A Record-Setting Term
Mayor Tom Tait may be on his way to setting a record for most high-ranking city staff to quit or be fired on in a single term. Barely more than two years in office, he’s already been through two city managers, a police chief and a city attorney. He canned City Manager Tom Wood mid-way through 2011, and City Manager Bob Wingenroth elected to get of out Dodge and submitted his resignation yesterday. City Attorney Cristina Talley, whom Tait favored, was pushed out several weeks ago. Police Chief John Welter called it a day last week.
This is not the way to build a stable, successful city government .
The smart thing to do at this point would be to bring back either of two former city managers, Jim Ruth or Dave Morgan, as the Interim CM until an executive search for a permanent city manager is completed( assuming they’re willing). The opportunity to be Anaheim City Manager should draw a slew of qualified resumes…,the operative word being should. When Bob Wingenroth was competing for the permanent spot, response to the call for applicants was underwhelming, probably due to council dynamics.
The Mayor of Santa Anaheim
Yesterday, the city issued a press release about how, as part of the Mayors Day of Recognition for National Service, Mayor Tait visited GOALS and Grandma’s House of Hope.
“Mayor Tait’s visits represented the city’s appreciation to all those who volunteer throughout Anaheim, and mirrored similar visits of appreciation by mayors across the United States,” said the press release.
Hold the phone: Grandma’s House of Hope is located in Santa Ana, not Anaheim. Taking nothing away from Grandma’s House of Hope, but shouldn’t it have been possible to find two sites in Anaheim for the Mayor of Anaheim to visit?
Guess Who Came To Dinner?
Anaheim City School District Trustee Dr. Jose F. Moreno was spotted at the Boys and Girls Club of Anaheim gala dinner on Saturday. He and his wife were table guests of Mayor Tom Tait.
Keep in mind that Moreno is suing the city of which Tait is mayor. He is the lead plaintiff in Moreno v. the City of Anaheim, a lawsuit aimed at forcing the city to adopt a single-member district system for electing the city council. This was three days before Moreno’s lawsuit was due to be heard in court. Since all involved, including the mayor and city council, will likely be deposed, it isn’t very prudent for the Mayor of Anaheim to have as his table guest someone who is suing the City of Anaheim.
Mayor Tait also profiled Jose Moreno in his state of the city speech. It is clear he is very close to the plaintiffs of this case and is putting personal relationships before service to all Anaheim residents, many who don’t support moving to districts.
He continues to cross the line, and the Mayor should resign immediately. As Mayor, he has a legal responsibility to represent the city, especially when it comes to its legal affairs.
I used to think that Mayor Tait was just kinda dumb (if i could use that term) and i felt sorry for him, but clearly he is working to harm Anaheim, and I just don’t get it.
This should be’ shouted from the rooftops’ around Anaheim and show what a clear conflict of interest there is here – or are we all going to just roll over and ignore this behavior? Oh my goodness where is CW to defend this ?
The administrative office for Grandma’s House of Hope may be located in Santa Ana, but they operate a womens’ shelter at 830/832 N. Lemon St., in downtown Anaheim and just a short distance away from GOALS. It was mentioned in the press release that Tait would be visiting the Lemon Street shelter. (I know, I know, a REAL ANAHEIM HERO would only have visited an organization whose facilities were 100% completely located in Anaheim — how dare he! Impeach!)
I’ll take your word for it, Biff. The city press release I saw listed a Santa Ana address and didn’t say anything about a Lemon Street shelter. The point wasn’t really blaming the mayor, but more about why he was (it seemed from the press release) given a Santa Ana operation to visit when there must be other Anaheim charities to visit.
The press release seems to have vanished from the city’s server (mysterious!), but the copy that someone published here has the Lemon Street address:
http://newanaheim.com/2013/04/08/mayor-tait-to-participate-in-day-of-recognition-for-national-service-on-49/
This was sent to everyone internally in Anaheim when it posted:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media contact: Ruth Ruiz, (714) 765-5060 office, (714) 420-7797 cell
ANAHEIM MAYOR PARTICIPATES IN DAY OF RECOGNITION FOR NATIONAL SERVICE
ANAHEIM, Calif. (April 9, 2013) This morning Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait visited two organizations in recognition of the Mayors Day of Recognition for National Service. Mayor Tait visited GOALS (Growth Opportunities (through) Athletics, Learning and Service) and Grandma’s House of Hope. Mayor Tait’s visits represented the city’s appreciation to all those who volunteer throughout Anaheim, and mirrored similar visits of appreciation by mayors across the United States.
The address for Grandma’s House of Hope was incorrectly listed. Anyone wishing to contact Grandma’s House of Hope can visit –
1505 E. 17th St, #116, Santa Ana, CA 92705, or call 714-558-8600. Their website is http://www.grandmashouseofhope.org.
GOALS offers athletics, after school education programs and community service opportunities to low-income youth. Since 1994 more than 20,000 youth have participated in Anaheim GOALS programs, with additional participation taking place in adjoining cities.
Grandma’s House of Hope serves more than 100 individuals each year in its mission to provide compassionate and uplifting transitional care for women in crisis and hungry children in Orange County. Programs include transitional housing, weekend and summer nutritional support for children in need, and computer labs and basic training and job-searching strategy classes.
The Mayors Day of Recognition for National Service is an initiative led by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the National League of Cities, Cities of Service, and U.S. Conference of Mayors President Michael Nutter. AmeriCorps members and Senior Corps volunteers are key contributors to service throughout the country. Currently more than 373 AmeriCorps members and 141 Senior Corps volunteers serve in Anaheim. For more information on this program please visit http://www.nationalservice.gov/mayorsforservice.
For information on the City of Anaheim, please visit http://www.anaheim.net.
It seems that Tait’s personal desire to be relevant to somebody – anybody has not only clouded his thinking to the point that he has compromised our city from a legal standpoint but it also seems that it has trumped what he was elected to do, which is to represent all of Anaheim’s residents.
Tait has chosen to embrace a new base comprised of ACLU advocates, left-wing extremists, fringe activist groups and even a criminally convicted blogger/thug while abandoning the core base who elected him: a silent majority comprised of law abiding citizens and Anaheim’s business community. With such examples of dereliction of duty, it is no wonder that he is and will be remembered as an utter failure as mayor.
Um, isn’t Tait just a liberal Democrat? Republicans need to stop bowing to his father’s shrine (or pocketbook) and understand who they are dealing with! WAKE UP OCGOP!
Guess who was seen incognito, in dark shades and ball cap, sneaking through the Moreno house to participate in an event that the good Dr. was apparently hosting at his house? How does the mayor of our city socialize in such a haphazard manner with the man who would be ok with the demise of our city in order to reach his poltical goals and aspirations? Shame on you, Mayor Tait!