TMC: Thirty Miles of Corruption

Strategic planning, rising utility rates, public participation encouragement vs. discouragement, redevelopment wind down, the legality of tiered pricing on our utility bills, $400 million in underfunded pension liabilities, customer service, additional taxes to renovate the main library, the trolley, transparency and marijuana: these are just some of the 2015-16 election issues.

In anticipation of the upcoming June decision, Thirty Miles of Corruption has decided to take a thorough look at all the candidates.  But first, we’d like to talk about what their endorsements really mean…

When a candidate is supported by the Service Employees International Union, Riverside Police Officers Association, Riverside City Firefighters Association, etc., etc., in return for their money and in-kind support, they will expect you to vote in their best interests. The union-backed candidate is expected to favor of ever-higher salaries, perks & pensions. The endgame to that is a lower quality of life for the general public through either higher taxes or cuts in services. Its classic, “pay to play,” politics.

The candidates in the 2015 race that have this support are Mike Gardner and John Burnard. These are the go-along-to-get-along candidates. This is the “Lazy Money”, usually demonstrated by the amble cash on hand they use to send out all those mailers that end up filling up your trash. We call it lazy money because it usually makes a candidate lethargic when it comes to doing any real work during a campaign. When the voting public see these kind of endorsements on a candidates’ support page, we believe its almost necessary from a self-preservation perspective to vote against them. This kind of support is what has perpetuated political favors, and is the ugly side of politics.

A vote for a union candidate is a vote for unsustainable spending, plain and simple, in our opinion.

When the City-insider interests wants a candidate to win, a familiar pattern emerges: the unions will donate a lot of money. It’s an, “us against them,” kind of mentality, Citizens vs. City-insiders.  Take for instance, the case of Valerie Hill vs. Mike Soubirous.  Ms. Hill cleaned up on endorsements that race: almost $100,000 in total.  She had all the fancy flyers and her signs were everywhere. Soubirous did the real work, shoe leather to pavement, with a small fraction of the endorsement money.  He connected with all citizens in Ward 3 and won handily.

So what did the Riverside Police Officers Union (RPOA), City Manager Scott Barber, and Police Chief Diaz decide to do then, sorry losers that they are? They started a bogus investigation with the help of Mayor Rusty Bailey, Steve Adams, Jim Perry, Chris MacArthur, Mike Gardner, and Andy Melendrez and wasted $100,000 of taxpayer money. It’s the kind of retaliation we’ve grown so accustomed to seeing in this City – all paid for on the public’s dime.

But something different happened that time. Mike Soubirous, with help from Paul Davis (also accused of doing his job in direct conflict with the City-insiders’ wishes) won again.  An enraged public smelled a rat and convinced a thoroughly-embarrassed Council to drop the case all-together.  And in doing so, they exposed the dirty deeds of the RPOA, Chief of Police and City Manager Scott Barber, who ended up resigning in disgrace over the issue (aka, “retiring early,” at our dear City).

As long as we allow this culture to exist by voting for the “endorsed” candidates who do not have the general public’s best interests at heart, the retaliation and lousy customer service our City has become known for will never change. VOTE NO ON UNION/CHAMBER ENDORSEMENTS.

TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE’S MOST “DISAPPOINTING,” “BELOW THE BELT,” “A NEW LOW,” “SHOCKING,” “OFFENSIVE,” “INAPPROPRIATE,” “HURTFUL,” “MEAN SPIRITED,” “DISTASTEFUL,” “EMBARRASSING,” HORIFFIC,” “SLANDEROUS” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE!  TEMPORARILY BLOCKED BY THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE AT PUBLIC ACCESS SITES WITHIN THE CITY, THEN UNBLOCKED.  I GUESS YOU CANNOT DO THAT ACCORDING TO THE ACLU.  RATED ONE TWO ONE STAR OUT OF FIVE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY APPROVAL RATINGS..  TMC IS NOW EXCLUSIVLY EXCLUSIVELY ON FILE WITH THE COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE (WE BELIEVE THIS WILL END SOON, SINCE THE FOCUS IS NOW ON THE IMPROPRIETIES OF MR. “Z”, WE TRIED TO TELL YOU, BUT NOBODY LISTENED), AND DON’T FORGET WE ARE PROSSIBLY POSSIBLY ON FILE WITH THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE’S POTENTIAL SLAPP SUIT LIST… A STRATEGIC LEGAL MANEUVER THAT CAN BE DONE ONLY IN RIVERSIDE WITHOUT A CONTRACT… AGAIN, THANK-YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT!   COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOMED, ESPECIALLY SPELL CHECKERS!  WE JUST CAN’T SPELL!  EMAIL ANONYMOUSLY WITH YOUR DIRT BY CONTACTING US AT:   THIRTYMILESCORRUPTION@HOTMAIL.COM