You've got fan mail

More "fan" mail here at Inland Empire Craigslist where there's an ongoing discussion of sorts between who is better, Dom Betro and Mike Gardner or who is better between Betro or Councilman Art Gage. Now Betro and Gage aren't running against each other, at least not yet, but there's still some interesting discussion.




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Not everyone attending events/meetings share the same recollection or interpretation as you. In other words, not all you post is reality no matter how many times you say it. Same holds true for a certain Betro opponent and other related detractors on Craigslist who seem to like a revisionist history or better yet selective history on many topics including Tequesquite Park, ED, and the like. I'll choose Betro's record of accomplishment and care for community and people anyday over those who spew hate instead of truth.

I'll choose a critic who can use his or her real name over one who doesn't and opts to use titles like the one used on this note which are creepy in the use of some quasi-intimidation tactic like using the word, "careful" and forced intimacy meaning that this person uses a term of endearment in a matter clearly opposite that and making it appear as if they know me when he or she can't even state his or her name. That's just creepy and wierd. I don't buy that this individual is directly involved in Councilman Dom Betro's campaign, because I think the vast majority of those who are are busy out there, campaigning and not spending so much time skulking around on Craigslist writing comments against their critics two weeks before election day.


It's hard to know whether that "certain Betro opponent" otherwise known as the "one of which we clearly cannot name" is Gardner or Gage and this individual didn't choose to be more specific on exactly which person he or she was talking about, which is his or her prerogative. But it would clarify the situation if this "certain Betro opponent" had a name. Are they talking about Betro's rival in this year's city council race, or Betro's alleged rival in his alleged run for the mayoral seat, according to a recent article in the Inland Empire Magazine?

Speaking of revisionist history, that certainly was the case of Tesquesquite Park.


To erase Gardner entirely out of the fight for Tequesquite Park to remain a park without being carved up and sold to developers for a tidy $10 million is revisionist history at its best. Gardner's role in the situation involving Tequesquite Park is what helped elevate him into contention in Election 2007 in contrast to his poorer showing in 2003. Many people involved in the fight to keep Tequesquite Park even those who support Betro in the city council race are more gracious in their acknowledgement of the importance of the role played by Gardner in that effort. It's too bad that the city council member of Ward One and his supporters at Craigslist can't follow suit, but instead act as if any such acknowledgement of Gardner's work is so threatening to their own candidate's chances that they engage in some creative revision of this episode that has shaped Election 2007.

The irony is that the Betro who first ran for office had the ability to be that gracious and humble and likely would extend credit to his competition for work well down, but his tenure on the dais has served as a cautionary lesson on the impact that power and status can have on a city official's attitude over time.

After all, I didn't recognize the man who yelled at me, saying I was losing credibility because I had merely questioned his statement that he made at a community meeting that wasn't the truth. His public diatribe was also in response for my support of a stance taken by one of the city's labor unions taken in September 2006. However, a mere six months later, this labor union became the #1 donor to his campaign, according to a recent campaign disclosure statement submitted by Betro's treasurer. I wouldn't be the first on the receiving end of that kind of behavior.

Pardon me, for being a little confused at the flip-flop in terms of his change of attitude involving one of the city's labor unions! But that wasn't the only one of its kind. I don't agree with Gardner's stance on a lot of things, but the one major difference between him and Betro is that Gardner's actually nice and humble. He doesn't bully people, he doesn't yell at them in public for questioning him on a false statement he's made and so far, he hasn't sat on the dais and rolled his eyes at speakers who disagree with him or snapped at people about to lose their businesses to Riverside Renaissance. That's a major reason why those I've spoken to who support Gardner want to vote for him.

Ironically, they like Gardner for the same reason many of them liked and voted for Betro when he first ran for office. What a difference four years can make, with a grass-roots candidate facing against a former one who appears to have forgotten his roots. One of the more successful grass-roots candidates in history becomes in a sense not much different than the attitudes he and his supporters criticized during his campaign.

And unlike Betro, Gardner graciously shares some of the credit and Betro's supporters on Craigslist act as if that's an endorsement of Betro. Perhaps one candidate crediting his rival for an action is just so utterly incomprehensible to some of them because they are so caught up in winning an election any which way and more than a few of them have their own futures tied up closely with Betro's. But what they've done is they've pigeonholed their own candidate into an unenviable position where he can't even admit that he's ever erred or that his rival may have contributed to the process because to do so might suggest that he's anything left than perfect.


After all, as Press Enterprise columnist, Dan Bernstein stated here that the statement that downtown was on verge of collapse was somewhat exaggerated.


I guess this is an example of yet another campaign tactic from camp Betro to show up on Craigslist? Some of Betro's supporters contributed some good conversation on that site and there has been interesting dialogue on different issues. But then it's clear that there are others who are not interested in discussion at all and these individuals likely have very little to do with Betro's campaign.

Because as stated, the serious campaign people are probably out there working hard for their candidate, not saber rattling on Craigslist. Actually, there's a lot of good people working on Betro's campaign just as there was in 2003 when he first ran. This batch of purported Betro supporters is probably not a good representation of them and their work.

It's too bad that pushing for measures to restrict public input at city council meetings beginning on July 12, 2005 when Betro proposed the motion that led to the city council voting 6-1 to ban city residents from pulling items from the consent calendar wasn't enough for the current city council. Betro's so-called supporters have been flagging posts at Inland Craigslist that link to this site, proudly defending their actions. That's really not surprising but the two years this blog has been in existence has seen much worse.


In 2005, the reason the city council members and their supporters said there was a need to put restrictions on the consent calendar was because of all the "rants and raves" that were being spewed by city residents coming up to the podium. Now that it's an election year, council members up for election who voted for the measure are saying, it's to make the meeting more efficient. Revisionism of past events, some might call it. Of course, some of those who were for it then have spent time in meetings hoping that people who have complained about the restrictions on the consent calendar have short memories about the episode including who exactly did support it.



What they have shown by doing these things is that they are no more eager to receive public input outside their own circles than the city council has become through its own actions to restrict it including ordering police officers to "escort" elderly women out of the city council chambers. Before the latest batch of "team players" came to the dais, elderly women didn't have to be concerned about telling very embarrassed police officers that they would have to carry them out of the chambers. But give "team player" and Mayor Pro Tem Ed Adkison a gavel, and on two separate occasions earlier this year and last year, elderly women were "escorted" by police officers. The entire city council rewarded Adkison's behavior by extending his term as mayor pro tem an additional six months.

Then the SLAPP law suit that was used to try to break a community organization circulating a petition to put something on the local ballot, by intimidating them with the threat of having to pay the city's hefty legal bill from Best, Best and Krieger. The most egregious SLAPP suit it was called? Another embarrassing episode brought to Riverside courtesy of the current batch of "team players". Several council members said after the damage to this organization had been done that they opposed any move by the city to collect legal fees from the members of this organization but it was several years too late.


This particular "fan" comment was titled, "Careful Mary Dear" and believe me, anonymous poster, I am after receiving a barrage of harassment and threats last year, all by anonymous individuals. If this individual indeed is representing Betro's "care for community and people" then they aren't doing a very good job.



And here's another "fan" letter from a more familiar sounding writer, who calls himself "B" for among other things, I have a "b" in my britches.


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Mary,

I'm the one who has been chatting with you about the Midnight hour. For simplicity...you can call me B. This whole Careful string is not mine but figured i'd jump on to limit confusion.

I'm also writing to let you, know, that my comments to you have noting to do with the council man of who's name begins with the same letter.

In fact I assert that you lose all credibility when you leep[sic] far beyond cop issues and attempt to be a political pundit. It really starts to look self serving and so have some of your recent appearances on City tv.

Actually your brand of liberalism tells me that you are one of the trust fund babies. You can dress shabby and talk po' but the fact that your[sic] not burdened with employment reveals your deepest desire to be KNOWN as some sort of activist for the unfortunate. Thats[sic] what's really unfortunate.

Don't be so obvious.

XOXOXO,

B




"B"'s absolutely right. Don't be so obvious. Too bad he can't take his own advice. I believe we've "met" before but haven't been properly introduced here.


Like other anonymous posters, "B" has a name, but per usual this individual is missing something below the belt, the male bodily organ which is equated to courage by some insecure men in order to define and retain it as a male trait. Consequently, he is unable to post under his real name but as far as initials go, his choice is at least close to reality in more ways than one. Too bad his spelling hasn't really improved since he showed up last time round to bitch and moan about "cop" matters and other things. There's a lot of great men out there and I've had the privilege to know many but "B" just isn't one of them. In fact, he probably resents men like this more than he does me. His postings have a strong tone of a difficult lifetime spent of trying to measure up to a good man, and failing every single time.

And like other men afflicted with what's been called SPS, he instead tries to get his point across to what he most likely views as an uppity bitch even if he might never say those words out loud, by focusing on that person's physical appearance whether it's clothing choice or hair style. This is the hallmark of an emotionally insecure and immature man, with an inability to relate to a woman who thinks, writes and yes, even criticizes. It flies in the face of his views that women should be seen and not heard and if they should be seen at all, it's in ways that are pleasing to men with his strict patriarchal upbringing.

"B" further shows his inability to relate to women who fit outside his narrow stereotype by writing a criticique me for everything including most importantly, my clothing style in the guise of "advising" me like some version of Svengali and then by closing it off with symbols for "hugs and kisses". Much more extreme examples of this type of behavior are seen in relationships where men batter women and then buy them flowers afterwards. He probably explains away his conduct by saying, "if you know what my life was like, you'd understand why I'm being such an abusive asshole".

"Fan" mail like this and much worse serves as a barometer check to keep going and to keep blogging on the issues in Riverside. If these individuals are too cowardly to use their real names even as they use mine, then as far as critics go, they aren't worth a bucket of warm bull's piss. And if they're all fired up to bitch, piss and moan under initialed monikers at Craigslist, I must be doing something right.

Indeed "B" has a name and I'm pretty sure of who he was since his morning post because frankly, only one individual in this city has been fixated on my writing a book. No one else has even asked me about it. He always had a name. But for him and others of his ilk, it's just not nearly as much fun that way to actually use it.




In Riverside, the fires rage on. Press Enterprise Columnist Dan Bernstein discusses them here.



In San Bernardino, the two candidates running for city attorney tout why they are the best for the job.


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The Santa Ana winds have enlisted a new ally: the brittle residue that replaced an extinct substance commonly known as rain. This is the partnership that terrifies and terrorizes us each October.

They all look alike, these dense, cotton-like braids of smoke, these cantering columns of jagged, angry flames, these sickly brown Southern California horizons. But they all have different names.

Some we've heard of: Malibu. Lake Arrowhead. Poway. Some send us scrambling to the map: Agua Dulce. Guejito. Roca.

All of them put us on notice that this is a season of vicious randomness.

Malibu morphs into Mosul. Forty thousand flee Fallbrook. Lake Arrowhead inches toward inferno.

A quarter million Southern California households (and counting) are urged to evacuate. Wild Animal Park animals are on the move. Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego's answer to the Super Dome, opens as a shelter as the sinister winds whisper, "Katrina."

Many millions will be untouched by all this. But the season of prickly dread carries a message for the casual spectator, too: Next year. There's always next year.








Just when you thought the current power struggle over the San Antonio Police Department couldn't get any more confusing, along comes some police officers who aren't sure what side their union bosses are on according to the San Antonio Express-News.


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At one news conference, union president Teddy Stewart slams the police chief. Stewart accuses Bill McManus of ordering a review of SAPD training and procedures to placate critics. The union president adds, "Chief, you want to find out where the training is lacking? Train your citizens to quit killing us."

Hours later, the chief fires back at his own news conference. He says he's "tired of turning the other cheek." He also says, "I back this police department, and I back what we're doing."

From the inside, some viewed the dueling tirades as a farce, a partly staged act between two supposed adversaries who get along better than most realize.

As one officer who knows Stewart well explains, "Teddy is just doing this because he's running for re-election."

Says a longtime colleague, "That kind of posturing is normal. It's not unusual for the union president to call the chief and say, 'I'm going to have a press conference and blast management.'"

Says another officer, "Teddy is in bed with the chief."

Is he? Some troops believe the union boss is too close to McManus. That Stewart doesn't represent the rank-and-file forcefully enough against a chief who represents the city's interests. That Stewart's inflammatory rhetoric — he called community activists "cop haters" — was designed to garner officer support for his re-election bid in January.




Don't be surprised if while all the players in this drama are figuring out exactly what their roles are, an outside agency like the Department of Justice decides to come in and do its own full-scale investigations regarding the status of the police department.