Still angry that the City Council majority that supports the effort to end the county’s one-hour-a-week needle exchange program in Reed Park has turned its back on the misinformation it spreads to achieve that goal, the Santa Monica Coalition has opened a new line of attack on the Council, Mayor Phil Brock and Santa Monica City Manager David White.
In recent social media, the coalition has argued that “A City Manager who does not allow the City’s Mayor to meet with the Police Chief without his authorization is both foolish and dangerous.”
That the City Manager can block councilmembers and even the mayor from meeting with city staff and department heads came as shocking news to the current mayor and his immediate predecessor.
“The city manager has suggested that his office make the appointments with any department head so that his office keeps track of all meetings,” explained Brock.
“During my time as Mayor and as a City Councilmember, the City Manager always has allowed me to meet one-on-one with the Chief of Police,” writes Councilmember Gleam Davis, who preceded Brock as Mayor last year.
“Pursuant to the City Charter, the City Manager always has asked to be made aware of the meeting as something may come up that the City Manager needs to address. This has been my experience with all City Department heads, not just the Chief of Police. I have no idea why anyone would say anything different.“
Davis and Brock represent different factions on the City Council, and Brock even once spoke at a Santa Monica Coalition event next to a sign calling for Davis to be defeated in the current election. (Davis is not seeking re-election, Brock is.)
But recently, the two factions have been united in calling out the misinformation put out by the coalition, even if Brock is sympathetic to their end goals. Earlier this summer, the Council voted unanimously to ask the Coalition to pull down its disinformation banner on the 3rd Street Promenade. The Coalition responded by putting up a new banner mocking Davis, White and two county officials as the face of “Mt. Drugsmore.”
As always, there is some kernel of truth to the coalition’s charges, but the main charge – that the Council is subservient to one of their employees – is a falsehood. And it makes sense too. If Councilmembers, even the Mayor, were allowed to give direction to employees they could ask (or mandate) that they do something against the wishes of the majority of the Council. It is one of White’s jobs, to get clear direction from the Council and implement the policies that a majority of them support.
