Sara Rubin right here, occupied with how elections get a number of consideration—and for candidates, they take a number of effort—however it isn’t till after officers are elected that the work really begins.
A number of the first duties are normally largely ceremonious. That features appointments to numerous committees, boards and commissions, the place a lot of the particular coverage work is completed.
Who will get highly effective appointments is of course a matter of politics. It’s also a matter of illustration. And typically, these issues collide.
When Salinas Metropolis Council met on Jan. 10, Mayor Kimbley Craig advisable appointments to a spread of boards and commissions. She described a course of that included a spread of things: What councilmembers requested; scheduling and availability; getting new voices on boards that had had years-long illustration.
Councilmember Anthony Rocha arrived ready for a political battle over who would signify the town on the board of Monterey One Water, the regional wastewater remedy company that these days finds itself caught within the extremely political saga of the Monterey Peninsula’s water provide future and Cal Am’s position in it.
Craig advisable appointing herself, beforehand an alternate, to serve on the board of M1W, and Rocha advocated to nominate himself as a substitute. “The one space the place [Craig and I] disagreed was M1W—it was my perception that her and I’ve a really completely different philosophy…because it pertains to water coverage,” Rocha mentioned.
Then he addressed Craig instantly: “I feel you’re an clever individual, a reliable individual—I feel that’s one thing you and I each share, however this isn’t about intelligence or competence, it is a matter of imaginative and prescient and values. The truth is now we have a unique council majority that has a unique imaginative and prescient for this metropolis.”
Rocha was referring to an upset in District 5, the place Councilmember Andrew Sandoval ousted incumbent Christie Cromeenes. The pondering was that Sandoval—who’d received endorsements from Rocha and the other three Latino members of City Council—would solidify a voting majority of 5-2. However within the first check of what had been considered as a potential voting block—whether or not or to not appoint Rocha to M1W, as a substitute of Craig—the check failed.
Councilmembers Rocha, Sandoval and Carla Viviana González voted for Rocha. Two of Sandoval’s political allies, Tony Barrera and Orlando Osornio, voted to maintain the mayor in her seat, and she or he prevailed, 4-3. The political winds don’t all the time blow within the route you count on them to blow.
Votes like this are occurring in all places, on the subject of appointing electeds and likewise common individuals who serve in varied management roles. In Pacific Grove, Mayor Bill Peake faced criticism for his suggestions to remake the town’s Variety, Fairness and Inclusion Process Drive, regardless of curiosity from former members in persevering with to serve—at the same time as their quick monitor report to this point has been spectacular. (Given the political nature of such appointments, I’m unsurprised that Peake opted not to recommend Mike Wachs to any of the 4 positions to which he utilized; Wachs ran in opposition to Peake in November and misplaced.)
Most appointments occur with little dialogue. Appointments to the regional planning company LAFCO (Native Company Formation Fee) are routinely a sizzling concern as a result of significance of the fee, and particularly now, given than LAFCO has been thrust into the general public highlight for extremely charged and consequential selections concerning the Monterey Peninsula’s water purveyor and growth in Soledad.
At a gathering of the County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 17, the board chair, Supervisor Luis Alejo, submitted his suggestions for who must be appointed to 2 LAFCO seats: himself and Supervisor Chris Lopez, each of whom beforehand served on LAFCO.
Supervisor Wendy Root Askew provided up her personal suggestion: Appoint herself and newly elected Glenn Church, axing Alejo and Lopez from the influential fee. Lopez prompt a compromise plan: Reappoint himself, and add Church to the roster.
It was a political sizzling potato, testing the alliances on the brand new board, as I wrote about in a column in the current issue of the Weekly. Would Church adhere to the established order and wait a 12 months for his flip, go for a compromise, or upend the facility construction? He selected the latter.
The brand new LAFCO board is assembly for the primary time proper now, together with swearing within the new commissioners and congratulating the previous ones. You’ll be able to take part within the assembly on-line at this link.
