Spin and hypocrisy? City Council incumbents Barovsky and Stern have accused their opponents of political spin. And, when I spoke in opposition to the City Council’s unanimous vote to put the self-serving Measure U on the ballot, for my effort, I was publicly called a hypocrite by Council Member Ken Kearsley. Neither Barovsky nor Stern objected.
Now, with two past stories once again dominating the latest news, I ask you: who is spinning and who are the hypocrites? When the City failed to properly comply with the requirements to obtain $8 to $10 million in available state grant money to obtain the Chili Cook-Off site, incumbents Barovsky and Stern, who had said all along that they wanted these grants, suddenly changed the story to say they would rather have the money for park construction because the rents on the Chili commercial property would cover the City’s indebtedness for the purchase.
Now, we learn that there is no tenant for the Malibu Lumber property, and that the Malibu taxpayers are on the line for $17 1/2 million in debt. Are Barovsky and Stern finally apologizing for their huge blunder, or are they still spinning? When Barovsky and Stern fired two excellent planning commissioners because these planning commissioners would not endorse the City Council’s wrong-headed Measure M (the Malibu Bay Company Development Agreement), Barovsky and Stern said they had no choice but to fire them, as the planning commissioners had violated the Brown Act. (This turned out to be untrue.)
And now, a state appellate court has unanimously reaffirmed that Barovsky and Stern have themselves violated the Brown Act. Have Barovsky and Stern resigned? So, I ask you, who is spinning and who are the hypocrites.
Rich Fox