Epp seems very fluent in “Newspeak”.
A Blue View for Escondido 
BTW, the previous position cost about $200,000, incl benefits
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That council meeting explains why we have Trump.
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Thank you for enduring and reporting on these maddening discussions.
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If you think that there are more than 100 people in North America that can comprehensively read 1000 pages and relate that content to previous 1000 page readings or one, let alone carry out the instructional content therein, you’re straight up cold tripping or smoking a tiny bit too much crack.
Seriously though, the hard part of running a fiscal illusion or an obfuscation of tax and spend styled governmental budgeting process, is getting a guy to unwittingly state that a branch of our leaders need to allocate another trillion, when half the bureaucratic population in the country knows this to be a shallow picking of numbers, no public policy allocates 1 and a half trillion or billion it’s sooo unrealistic to think that, that exact number came up when adding the cost of a enactment. If we remember when Clinton’s first day in office there was a debt of over a trillion but then within 6 months or so we had a $500 million surplus, then when Bush Jr. got into office we suddenly had a $trillion debt again. our gov pays way more out in income tax than it takes in in income taxes. our gov coffers are filled mostly w/fines fees seizures etc….
Whether or not Trump is a idiot is irrespective. He’s popular, his trick I think is searching people,s loves and struggles and getting people to work for him to the best of their ability. Though as he had said many times he got into office to get back at the IRS…. The main good he will do is get the on-the-fence Republicans to fall to the Democrat side of the political spectrum from how bad he’s going to front off the Republic party members. Being popular does not make someone a good public policy maker.
I think the damage will come from those in the neo-capitalist community in our corporate rank and file, who will call in favors that he owes them which will mean ramping up the corp. appellate/amendment and lobbying statutory language creation and manipulations that American legislative exchange council works so “tirelessly” at. Though the adjective and statutory codification has shown to be growing to exemplify they’re obvious unable to comprehend enough of their new codes congruently with the last codifications and or be in step with the Constitution and their Amendments. But shoot, the English word/name Hobby Lobby is thought to be the same in particular physical construct as a real live God created person. I hope and pray this inequality between non-natural and natural persons subsides before the patent office decides that even humans 3 days and above are patentable property.
Oh and to the city council your suit is not with the poor but with those who have engineered these communities that have pushed the poor from town to town and into pockets of persons with barely any opportunities for food, shelter, family etc. mainly brokers of big land deals that have faulty management arms like cbre or civi/social engineering firms like community systems associates incorporated.
Equitus sequitor legem
#t#
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