Supposedly, the board of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District was in agreement in principle about us separating into two separate districts, with each of us going our own way. The only question was how do we split it up: the assets and the liabilities, the bond funds and the buildings, the china and the silverware. It was simply a divorce and the tough part was working out the property settlement. They started out in a very orderly fashion and formed a committee with three representatives from Santa Monica and three representatives from Malibu to work out the agreement. The committee, which is called MUNC, hired some very good consultants and then spent two years working out a plan. School finance is a complex affair and everyone—the six MUNC committee members and the consultants—were all bright, knowledgeable and sensible people who dedicated a large amount of time coming up with what they thought was a fair plan. As with any plan, they thought they had a workable compromise. The board even had consultants give it another look to make sure the numbers made sense and apparently it did. Then something changed and it all seemed to start falling apart. It’s not clear yet why some of the school board members seem to be balking at the last moment. It may be that Malibu, with its skyrocketing real estate values, has become a cash cow for the district and they simple don’t want to give up the milk. In the final analysis, we are about 16 percent of the district and don’t really have enough voters to have any substantial clout, which has always been one of our major complaints. If tea was involved, we would probably be dumping it into the ocean. Maybe this is all just hardball negotiations. Maybe somehow we got mixed up into Santa Monica electoral politics. I understand that temperatures were rising at the school board meeting to review the potential decision and some nasty things were said all around. Nasty talk in LA invariably means expensive lawyers are on the horizon. It would be stupid, expensive and a disaster for education if the district doesn’t split and instead litigates. Everyone will benefit if a deal can be made because if not, it probably means we will see you in court. Maybe our elected state representatives Senator Henry Stern or Assemblyman Richard Bloom can be persuaded to mediate this battle while there is still time.
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Outside of Malibu, the world goes on as before:
- The president is in Asia trying to make some sort of deal to contain North Korea. The problem is that by turning up the rhetoric as Trump has, the Chinese and the Russians know he wants a deal badly, which means Trump has raised the price of consummating a deal for their support. It’s not a great move for a great deal maker.
- Everyone is waiting for Mueller’s next shoe to drop; I’m betting on Lt. General Michael Flynn and perhaps the younger Flynn, who looks to be a bit of a loose canon. As memory serves me, he was the one twittering about Hillary running a child sex ring out of a Washington D.C. pizzeria from which I conclude he’s probably not going to be a great witness. I don’t think Mueller is ready for the Trump family yet, but I wouldn’t bet against it downstream, closer to the 2018 midterm elections. Also, despite the White House protestations about the “coffee boy,” sometimes minor players are the best witnesses because no one pays attention to them and then you’re surprised to find out they were at the table with saved documents as souvenirs or bargaining chips. This is merely the early round in a title fight that could go the distance.
- There is a new international political scandal brewing over something called the “Paradise Papers,” which appears to be a great deal of information about all sorts of clean (and probably some dirty) offshore money and some of the players who put it there. Apparently it includes Russian oligarchs (Russians seem to be everywhere these days), heads of state and major corporate players. Some major Americans are probably also going to get trapped.
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I’m still licking my wounds from a World Series victory that almost happened. I must admit they were clearly the two best teams in baseball, slugging it out to the bitter end for the title. We watched it in Baja California and at every crucial moment in the game, the cable feed seemed to freeze. It made me appreciate the quality of our reception in the USA. Whatever price any of you paid for the tickets, you certainly got your money’s worth—even if the result wasn’t what you wanted.