Chico Council Politics

Well, after attending the CPOA City Council Candidate Forum the other night, I am feeling compelled beyond imagination to share a few feelings. But, before I do, let me state unequivocally that I am not a partisan politics guy. In fact, I despise and am disgusted by both parties equally. I am registered as a “Decline to State” because I cannot stand the thought of attaching my name to one of the two prevailing parties. Sooo, my thoughts are not based on any inherently partisan perspective I have. Rather, they are based on the emotions stirred within me as I have considered what I have read and heard about each of the candidates.

The other thing I have to say is based on my own recent 32 years of being in the public spotlight and taking criticism because of my position as a police officer in general, and the chief specifically. When you step into the public spotlight, you have to expect to be criticized. It’s not personal; it’s just the way it is. I am personally acquainted with many of the candidates. My comments about them are not personal. It’s just how they made me feel with what they have said, done or portrayed. For a lot of years, I have had to with-hold or water down my opinion because of my position. Now I don’t have to. So ladies and gentlemen, this isn’t personal, it’s what happens when you choose to step into the public spotlight. If you don’t like what people have to say, maybe you should just go away.

Having said all this, I thought I might grade the candidates, based upon what I heard the other night, and add some additional commentary based on my overall impressions. Of course, the grades (and associated editorial) are on the “Mike Maloney Scale” (in case anyone gives a rat’s tail-end).

Hold onto your seats….here we go:

Kimberly Rudisill – Grade: F

Kim seems like she must be a very nice lady, but over and over again throughout the evening, she demonstrated that she lives in a fantasy world, and she is unable to conceptualize or understand the day to day realities in what Chico has become. She’s one of those who views Chico like Mayberry. With regard to policing issues in particular, she again demonstrated her ignorance. It’s obvious she has never made any effort to connect with CPD, to learn the issues they are faced with, and it’s especially clear that she made no effort whatsoever to prepare herself to speak to public safety issues. It really bugs me that she was so quick to criticize the university police without making any apparent effort to understand what they do or how they and CPD work together (which they do a lot, routinely and well!) If she fails to educate herself on what the City is currently faced with, and she fails to prepare to speak publicly about public safety issues, and she continues to live in her own little fantasy world how can we believe she won’t continue this head –in-the-sand (or clouds) pattern as an elected Council member. In terms of an overall impression for this evening’s forum, Kim was a flat line, and totally lacking of substance. She was the one candidate that left my 13 year old son with an unsolicited impression that she was under the influence of something during the forum. She should not be on the Council.

Dave Kelly – Grade F

As with Kim, I’m sure Dave is a nice guy and wants the best for Chico… but you wouldn’t have known it from his presentation at the forum. He too was lackluster and flatline. In fact, there was a bit of nonchalance about him that almost made it feel like it was inconvenient for him to have to talk about policing and community safety issues. Lots of “I suppose…,” “I sense…” from him makes me wonder if he has a firm position on any issue. Again, if he does, he didn’t communicate it that night. He did speak to priority-based budgeting, which I like….but when he spoke about the noise ordinance, he said, “I think the warning is fine…” C’mon! A warning for conduct that we all learned as kindergarteners was wrong…it is this kind of thinking that demonstrates no awareness of the problems citizens in our community are faced with. Speaking of that, it was overly clear this guy knows nothing about the PD…he said, “A couple of Target Teams were reduced…” A couple? There is only one, and it hasn’t been reduced (although it will go away after the first of the year if the Council doesn’t take affirmative action to insure the PD is properly staffed)….When Dave speaks non-chalantly about an issue like the “Target Teams” and kind of fills in the blanks as he sees fit, it makes you wonder how much he will pay attention to the detail of issues coming before the Council. Word is that Dave and his wife have made it their campaign mission to focus on where the other candidates have their signs, the sizes of their signs and how that all fits in with the CMC Title 19 regulations. This is small-minded, little picture thinking, and exemplifies what we could expect if was on the Council. Dave should not be on the Council.

Tami Ritter – Grade D+

The thing I like about Tami is her passion for humanity…it is evidenced in her responses to questions, her work and volunteer experience, her education….she exudes it. I just don’t think we need that right now on the City Council. It is these kinds of councilors that focus on the feel-good issues (plastic bags, sustainability plans, funding for paper mache horse races in October every year, and light parades) instead of making the difficult decisions related to providing core services. Feel good people like this also focus on making events like the regional Labor Day debacle a revenue generating event for the City (Tami said she wants to do this). The problem with this kind of thinking is manifold. First, as a community, we still have to deal with the crime, social deviance, and drain on the taxpayer dollars to respond to the chaos of the event and undo what has been created through omission. But that’s not even the big one…the biggie is that somebody needs to OWN the event. In order to promote this kind of thing as a revenue generator, somebody has to be responsible. I can’t think that any entity in their right mind would want to take on ownership of a Halloween, Labor Day or St. Patrick’s Day in Chico. Doing so opens to door to acceptance of responsibility, and being liable for whatever happens. It just makes no sense. This, and Tami’s desire to focus on and promote the arts, recreation and tourism as funding mechanisms to meet public safety needs is pure fantasy. If we had a robust economy in Chico, we could spend more time focusing on that kind of stuff to supplement basic needs. Right now we don’t. When we do, it might be a good time to bring Tami on the Council. We have enough feel good councilors right now, and don’t need any more.

Sean Morgan – Grade A

I like this guy. He’s smart, articulate, and he exudes leadership. He knows the issues, and he understands them. Additionally, he is quick witted…when confronted with the nonsense of some of the other candidates, he was quick to respond in an appropriate and well thought out way. That tells me he is very familiar and comfortable with the issues. I like that. He’s also no nonsense. He spoke of a “shock and awe” approach to dealing with Halloween and Labor Day….this kind of thinking is shocking and uncomfortable to the feel-gooders (we don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings or make them mad, after all) but it is what is need to restore order to the chaos in Chico. Three other things I like about Sean: 1) He has clear awareness that allowing endless debate makes a mockery of the Council and process of governance in our City; 2) He recognizes that the paid experts on policing and safety in the community (the staff and leadership of the Chico Police Department) need to be trusted to do their jobs…which they are not currently; 3) Sean speaks of bringing ourselves back into line with the notion of Chico being a safe place to raise a family….an adequately staffed police department is integral to this. The bottom line? Sean is exactly what we need right now on the City Council….it’s been a long a long time (if ever) since I have seen this kind of competence and leadership in the realm of current and potential City Council members.

Dave Donnan – Grade D

I like Dave. How can you not? He is a no nonsense, what-you-see is what-you get kind of guy. He wasn’t always accurate in his responses, and he’s not highly polished….but the thing that really stands out with him is the frustration over the frequent demonstrations of indecision or kicking the can down the road by the current City Council. Dave emphasized over and over: “Make a decision!!” He also has some controversial (but not without merit) ideas about how to radically restructure public safety in Chico. In his closing, Dave said, “It’s time for new leadership, and I’m not afraid to make decisions.” I agree. We need both. Take a close look at Dave before you dismiss him as a choice. Given the alternatives, Dave  should be considered as part of the new leadership for Chico.

Ann Schwab – Grade C-

They either lover her or hate her. There’s no in-between when it comes to how you feel about Ann. I love her passion for Chico, and the pride she has in representing the City as the Mayor. Ann knows some of the issues, but she is sometimes hard to take seriously…I think it’s because her core is that she’s a feel-gooder, and its’s kinda weird to hear a feel gooder try to talk tough. My big disagreement with Ann is her perspective that the % of the General Fund budget dedicated to policing clearly demonstrates a level of support and that it is a priority. Nearly two years ago, in response to my carefully worded criticism for the Council’s failure to routinely engage discussion about policing and public safety, Ann patronizingly met with the City Manager and I, and assured me that this circumstance would be rectified. As the mayor, it is her responsibility to insure these circumstances were rectified. A basis for such discussion could have been the comprehensive report on policing activity I provided the Council every six months. But alas, not such discussions ever occurred. Instead, our Council discussed climate action plans, Frisbees and paragliding in the parks, plastic bags, sustainability task forces, general plans and more….but not the very thing that takes up half of the City operating budget every year. It is amazing to me that we spend so much money on policing, but spend less time talking about it than anything else. In my mind, that does not constitute support or placing the police as a priority. Having said that, I absolutely appreciated that Ann seems to understand police overtime. It was nice to hear it that night, but it would have been nicer to hear when PD staff was having their feet held to the fire over what were not unreasonable expenditures of OT. In fact, as we have been asked questions over the years from Council and other staff, we have provided reams of documents detailing tracking and analysis, only to be made to feel like the bad guys for spending money in an attempt to provide service. To hear at the forum that she understands it was a slap in the face for me and the Police Department. Here’s my bottom line with Ann. I like her. She’s a feel-gooder though. That is her core, and her default in voting. I think she has been a good representative of the City as Mayor – especially in the feel good settings. But I think we need something different right now. The City is in crisis, and we need somebody to lead us through the difficult issues. The current leadership has failed to do so, and it’s time for them to move on.

Andrew Coolidge – Grade D

I don’t know who this guy is, or where he came from, but as a career police officer and student of human character and behavior, there is something about this guy that rubs me wrong. I have picked up that those on the right side of partisan politics seem to like him….but I have to throw out a caution. For you partisan folks, this guy gives me the feeling that he is veiling his leftness with a right side mask. As far as the forum, he came across as a very experienced politician. Specifically, he masterfully avoided answering lots of questions directly and saying anything that was too controversial for those who are generally uninformed. For those who are informed (I consider myself to be), there are a couple concerns. He said some things that just bug me, and make me wonder what his real perspective is. Example: He spoke of “people with backpacks” hanging in the city plaza. So, what? Is it now illegal to wear a backpack in the Plaza? Or is it the backpack that helps us to identify “those” people (you know, the dirty ones we don’t like hanging around our town). News for you Andrew: Be careful about this kind of characterization because the Constitutional rights that your police officers endeavor to uphold applies to the dirty people with backpacks too. Then, I heard him question why government should be helping business – he said business needs to “do it” by themselves. Seems pretty hard-line. I think that business and government should work together to insure that business profits and communities are viable. If this is what Andrew meant, he didn’t say it. Regarding the PD, Andrew said he met with officers….really? Who? Did you meet with officers to discuss policing issues, or did you say HI to an officer when you guys were picking your kids up at school. I’m sorry, but you weren’t convincing when you offered this. Andrew closed by saying we need to “keep this a family friendly community.” Upon hearing this, and reflecting on his new radio commercial, I have to say again: I think this is a smart guy who is trying to fool partisans on the right with a mask that conceals his leftness. This concerns me, not from a partisan perpective, but from a core character and integrity perspective. At the very least, this guy does not instill confidence in me as a candidate – not even as a default candidate based on eliminating some of the others. Be careful if you throw your eggs in this basket.

Toby Scindelbeck – Grade A

Toby is the real deal. He’s a business guy that will tell you exactly what he thinks, and he’s not worried about ruffling your feathers. His agenda is serving and making a difference. He is definitely not a “me oriented” guy. I like that. I like plain talk. I also like people who do their homework, and know what the hell is going on. Toby has demonstrated that he is, and a willingness to enhance his understanding when necessary. Toby spent an afternoon a few weeks back wandering the streets of Chico with my wife “meeting” some of the mentally ill homeless. Laurie was prompted to reach out to him after reading some of his perspectives on the homeless. I think his perspective changed after his tour, and that is good, but even better is the fact that he was willing to put himself out there to do it. I think this demonstrates what we can expect of him as a Council member. Although much different than the kind of guy Sean is, I think Toby also exemplifies what we need on the Council right now: Somebody who will take on difficult issues, develop understanding of them and make the hard decisions. This guy gets it, and should be on the Council.

Bob Evans – Grade B

As a career military officer who had a second full career in business management, and now having been on the Council for awhile, I have expected a lot more of Bob. To be clear, I have been disappointed. After his late entry the other night, I noted more of all that I have seen in his months on Council: Nothing remarkable. If forced to characterize him, I would describe him as wishy washily in the middle of the road. I say wishy washily because Bob never asserts a strong/firm position on anything. Much of what he said the other night was semi-accurate from my perspective, but because he did not say it with conviction I am left wondering if he really believes what he said. Bob does not give an impression that he is what I have described as a feel-gooder. He has a solid military background and a solid business background. Although his demonstrated record on Council is ….ehhh…ok, his background and absence of focus on feel good stuff earns him my support. I hope if he gets elected to his own full term that he will step up to the plate, take some firm public positions and make things happen. I had heard he suggested at one point that we could pay cops $12.50 an hour and have people banging down the door to take the job. I hope he really didn’t say that, and I hope he doesn’t believe it deep down inside. I think we need to keep Bob on the Council.

Randall Stone – Grade FFF

This guy bugs me…everything about him bugs me. I think he’s deceptive, disingenuous and is inclined without hesitation to stretch the truth or omit relevant facts in telling the truth. He’s also a guy that is going to open his mouth without making any effort to find out the complete story. I didn’t like him even before this event. I spoke to somebody who heard him criticize the PD at the Board of Realtors meeting a couple weeks ago. He represented then that Butte County Behavioral Health had been “begging” CPD to get training on how to deal with the mentally ill homeless in Chico. I believe I know who fed him with that crap, and if it was that person and he believed it, I have even greater concern about this guy. The first impression this guy casts is that he is pompous and arrogant. He appears to be very “me” oriented, as evidenced in part by his “I love me” web page. A few tid bits from the forum: 1) He doesn’t want the cops to have an image as enforcers (WTF?), and he thinks we need to bring on more annuitants and volunteers before we hire more cops. If this bozo had made any effort whatsoever to learn about the PD, he would have learned that CPD has approximately 100 uniformed volunteers in 3 different categories. All of these folk combined provide thousands of man hours of service each year to allow the cops to focus on higher priority issues. I wonder where Stone expects to get all the additional volunteers….we can seem to find enough…how does he propose doing it. And annuitants? Where will those come from? The people who used to work there, have retired and now want to come back? I don’t think so. Annuitants from other places? They still have to pass the CPD background and meet our standards….or do you propose we do away with standards of integrity Mr. Stone…or maybe we should lower our standards to get some retired cops from other agencies? Here’s where Mr. Stone really shed light on his willingness to withhold portions of the truth (because he knows they won’t fit with the context)….when asked what he did to prepare to speak in the Chico Police forum he said, “I spoke to a law enforcement officer in Butte County and VIPS.” Translation: He didn’t talk to any officers or management at CPD. Although VIPS are integral to the CPD operation, they are not in tune with the issues faced by CPD in the management of the department and in providing services. Ya, they have opinions, but Stone knows better. He then spoke, apparently seeking to endear himself by demonstrating interest in a police issue, about “an event” he went to where he heard a presentation made about police complaints. Again, only part of the truth. The rest of the truth is that the event was an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) event, where they brought a cop-hating speaker from out of the area to talk abuse abuses of the police and how to make complaints against the police. Realizing he was at this event, as his Facebook page indicates, causes me to wonder if the “Butte County law enforcement officer” he spoke to is the former line-level Oroville officer who is now actively involved with the ACLU. By the way, regarding the ACLU, aside from it’s roots being tied to the Communist Party (I’m not makin’ this stuff up folks – do your own research!), I have never met a bigger bunch of cop haters then this group. Their baseline perspective is that cops are not to be trusted. So Stone seemed giddy as he told of attending this event (although, as noted, he did not completely disclose the nature). Soooo, in response to a question about what he had done to prepare to meet with CPD, he met with somebody who doesn’t work at CPD and went to an anti-cop event with the local chapter of the cop-hating ACLU. Ya, I really want this guy on my City Council – NOT! But wait, there’s more. Did you hear his spin on the 75 jobs he created, and catch the crafty “annualized” benefit to the local economy? Translation: He and his family developed an apartment complex using Redevelopment money, the equivalent of 75 FTE worked on the job, and had those 75 people remained employed after the short-term project was complete, they would have generated millions of $$$ in the local economy. Classic political spin, and another indication of this guy’s unrestricted willingness to spin the truth. More on the cops: He doesn’t want our cops to have “an enforcement aura,” he wants service oriented officers. I think he must live in the same fantasyland as Kim Rudisill. He wants us to have a bunch of Boy Scouts patrolling the streets and helping little old ladies. Well Randy, Randall, Mr. Stone, I got news for you: the current Council, and several before this one, have neglected policing in this community for so long that the police are fighting a losing battle with our small city and its small city crime and problems. Maybe after a period of catch up, we can hire a bunch of Boy and Girl Scouts, but right now we just need to be able to keep up on the enforcement front. Stone spoke again about the absence of training at CPD on dealing with the mentally ill….if he had done his homework on this one, he would have learned that for years we have had a seat at the table of the Behavioral Health Board of Directors with CPD folks serving either as Board Members or direct liaison between the two organizations. He would have also learned that we were an active partner in bringing premier training to the region for helping those in mental health crisis, and that the training for law enforcement and first responders has been held in City of Chico facilities each of the last three years. CPD remains an active partner in planning the next session of training, which will be held in February. Finally, in his closing, Stone made reference to CPD not working together with other entities in the community. Again, if he had bothered to do his homework, he would have found that there’s not another law enforcement agency in the region that works better with other entities in addressing and solving community problems. Bottom line with Randall Stone? He is bad news, and would be bad for the City of Chico. It would be a cold day in hell before I would encourage anyone to even think about supporting this guy.

As I reflect on what I have written, some of it seems harsh. Although, as I also think about my years of government service, I have heard much worse. I’m a passionate guy, and emotional. These are my observations and opinions. You don’t have to like them, and you don’t have to like me. I just wanted to share…