LOCAL SPIN: Burnett for Mayor
But Carmel is lucky to have Rich Pepe in the mix.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Being the mayor of modern-day Carmel is about much more than being the mayor of Carmel. Whoever holds the office is tasked not just with leading the council of that little slice of heaven by the sea; they’re also increasingly being tasked with representing Carmel’s interests throughout the Peninsula and the region.
The best example is the aftermath of the Regional Desalination Project, the failed $400 million play to keep water flowing on the Peninsula past 2016, when Cal Am faces a court-ordered cutback on pumping from the Carmel River.
The mayors of the six Peninsula cities, realizing the project was going under, banded together to create the Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority, a joint powers authority working with Cal Am to find a sensible solution.
This increasing focus on regionalism and interagency cooperation is one of the many reasons the Weekly is endorsing Carmel-by-the-Sea Councilman Jason Burnett for mayor. Burnett’s the right person for the office right now. He’s not only well-versed in policy, but also in process. He’s devoted to transparency, in the water agreement and in government as a whole, and transparency is something Carmel’s sorely lacked for too long. As a first-term councilman, he led the charge to dismiss City Manager Rich Guillen, who immersed the city in a sexual harassment scandal that resulted in a $600,000 payout to the harassed employee. In this, Burnett was opposed by the mayor and the majority of the council – until he prevailed, because he was right.
The Burnett endorsement comes with a slight twist: Carmel is lucky to have this caliber of competition. Residents shouldn’t discount Rich Pepe – a savvy businessman, one of Carmel’s greatest cheerleaders and a promising future candidate. The successful restaurateur is rougher around the edges than Burnett (something we suspect he cultivates as part of his New-Jersey-boy-done-good mystique); but more importantly, he’s not as well-versed in policy.
During an interview with the Weekly’s editorial board, Pepe showed himself to be erudite and willing to learn. We’re guessing that if he doesn’t win this election, he will run again and be more prepared. He’s clearly in love with the city that hosts four of his highly successful ventures: Little Napoli, Vino Napoli Wine Bar, Vesuvio and Carmel Bakery.
Pepe has lived on the Peninsula since the 1970s. While his restaurants are long established, he’s been a Pebble Beach resident for much of that time. He and his wife recently rented an apartment in Carmel so he could run.
“I’m really concerned about Carmel’s future,” says Pepe, who tells the Weekly a group of long-time businessmen encouraged him to run. “I have a greater understanding of Carmel and its vibe and culture. What we face today, the complex issues, will require people here for the long haul.”
He wants to make downtown more attractive to both locals and tourists, and suggests one way to do it is by launching an open-air market. (Burnett’s all for that, too.)
Burnett says all tax increases, including hotel and sales taxes, should be on the table if Carmel is serious about paying off its CalPERS liability. Pepe’s also open to a sales tax hike, but says no to a hotel tax increase.
When it comes to water, Pepe is plain-spoken: If anyone thinks there will be a solution in place when the cease-and-desist order kicks in, he says, they’re fooling themselves. Burnett says the new MPRWA should work to develop consensus and support the other local water agencies, rather than building a project itself.
Pepe is learning as he goes, and his campaign is an example. A test video for a reality TV show featuring him and his family made it to YouTube, and went locally viral; Pepe says the video was never supposed to be released to the general public and blames a disgruntled former employee. That employee also has launched a web forum decrying Pepe’s lack of a voting record and his possible use of office as a bully pulpit. But Pepe knows that running a restaurant – one of the tougher businesses to sustain – isn’t the same as helping run a city.
The mayor’s office isn’t the end-goal of Burnett’s political ambitions, although he doesn’t spell out what those ambitions entail. In a few more years, it’s not hard to imagine a Supervisor Burnett, an Assemblyman Burnett or even Congressman Burnett.
But to those who say he’d use the mayor’s office as a stepping stone to higher office, Burnett says this: “Every job I’ve ever gotten, I’ve gotten because I did a really good job at the previous job.”
We trust, should he win this election, this will still be the case.
The Weekly editorial board consists of Editor Mary Duan, Managing Editor Mark C. Anderson, Assistant Editor Kera Abraham, Publisher Erik Cushman and CEO Bradley Zeve.
Comments
Really?
This election, we don't see Jason touting his role in the public-private partnership at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History. Last election, it was his major achievement.
His presidency of the foundation that took over PG's museum was cited time and time again, and Jason was portrayed as some sort of white knight poised to transform the museum into a "major world-class attraction."
When Jason placed his hand over his heart and promised the Dan Cort city council that he would personally guide this 100+-year-old institution into the future with openness & transparency, many bought into the magical aura that the polished and agreeable scion of wealth, power, and "a major world-class attraction" brought to the table.
Pacific Grove officials couldn't hand over the museum fast enough. The city museum board (and citizens from across the political spectrum) were marginalized during the lightning-quick and heavily orchestrated zeal to make sure this plan came to fruition. Now the citizens of PG are aware of the manipulative workings of the Delphi Technique. Back then, something didn't feel right, but the shining light that Jason projects was enough to push this through.
Despite the city's sizable annual contribution funding the new museum foundation, coupled with the substantial assets of the Museum Association (a generations-old and quasi-governmental friends auxiliary organization that was gobbled up by the foundation in what can only be described as a corporate raid), open meeting rules were misinterpreted to allow closed-door foundation meetings.
This circling-of-the-wagons attitude towards the public has resulted in a complicated and peculiar relationship with the city that has devolved from a secretive public-private partnership into a contractor-employer relationship that allows only the city manager to have access to the museum's management and board.
The consistent opacity of the PGMNH foundation board has become legendary. The only peek any citizen, visitor, city charter-mandated museum board member, councilmember, or even PG mayor has gotten into the operations of this organization was dressed up as two "Community Days" each year. The first year, two very orchestrated events were held. This year, one "Community Day" was supposedly held. There was scarce publicity and few attendees. Yet the museum's webpage offers a FAQ sheet from the meeting.
When the American Association of Museums team tabled the museum's long-fought reaccreditation attempt, citing the current staff's lack of professional standing and inadequacies in collection management practices, that report was quietly posted to the museum's website. What was promulgated instead was a carefully crafted press release that sugar-coated the tabling, turning the less-than-satisfactory report into a triumph. The museum is now undergoing an AAM Museum Assessment Program to improve collection practices.
At a special council meeting held at the end of February 2012, a litany of questions about relations with the museum foundation (both by citizens and councilmembers) took up a large portion of the allotted time.
No amount of spin, wordsmithing, or charisma can change the fact that the public-private partnership has not worked as promised. Many long-time volunteers have moved on to other venues, like the lighthouse.
One of the next initiatives the museum foundation is planning (according to PG's new 5-year plan) is to build a wall around the museum. That's the perfect metaphor for Jason's legacy at the museum, and no doubt why he no longer points to his success at the museum in his campaign.
Openness and transparency? I think not!
MCW’s endorsement of Carmel City Council Member Jason Burnett for mayor makes many claims and conclusions without thorough examination.
I. “He’s devoted to transparency, in the water agreement and in government as a whole, and transparency is something Carmel’s sorely lacked for too long.”
MCW knows that the mayor’s office isn’t the “end-goal of Jason Burnett’s political ambitions,” but Jason Burnett is not transparent when it comes to at least informing the public about what his ambitions are presently. This is relevant because he resigned from the EPA a second time in 2008 because he believed the Office of the Vice President and White House Council on Environmental Quality were censoring any discussion of the human health consequences of climate change. Likewise, Jason Burnett should be open and transparent with the public about his political ambitions and not censor himself on the issue.
II. “He’s not only well-versed in policy, but also in process.”
The problem with a Mayor Burnett is that he has not recognized that the precedent regarding “process” set by Mayor Sue McCloud needs to be changed. Council members must stop their micromanagement of the city by picking apart every single agenda item at council meetings and stop usurping the duties and responsibilities of the city administrator and let the city administrator manage the city. Jason Burnett confuses policy direction with micromanagement.
III. “Burnett says all tax increases, including hotel and sales taxes, should be on the table if Carmel is serious about paying off its CalPERS liability.”
Advocating for tax increases on the November 2012 ballot in this economy is unwise. If Jason Burnett is serious about paying off the city’s CalPERS liability, then he and the council should have by now used the undesignated, unreserved reserve funds to pay down the $6.2 million side fund debt. That he and the council have not and are apparently waiting for tax increases do not bode well for his or the council’s financial acumen. In fact, the city council should examine the budget and explain why the city cannot pay down liabilities and provide essential services and amenities at $13 million general fund revenues plus $10 million reserve funds prior to any consideration of placing tax increases on the ballot.
Jason Burnett has been key in elucidating the most important issues for the community, and in bringing them to the table for discussion. He has probed and scraped, to make everyone aware, and to consider what we need to do now, in light of the current economy, and how we can prepare for the future. He is intelligent, thoughtful, a good listener and a very hard working member of the Council. Those of you who have commented here-if you have other good suggestions about how to resolve our current budget problems or liabilities, I am sure he will be happy to listen. However, I know for certain that he has already considered spending down our city's reserves for this purpose.
Great article and a ringing endorsement for Jason Burnett. Jason is the leader that Carmel needs to help guide the city through the current economic times. It's exciting to hear about the Weekly's endorsement after just hearing about the Hospitality Association & Association of Realtors recent endorsements of Jason Burnett. Thank you!
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt "Citizenship in a Republic," Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
To paraphrase other Roosevelt quotes: Jason is the doer, the man who actually does the work, the one who really counts; not the man who only talks or writes about how it ought to be done. While criticism may be useful; it can never take the place of action. It is the doer that counts, not not the critic who looks on and says how the fight ought to be fought.
How lucky Carmel is to have a leader like Jason. How fortunate that he is at the right place at the right time to be the next Mayor of Carmel.
My point, in a nutshell, is that Jason's actions do not live up to his golden words. The nearly religious fervor expressed in the constant rehashing of Jason's virtues is, in the end, empty. He says he is all about openness and transparency, but the organization he is responsible for creating operates under the cloak of secrecy, despite its supposed partnership with a government entity.
Jason has delivered on his promises for Carmel, including making our government more inclusive and transparent. And we can expect more of the same when he is mayor. He is the only mayoral candidate who will work hard for the benefit of the whole community and the only candidate that will not hand off the job to others once in office. Jason is well-prepared to start on Day One to begin working toward water solutions for the entire peninsula.
Jason is the person I want to see at the helm and is the only one who will protect the unique character of the village we care about. His lives by his word and the Carmel residents know that.
We look forward with great confidence to the day Jason becomes Mayor. The vast majority of the community will give a collective sigh of relief when that happens. We look forward to Carmel's future guided by Jason's leadership.
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