Anaheim city council meetings have no shortage of circus theatrics. Last evening, the avenue wasn't blowhards during public comment, though, but the dais itself! Mayor Tom Tait took a moment toward the end of the meeting to bash last week's Orange County Register op-ed piece concerning district elections penned by council-pendeja Kris Murray.
The headline “Anaheim Elections: Residents, Not Special Interests, Will Determine Anaheim's Governance” was laughable all on its own given that Murray doesn't move her ventriloquist dummy's mouth unless prompted by the city's Disneyocracy (with strings moved, of course, by Curt Pringle)! It was also her first public statements since the Citizens Advisory Committee, after many months, came to preliminary recommendations that favored putting the districts issue before a vote of the people.
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The editorial, which steams behind the Great Paywall of Grand Avenue, was mostly predictable in its arguments save for the new notion put forth that if the council had approved Mayor Tait's charter amendment last August to put six districts before Anaheim voters in November, it would have been in violation of California law. Tait strongly disagreed saying Murray misled the people with information that was “inaccurate and untrue,” [emphasis his] though stopping short of calling her a flat-out liar.
Murray claimed in her piece that new legislation that went into effect last year in the wake of the Bell corruption scandal would have required public notice and two hearings before anything like Tait's proposal could have been placed on the agenda. “The law is referring specifically to “a proposal to adopt a charter,”” Tait plainly said in response. “The statue simply doesn't apply to a proposal to amend the charter of an existing charter city.”
The Mayor, who announced a Year of Kindness initiative for 2013 and is usually as tranquil as Mr. Rogers, demanded a retraction from his colleague calling her editorial an attempt to damage his name and credibility. With that, Tait tried to adjourn the meeting and slammed his gavel before readying to leave. Councilman Jordan “Fire Marshall Bill” Brandman went into panic mode calling a point of order, asking city staff if the meeting was adjourned and imploring the Mayor to stay. Tait leaned into his microphone, said “Adjourned” and left to applause in the audience.
New City Attorney Mike Houston, from the hilariously named Cummins & White Newport Beach firm, allowed for the meeting to continue. Murray went into her usual cold, technocratic routine claiming she had her editorial looked over by two different legal opinions before the night was closed out.
Here's the vid, courtesy of Save Anaheim:
The brief moment when the Anaheim city council resembled the antics of the British House of Commons more than the usual C-Span snooze of American politics was dashed away…until next time!
Twitter: @dpalabraz.
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Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!