The City of Murrieta, the same city that saw its citizens rally together against the federal government to turn away buses full of diseased illegal aliens last July, has been the center of nasty politics during this election campaign, and for many years passed. Murrieta is an oligarchy, ruled over by the iron fist of the City Manager, Rick Dudley, with a cadre of allies on the city council that is the epitome of a "Good Ol' Boys" network. The campaigns have been vicious, with a WRCOG plant (Ruthanne Taylor-Berger) in the mix, a former mayor remaining in the race after being charged with a felony DUI injury accident (Alan Long), a longtime retired Air Force veteran that believes he is above the law (Rick Gibbs), a lawyer whose lack of common sense usually left people scratching their heads. . . that quit while the quittin' was good (Kelly Bennett), a candidate stalked by a crazy man who was issuing death threats (Jonathan Ingram) who has the business background to get Murrieta turned around, and a candidate so dedicated to making her city a better place that she has knocked on thousands of doors even after receiving a dog bite and stitches (Diana Serafin). . . and that is only the tip of the iceberg.
I sat in City Manager Rick Dudley's office back in 2010, discussing my candidacy in that campaign with the man, as well as whether or not Dudley is a Jeffersonian. He claimed to be a champion of laissez faire, but the reality is Dudley is the exact opposite. During that meeting, I learned that Murrieta's city manager is a control freak who believes it is government's business, especially a government that he is navigating, to be involved in your lives any way he wants it to be. If he sees stack 'em and pack 'em housing as necessary, he'll do it, with or without the consent of the governed. He has shown his irreverence towards property rights with the Calvary Chapel Murrieta case, and land grab in Los Alamos Hills. Outside money is flowing into Murrieta's coffers, and his salary, and that is more important to him than whether or not a resident in the eastern edge of Murrieta can develop any part of their own land, or be able to sell it, while being saddled with environmentalist demands and value-killing conservation efforts rooted in the United Nations' concept of sustainable development.
Murrieta sits in the southwest corner of Riverside County, a conservative enclave in the State of California where the politicians are so liberal, the communists are even jealous because the California Democrats have made more ground in pushing the Marxist agenda than the Communists have been able to. The City of Murrieta has always prided itself in being a bedroom community, a city with a fairly large population, yet a city holding on to its small-town attitude. Some would say that Murrieta is an ideal place to raise a family. Americana. A city with a smallish downtown and a plentiful tidal wave of residences scattered all about. Under the surface, however, where the politics reside, the true face of Murrieta gets pretty ugly.
The leadership of Murrieta has refused to allow the city to grow economically, with an ever-present hostility toward new business. The Murrieta politicians have a history of rejecting common sense business plans, like when they lost a mall that wound up in neighboring Temecula, or how they have been extorting the owner of a prime piece of real estate that resulted in holding up the development of The Triangle (according to Andy Domenigoni), and how they have been refusing to make downtown attractive to visitors and the community, and how the power players in Murrieta have been refusing to build an attractive infrastructure to assist existing businesses, and attract new ones.
As the city continues its hostile strategies against businesses, the leadership of Murrieta has turned against the private homeowners, as well. In cahoots with the Riverside Conservation Authority, and the Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG), a number of properties have been blue lined for conservation reasons. In the name of environmentalism, residents have had their property rights compromised, and the only way to change what has been going on is to change the leadership. . . hence, the reason this election is pivotal in determining the future of Murrieta.
If ever there was a prime example of elitists believing they know better than the citizenry, Murrieta's political leadership is it. Yet, they want more. Even with their well-documented history of a pattern of meddling and personal involvement by council members in many of the land use decisions in Murrieta, they want to stack on more shame regarding their position on property rights.
Ruthanne Taylor-Berger, who is a $190,000 a year bureaucrat on WRCOG, a central-planning agency that will have tremendous sway over the future of Murrieta, who also sits on the Murrieta planning commission appointed by the incumbents, is in the race to join the city council. She is loved by the good ol' boys in Murrieta. Dudley's lackey? Perhaps. An opportunity to complete the control big government outsiders have over Murrieta? Absolutely.
The favoritism for the incumbents, and Ruthanne, has materialized in a number of ways during this election campaign, including code enforcement's heavy-handed tactics of pulling every campaign sign in Murrieta, even pulling signs from private property, so that Long, Gibbs, and Taylor-Berger could take advantage of all of the best sign locations that had previously been occupied by other candidate's signs. Then, when the "other" candidates went to get their signs and banners, often a number of them would be missing, or in the case of Diana Serafin, one of her large banners was separated from the group of election signs, sitting on a desk in another part of the building.
The Riverside Press-Enterprise, setting aside any possible semblance of ethics, removed some of the most important facts regarding the sign fiasco from their reporting. It turns out the Press Enterprise sanitizing the news about the Murrieta election fisticuffs is of no surprise, because the veteran reporters with the Riverside Press are long-time friends, and allies, with the "holier-than-thou" incumbents, and their allies.
Who is writing about Ruthanne Taylor-Berger's lifelong marriage to big government? Has there been a single reporting agency willing to vet her, or her public statements? This writer at Political Pistachio was hammered for jumping in on the story regarding former mayor Alan Long's felony DUI. Where was everyone else? Why is it a no-no to call it like it is as Long made his bed while in a drunken stupor?
The family of power players in Murrieta have a stranglehold on local politics, and nobody is willing to call the incestuous elitism for what it is. The alliance of Alan Long, Rick Gibbs, and Ruthanne Taylor-Berger is dangerous for Murrieta, and sums up the insanity this city has been facing. Even as the wheels begin falling off the cart, be it Mr. Long's DUI injury accident, Mr. Gibbs' ethics violations, or Taylor-Berger's "sustainable development" meddling in property rights, the elitists act as if nothing is going on. Nothing to see here, move along. Other than Political Pistachio, who has been pointing out that the lab results on Long's drunk-driving came back with a felony DUI charge attached? What about the property damage or bodily injury he caused? All four of the teenagers ended up in the hospital, but all the Murrieta regime was worried about was diluting the message to protect Alan Long's disappointing error in judgment. In fact, the Murrieta power team has not only been hiding the facts as they surface, but they've literally been defending Mr. Long's DUI.
This is nothing new. In the 2010 election war, during a debate at The Colony, when yours truly began quoting League of Cities data that included City Manager Rick Dudley's exorbitant salary, Rick Gibbs went into hysterics, ranting until the blood veins were popping out of his neck and his face was beet-red, accusing Douglas V. Gibbs of being dangerous, and Bob Kowell (who backed me) of causing this problem with the emergence of my campaign because Mr. Kowell was somehow "angry none of his candidates can every win an election, and because he has never made more than $60,000 a year."
Rick Gibbs revealed who he was then, and he is revealing who he is, now. Rick believes he is above the law, he is somehow smarter than the average voter, and that he can do whatever he wants and if you dare come against him, you will meet his wrath. Last July, as he saw things shaping up after the advent of the Murrieta Immigration Protests, Rick Gibbs posted on his Facebook page that he was expecting this city council race to become one of the nastiest ever.
Was it because he had an idea Andy Domenigoni would stand in front of the city council during a meeting and accuse Rick Gibbs and Alan Long of extortion? Rick Gibbs has already shown us that he is willing to step beyond legal restraints to get what he wants, including his disregard for the FPCC rules by campaigning for Measure BB while sitting in his lofty city council chair. Rick Gibbs has even shown that protecting the power structure is more important than the teenagers that Alan Long injured while under the influence of alcohol by surreptitiously ignoring the facts, the injured teens, and the fact that Long's stupid decision to get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle while drunk would be the starting point from which all of Dudley's and Rick Gibbs' empirical deeds would begin to unravel.
They say that truth is stranger than fiction. The interplay among the powerful in the Murrieta soap opera makes any tale horror writers can write seem less horrifying. The powerful Murrieta players have gained control of the sleepy little town in Southwest Riverside County, and have turned it into a nightmare. They run around under the thin veneer of caring representatives, but the reality is as incredible as the counterfeit faces they wear for the people of Murrieta to see.
Which brings us all the way back to Alan Long. Why did he resign his position on the Murrieta City Council, yet not drop out of the race? What if he somehow pulled off a win in the election?
The Murrieta power regime has a plan. Should Alan Long pull off a win, he will simply resign, leaving open the opportunity for the good ol' boys to appoint who they want in Long's empty chair, with or without the blessing of the voters. . . because they believe the citizens don't have a clue, and the power brokers in control of Murrieta know best.
The Murrieta elite are simply moving things around to protect their power, inwardly believing their power can never be taken from them. Your voice does not matter to them. They want to keep you from voting for someone like Jonathan Ingram, or Diana Serafin. They want to keep you in the dark.
Alan Long committed a felony DUI injury accident, of which he could be facing up to nine years in prison for. But that means nothing to these powerful players. Retaining their power, position, and keeping Dudley's agenda in place, takes priority over the facts, and takes priority over decency.
And people thought congressional election battles get nasty.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Murrieta City Council Member Lashes Out At Private Citizen
Murrieta City Councilman Accused of Ethics Violations, and Extortion
Rick Gibbs: Alan Long "Innocent Until Proven Guilty"
City Council Campaign Includes Stalkers, Death Threats, and The Great Murrieta Sign Caper
Lab Results Are In: Former Murrieta Mayor Alan Long Charged with Felony DUI
Alan Long DUI Accident from Accident Victim's Perspective
Murrieta Mayor Alan Long Arrested for D.U.I., Injured Four Minors
Murrieta Mayor Resigns, but. . .
Losing the Right to Farm, Losing Property Rights
Murrieta Group won't stop in Quest for Property Rights
Murrieta: Calvary Chapel Sues Over Land Dispute
Forum: Land grabs place habitat over rights of humans
Murrieta: Calvary Chapel must get project denied in order to sell land
Murrieta: Landowners frustrated with conservation board, city leaders who refuse to meet
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