AN EARLY WARNING

Looking back at the many cases of Cori Schumacher's going off on City Staff and berating them from the prism of time, it stumbles across one of its first manifestations. Interestingly one of the targets was a man who withdrew his Council candidacy in 2016, (Brian Flock) in order to support our "surfer savant" Ironically his act of generosity was conditioned on Cori's support of campaign finance reform.

We saw at the recent meeting of Cori's "Clean Energy Alliance" how that was another promise that ended up being inoperative, thousands in building-related donations later.

Here's a quote from Cori's tirade against the staff of her Clean Energy Alliance, in the interests of her largest donor, the IBEW (Electrical Workers) Local  

“Legal analysis should end at legal analysis and not come with additional recommendations,” she added. “It’s something I don’t find to be helpful. This is a pure policy decision. Unsolicited advice is not welcome in a forum where the public cannot weigh in.”

But it is interesting to dedicate this "Throwback" moment to this early warning signal. As is known, Councilwoman Schumacher and her minions have been busy COVID shaming a Carlsbad Police Officer over not wearing a mask and being seen on a Surf Cam. 

The earth is scorched weekly by another tirade by the Councilwoman, amplified by her chorus of angry cultists whose ancestors plausibly lived in Salem during the witch trials. Amazingly, as we see in the campaign mailer rescued from the dumpster, the same people charging folks with homophobia towards the Councilwoman has no issue with her "transparently" using a picture designed to present her to the gullible as an advocate of the nuclear family. And think of this, at the time this was originally written, Barbara Hamilton was seated behind the dais unaware of the troubles she was about to face at Cori's hands. Enjoy.

While running for office, Carlsbad Councilwoman Cori Schumacher has consistently raised two major platform planks. "Transparency" is one. "Community Engagement" is the other. Following is a saga that features a group of volunteer citizens attempting to actualize both while being punched in the nose by guess who? Carlsbad Councilwoman Cori Schumacher.  

The Carlsbad City Council meeting of January 29th featured Councilwoman Corinne Schumacher continuing a vendetta that first manifested during the Council Meeting of December 18th. Her target was a nominal grant that was awarded for an electric vehicle event. This matter was clearly within the discretionary authority of the City Manager and the City's staff to execute. 

Many hours of staff labor were diverted to preparing a voluminous report for the Council's Agenda Packet on this trivial matter. If Councilwoman Schumacher was counting on the final work product to justify her irresponsible and uninformed attacks on the integrity, competence, and good name of the City Manager, she was sorely disappointed. 

Brian Flock, Simon Freedman, and the Electric Vehicle Association voluntarily brought to the City of Carlsbad a proposal that would help the city meet the climate action goals as expressed by the Climate Action Plan. 

These citizens diligently worked to connect Carlsbad to an additional $80,000 for an employee and fleet charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. They were partnering with the city staff to stage an event to educate citizens on both electric vehicles and the City’s Climate Action plan. The extensive information seen in the agenda packet testifies to the substantial investment of volunteer time and effort devoted to planning and fundraising for the Carlsbad Drive Electric Event. 

On January 8, these caring volunteers were forced to notify the city that the project was canceled due to the “recently introduced political uncertainty”, which made fundraising impossible for a 100% volunteer, non-profit organization. Their project was terminated for only one reason: Councilwoman Schumacher’s behavior at the December 18 council meeting. As noted by Linda Breen in her remarks to the City Council on the issue,

"Councilwoman Schumacher: in your remarks, you framed this laudable and worthwhile grassroots effort as 'questionable'. Actually, volunteers devoted their energy to the planning and execution of a free event that would have educated residents on Carlsbad’s Climate Action Plan, helping to achieve those goals. Through a creative partnership with Carlsbad’s car dealers, this effort would have been justified by increased sales tax revenues alone.  

To see a council member characterize this worthwhile effort by dismissing it as 'questionable', was unkind, unnecessary and untrue. Threatening to deny such a modest request for funding is simply wrong. 

Ms. Schumacher, in the December 18 council meeting, you stated that our city manager had approved a "questionable" grant in an amount that exceeded his authority. You were incorrect. If you had been correct about the ordinance, Mr. Chadwick would have exceeded the authorized amount by 1 penny (for a special event grant), You clearly knew that $4999.99 would have been allowed and the grant amount was $5000. Your public disrespect is simply wrong."

Between the pointed public comment and the voluminous facts presented by City staff in the Agenda Packet of January 29th, Ms. Schumacher was left desperately grasping for some justification for some of her petty and unfortunate statements. on December 18th. Though the issue was moot, she eventually hung her hat on the tenuous ground that the proposed event organizer held a seat on the Commission for Historic Preservation.

Councilwoman Schumacher was hoping for a trifecta, the chance to embarrass two gentlemen that were former supporters and a way to demean and humiliate the new City Manager while burdening the City's professional staff. One may ask, why would a brand new city Manager be in the crosshairs? One plausible answer is a simple one. With a 3 to 2 nominally Democratic City Council Majority, the search just may be on to find a pretext to remove those currently occupying exempt positions in City Hall and replace each with a patronage appointment. 

Ms. Breen concluded her remarks to Corinne with this observation: "A reasonable approach would have been to privately ask Mr. Chadwick for clarification of the policy, and he could have privately corrected your confusion. You have publicly embarrassed a city employee by questioning his integrity. An apology needs to be offered. The City Manager is still a city employee. You are one of Mr. Chadwick’s direct supervisors."

Amen. As can be imagined no apology was forthcoming from Corinne Schumacher. (Note, this moment was why the Councilwoman decided to famously put the speaker "on blast" not long afterward) 

We did receive yet another confirmation of something a prominent "Citizen for a Friendly Airport" leader once said to a small group. The "kind, necessary, and true" mantra was solely meant for public consumption, that is "not how we really play the game." From painful personal experience, I can only say "no kidding." 

I used to worry about the personality cult surrounding the Councilwoman believing she is infallible. What should worry us all is that Corinne is well on the way to believing the same thing. Continually saying everything one person has done is evil while asserting the other side utters only things that are “kind, necessary, and true”, is an utter delusion. 

Constructing cults of personality around a politician ushered in the Age of Trump. Inciting a mob to "Lock them up" without more than conjecture poisons the well long after the election. There are very few instances of utter good and utter evil. Unless one begins to believe in their own delusions. 

MANY BLESSINGS-- NOEL

FLIPPERS

FROM THE SPRING OF 2018

Though many things have happened since the days of the dark campaign Michael Ted Levin ran in 2018, I thought there are some relevant memories. For starters, a key member of the producers of the weekly minstrel show at Darrell Issa's office is the Democratic nominee for the SD County Board of Supervisors seat. As it developed, the apparatus weaponized to "Flip the 49th" morphed into the Terra Lawson-Remer campaign of 2020.

As far as irony, Issa is now running in the 50th Congressional district, where the smart money believes he'll win in a District that re-elected a felon in 2018. And as far as now-Congressman Levin? If (as expected) California loses a House seat in the census, it will be Mendacious Mike trying to bump off a much more respected Democrat in a primary. We have yet to see any "Flip the 50th" rallies at Issa's office this cycle. ENJOY. 


One of my favorite shows growing up was "Flipper". Flipper, an adorable bottlenose dolphin, is the pet of Porter Ricks, Chief Warden at Coral Key Park and Marine Preserve, and his two young sons, Sandy and Bud. The show was an aquatic "Lassie", and a merchandising bonanza. An entire generation of kids owned something with the Flipper logo. The show's catchy theme is one of those "mind worm" pieces of music, that over 50 years later a bunch of cynical baby boomers gets choked up over.

Flipper was one of my fondest memories. Dolphins are adorable mammals and intelligent beings. The Miami Dolphins are one of my favorite football teams to this day. If ever there was someone who is pro adorable sea mammals, it's me. Little did we know in early 2017 that there was another school of "Flippers" that were actually an invasive species. They are the denizens of our friendly neighborhood SUPER-PAC. They are "Flippers" too. Their name is "Flip the 49th." 

Storm clouds began gathering long before Darrell Issa retired. In 2016 political newcomer Doug Applegate came within 1,621 votes of knocking off the longtime incumbent in California's 49th Congressional District. Then suddenly the opportunists came. Emerging from the netherworld of K Street types came a new establishment candidate. We are still wondering how Mendacious Mike Levin just happened to draw one of a handful of short straws to ask Darrell a question at an Issa townhall. Cynics believe it was Issa repaying a favor for some 2016 opposition research. If you know what we mean. 

Then came our friendly neighborhood "Grassroots Super PAC." Early every Tuesday morning since Donald Trump entered the White House, hundreds of protesters met outside of Issa’s Vista office to push the Republican congressman to reject the new president’s agenda. Though their subject is no longer a candidate for re-election, and the numbers have drastically dwindled, the protests have continued. Even after this great "retirement party." Though enjoying common leadership with Flip the 49th, Indivisible 49 is the branding for the organizers. 

Do you remember the saying "jump the shark?" For many of us, the moment for Ellen Montanari and the Tuesday crew came when the protest gang decided to visit Issa's clerical staff, brandishing copies of Resume Writing for Dummies. In the annals of poor sportsmanship it ranks with these:

THE FLIPPERS

Funded by Hollywood largesse, led by seasoned political operatives, Flip the 49th is said to seek the creation of a long-term political movement in the district. Led by organized labor and local Democratic party insiders, the outward goals of the Flippers is to organize voter registration drives, outreach programs, and "community organizing".

Once said to be the product of loosely affiliated volunteer leaders, the protesters originally presented as a loose coalition of grassroots organizations with little political experience and no significant revenue streams. That soon changed with the advent of Flip the 49th/ Neighbors in Action.

The San Diego Union-Tribune details the following: “After the election in November, the old rules didn’t apply,”'said David Lagstein, the political director of Service Employees International Union, Local 221 and a principal officer in Flip the 49th. “And one of the old ways is that from the perspective of labor and the Democratic Party and the emerging groups, there really needs to be an effort to work together,” 

(Parenthetically speaking, Mr. Lagstein has had an interesting career long before his Flipper days, as seen in this linked story about his ACORN days.)

"Terra Lawson-Remer of Encinitas, one of the group’s other officers and a former Obama-era adviser in the Treasury Department, said they’re combining elements of traditional campaigns and community organizing, backed with data-driven analysis to support the various grassroots organizations in the district."

“We’re a community organizing program,” Lawson-Remer said. “We’re focusing on the issues that are most important to them, and we’re trying to get people to do that work more effectively.”

The face of Flip the 49th is the demonstrations led by Ellen Montanari, an officer of the group and the holder of the city permit that made the assemblies legal. As the Union-Tribune relates, "Montanari said that the weekly protests outside of Issa’s district office are still led by people across the political spectrum who are fed up with national politics, but there’s now a way to coordinate the efforts."

“If there’s not some infrastructure there to support them, some paid staff, you really can’t get a lot done,” Montanari said. “We can hire people who can do some heavy lifting and the volunteers can get out and do what they want to do.”

Part of what Flip the 49th does is stage events. Such as the "candidate viability forums" where the group sought to tip the scales toward its pre-ordained candidate by a pre-planned Star Chamber proceeding. Sadly for the "Flip the 49th" forces the other campaigns refused to attend their pre-planned execution. They did get to question empty chairs. The idea was to ambush the candidates other than the anointed of the Democratic powers that be, Mendacious Michael Ted Levin.  The trouble was, the other candidates failed to co-operate.  They avoided their own execution like the plague. 

Look at the sign. They were suddenly given to the entire crowd at the "candidate viability forum" to wave. See the Union bug? There is none. David Lagstein is both SEIU's political director and the leading light of Flip the 49th. As the region’s largest public employee union prepared to strike, The Union-Tribune noted, "Service Employees International Union Local 221 has been under attack for the way it treats its own employees. 'It is the literal definition of hypocrisy to allow poor treatment of our members while demanding better for your members,” the Communications Workers of America (CWA), Local 9509 wrote in a letter to SEIU’s board. Lagstein, the political director, likewise, has shortcomings, CWA wrote. “Dave’s political meetings are a joke, everyone knows that,” the letter said. It noted that it was paraphrasing Mark Leo, one of Lagstein’s colleagues. But the CWA letter gave faint praise to Lagstein for his work habits, compared to others at SEIU. “To be fair to him, he keeps the longest office hours, ranging from 3-6 hours a day,” it said."

The morning after the "Viability Forum", all hell broke loose. First, a video of that debacle's most dramatic moments was circulated. They involved varied unbiased "Flip the 49th" figures leveraging Ms. Montanari's expertise in waterboarding an empty chair. Then there was a round of thrashing media blowback, including this gem from the guy that crafted the most unbiased set of questions since the 1979 Baath Party Congress.

Cooler heads asked, "Who are we to tell somebody they cannot run for an office because it might cause our party to lose?" They questioned whether a Super PAC has the right to host a “viability forum” and bully a candidate out of a race because a mob thinks they are obstructing their favorites by running? Running for office is a right like a ballot and the right to free speech. Do we earn the right to dictate the exercise of that right because we write a check or ring a doorbell? Does my utter conviction that a candidacy is harmful to my perception of the public good, give me the right to pass judgment on a candidate’s viability?

The system of open primaries exists because party bosses used to arbitrarily make those calls without public input. Are we are better off having that role replaced by consultants working for a hybrid PAC, with a relative handful of unelected paid activists ratifying the collective wisdom of folks who are more than occasionally wrong? The coalition of the frequently wrong behind Mendacious Mike Levin has an answer for you. It's not coincidental that the day after the "Flipdivisible" forum debacle, Barbara Boxer came to town to raise some cash. Barbara shares a PAC with Adam Schiff, who is Mike Levin's chief Capitol Hill enabler. And they all share Parke Skelton and Alison Morgan, who in the parlance are "one of LA's power duos".

Why Levin? Why now? Michael Ted Levin does not have the most sterling of candidate resumes. In the people who knew him best department. Mike Levin ran for ASB President at Stanford in 1999. 25% went out of their way to vote "none of the above," and another 8.16% voted for a write-in. But as Chelsea Clinton's Stanford classmate and friend, Michael Ted not only spent 2016 bundling donations for his benefactor's mother, he has come to give meaning to Matt Brunenig's quote. "You could not put together a more unappealing force in the world than what Chelsea Clinton represents."

TROLLS

Ultimately, though, it was the wave of manic post forum Facebook posts, the speed with which it flowed, and the extent to which it was fueled by social media and the internet, that became appalling and fascinating. Facebook groups such as "Indivisible 49th" and the "California 49th District Action Network" have long been troll fests for the dispassionate "vetting" of candidates not named Mike Levin. Here are excerpts of the campaign training manual:

"Issa not seeking re-election has made the 49th a lot harder, not easier, for Dems. Two strong Reps (Assemblymember Rocky Chavez and BOE member Diane Harkey) will take almost all of the GOP vote and split it fairly evenly.

With 4 Democratic candidates in the race, there is almost no way to keep the general from becoming a Rep/Rep runoff. Under the top two law, no one can run as a write in in the general. The seat would be lost. The Dem Party must unite behind the strongest candidate-- and there can be no more than 2 strong Democrats on the ballot.

• Mike Levin is the strongest candidate.
• Mike has raised over $1.225 million. 11,000 donors averaging just over $100.
• Strong field campaign, already called and walked through entire district
• Outstanding endorsements: a dozen local Democratic Mayors and City Councilmembers, National Organization for Women, DFA, PCCC, Congressional Hispanic Caucus
• Already has good support in CA delegation (Barragan, Cardenas, Gomez, Schiff)
• Best candidate profile.

• Mike is the ONLY candidate who can get a CA Democratic Party endorsement. No one else is close. A united Party is the best way to limit the field and consolidate Democratic votes. He is only 3 votes short of the number needed with 7 undecideds. A strong signal from the CA delegation could secure this.

• Applegate is very weak.
• Not raising money. His COH increased by just $500 last period. Not working hard.
• Campaign in chaos, CM and Field Director resigned
• Negatives against him are devastating: Domestic violence restraining order, went to court to try to cut his child support payments by 75%, tried to get out of paying for health care for his kids; unethical practices as lawyer, shady mortgage lending business during the housing melt down, multiple FEC violations since 2016 election.
• Applegate as nominee will put the seat in jeopardy.

• Jacobs is weak.
• 28, has not lived in district since high school.
• Just 2 years of work actual experience.
• Claims to be a former State Department official when, in reality, she worked for just over a year for a company that had a contract with the State Department
• No significant endorsements in district or campaign structure
• Solely dependent on wealthy family
• Just got into race. Last in, first out makes sense.

• Negatives on Mike are weak and easily answered.

• Countrywide: As a young lawyer at a big law firm, ML was assigned some cases involving Countrywide foreclosures. All were suits brought by an unethical lawyer
• Exxon. Mike’s clean energy firm installed carbon recapture technology on an Exxon plant to help reduce carbon emissions. Mike never “worked for Exxon.”"

Administered far away from the 49th, these groups feature a few regular posters with verifiable identities and transitory trolls who vanish upon a report to Facebook. All are happy to private message some trash about the other candidates. The anonymity of the internet plays a huge role in this modern whispering campaign. With the right admin, you’re able to say things without repercussions. And they tell their BFF's ‘Hey, look what I said!’ They one-up each other. Until they get caught. 

The "viability forum" became yet another incubator of trolling. The anonymous sending of threats, insults or other harassment, from a distance, is hardly a new phenomenon. On the surface, the onslaught from various forms of Levin campaign surrogates and "Flip the 49th" activists is only a diluted version of the mentality of mobs, but with the acquiescence of paid out of district group admins.

As we read in the news, the norm is non-support from Facebook and its harassment policy. And so every once in a while the unfortunate awake to being "doxxed" by Flip the 49th's self-appointed documentarian. She (of course) lives elsewhere too. What kind of person, for instance, takes out her anger at a blogger's wife by whipping out a camera at a public event, and snapping photos for a ten-minute stretch?

Studies of trolling indicate that the majority of offenders are usually young or middle-aged Caucasian men. What is interesting in reading the collective work product is that the demographic seems to change in terms of this campaign. Whatever the story, trolls don't enjoy being tracked down and asked about their work product.

As part of this piece, we reached out to some of the more aggressive local Facebook personas. Those targeted by trolls are usually advised to not give their attackers an ounce of attention because that is what they are seeking. But it certainly enjoyable to watch them hunker down under their proverbial bridge. 

Here is one of my favorites, she opposes clean campaigns while posting endless and manic #metoo themed screeds on behalf of Mike Levin. In the trivia department, "Sharon" has a famously hagiographic Facebook tribute to Shaun White somewhere in the ether. I guess she has yet to get the memo. White was sued in August 2016 for allegedly sexually harassing an employee for years, and she had text messages to back it up. White texted her penis pics, sex videos involving fecal matter, and ordered that she even change her hairstyle. Charitably, when someone is busy obsessively crafting libelous Facebook posts on behalf of Mendacious Mike, it does become difficult to keep track of what your client is doing. 

"The common theme is that these people want desperately to be heard," says Kyrre Lien, a Norwegian filmmaker who spent three years studying online abusers in making the documentary short The Internet Warriors.   One place where some might be found is Tuesday morning in Vista, California. 

AN  UNQUIET DESPERATION

Clad in Mike Levin t-shirts, the true believers gather. It's approaching Tuesday morning at 10AM. Where once there were four hundred hearty followers, the numbers have dwindled to about a quarter of the halcyon days before Issa's retirement. Though it's easy to confuse the entities, the rally is technically under the auspices of "Indivisible 49", though led by a "Flip the 49th" officer. 

But still, the loyalists persist. It's time for the "Ellen show." Across the street, there are a few onlookers. Going on 90 days past Darrell Issa's retirement, the struggle is less against the usual demons now. It's for relevancy. A few days prior the protests moved to an alternate location, the offices of Republican frontrunner Rocky Chavez. The strategically minded asked, why would they elevate one of eight Republican candidates by staging a rally at his office? One commenter nailed it, "Yay, give Rocky press and make the GOP vote overwhelmingly for him instead of letting them split the vote. " But that begs the point. The rallies are needed. They are needed by Ellen Orton Montanari to remain relevant. They are needed by the participants as badly. It gives them something to do on Tuesdays. 

"America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You've gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours." - Aaron Sorkin

An interesting dichotomy is the attitudes of the demonstrator's leadership towards divergent thought. A feature every Tuesday has been the appearance of counter-demonstrators from the Trumpian right.  In the beginning, it was simply one man standing alone, but eventually, the "Make America Great Again" crowd brought in the reinforcements and a sound system. 

Rather than gritting their teeth and bear another exercise in protected free speech, the response of the "Flip-Divisible" forces was to seek judicial relief from the First Amendment. Here is the "Go fund me" page if you want to make a donation.   

Of course, we may not approve of the Trump folks bringing out a DJ. Of course, we loathe the content. That same First Amendment cited in the name of demonstrating against Issa, does also protect the "Trumpsters". At the same time, there is a rather authoritarian vibe to the Tuesday proceedings. For one thing, there is "the muscle" roaming about, pretending to be merely demonstration marshals.

There is actually said to be an "enemies list", of people involved in campaigns other than that of Mike Levin, who might post a divergent thought on occasion. Or show up with a sign saying "Free the Levin Eleven." Ever been doxxed by a non-resident using a nom de plume like "Costa de Luna?" The inference is that someone affiliated with the demonstrators or the Levin campaign (Voted "Unacceptable" five times for bullying amongst the "Levin Youth" ) might be paying a house call.

As yesterday's rally ended and the procession of both idealists and battle-hardened Levinites headed to their cars, somebody mentioned the old rallying cry. "That's what Democracy Looks Like." Sadly I found myself agreeing that a time-honored slogan indicating hope and change, has been ruined for me too. At least on Tuesdays in Vista, California.  Just like "Flipper", another phrase that once brought a smile to my life has been co-opted by our not so friendly, not so neighborhood, SUPER-PAC.  It's reminiscent of what Fitzgerald wrote in the Great Gatsby. 

"They were careless people, - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

MANY BLESSINGS- NOEL

ZERSETZUNG

"The Stasi often used a method that was really diabolic. It was called Zersetzung. The goal was to destroy secretly the self-confidence of people, for example by damaging their reputation, by organizing failures in their work, and by destroying their personal relationships. Considering this, East Germany was a very modern dictatorship. The Stasi didn't try to arrest every dissident. It preferred to paralyze them, and it could do so because it had access to so much personal information and to so many institutions."

—Hubertus Knabe, German historian 

I have been cleaning up all the content I've spread over 3 blogs and varied platforms over the past decade.  It's been enlightening and entertaining and concerning, to see how much the dialogue has coarsened over the past ten years.  It's been interesting to look back at my work, but I have to confess that I'm so damned sad about looking at all the blood that gets spilled on social media, particularly as we live through COVID-19, economic dislocations, and a bitter election. 

I've spent a lot of time writing about my experiences living in Carlsbad It's been horrible to see a once harmonious tightly-knit community torn to shreds by a demagogue and the viciousness of her online surrogates. I confess never really understanding how the Kremlin's troll farms could tear our nation apart. or how the Stasi worked. But I've lived with a case study for nearly a decade by now. It's awful to have been a witness. And then the term hit me.  Carlsbad has fallen victim to the same techniques of psychological harassment of perceived enemies the East Germans used known as Zersetzung. It literally means "decomposition".

I am at a loss for words to state how surreal it is to see a community ripped apart over issues bordering upon trivial. You can be bounced from the local Nextdoor for an emoji. There is a network of often anonymous Facebook platforms dedicated to a soulless derivative of the "cancel culture". there is a group called "Wake Up Carlsbad" which is the local equivalent of North Korean state television.  All this is on behalf of a retired surfer with delusions of political and intellectual grandeur, who their supporters may as well call "Dear Leader." 

The discourse in Carlsbad will never be normal as long as our surfer savant and "Cori-ism" is in the ascendancy. It's a success because of the Councilwoman's use of her online surrogates. Rather than making her community better and more united, she and her supporters call upon the darker impulses of the human spirit,.  The voices that like to gossip about neighbors, now "doxx" their personal information and feed it to the trolls to destroy, literally destroy, their target of the day. 

My wife ran for City Council in Carlsbad. She is in many ways, the model of what a public servant should be, passionate about a leader’s responsibility for righting wrongs, and somebody who would view public service as a calling. Bright, energetic, and well prepared as she was she still lost. We knew that her candidacy was doomed from the outset, but believed deeply that the people we had once supported had lost their minds. For in their minds hatred towards opponents counts as some high civic virtue and has come to border on gaslighting on social media, if not mind control.

Of course, I have some strong feelings about what went down in that election, it was only after seeing another person I value greatly going through a similar experience this spring that I realized we needed to clear some very toxic air that transcends simple partisanship. If the discussion were based on an ideological divide it would be understandable.

But it's not and never has been. It's about the energy a social zero assumes when suddenly they get to be a bully themselves and gets to balance the scales of their resentments by targeting somebody else with the support of those equally empowered. Hannah Arendt captured exactly the world we are speaking of when she discussed the "banality of evil."

We read stories about cyberbullying and hear of young kids who killed themselves because of it. But what should we expect from children when grown-ups are their examples of how bullies behave? 
  If the day ever comes that somebody kills themselves over being put "on blast" on Carlsbad's Nextdoor, the perps will undoubtedly say she should have been less sensitive or he should have been tougher. And if somebody ever gets harmed because they displeased our surfer, the reaction on the local "Nextdoor" or the Facebook groups she controls will be an orgy of victim shaming. "He or she should not have spoken against Cori" they would undoubtedly say while calling for a "civility" that equates to "you better shut up" or you will be next.

In this "new normal" running for office against Cori is only for the tough and the crude and the calloused. But should a private person get shredded for a Facebook post, or posting the wrong emoji? This is what local politics has become in an affluent community with comparatively few intractable problems, What decent person would want to be involved? We should want normal people, caring people to seek public office, or get engaged in a public dialogue, not to be driven away for simply uttering divergent thought, or crowd bullied by a group of toxic shills.

We often hear that words can’t hurt you and that anybody or everybody who opposes the surfer's online misery tour should simply "stop whining." Jesus said just the opposite, in fact, Christ clearly stated that words could be the moral equivalent of murder. He said in the Sermon on the Mount, if we insult a brother or sister we will be liable. He stated that calling someone a fool made us liable to visit hell. Well, how about that "doxxing"? And how about that whispering campaign about someone's wife? And all the libel stated anonymously and monotonously over and over again on Facebook pages with no stated administrator? I wonder how JC himself would have fared under Cori's version of East German psych-ops? I would bet he would at minimum be put under the microscope of a certain "scientific researcher" who is "Seldom Wright," and excoriated on Nextdoor on behalf of atheistic "Cori-ism?"

There is no mystery as to why politicians act this way. It works. They test their attacks in focus groups and opinion polls and test them on social media.  Toxicity wins elections, and that is the objective. These people I'm writing of actually claim their campaigns are based on only saying what is "kind, necessary, and true."
We witness the surfer savant's perpetual campaigns for higher office.  That has made holding office incompatible with public service because there has been no time for service. It’s all about winning, winning at any cost to the opponent, or to any sense of common decency. And that has descended down to those who are obsessive commenters on social media on her behalf. 

Well-meaning people try to speak out about how the last campaign was the low point of local politics, and now it’s time to make the last venture into hell a turning point. The last time that attempt was made, the peacemakers were viciously attacked for their efforts on "Wake Up Carlsbad". There was not a moment's respite. I was interested to see how a post speculating that even attempting to build some common ground in Carlsbad would be instantly politicized, and another person has speculated that a group using a term such as "Carlsbad Unity" or "Carlsbad Together" would end up being incendiary to the people benefitting from the toxicity.

For some, the support of a certain politician provides meaning to long-troubled lives. Those who are angry at those who they perceive have oppressed them eons ago, have found a respite from the quiet desperation of their lives by grinding others down in the name of Cori Schumacher. Sadly that means that the better angels of human nature have far less of a chance to sing in Carlsbad because there are too many people emotionally dependant on the almost orgasmic feeling they get every time they post about those lower on their totem pole.

We need to regain our sanity, to see these bullies for who they are. We should no longer allow them to hide behind their anonymous Facebook pages. We should not accept their way as the way of life in any community. We need to stand up to them and defeat them, no matter where we lie on the political spectrum. We are witnessing a place with 116,000 souls torn apart by a local demagogue and her army of trolls. It's time to say that culture must end, and we must partner to end it. We finally need to say to certain politicians and that we are fed up with the toxicity, the weaponized false victimhood, and the narcissism at everybody's expense. that we are not going to take it anymore. And in our private lives, its time to ostracize some people online and in the 3D world, block them on social media, and stop trying to reason with them. Because frankly, they do not care about truth or decency. For, in the final analysis, their derivative version of Zersetzung does not work unless we let it.

QUID PRO CORI

“We’ve guaranteed a 2% rate savings and I can’t look anyone in the eye and say we’ll meet that,” he added. “I can only look at Solana Beach’s example and what they’ve been through the last two years and continue to struggle.” - Carlsbad Mayor Matt Hall

On July 23rd, there was a meeting of the Clean Energy Alliance. The board members involved were the Chair, Mayor Havilland of Del Mar, the Vice-Chair, Councilwoman Kristi Becker of Solana Beach, and Councilwoman Corinne Lenee Schumacher of Carlsbad. It may have been the beginning of the end for Community Choice Energy, touted by the surfer savant as her legacy achievement. If trends continue.

During the meeting, Vice Chairwoman Kristi Becker of Solana Beach pushed back on a proposal submitted by a labor union presented by Chairwoman Cori Schumacher to secure a Project Labor Agreement for the Clean Energy Alliance projects. It was a contentious spectacle. Carlsbad's surfer savant may have killed what she once claimed to love the most. It is a tale on one hand of hubris. On the other, it's a saga of a politician swimming in the dark and murky current of "the swamp" without a surfboard. 

As I noted in an earlier piece, it is obvious that both of Corinne's colleagues on the CEA board were uninclined to rewrite policies on the fly, no matter how much Corinne badgered them. 

Ms. Schumacher was trying to write an administrative policy on the fly to benefit the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 569.  The Union Local is one of many labor unions that contributed generously to the Councilwoman's 2020 campaign in a special election she forced, by the importation of Union Labor to gather petitions and then win a snap election for the District One Council seat.   IBEW contributed $10,500 to the Councilwoman's campaign, bundled with another $5,000  from a closely associated union in February 2020. 

The donation in February was preceded by another $5,000 gift from the Brotherhood in December 2019. That equates to $15,500 from a single entity, whose interests the Councilwoman was willing to advance at the expense of risking the viability of her "Clean Energy Alliance." 

As they say on infomercials, "Wait there's more..." The Councilwoman also received another $5,200 from the IBEW in 2018 for her Mayoral campaign. 

In short, donations from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to Corinne Schumacher in the last two campaign cycles totaled over $20,000.   

This question was raised by Citizen Activist (and talented video blogger) Anthony Bona at the Carlsbad City Council Meeting that followed. "Councilmember Schumacher, why did you not disclose to the residents of Carlsbad that you received over $10,000 in a campaign contribution from IBEW 569? Is this your version of transparency? Omitting information? Why did you not disclose this large campaign contribution to the CEA board in which you occupy a seat? This seems like an outright omission of a material fact." Mr. Bona details his position in the following video, including a call for the Councilwoman to resign. 

As noted by Steve Puterski in the Coast News, there was a compelling reason for Schumacher to raise the question of the Project Labor Agreement and demand an immediate passage at the Alliances meeting, despite the work of its staff and her colleague's obvious reservations. He states the following, "Altshuler Berzpn, a law firm in San Francisco, submitted a letter on behalf of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 569 on July 21 to the Clean Energy Alliance board."

"The letter from the IDEW labor union was in regard to the CEA’s Inclusive and Sustainable Workforce Policy and includes language for a PLA and other edits from the original draft policy. It took the CEA board by surprise as the CEA has been in discussions with numerous municipalities about joining the CEA, according to Becker, CEA’s vice-chair. In fact, San Diego County and the city of Santee helped draft the joint powers agreement last year with an eye on joining CEA in the next several months or next year." 

As noted in previous pieces I've written on Community Choice Aggregation, the key to its survival is size. As of writing the Clean Energy alliance consists of a pool of three communities. Del Mar is a Village of 4300 souls, Solana Beach has 13,500, and Carlsbad has 116,000 according to recent estimates. Currently, Solana Beach is operating with its own troubled solo excursion into Community Choice, as well as the venture with Del Mar and Carlsbad. There are not enough ratepayers to drive economies of scale, especially when compared to the one led by the City of San Diego. That is why expected partners such as Encinitas opted to join the larger CCA, along with some serious reservations with having Cori Schumacher as a business partner. In addition, there are the fixed costs incumbent with the creation of a new bureaucracy within the joint powers agreement, whose costs when spread across such a small pool of ratepayers assures that the cost to consumers will be higher under Cori Choice Energy. 

In order to survive and grow, the Clean Energy Alliance needs more partners and has been desperately trying to get other municipalities to join. Done right, there is a potential for a million more people to join the CEA if Orange County cities are considered as potential members. Councilwoman Becker pointed out on July 23rd that Cori's demands on behalf of her major donors would kill the aggregate before it even starts.  Becker noted: 

“If we want to grow and make sure we’re viable, there’s no reason to adopt this inflexible policy, It was negotiated by the County and Santee; they wanted certain language. We know for a fact they are not going to be interested. The 78 corridor — the same thing. I would like to have any one of those cities. The more cities come on board, the more clean energy jobs. If we’re limiting ourselves today, so I don’t know why you’d do that.”

Incredibly our surfer savant persisted, echoing the union line that the IBEW demands would ensure "high standards and pay" were assured, Then in a signature turn she blamed others, blasting San Diego County and Santee for "leaving us high and dry." Ultimately she wore down Mayor Havilland, who agreed reluctantly to review the policy at the next meeting. 

Those who rail at the President for ignoring experts in their field will appreciate what happened next.  As Mr. Puterski noted, Cori "also took issue with the CEA staff and their recommendations for the board. Schumacher said staff is being biased with its recommendations and board members should be the ones to bring recommendations." Her rantings continued: 

“Legal analysis should end at legal analysis and not come with additional recommendations. It’s something I don’t find to be helpful. This is a pure policy decision. Unsolicited advice is not welcome in a forum where the public cannot weigh in.”

EPILOGUE

Interestingly, the Councilwoman did not value the public weighing in at the Carlsbad City council meeting that follows  After Mr. Bona called for her resignation due to the obvious interest conflicts and non-disclosures of Cori's close relationship with her major donors, she called for censorship, as Mr. Bona explains in this video masterpiece...

During the July 28th Council meeting, on a 2-2 vote, Cori's demand failed for a $4.45 million guaranty in order to get financing for the entity she may have mortally wounded by her behavior on July 23rd.

In voting no, Mayor Hall and Councilman Blackburn cited the ongoing dysfunction of the Alliance, and also questioned under the current paradigm how the CEA could ever achieve even the modest 2% consumer savings Cori has claimed for years.   

The answer is, there is no way in hell, especially if the strings she has attached to it from her IBEW donors are tied around the neck of her "dream," which has turned into a nightmare for Carlsbad's consumers and taxpayers. 

MANY BLESSINGS

NOEL