Bob Kowell knows he’s not the most popular person at Murrieta City Hall. His Murrieta Initiatives C, D, and E has drawn sharp criticism from the members of the city council.
Rick Gibbs is an entrenched city council member, and former mayor, of Murrieta. Mr. Gibbs was one of the eight candidates present at the Murrieta City Council Candidate’s Forum at The Colony at California Oaks on Tuesday night.
The audience was stunned when Rick launched into a personal attack against Bob Kowell during the forum, pointing Mr. Kowell out in the second row, proclaiming that Kowell’s initiatives were the result of jealousy over incomes, and anger that candidates of the past who supported Mr. Kowell’s initiatives did not win their elections.
As the drama unfolded, some people in the audience sat stunned, while others actually applauded Rick Gibbs’ unethical attack. Mr. Kowell simply sat there, refusing to take the bait, and allowed Mr. Gibbs to continue his personal attack against him without retaliating.
Rick Gibbs did not seem to realize what he had done wrong, and at the end of the forum brushed by Douglas V. Gibbs, a candidate that supports Kowell’s initiatives, without even a word, or a handshake, as Douglas extended his hand.
Outraged by Rick Gibbs’ behavior, Douglas V. Gibbs called Rick’s actions unethical, and uncalled for. “City Council members,” said Douglas, “are supposed to be serving the citizens of the city, not verbally attacking them. Frankly, I was surprised about what I witnessed. Rick Gibbs claims to be a stalwart member of the community, yet verbally attacked Mr. Kowell without provocation.”
When the forum ended, Rick Gibbs vanished quickly.
“If city council members are supposed to serve the people of the city,” Douglas Gibbs added later, “Rick Gibbs failed to serve as an example of service by attacking Bob Kowell. It is one thing to be against the initiatives, but it is another to personally attack someone verbally in front of all those people. Surely, the code of ethics he swore to uphold would not condone such actions.”
Douglas Gibbs also said he thinks Rick’s anger is rooted in not only his opposition to Murrieta Initiatives C, D, and E, but also in past disputes he has had with Mr. Kowell.
Bob Kowell indicated that he did not feel threatened by Rick Gibbs’ actions, but that Rick’s outburst was not consistent with the kind of behavior a city council member is supposed to portray.
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What was interesting about Rick Gibbs going off the reservation was that it came after I began to put out the numbers. Facts do funny things to politicians when they fear losing their job to some upstart citizen, or that what they are truly doing is exposed.
The numbers I threw up was in response to Rick Gibbs' challenge to my statement that the current city council members are against the Murrieta Initiatives (C,D, and E) because they have a good thing going and don't want to lose it. Mr. Rick Gibbs said that he was definitely not in it for the money. He said they make $3.75 per hour for their service to the City of Murrieta.
I explained to the audience at Tuesday's debate that he came up with $3.75 per hour because the base salary for City Council is $600 per month, and based on a 40 hour work week, that comes out to $3.75 per hour. However, that does not take into account their additional expenditures fund, which is for things like fuel to city council events, the cost of events, or going to conventions (like the one they all went to in Las Vegas). Last year's budget for the additional expenditures fund was $255,000. (In the City of Murrieta PDF: Operating Budget Fiscal Years 2009/10 and 2010/11: City Council Salaries and Wages for 2010/11 - $101,797 which breaks down to 20,359.40 each council person. Page 39 Expenditure Type 2010-11 (page 37) 1100 - City Council 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-1 2010-11: 235,806 251,500 280,492 250,614 255,895* This is the approved Expenditure which breaks down to 51,179 each city council person per year.) With $51,179 per council member, per year, that breaks down to over $27.00 per hour. . . So when a council member says they are making only $3.75 per hour, they are lying.
When I verbalized those numbers, in addition to the fact that the City Managers pay is in the top 18% of California cities, Kelly Bennett was visually upset with me, and then Rick Gibbs decided to go off the reservation in his personal attack against Bob Kowell.
Not very becoming of a man that is supposed to be protecting the citizens, not lashing out at them.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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