Posted on 03/23/2006 4:38:27 PM PST by Amerigomag
Chula Vista has an early campaign issue and it is called “the mayor's bodyguard.” This isn't about the conduct or qualifications of private security contractor, this is about the way the city of Chula Vista has mishandled the matter at every turn and the folly of doing public business behind closed doors.
How did the city find the private contractor (two versions exist)? Why did the council not receive more than a cursory report when the hiring item first came up in September? Why was the private contractor being paid from two separate accounts? Who, exactly, authorized the city's purchase of an SUV for the bodyguard and mayor to ride in? Why did it take four months for anyone to realize that the mayor was inadvertently double-dipping by having a city-supplied vehicle and a $1,000-a-month car allowance? An even bigger question is why little of this has been discussed in public.
A case can be made for a bodyguard/chauffeur in a city of 230,000. A case also can be made that Chula Vista can afford additional security, if it so chooses, although sides are taken quickly on whether police or an outside contractor should provide it.
Council members Steve Castañeda, John McCann, who are running against current mayor, Steve Padilla, for mayor in November, are calling for an open, public workshop to discuss the matter. That strikes us as a good and overdue idea.
This is an early campaign issue because it has nuances of the way government is being conducted in Chula Vista, of money being spent in ways it perhaps should not, of open versus closed meetings, and whether council members are receiving benefits they are not entitled to. Perhaps reforms in the way Chula Vista contracts for services are indicated.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
Only in California. Suburbia with a Secret Service type SUV and bodyguard for the mayor?
California's political class, even on the Mexican border, lives the life of luxury.
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