COMMENTARY Carmel-by-the-Sea’s Soft Tyranny: ‘Team’ Dictatorship, Illegal Actions & Gross Mishandling of Complaints

FACT: If incumbents Mayor Sue McCloud, Council Member Paula Hazdovac and Council Member Gerard Rose are re-elected and serve their terms, they will have served for twelve years, twenty years and fourteen years, respectively.

In a village with a populace of diverse experiences and knowledge bases, for three elected representatives to a city council to have collectively served for forty-six years as a “team” is an unnecessary form of dictatorship. Moreover, the incumbent council members, principally the incumbent mayor, have injected into the DNA of the populace the idea that only they, as a “team,” can govern the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea. This “team” concept has had the effect of discouraging and intimidating more worthy potential candidates from seeking office in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Mayor Sue McCloud recently reiterated her campaign slogan of past election campaigns, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Unfortunately, the slogan does not comport with reality. Consider the following:

FACT: As our elected representatives, Mayor Sue McCloud, Council Member Paula Hazdovac and Council Member Gerard Rose violated state and municipal laws involving the sale of the Flanders Mansion Property in 2005.

Moreover, a pending lawsuit against the City raises credible arguments and issues involving the City Council’s actions in the most recent sale process of the Flanders Mansion Property.

FACT: Council Members Paula Hazdovac and Gerard Rose have known for years about then Planning Commissioner Sue McCloud’s violation of the Brown Act, the resultant consequence of her not being reappointed to the Planning Commission; and the fact that Sue McCloud's resultant animus towards John Mandurrago are the crux of developer and designer John Mandurrago’s assertions of violations of his constitutional rights.

Furthermore, credible evidence from two pending lawsuits against the City suggests that Sue McCloud misused her mayoral office to violate laws with regard to John Mandurrago’s Plaza del Mar project.

FACT: At the 7 October 2008 City Council meeting, Mayor Sue McCloud, Council Member Paula Hazdovac and Council Member Gerard Rose, voted to approve a Resolution adopting the employment agreement between the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea and Richard I. Guillen, City Administrator, which retroactively increased City Administrator Rich Guillen’s salary and benefits. This action was done with the full and complete knowledge of Human Resources Manager Jane Miller’s complaints involving sex-based and age-based employment discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation by the City and specifically City Administrator Rich Guillen.

Furthermore, not only was City Administrator Rich Guillen not placed on administrative leave pending resolution of Jane Miller’s legal complaint, but the mayor demeaned a 10-year city employee with her dismissive public comments. Finally, Carmel-by-the-Sea taxpayers can realistically anticipate a large settlement or monetary verdict to on-leave Human Resources Manager Jane Miller.

In short, with each passing year, the current “team” of entrenched incumbents has acted in ways which demonstrate that they have lost sight of the fact that they, our public servants, are obligated to abide by the law and behave in an ethical manner. Their long record of placing the interests and agenda of the “team” above the law and ethics is reason for Carmelites to recognize that the “team” is a soft form of tyranny where criticisms of performance are purposely and willfully mischaracterized as hostile and disrespectful personal attacks and dissent is not respected, encouraged or viewed as critical to making Carmel-by-the-Sea a dynamic and vital community.