100312-7

Editorial: Still mad about 2002?

Published: March 12, 2010

ACCORDING TO Carmel’s voters — an educated, sophisticated and politically aware lot — Paula Hazdovac and Gerard Rose have been outstanding members of the city council.

Otherwise, why would they keep putting them in office?

Hazdovac was first elected in 1994. And then she was re-elected in 1998, 2002 and 2006 — an amazing achievement for any council member. In fact, she holds the all-time record.

By comparison, Rose is a newbie. He was appointed to the council in 2000, and elected to a full term in 2002. And then he was reelected in 2006. And while Rose has “only” been in office 10 years, it’s obvious the majority of voters like him, too.

It should not be heresy to point this out. And there is also not the slightest reason to think the citizenry’s assessment of either Hazdovac or Rose has changed dramatically since 2006. Of course, they have not been perfect. While they’ve been in office, not all the city’s problems have been solved. Duh.

But whether dealing with emergency services, the budget, the general plan, forest and beach issues, Flanders Mansion, or a host of other city issues, they have served long and well, and deserve plenty of recognition and thanks — and the assumption that, in the opinion of a majority of Carmel’s voters, they have done a very good job.

The citizenry, on the other hand, knows very little about Jason Burnett. Before he announced his candidacy in December, most people in town had never heard of him. His name had appeared in The Pine Cone only twice, and both of those times were in connection with his involvement at the Pacific Grove natural history museum. He had not served on any of Carmel’s boards and commissions, volunteered at a host of charity events, or (as far as we can remember) testified at the city council.

Nevertheless, Burnett has made a good impression so far, and it seems likely he would make a competent city councilman. Perhaps he would even be an excellent one. But that remains to be seen. The voters, therefore, are within their rights to ask questions about Burnett before deciding to replace either Rose or Hazdovac with him. Certainly, Burnett would not disagree with this. And that’s why he’s working very hard to become familiar with the town, and let the town become acquainted with him.

However, some Carmel residents have made up their minds that Jason Burnett is The One, and it has become evident that they will not tolerate the slightest hint of doubt about him. Furthermore, in their eagerness to see him elected, they have not hesitated to sling mud, hurl insults and spread misinformation. One of them went so far as to submit a letter to the editor of this newspaper accusing one of the incumbents of wanting to remove all the trees in town. Bizarre.

Tuesday night, the publisher of this newspaper moderated a forum at which the candidates answered questions about various issues confronting the city and about their qualifications for office.

Before the forum, numerous questions for the candidates were submitted by Pine Cone readers. Among them, a significant number boiled down to this: “Who is Jason Burnett and why is he running for city council?” Another popular variation was, “Isn’t he running for city council just to set himself up for a shot at higher office?”

But when the essence of these questions was put to Burnett, his supporters in the audience erupted in angry catcalls, shouts and denunciations of the person with the temerity to ask them. Of course, their anger wasn’t directed so much at him as at the numerous Carmel citizens who wanted to hear the answers.

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.

But the audience members who adore him were smoking mad. Why?

Because their side lost all those elections won by Hazdovac, Rose and Mayor Sue McCloud (elected in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008). This has been a bitter pill for them — the realization that most Carmel voters do not agree with them on important civic issues.

In Jason Burnett’s candidacy, they’ve invested all their hopes for political redemption. And so excited have they become about the prospect of him winning, they’ve lost all sense of reason.