I understand that this Tuesday evening, December 11, 2012, our new Watsonville City Councilmembers get sworn in, and the new mayor gets selected. Over two decades ago, the United States Court of Appeals took away the right of Watsonville residents to elect a mayor, and placed the decision in the hands of the city council. Then, a group of individuals with a specific political agenda took over as the majority on the city council and have maintained that majority for a number of years. Consequently, this has given them the power to literally hand-select the mayor of their choice based on their own political agenda—either one of their own cronies, or a sympathizer who they would be able to mold into the sock puppet that they desire. And as evidenced by the current and most of the past selected mayors, real qualifications have not appeared to be part of the criteria for making the selection.
In my opinion and based on past observations, I’ll bet the choice for new mayor has already been decided (and I have the choice narrowed down to 2 bets), and this Tuesday’s city council meeting and “vote” will merely serve as another dog and pony show. So our right to vote for a mayor has been taken away, but not our right to free speech (at least not yet).
It is crystal clear to me and many other members of the community that Dr. Nancy Bilicich is most qualified and most deserving person to be the next mayor (but again, maybe qualifications don’t matter to the city council majority). Her years of service on the city council and as an educator clearly make her the most experienced and qualified person for the job. I also believe that a new mayor with fresh ideas and a different political ideology is just what our city needs as it
struggles to overcome its many challenges. I’m not holding my breath waiting
for the most qualified choice for mayor to be made by this group, however.
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A growing group of community members are tired of all of the shenanigans on the city council, and we do not believe the “malarkey”, to quote our vice president. We will be watching Tuesday night’s process closely. Either way, I think it is time for the residents of Watsonville to take back their right to elect a mayor. This time around, I think we will have more than enough signatures to proceed with this process.
Stay tuned ... more to come.
