I watched the 12/3 city council meeting…mostly for the spectacle. Unlike member Molina, I had no expectation that you would miraculously become redeemable.
Honestly, I’m in awe of your stone cold ability to, for some, deflect convincingly. You had an opportunity to be a human. An apology to a mom and daughter for what was clearly an egregious act is a reasonable ask. Instead, you doubled-down. Disgusting is a good word for how you responded to them last time, implying a feigning of victimhood. This time you turned to the low hanging fruit of what might be in the coming Trump administration, pandering to what is certainly a future neolib dream audience that is somehow still moved by a failing party’s messaging.
Your transparently phony demeanor would be palatable if there wasn’t such a litany of transgressions left in the wake of your aspirational career politicking. The money backing you and the folks you’ve tethered yourself to tell the story.
Let’s start with former mayor Nick Inzunza. You were oddly steadfast in your play for Inzunza as port commissioner or consultant(Yamane as well). The argument you made to me at the time was a black and white partisan one, labeling Dr. Ungab as a Trumpster, implying all the dangerous things that folks project onto someone aligned with this new Right. I wasn’t buying it then, and as I discovered in greater detail the shady dealings of Inzunza during that era, it became reasonable to question your integrity based on that alignment, especially in the face of the public outcry against his appointment. Add the campaign donation from Inzunza on top of that and you have a clear conflict of interest and an obvious crony back scratching situation.
Residents, as well as your colleagues on the dais, have legitimate concerns about your relationship to city leadership, and of course the company they keep. Ed Nieto’s accusation that Martinez is serving your office is a reasonable one. Noone should trust you. The “job” you claim to be doing is transparent resume building, fodder for your campaign flyers. I can’t wait to see the data on the impact of your “outreach” seminars. Everything is so scripted and disingenuous, even the short term rental back and forth during Tuesday’s meeting. Residents laid down the detailed factual concerns of your operation. Your dismissal of them as “opinions”, is a convenient way to never have to be accountable.
The problem for concerned residents here is that you’ve carved out a nice little strategic pocket of support for yourself which you will undoubtedly try and parlay into a seat in the mayor’s office. That would be tragic. I will continue to voice my opposition to your dealings and hope that you head off soon to whatever next step that bought/compromised politicians take.
Paul Wapnowski resides in National City.
