Barth calls for asking questions and debating issues in an open forum; Lisa Shaffer deletes Facebook post where her constituents tried to do just that

Mayor Barth on the Kranz-Shaffer plan to strip Kristin Gaspar of her unanimously agreed turn as mayor (from Barth's weekly newsletter):

Encinitas mayor-sharing deal unraveling The council initiated option allows individual council members to place an item on the agenda for full council discussion at a public meeting. It is unfortunate that some critics do not recognize that asking questions and debating issues in an open forum is a more transparent and honest approach.

We wonder who those critics are who can't see that a move to take away Kristin Gaspar's turn as mayor in a unanimously agreed power-sharing deal after Barth has already had her turn is just "asking questions and debating issues in an open forum."

And we wish Barth had had this philosophy of open debate on Prop A, the most important recent public policy issue in Encinitas.  But perhaps open debate is only appropriate for high school drama.

Nevertheless, Lisa Shaffer did take to her public Councilmember Lisa Shaffer Facebook page to defend the move.



We were really looking forward to an answer to those questions. Then another of Shaffer's constituents came along and commented.



Finally, Shaffer responded. You can see her response here.

Kranz and Shaffer plan to renege on unanimous deal to appoint Gaspar mayor

In a stunning display of bad faith, crass political calculation, and petty vindictiveness, Council Members Tony Kranz and Lisa Shaffer have initiated agenda items to strip Kristin Gaspar of her unanimously-agreed six-month turn as mayor that was to begin June 11.

12A. Council initiated item from Council Member Shaffer to reconsider Mayor and Deputy Mayor transition scheduled to take effect June 11, 2014.

2014-05-28 Item 12A - Council Member Shaffer Initiated Item

12B. Council initiated item from Council Member Kranz for reconsideration of the pending transition of Mayor and Deputy Mayor duties.

2014-05-28 Item 12B - Council Member Kranz Initiated Item

The mayor-sharing was agreed last December and heralded as an example of the council's new civility. Apparently civility (and fair play) ends as soon as your colleagues have a policy disagreement over the purchase price of Pacific View.

At the time of the deal, council members expressed concern that incumbency would be an advantage (we think this concern is way overblown; just ask Mayor Stocks and Mayor Dalager). All council members were given a chance to say whether they wanted to run for mayor. Only Teresa Barth and Kristin Gaspar expressed any interest, so the council cordially agreed to allow each of them to serve for half the year.

Now that Kranz has decided he's running for mayor, he wants to change the rules.

Anyone involved in future dealings with Kranz or Shaffer would be wise to remember exactly how far you can trust them. For that matter, so would the voters.

This naked power grab bears a striking resemblance to the tone-deaf and bull-headed move by Mayor Jerome Stocks to appoint one of his allies to fill the council seat of the late Maggie Houlihan, when the magnanimous thing to do would have been to appoint Houlihan's (and the overwhelming majority of the public's) chosen successor.  That move was a catalyzing moment that marked the beginning of the end of Stocks' political career.

There's also plenty of irony in the fact that the defining issue of Teresa Barth's first several years on the council was that she was repeatedly passed over for a turn as mayor by a council majority her supporters viewed as bullies.  Now Barth's majority allies want to do the same thing to Kristin Gaspar.