The following is my OPINION. If you don't like it, it doesn't mean that I'm a racist or that I'm wrong. At the most, it means you simply don't agree with my opinion. That's your right...but be clear....this is MY OPINION!!
I am so angry right now...heart is pounding, head is spinning....I could just spit. I just heard a news story last night where a City Council member, Randall Stone, was blasting a Chico Police officer who he accused of being a racist and calling him incompetent in a Facebook posting. I'm not gonna reiterate the details of the news story, but if you wanna see it here's the link:
So, the question of the day is: Is Randall Stone incompetent?
INCOMPETENT (in-com-pet-tent) - Not having or showing the necessary skills to do something successfully; amateurish, blundering, bungling, inadequate, substandard, inferior.
How 'bout if we take a look at a few "Stone-isms," and you decide:
1. Did you watch any of his presentations during the campaign where (tragically for the City of Chico) he was elected? On a number of occasions, Stone was asked for perspectives about policing and the Chico Police Department in particular. On one occasion in particular, he was asked what he knew about the Chico Police Department. If you look at the record of his responses, you will quickly see that this guy knows nothing about policing in Chico, nothing about the Chico Police Department and nothing about those who provide policing services in Chico. His best references about policing issues were "members of Butte County law enforcement. Randy even declined, by way of a failure to respond, an open invitation for Council candidates to go on a PD ride-along, which would have taught him loads about the Department. Translated: he made no effort to connect with Chico PD to learn anything about them or their issues. In fact, in carefully worded excuses and rationalizations, he clearly sought to justify his absence of effort to learn anything about the Chico Police Department all throughout his campaign. What does that tell you about a politician who purports to place policing as a priority? Does this make him incompetent? Perhaps mendacious or disingenuous, but not necessarily incompetent.
2. I realize that marijuana is in the forefront of contemporary issues in California today, but it is clear that the people of the State want to take baby steps as we venture into that realm. Even though the indication is baby steps, are we at the point where we want to put leaders in office who are overtly supported by marijuana money? Look at the public records on Randall. At least 3 of his campaign contributors are marijuana people: Andrew Merkel, M. Max Del Real, Western Plant Science Association....folks, you can't even sugar coat this....these three donors are all about marijuana, and, as they perpetuate the blurred lines between what is and isn't legal in California in relation to marijuana, it is highly likely that the money they contributed to Stone(rs) campaign was dope money. Really Chico? Is that what we are about? I think not! So, does this make Stone incompetent? Maybe not by itself. In this case, he is either subtly exposing some of who he really is (spuriousness) or he's a hypocrite.
3. This guy inserted himself into a recent conversation about what is going on with the homeless and mentally ill in Chico. At one of the very first Clean and Safe meetings, Randy was bragging about how HE had "taken care of" the problem with the mentally ill on the streets of Chico by calling Behavioral Health and asking them to take care of it. He then took his token cruise Downtown, didn't see and mentally ill people, and proclaimed the problem solved. He continued, then indicating he would next handle the homeless problem. Really Randy? He appears to even believe himself. He was most embarrassed when my wife, who actually is in touch with what is going on with the homeless on the streets, called him out. Of course, now he awkwardly but arrogantly acknowledges her in public meetings because she called him out on his BS. Does this make him incompetent? Self-aggrandizing, yes.........but incompetent, I'm not sure.
4. Here's one I just love: During his campaign he repeatedly claimed credit for "creating 75 jobs." Really? Where are those 75 people now Randy? When called out on it, he changed his tune a bit and said "well, thats what the economists said I did." Hmmmm......if you tell me that you created 75 jobs, I'm gonna be thinking that you are single handedly responsible for putting 75 people who were not previously working to work. Ideally, the opportunity would be a sustained opportunity. But thats not what happened with Randall. What he did is consult with economists, engaged a series of calculations and determined, based on how many hours were spent on his construction project, how many jobs FTE he created (but did not necessarily sustain). Seems slimy to me....but I suppose in a technical sense Randall'scharacterization is accurate. Even though it is technically accurate, the way that Randall continually portrayed it is more in line with what I suggested people would believe if you said you created 75 jobs. Sooooo, does this slimy spin and disingenuous characterization make Randal incompetent. No, not really. He's clearly inclined toward deceit and arrogance, but not incompetence based on this story.
5. Oh! Speaking of his propensity to be misleading, here's another one for you: A few weeks ago Randall happened to go to a meeting where the Jail Commander from BCSO was present. The Jail Commander, on his own initiative, came to this meeting to offer his idea about how to help with the maintenance of Caper Acres. His idea was to use inmates who were on a special release program to do the work. Ultimately, this idea was embraced and approved by the full City Council....but here's the kicker: Have you heard Randall talking about it at Council Meetings? Have you read the news accounts of what took place, or seen the TV news stories? To hear Randall talk, one would easily come to believe HE is the savior of Caper Acres because HE made the arrangements for the prisoners to do the work. In fact, ironically, HIS Facebook page claims that "Councilmember Randall Stone brought this program to Chico..." Clearly another spin, potentially a lie, on his part, but is this incompetence? Probably not....just more of Randall's typical delusions of grandeur.
5. This is the one that takes the cake, and pisses me off more than anything. Apparently Randy is butt hurt because a CPD officer called him a name on his Facebook page and hurt his feelings. Randy investigated further, found some politically satirical images on the officer's page, and decided that the nature of the images makes the officer a racist in addition to a name caller. Following this, Randall apparently takes his discovery and info to the Human Relations Network of Butte County, and as a result of that contact the media learns of the incident (its not clear if the media learned of it on their own, or if Randy notified them himself). From there, there story linked to above comes out in the news. In his standard haughty and pontifical tone, Randall (apparently aghast at what has taken place) purports to be concerned about the safety of the Chico Police officers as a result of the postings....ahem.....I call bullshit! He also refers to CPD as "HIS" Police Department. Ummmm Randall, be very clear: CPD is NOT YOUR Police Department. In fact, you are an embarrassment to the Department. Let me list the reasons why:
- During your campaign, apparently knowing that the folks at CPD think very little of you, you steered clear. When asked what you know about them, you couldn't answer....because you didn't know anything, and you made no effort to learn anything. In their world, this failure on your part contributed significantly to the reputation you now have as being generally anti-police. Your absence of action is deafening on this one!
- Stone cites the Pickering case from 1968 as the basis for an absence of 1st Amendment protections for the comments posted by the officer. He apparently failed to read or understand the case. In truth, it is this case which lays the foundation, indisputably, for the officer's comments to be protected by the 1st Amendment. Although the line is fine, it is pretty clear: public employees are in a position to know things that are of public interest, and their speech about such things has qualified protections under the 1st Amendment. It is well established that Randal is often inclined to speak publicly about things he knows nothing about....he did it again here!
- Speaking of not knowing, Randal apparently does not know that the basis for whether or not an employer can address off-duty conduct of employees depends on whether or not there is a clear nexus to the employment. This is surprising, considering what a loud mouth know-it-all he is. Said differently, in order for CPD to address the Facebook conduct of the involved officer, the officer would have to have said or done something to establish a connection to CPD. If he had his picture in uniform..... or if he posted "I am a CPD officer and I think Randall is a buffoon," then there would be a clear nexus to employment. But, this does not appear to be the case this time. Again, Stone has stepped in it!
- Randall is apparently the appointed Council member of the Police Community Advisory Board. This is most disturbing!! As such, it would be expected that he know allegations of police misconduct are confidential personnel matters and officers accused of wrongdoing are entitled a variety of due process right. Mr. Supercilious should also know he is potentially in the chain of command for the officer, and has certain responsibilities as such. By taking his complaint to a public venue instead of the Chief of Police and perpetuating it with his inflammatory Twitter and Facebook posts, and then taking it to the media with the officer's name, Randall has disregarded and compromised the responsibilities of his position, violated the officer's rights to privacy, his rights to due process, his right to a fair and impartial investigation into the facts, he has slandered and defamed him, and much, much more. In short, he has established that he is not worthy to be sitting on the Advisory Board. The Board is not intended to be adversarial, but Stone has now established that he cannot be trusted to abide by the rights of police employees or the intent of the Board. His mere presence will be counter-productive he needs to be removed. To keep him will undermine the ability of the PD to have their own relationship with the community, and will detract from open and honest communication. Stone has demonstrated amply that he will spin, misrepresent, mischaracterize, etc. He cannot be trusted to be a participant in open and civil conversations involving the PD.
- Even today, presumably with no effort to understand the issues related to salaries and benefits in policing, Stone has a post on his Facebook page that is clearly intended as a shot across the bow of the cops and police management as he questions their salaries. I would suggest that this is divisive, and undermining. This fits with the flagrant misrepresentation he made at a Council meeting in July in relation to salaries of public safety employees. He demonstrates over and over that he is not a friend of public safety, and that he is willing spin the truth or even lie to reinforce and perpetuate his disdain for the police in Chico.
So, back to the original question: Is Randall incompetent? Well, we know he is mendacious; disingenuous; either a stoner or a hypocrite; self-aggrandizing; deceitful; arrogant; he has delusions of grandeur; he shows over and over again that he will speak authoritatively about things he knows nothing about, giving the appearance that he is quite comfortable with lying; he now has a well established anti-police, especially CPD, record........I think I would say YES.....it appears with all of this together, he IS incompetent.
I'm not done yet. What about this issue of racism and the accused officer? Are satirical images of the president in and of themselves racist? Does display of such make one a racist? Or, is it only when these things occur in relation to an African-American President that they are racist? It's ironic that as I peruse the names of people in public postings who have commented on this story and crucified the officer, some of these very same people and their ilk are among the first to propagate unfavorable speech and images about the police. Sounds like a double standard to me, and it's typical of what I have come to expect from the likes of Randall Stone.
Randall: Here's the bottom line. You stepped in it this time. It's time for you to man up and buck up. Grow some nads, take off your tighty whiteys, put on some big boy boxers, and admit that you screwed up. Just because somebody works for the City doesn't mean they can't have and express opinions about you as an elected official. In this case, opinions about your incompetence (which is now determined to be a factual statement). You owe the officer a public apology, and you owe it to this City's Police Department (NOT yours) to step down from the Community Advisory Board.
