Cheers for Congress; jeers for lawyer fees
THUMBS UP: For Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz coming to his senses and dropping a $5 million lawsuit against the county that claimed the former Board of Supervisors conspired to keep him out of office. While there are a lot of reasons why De La Cruz should be upset over the debacle that was the District 5 election – chief among them that the District Attorney tried to throw him in prison for trivial campaign errors – punishing the San Benito County taxpayers was not the right answer.
THUMBS DOWN: For another four months of outrageous payments to outside lawyers defending the county against numerous lawsuits. From September to December of last year, the county spent $300,000 on lawyer fees, bringing the total spending on outside lawyers to more than $3 million since 2000. Remember when county supervisors nearly canceled the beloved 4-H program for lack of $70,000? It’s sad to see these fees draining the county budget while so many other worthy programs need funding.
THUMBS UP: For Congress’ approval of the Transportation Equity Act. The $284 billion highway bill will provide money for projects coast to coast, including $13.9 million to build a flyover at the infamous Don Pacheco “Y” and $3.7 million to help cover the costs of Highway 25 safety improvements. The bill is unfinished business from the 108th Congress but appears to have a good chance of passing this go-round since it has already cleared Congress.
THUMBS DOWN: For the San Juan City Council’s firing of City Manager Larry Cain. The council voted 3-2 this week to fire Cain claiming he communicated poorly with council members. Cain, a former San Juan mayor, says the move smacks of political payback and now local residents may initiate the third, fourth and fifth recall in the county this year against council members Charles Geiger and George Dias and Mayor Arturo Medina. It’s a shocking development considering it comes just weeks after Cain secured a $3.8 million grant to make much-needed improvements to the Mission City’s sewer and water system.
THUMBS DOWN: For the anonymous group that wants to recall Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz. Say what you will about the effort to recall District Attorney John Sarsfield, at least the organizer, Ignacio Velazquez, has the mettle to put his name behind the effort. Former Councilman Brian Conroy – who is the registered holder of the domain name for the De La Cruz recall Web site – says the members of the recall effort want to be anonymous because they fear retribution. Nonsense. If you want to recall the supervisor, have the courage to tell the public who you are and why you think a it’s a good idea.
