December 14, 2011Daily Brief-The “No Paper Weights Were Thrown” Edition

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Timothy Myers SR.
  • “Big News” at the City Council meeting last night reported real time by IHeart when Frank Ferry bucks the (sort of) traditional rotation of the ceremonial office of Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem by nominating himself as Laurie Ender’s second in commandt. While many muse on the reasoning and Frank himself had an on the fly semi-coherent reason for the move, it is strictly because Bob Kellar supported Dave Gauny who ran against the three incumbents sitting on the dais in 2010 and almost dislodged Frank Ferry. The SIGNAL has predictably gushing coverage.
  • “Pro Tem” actually means “temporary” in Latin, but SCVNEWS coins the term “vice-mayor” in their coverage, which makes it sound more important. Regardless, Kellar will not get to use the title “Mayor Pro Tem” when he runs for reelection early next year. Wife Kathy Kellar rushes to Facebook to pen a defense of her husband.
  • And finally, don’t miss IHEART’s usual detailed coverage of the Council Meeting.
  • From the silly to the super serious, an 83 year old woman from Santa Monica is struck and killed trying to cross the 14 freeway in midafternoon near Via Princessa. Special prayers for the 64 year old man who struck the unfortunate woman and willbe seeing this in his nightmares for the rest of his life.
  • It is so rare that it deserves a photo! Rose Diaz gets a reception to honor her time on the Saugus Union School Board, where the longtime incumbent was recently dislodged. With respect to her replacement, Stephen Winkler, all I can say is “fasten your seatbelts, we’re in for a bumpy ride.”
  • The state may be broke but the construction of a new Courthouse will go forward at Castaic Junction. Hooray!
  • Will Buck McKeon ever get a break? Gary Horton pens another in what seems like a daily march of Buck criticism from all sides of the political spectrum. As if in answer, “Nancy Spicer” pens an LTE of defense. Anyone have comparison software where we can run this letter against letters written by “someone else?”
  • Preview for the City Council Election. Readers will be happy to know that the SCVTalk “editorial board” has been in the thick of off the record conversations regarding the upcoming City Council race, and if even half of this stuff sees the light of day we are in for a lively and entertaining several months!
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6 Responses to December 14, 2011Daily Brief-The “No Paper Weights Were Thrown” Edition

  1. IHeartSCV says:
    December 14, 2011 at 10:34 am

    I agree with your analysis on the reason for the Ferry’s actions, Tim, and I’m absolutely not a Ferry apologist. But I think it’s interesting to think about how infrequently he has served as mayor compared to others:

    *Heidt: 12 years on council, 3 as mayor
    *Darcy: 14 years on council, 4 as mayor
    *Weste: 14 years on council (so far), 3 as mayor
    *Smyth, the Younger: 7 years on council, 2 as mayor

    If Ferry didn’t become mayor next round, he would have spent 16 years on the City Council being mayor only twice. (Numbers are rounded because of the staggered election/mayoral cycles).

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    • Timothy Myers SR. says:
      December 14, 2011 at 10:46 am

      If you divide the times as mayor into the years on the council the first three represent close to a five year rotation. Smyth the younger gamed the system a little bit when he wanted to be Mayor when he was running for Assembly. (He was literally the most high profile Mayor ever since he would attend ANYTHING, including elementary school chili cook offs, exploiting retail politics to the max.)

      Frank has had little interest in being Mayor since he was not angling for higher office AND felt secure in his incumbency. This time I think he enthusiastically volunteered to plunge the dagger into Bob to work off the David Gauny grudge. I know Bob well enough to believe that his feelings are really hurt.

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  2. Need for Involved Citizenry says:
    December 14, 2011 at 12:13 pm

    Just read I Heart’s report of the Council Meeting. Berta – I’m glad you stepped up to the plate to comment on Bob Kellar’s marginalization by the rest of the Council. Don’t think for a minute Ferry didn’t put Marsha McLean into nominating him (although I’m sure she would deny this). This slight toward Kellar is just another example of Frank Ferry showing his true colors. At what point will you recognize him for what he is?

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  3. mike says:
    December 14, 2011 at 12:30 pm

    Nice brief today, Tim.

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  4. mike says:
    December 15, 2011 at 9:08 am

    Shout out to our own Phil Ellis who was named clerk of the NSD board.

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