Council members fire back at opponents to the renewal of a contract with Susan Shaw as the city’s public relations and fundraising head.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
City Council members and their opponents launched accusations at one another Monday night over the city’s vote to renew a contract with Susan Shaw for her to continue as Malibu’s public relations and fundraising head. She also received a raise.
Members of both sides said the next day that the other wrongfully made personal attacks.
Councilmember Sharon Barovsky recused herself from the vote because of accusations that Shaw was getting the job due to what opponents said was a close relationship with her. The City Council voted 4-0 to approve the two-year, $144,000 contract. But this came after a series of comments from traditional council opponents, who said the process to hire Shaw was noncompetitive, noting she was the only who applied, and because of the belief of a close Shaw/Barovsky relationship.
“This is not a private corporation where you can put your family and friends on the payroll,” former Planning Commissioner Richard Carrigan said. “This is municipal government. And it calls for the highest form of transparency. This process has been flawed by a lack of disclosure and a lack of competitive bidding.”
Opponents of Shaw’s contract renewal said the request for proposal, or RFP, sent out for the job could only have applied to Shaw because it stated the person should “have experience in raising funds for capital projects in the Malibu area.” Shaw helped raise $1.5 million toward the municipal purchase of the Chili Cook-Off site from 2005 to early 2006. The opposition also said it was an uncompetitive process, because the RFP was limited to placement on the city’s Web site and in one local paper.
Malibu Coastal Land Conservancy President Steve Uhring compared the process to the World Bank scandal, where its head, Paul Wolfowitz, allegedly gave a significant pay raise to his girlfriend. Ryan Embree called the RFP “bogus.” And Jay Liebig said, “To pick somebody who is local and a homeboy is just not the right way to go.”
The City Council members fired back prior to their vote. “To come here and trash her credentials, and to trash her personally and to trash the relationship with Ms. Barovsky is just dam right mean spirited,” Councilmember Ken Kearsley said. “And I haven’t seen any of these people say anything positive about this city for a long time.”
Addressing the issue of a lack of other applicants, Kearsley said, “Why would anybody apply for this job when they face these self-righteous diatribes from these people who come down and try to second guess? These words that are used to enflame do nothing to help this city to build something that is so important [Legacy Park, which will be Shaw’s chief fundraising project], this pivotal keystone to the city.”
Shaw sat silently through most of the public hearing among the audience. She did speak briefly, pointing to her experience as a campaign manager for Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss, and for her participation in various Malibu political campaigns.
Councilmember Andy Stern said he was especially offended by a statement by Liebig that the city was “cooking the books.”
“That’s just another one of his dishonest statements that he’s made about us,” Stern said.
Liebig then shouted from the audience, “I resent your statements. I really do.” Mayor Jeff Jennings slammed on his gavel to calm the scene.
Liebig said in an interview on Tuesday that what he meant by “cooking the books” was that the city had issued a flawed RFP and that he believed city officials are misleading the public when they frequently reference that Shaw raised $2.5 million. Of that money, $500,000 came from the Malibu Coastal Land Conservancy, a City Council opposition group, and another $500,000 came from Steve Soboroff and Michael Koss to settle their wastewater issues. Liebig said she should only be credited for raising $1.5 million.
With the new contract, Shaw receives a raise from $5,000 per month to $6,000 per month. Her job title is also changed from public relations officer to capital campaign coordinator. Shaw’s duties include public relations, creating the city newsletter and fundraising.
Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich said others could have applied for the position, but for some reason they did not. She said she was voting for the contract because the city needed to get going with its fundraising efforts toward creating Legacy Park. “We have a capital campaign. We need to raise money. We need to hire and fill this position. We need it now. We can’t wait,” she said.
Barovsky left the council chambers during the public hearing and vote, and returned later for the remainder of the meeting. “[I will recuse myself] because there’s been such coverage in the paper, and as I look out I see Mr. Carrigan has brought the Barovsky fan club with him,” Barovsky said. “I don’t feel in anyway that any of the accusations are either accurate or even believable.”
Prior to his vote, Kearsley said there was no reason Barovsky needed to recuse herself. He lashed out at the opponents over the accusations by Carrigan and others. “I’m very ashamed that you had to trash two perfectly good people just because of your political agenda,” he said.
On Tuesday, Carrigan said Kearsley and the other council members’ comments showed that they do not welcome criticism.