During the Municipal Election campaign of 2010, an Editorial in the Carmel Pine Cone stated, as follows:
Burnett handled the line of questioning smoothly and promised that if he is elected to the city council, he will serve all four years of his term. In other words, he will not run for mayor in 2012, or enter the Democratic Party primary for U.S. Congress, or anything else.
(Source: Editorial: Still mad about 2002? The Carmel Pine Cone, Published: March 12, 2010)
Two years later, in 2012, an article in Monterey County Weekly stated, as follows:
Burnett, who announced his plans to run for mayor in October, says he committed during the 2010 campaign to serve Carmel for a full term, though not necessarily without running for higher office within city government.
(Source: News Blog
Carmel Mayoral Race Heats Up, And Levels Out
By Sara.Rubin December 13, 2011)
In 2010, with regard to the Flanders Mansion Property, the Carmel Pine Cone quoted Jason Burnett as being in favor of a “sale” of the Flanders Mansion, as follows:
Jason Burnett, who hopes to win a council seat in the April 13 election, said he hasn’t developed an opinion about what should be done in the wake of Kingsley’s ruling.
“I haven’t yet had a chance to talk with the city attorney, so I don’t fully know what the options are, but I certainly hope we can find an option that minimizes the risk of further litigation at taxpayers’ expense, because I think people are tired of continuing to pay so many lawyers so much money,” he said. “I think there are several options for moving forward with a sale.”
(Source: City to appeal Flanders decision
By MARY BROWNFIELD, The Carmel Pine Cone, March 26, 2010)
Then, in late December 2011, The Carmel Pine Cone reported that City Council Member Jason Burnett was in favor of “a long-term lease as a single-family home” for the Flanders Mansion to avoid the time and cost of updating the EIR, recirculation of EIR for public comments, another City Council vote and public vote, as follows:
But councilman Jason Burnett, the frontrunner to be Carmel’s next mayor, said even a relatively minor update to the EIR will be too time consuming and costly, with no assured outcome. Despite years of unanimous decisions by the city council to sell the historic home and a 2009 public vote overwhelmingly in favor of the sale, he said the ruling by the Sixth Appellate District provides an opportunity for the city to abandon its plan to sell the mansion and put it up for long-term lease as a single-family home instead.
“It’s disappointing that we can’t find a resolution to this controversy,” Burnett said. “I think most people are hoping we can put this behind us, and the court decision underscores the logic in approaching that by turning it into single-family residence by some other means.”
“The problem is that this could go on forever: You fix one problem and then come back and find some other problem,” he said.
Amending the EIR would be costly and would require circulating it for additional comments that could raise additional environmental concerns. The economic feasibility study would also have to be revised, “and we don’t know what the results would be,” he said.
Holding another public vote would be expensive, too.
“I see the main objective as getting out from under this asset that is costing taxpayers money rather than earning something for taxpayers,” he said. “During a longterm lease, for example, we could probably get close to the amount of money as we would in a sale, but that would depend on what the market will bear.”
(Source: Appeals court clears way for Flanders sale
- But Burnett says it should be leased instead
By MARY SCHLEY, The Carmel Pine Cone, January 6, 2012)
And most recently, during a City Council Closed Session on Monday, 9 January 2012, regarding Existing Litigation -- Government Code Section 54956.9(a) - Conference with legal counsel regarding The Flanders Foundation, a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation, Petitioner v. City of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Respondents – Monterey County Superior Court Case No. M99437/State of California Court of Appeals, Sixth District, Civil Case No. H035818, City Council Member Jason Burnett made a motion to authorize the staff to file for a rehearing/clarification of the appellate court’s decision, seconded by Council Member Ken Talmage, and passed unanimously, according to City Attorney Don Freeman.
In closing, in 2010, Jason Burnett wrote an op-ed about Hewlett-Packard and the HP Way, including the statement, as follows: “...in 1999, the company was still hewing closely to the guiding vision that our grandfathers laid out, which put a premium on integrity, respect for employees and a focus on how the company's work would benefit the broader community. It was known simply as the HP Way.” Unfortunately, it appears that Jason Burnett, grandson of David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard (1939), does not have the same ethic of integrity. Public office is indeed a public trust; a person lacking integrity should therefore not be entrusted by the people to serve in public office, as a public servant.
Published & Written by
L. A. Paterson
5 comments:
Wait a minute here - according to the commentary above, assuming the facts in this commentary are really true, the Pine Cone reported that in 2010 Jason Burnett promised that if he was elected to the office he ran for in 2010, he "would not run for mayor in 2012."
This guy Burnett LIED TO VOTERS then in 2010 if he really does run for mayor in 2012. The silent majority of Carmel voters are not going to stand for this. This kid is not going to win.
Pine Cone Editor Paul Miller posted this in his Hot Links in 2011:
"July 31 -- There are echoes of Jason Burnett, and his promise to serve all four years when he ran for city council in 2010, in the controversy over the possibility SF Mayor Ed Lee will run for a full term. But there's also an important difference: Lee was appointed by the city council after Gavin Newsom resigned to become lieutenant governor, so the people who made the appointment could make a credible case that Lee would never have become mayor without it. But Burnett was elected in a landslide, and obviously would have been elected to the council even if he never said a word about serving four years. If Jason wants to run for mayor in April 2012, that's fine with me."
Burnett promised to serve four years on council. If that is two years as a council member and two years as mayor (who is also a member of the council and has one vote just like the others), that is fine with me, too. Last time I checked 2 + 2 still = 4.
How fortunate we are in Carmel to have in Jason Burnett the caliber of candidate every city wished they had. He is smart and has worked extremely hard to learn everything he can about all issues that face Carmel. There's always a steep learning curve for any new council member, but he climbed that mountain in record time.
In fact, many are delighted that he wants to take his service on the council to a higher level. He will just be occupying a different seat but will work with the same fervor.
Remember, Jason garnered 1,182 votes in the last election equaling almost 72% of the vote. Even if Rich Pepe peels off some voters and was able to get 30% of the vote, Jason could still win by another landslide. Just a thought. Not a prediction.
Re: The first Anonymous post above:
Even though you are not a Jason supporter (obviously), it is not helpful (nor honest) in this debate to mislead blog readers by putting quotation marks around a Paul Miller quote, in order to make it appear that Jason is being quoted. Unless someone can quote Jason himself as saying he would not run for Mayor, then its time to stop making believe that he did. And its time to stop making believe that the Mayor is not a member of the council. Yes, 2 + 2 does equal four, even in Carmel.
Really though, is this the only objection against Jason being offered? Really?? If so, it looks like another landslide is in the works.
Here we go again 2 + 2 Anonymous. The analogy between SF Mayor Ed Lee and Council Member Jason Burnett is a fallacious analogy. The issue is not whether Burnett would never have become mayor without it, the issue is Burnett promised to serve four years as a council member before seeking higher office, like mayor, and Paul Miller knows it. Obfuscation and distractions with fallacious analogies are the tactics of unethical politicians, incompetent lawyers, the intellectually-challenged and propagandists masquerading as journalists. Nice try though. Paul Miller will overlook Burnett’s transgressions with Sue’s retirement (he would not if she was running again) and Jason, the newest, coolest, most popular kid in town. Miller has to be seen on the populist and popular bandwagon
It is also opportunistic for Jason Burnett to keep interjecting Congressman Sam Farr into Carmel politics. We get Jason has Sam Farr's blessing to take over Sam's House seat sooner rather than later. We get Jason can't wait to join the House and get back to DC. And we get the mayorship is just a stepping stone for Jason on his political path onward and upward. So why should Carmelites let a politician so obviously use us and Carmel for his own, selfish, personal motives and ambitions? Maybe Carmeites should elect the candidate invested in Carmel and doing business in Carmel now and into the foreseeable future.
Post a Comment