COMMENTARY The Logical Consequence of Mayor Jason Burnett’s Logic: All City Council Members Should Resign

But calling for Stilwell’s ouster is misguided and misplaced, according to Mayor Jason Burnett, who said Bayne should hold the city council accountable for whatever she finds objectionable.

“She is asking the city council to hold our staff, most notably our city administrator, accountable for decisions that we, the city council, have made,” he said. “I don’t think it’s ethical.”

Instead, it’s the council’s job to “look at the totality of the decisions and judge whether the community is being well served.”

Source: Hundreds sign petition calling for Stilwell to resign
But mayor says things are ‘going well’ at city hall
By MARY SCHLEY, The Carmel Pine Cone, July 25, 2014, 1A & 24A

The aforementioned comments by Mayor Jason Burnett, repeated on numerous occasions subsequently, show a mayor engaged in misdirection - an intentional form of deception in which the attention of the public is focused on one thing in order to distract its attention from another. To wit, the mayor states that it is unethical for the city council to hold the city administrator “accountable” for the decisions of the city council when the fact of the matter is the city council sets policy, the city administrator implements policy and the city council’s duty and responsibility is to hold the city administrator accountable for his record and actions implementing policy.

Furthermore, instead of seriously responding to the specific actions identified on the PETITION TO TERMINATE THE CURRENT CITY ADMINISTRATOR, Mayor Jason Burnett purposely misidentifies the problem as merely “a serious communications problem.” Thus, the City’s hiring of a Public Relations and Media Consultant, the City’s promise to implement a public records act response standard higher than the California Public Records Act, the City’s creation of Carmel City News Blog, et cetera. So, the mayor is not only dismissive about the opinions of constituents, the mayor is attempting to manipulate public opinion about the predetermined policy of supporting City Administrator Jason Stilwell that is counter to what the Petition signers demand of their city government representatives.

Finally, if the Carmel-by-the-Sea mayor and city council have no intention of honoring their duties and responsibilities to their elected positions by holding City Administrator Jason Stilwell accountable for his past actions as articulated in the PETITION TO TERMINATE THE CURRENT CITY ADMINISTRATOR, then by Mayor Jason Burnett’s own logic, Mayor Jason Burnett and City Council Members Ken Talmage, Victoria Beach, Carrie Theis and Steve Dallas should all resign given the reported fact that on Monday, August 4, 2014, “the council gave it unanimous support to Stilwell.”

Written & Published by L. A. Paterson