AtPac Lawsuit – still seeking closure

George Rebane

Last week’s release of Clerk-Recorder Greg Diaz’s deposition in the AtPac lawsuit case (please see ‘AtPac Lawsuit – the Greg Diaz Deposition’ and its comment stream) was at the same time corroborating and revealing.  But in reading the deposition, I did find several surprises.  Let me say right away that I found Mr Diaz’s resume troubling back in 2008 when I supported Barry Pruett in that November’s election.  With the overwhelming support of our Board of Supervisors and the Rood Center establishment, Mr Diaz won in a walk.

So here’s my take on our Clerk-Recorder from the written deposition and attendant video sequences.  My remarks are unequivocally biased by my almost half-century in technology development and experience as an executive in high tech enterprises.

To start, I found Mr Diaz’s knowledge about the basic aspects of the systems that support his elected profession to be astoundingly shallow.  This was abetted by the fact that he had spent part of his career as a software salesman.  What added to this perception was that he demonstrated little interest to further educate himself about the fundamentals of the tools whose use he supervised daily.

His apparent awareness of the goings on in Nevada County administration that impacted his job were minimal, and stated without any hint of contrition.  The man seemed to be expert at minimizing the scope of his responsibilities at every turn.

From the provided description of how the Clerk-Recorder’s department was run, we find that he lacked the basic personnel management skills that would have allowed him to enforce the rules and staff discipline that always seemed to be to the county’s detriment and out of his grasp.  For example, the need for making notes and laying a useful paper trail of communications, that any manager would instinctively do, was apparently completely beyond his ken.  Instead we were treated to a stream of risible recollections and Monday-morning assessments that such procedures were either beyond his interest or unnecessary.

Perhaps most remarkable was his demonstrated level of knowledge of the procurement process and the disposition of related intellectual property, a business practice that was central to his tenure as a salesman of software handling protected data.  Instead of immersing himself in every aspect of his own initiated system procurement and changeover that would enable and improve his department’s functions, he became a distant observer.  And this continued after the AtPac lawsuit was filed.  In my experience, I have never witnessed such detachment in a career professional.

In my numerous roles as hiring manager, and as consultant to corporations hiring senior management level people, I can unequivocally say that Mr Diaz would never have survived any private sector interview process with which I am familiar.

One could lengthen this account to match the 359 page count of Mr Diaz’s deposition, but it would serve no purpose.  In the end we see a professional bureaucrat who has arrived at the pinnacle of his career through doors that have been carefully yet firmly closed behind him.  And as Nevada County voters and taxpayers, our interest in this case, especially now that is has been disastrously settled, does not really revolve around the elected Mr Diaz.  More important concerns have been raised in these pages and elsewhere, and these are worth reviewing.

The first obvious question is, who in hell hired Mr Diaz in the first place to fill in the vacant Clerk-Recorder position.  What kind of vetting, interviewing, and approval procedures are in place and operating in the Rood Center to welcome a man of Mr Diaz’s qualifications and attitude?  What kind of oversight in county administration is in place that did not subsequently discover, during his unelected probation in the job, that the man has no apparent long suit to play?  And based on what assessments made by whom did Mr Diaz garner the broad and uniform support of the county’s top elected officials, in-house counsel that reported to it, and the county’s administrative executives?

We do understand that government is often the employer of last resort, but in local and more intimate government units such as the county, such largesse does not have to extend to levels where serious financial damage and functional shortcomings may result.  We expect people with those kinds of deficits to be hired and elected to regional and state level offices (California is America’s current poster child in this regard).  Was the whistle that needed blowing hidden under some ‘go along to get along’ bullcrap?

These are the important problems (not ‘issues’) to resolve and solve to get our house in order as we head into a deepening recession under a state government that operates on a yet to be determined side of the lunatic fringe.

Comments

[Russ Steele]

If the selection of Mr. Diaz was PC diversity hire, the County could certainly done have done a better job in vetting the candidate. What I find equally troubling is that once Mr Diaz demonstrated such a shallow grasp of his job, why did he continue to have the unmitigated support of the BOS during the election? Many of his issues were known long before the election. I would love to hear the BOS explain their rational for their dedicated support, given the circumstances know before the election. When the BOS were given a change to learn what was going on in their own administration they just brushed the messenger aside. Why?

[Bob W]

The why should be apparent but perhaps hard for some to swallow. I see the next problem as who to replace them with?

[Eric Anderson]

Jeez, you all sound like babes in the woods. You're basing your evaluation of Diaz's supposed incompetence almost entirely on a deposition. It was a hostile situation for Diaz where the blurier the better for him, like the millions of depositions before his. Did you guys follow Alberto Gonzalaz' testimoney to Congress a few years back. Do you think he didn't know that sounding like an absolute idiot was his best chance?

I'm not saying Diaz has as much to hide as a Bush Administration official in the highest legal office in the land, but let's be honest, when there is a political movement against you and anything you say will be distorted and twisted to your disadvantage, the best way to approach it is to be blurry. Ask any Republican attorney.

[George Rebane]

EricA, are you accusing Mr Diaz of having perjured himself? Please be clear, because no one here is talking about "blurry", but crisp answers, well extracted, to what he knows/knew when.

[Chuck Whitten]

George-
I agree with you completely, but would add that I was particularly shocked by Diaz' inability to recall comments he'd made only minutes before in his testimony! It appears (This is clearly based on my "reading between the lines of all the depositions) that Diaz has virtually no management/personnel skills. His comments regarding IT and his own employees lying are extremely troubling. I should explain that these comments are based on knowledge of events that I'm not at liberty to discuss. I wish I could, but they were off the record and must remain so. The incidents themselves would identify my sources.

[Eric Anderson]

The supposed "crisp" answers don't give you the full picture. If you want to go after Diaz for his competence you need to have a lot more than a depo to go on. Look at his accomplishments, learn some details about Clerk-Recording, talk to his professional collegues and use that. Its far more likely to give you the picture of his competence than a depo.

I don't know enough about the facts to accuse Mr. Diaz of perjury during his deposition and I certaiinly don't think his depo points to incompetence and I won't accuse him of such based on the depo. I do think he used plausible deniability, perfected, institutionalized and popularized by the Bush Administration and Republicans in general, where avenues of investigation get cut off by giving answers that can't be confirmed or denied (Rove, Libby, Gonzales, Feith, Rumsfeld etc).

I don't think you guys are babes in the woods but the feigned outrage at his incompentnce is a little transparent. Did you guys say the same about the Bush Administration officials? When the evasion was resulting in deaths, personal destruction and the tanking of our economy? I thought so.

It's clear, when there is a political witchhunt underway, when it happens to you, the best policy is to be blurry and Diaz was. To try to leverage that into a charge of incompetence is a stretch.

[George Rebane]

Well hell, EricA - here all along I thought we had a point, and almost had everyone fooled with our feigned outrage.

[Mike Thornton]

Russ Steele writes:

"If the selection of Mr. Diaz was PC diversity hire"....

Do you mean as compared the highly qualified Kathleen Smith?
Who was it that was responsible for that genius piece of candidate selection....

Gee, it didn't take long for the race card to come out (again)

[Eric Anderson]

You have a strained point. However, you will fool a lot of folks with the over-reaction. Too bad for us all.

[Russ Steele]

Mike,

I am not sure that Kathleen Smith as any more qualified as Mr. Diaz. What I am concerned about is the lack of due diligence at the BOS in selecting replacements and the process that they used for the selection. True, if the pool of candidates was weak, they they selected the best among the weak pool. The citizens of Nevada County deserve better.

As for the race issue, I asked a question, note the word IF. There is increasing pressure on government agencies to reflect the population diversity, thus the need to be aware of this demand. When local governments take government money, they have to play by the governments diversity rules. I would like like the hear the BOS declare that Mr Diaz was the best qualified for the job based on his resume and past experiences, which we all now know was rather shallow. So, how did we end up in this political box canyon?

[Paul Emery]

This whole situation shows what happens when you get under the hood of local government. We saw it with the Public Defenders office a few years ago, with the Sheriffs Dept before Keith Royal, with the Planning Department and BOS approving such projects as Darkhorse and Wildwood estates and so on. Since we have no resources for investigative journalism these tasks seem to fall to advocacy groups.

Thank goodness someone is doing it. It doesn't necessarily mean there is a clear cut villain or conspiracy but it sure shows how sloppy things can get and it's good to let them know that someone is watching. This applies to all political persuasions.

[Mike Thornton]

Just to be clear, the reason we got Smith, which then led to Diaz, is because Nevada County's right wing Republican brain trust REFUSED to allow the most qualified person available (at the time) to have the job.
So if you want to blame somebody for Diaz getting the job, go look in the mirror!

[Russ Steele]

Mike,

Who was that most qualified person at the time?

[Paul Emery]

Mike

Can you refresh us about how Smith got the job? Who were her advocates?

[Mike Thornton]

The qualified person was the long time Assistant Clerk Recorder (sorry, I can't remember her name at the moment)
Smith got the job because the (whatever you want to call them)supervisors tried to shove Fran Gratten into the job and the citizens went ballistic. Peter Van Zant and Barbara Greene wanted the long time assistant, but Sue Horne and crew said that couldn't happen because they wouldn't "let them win". Smith was the compromise candidate and as we know her incompetence led to Diaz being elected

[Chuck Whitten]

Eric-
You need to look at your history. "Plausible deniability" originated with, at least, Richard Nixon. It was subsequently perfected by Bill and Hillary Clinton. Even if you give Diaz the "plausible deniability" point, his failure to recall his own comments literally moments before in the deposition, is very troublesome. The point that when he returns to the topic of Jackie Pollard, he completely drops his complaint about her supposedly feeding confidential information to AtPac in favor of her failing to send him copies of messages concerning software problems is also problematic. I will tell you that my infrequent journalistic contacts with Diaz have influenced my opinion of him. However, I still maintain the board of supervisors and the executive staff of the county are the problems.

[Mike Thornton]

Maybe Chuck's right...
Things have been going steadily downhill since the time of the "Gang of Four"
Maybe Lamphier will be the new Sam Dardick and Nevada County will once again get back to having a majority board made up of people that know how to do the job!
"Off with their heads!"

[Mikey McD]

Thornton looks to Lamphier as the progressives savior! Thanks for the comic relief.

[Russ Steele]

Mike, is this the kind of government you want to return to:

The Gang of Four used the RQC as a kitchen cabinet. They used to gather up on Cement on the Sunday before a BOS Meeting and discuss the options, the issues and crafted the talking points for the BOS meeting. At one time this RQC kitchen cabinet drafted their version of the zoning regulations and then passed them to the Gang of Four at the very end of a BOS session, when everyone had left the BOS Chamber. But, they were observed by Margret Urke and Barbara Bashall. The RQC and the Gang of Four got caught with their hands in the cookie jar by to very observant citizens, one from CABPRO and one from the NCCA.
I wish that the Tea Party would become regulars observers at the BOS Meetings. We might have even more insight into the problems at the Rood Center.

[Chuck Whitten]

Uh, oh! Mike Thornton says I might be right?! It's either a day I should mark on my calendar, or I've done something horribly wrong. I think George has the best analysis. I guess the best way of looking at this is that Diaz is just a symptom of a much worse problem. This whole AtPac thing is a symptom of a much larger problem. I suspect the board of supervisors is relying far too much on advice from the executive staff of the county. Time for "change"?

[Mike Thornton]

Unfortunately, we've seen the results of the CABPRO/PYPR and Bashhall regimes and they aren't pretty. I don't look to Lamphier or anyone else as a "savior". I'm just hoping that he's a sign Nevada County is ready to get back to having a competent local government.
C'mon you guys hate government and want it to fail. Why would anyone in their right minds think you should be in charge of it?
And Chuck, like most (whatever you want to call them)you occasionally will do the right thing, but largely for the wrong reason(s).
Don't worry, I'm sure your "Wingnut in Good Standing" membership will still be honored at the next anti-Diaz Klan Rally at Russ' house. BYOS (Bring your own sheet)

[George Rebane]

MikeT - After reading it a couple of times, I'm not sure what effect you attempted to achieve with the claptrap that follows the first paragraph. Maybe you can review it for the other readers.

And here are some suggestions for "whatever you want to call them" - conservatives, rightwingers, libertarians, Tea Partiers, Republicans, Christians, Jews, fundamentalists, anarchists, ... .

Again - MikeT, you bring a loud voice from the left to these pages which I think RR readers would like to see applied to the ideas discussed here. As an alternative, I understand that Pelline is back in business and would welcome some ad hominem crap to fill comment streams under some of the gripping posts and scooplets which populate that site.

[Russ Steele]

Mike,

I would much rather spend my energy on the BOS and cleaning up the Rood Center, than hold rallies at my house. The current lawsuit and depositions have made it clear, as explained above that Mr Diaz was not well prepared for the job which he holds and I am sure during the next election cycle that problem will be resolved, as would be the case regardless of the ethnicity or sex of the office holder, once they have demonstrated they are incapable of performing their elected job. Your injecting race into this issue is just silly.

[Bob W]

Again, someone help me out here. Was Lamphier in any of those closed sessions or not?

[Mike Thornton]

And Russ, you're the one that injected race into this.
I just called you out on it!

[Chuck Whitten]

It's my understanding that Lamphier was in nearly all, if not all, of the closed sessions, at least after he took office. I don't recall if there were any before he took office.
Gee Mike, the only people I know of who are true racists are those who so blatantly toss around comments like yours regarding the Klan. You diminish the horror of the Ku Klux Klan tremendously by making such ignorant, stupid statements. I, for one, in 1981, took the opportunity to tell the then Imperial Wizard of the Knights of the Invisible Empire, Ku Klux Klan, Bill Wilkinson, that I thought his philosophies were those of a fool. I did this to him personally when he and I had just finished an interview in Palm Springs. His ideas were similar to yours from the opposite end of the spectrum. I am NOT a racist, have never been a racist, and expect an apology from a progressive fool like you. Am I angry? No, just appalled at your sophomoric efforts to demean others. Calling someone or some group racist has become a cliched tool of communists, anarchists and idiots, so I guess I should not expect the apology I've requested.

[Kathy Jones]

I am so glad the truth about Mr. Diaz is now public knowledge. Yes, some people wake up so late that the party is over and they are left with just the bills! Such is the case here, and I am amazed some people still try and say Mr. Diaz is qualified.

Where are the minutes of the BOS meeting where this man was nominated and voted into public service?

[Bob W]

OK I thought that Lamphier was in on it too. Now it seems as though a lot of you reading this blog need help with logic from time to time so here it goes. The only way any of this was going to stop before it went as far as it did was for a Supervisor to stop it. Not County Counsel, County Administrative officer, County Risk Manager or for that matter any other County employee. Of course Diaz could have stood up and taken his medicine when it all started to unravel but then we can all see how likely that might have been. The fact that no Supervisor did put an end to it, and that the law restricts any of us from ever finding out what happened in closed session, means that all the Supervisors are equally culpable. Get it? This isn't rocket science. And please don't embarrass yourself as badly as the BOS has by suggesting that there wasn't anything that one Supervisor could have done.

[Mike Thornton]

Chuck: I took on both the head of the Aryan Nations and the White Aryan Resistance.
I've also taken on the Nation of Islam and the Church of Scientology among many others, so don't try to lecture me about anything.
If you've got a problem about the race aspect of the Diaz case, talk to your buddy, Russ.
He's the one that brought up Diaz as being a "PC diversity hire", not me!

[Paul Emery]

Bob W

Why not take out recall papers on all five supervisors, Diaz, the District Attorney, for ignoring obvious indications of corruption, and the Sheriff for sitting on his hands. Might as well clean house and start over.

Talk is cheap, the price of action is colossal.

[George Rebane]

Re the race question here - in his 430pm comment Russ used "PC diversity hire" to refer to a preferential condition of employment that has become an all too common practice in the last decades - he didn't claim it was implemented. It is deemed a politically correct action taken frequently in both public and private sectors. The notion that simply raising that truth in a discussion makes one an automatic 'racist' has become a tenet of the leftwing belief system as witnessed that it is only they who immediately make such accusations in any public discourse. I suppose it would be foolish for me to hope that here we could discuss such possibilities without the obligatory accusations.

[Mike Thornton]

And why are all the people Paul mentions doing nothing to protect us from the Sharia Law of Agenda 21?
We demand answers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Paul Emery]

George

Has anyone attempted to do an evaluation of the job Diaz is doing other other than his handling of the well scribed AtPac lawsuit? I In times past that office has been a model of chaos and disorganization, ie Kathleen Smith. It's quite possible things are going rather well.

[Mike Thornton]

My God, the "excuse machine" is running at full bore.
I have to admit, that sometimes I admire you George, between Russ, Todd and the 4 other clones you've got a full time job watching out for them and cleaning up their messes.

[Bob W]

Paul, Take a breath. This is a good example to illustrate the inability for some here to reason logically. For those of us that are actively pursuing the implications of this it is still in evolution. It's evolution is being inhibited by the cover-up. I regret that I must remind you of what I have stated before. This is about cost and closed session. Now I don't expect you to figure this all out before I dump it all in your oblivious lap but give it a try. Maybe you will surprise me. We can always hope.

[Paul Emery]

Sure Bob

It is about accountability I agree but ultimately the talk stops and the action begins. Recall is obviously one of the corrections available to voters who feel they made a mistake. Since you seem to favor a clean sweep based on what you already know it is only logical to ask the question.

[Mike Thornton]

Paul: I don't know Bob W. or what his intentions are, but in general the regressive model is not to actually do anything about the problems (see Bush, Cheney etc.) but to simply stir up controversy and discontent in order to erode confidence in and support for government and democracy. The agenda (not 21) is to take the country back to the power structure of the Gilded Age (therefore the use of the term regressives, George)

[Bob W]

Thanks for understanding Paul. I am actively pursuing tangible information that would support my position before going off half cocked. Meanwhile there isn't any reason the BOS shouldn't squirm for their actions.

[Paul Emery]

You know Bob I've been involved in these kinds of things before as an activist like you are. Some years ago I brought attention to the Grand Jury what I believed were obvious violations of the Brown Act by a local elected school board. I won't go into details but I did testify to the Grand Jury and a couple of months later they ruled in my favor that indeed the School Board had indeed violated the Brown Act. However they felt there was no criminal intent so the remedy was that they put on the agenda all the items of concern as one large consent calendar and voted yes to all of them in one fell swoop with no discussion therefore legitimizing what they had done. Initially I felt I had wasted my time but later I began to appreciate that indeed they did notice that someone was watching and at least for awhile they dotted their i's and crossed their t's.

[George Rebane]

MikeT - tell us more about the "power structure of the Gilded Age". But please avoid the sophomoric comparisons to America a century later; instead compare to what the contemporaneous world provided. This is to understand your unique use of 'regressive' which you should define with an effort equal to mine in the use of 'raghead'.

[Kathy Jones]

Do any of you know how the word went out to the public that the county was looking for a replacement for Smith?

Was there a job posting?

Where and how was is posted?

What were the requirements?

How many applicants were received?

Who made the short list (you know the list that went behind closed doors)?

[Mike Thornton]

I'm under no obligation to define anything according to an arbitrary standard that you set George. Especially since the usual tactic at RR seems to be that the standard can never be met and the goal post keeps getting moved.
I don't use "Regressive" as you use "Raghead".
I believe that the term "regressive" is an actual description of your political agenda and world view. You use "raghead" as a way to dehumanize and entire group of people, in order to make it easier to hate them and therefore kill them.
However, my interpretation is basically this: "Regressives" want the important decisions that govern life, society and the economy of this country (and the world) to be made by the wealthy. The government simply acts as their police force and army. Of course they want courts to settle disputes amongst themselves (largely about how to divvy up the spoils that they make off of or expropriate from the workers) The idea that workers or the poor should have equal access to them or education or anything else is simply a utopian ideal fostered by "Communists". They are "poor" and they are "workers" so how could they possibly have any idea what is good for society. Much of this is based in a Calvinist theological orientation which basically says that your lot in life is an expression of God's favor or lack of same. There are many books written on this subject George and they are authored and researched by folks that are way smarter than I am.
They get very deep into the psychology of the regressive mindset and how it's based in authoritarian family structure. The authoritarian family structure is based on "discipline" and "punishment" (I would also add the need for a perpetual "enemy/other" to fight against)A discipline and punishment model along with a Calvinist orientation make the idea of social equity and or social responsibility (much less programs)anathema to those that hold an authoritarian mindset. The structure of American society has moved too far away from the values that authoritarians are comfortable with and so they are fighting to take society back to a time they they think worked better.

[Todd Juvinall]

Liberals can never be held to any standards because they have none. MikeT uses defamatory name calling against conservatives yet in his microbrain that is different than George using raghead. Wow. Liberalism is truly a mental disorder. MikeT proves it again!

[Chuck Whitten]

Gee Mike, you sound like a communist ideologue! Do you have any idea how much credibility you lose when you accuse those of us who are participating in this blog of being members of the Ku Klux Klan? And you don't have sufficient content in your scrotum to apologize for such a thing?! Have you ever had an original thought in your life? Everything you say comes from one of hundreds of extreme left playbooks. No, I'm not angry at you Mike. I pity you. You've filled that vacuum in your skull with left wing vitriol. You want to change what the Founding Fathers created with the Constitution, by calling it a "living document." You want to change the most liberal, enlightened, powerful nation on earth to fit some imagined ideal that has never worked, and never will. You believe you're one of the elite who should run this ideal society. Almost everything you say in this forum is delivered in some condescending manner as though you were blessed with some "secret knowledge" possessed by none of the others in this discussion. Yes, Mike, I pity you, but you truly disgust me. You justify my contempt for P.R. people.

[Paul Emery]

George

Would the use of "rightwingnut" be acceptable under your rules of engagement? I would be willing to refrain from all that type of language but it seems to be acceptable at least up to this point.

[Bob W]

Standard threads are of the right-hand design. It is only necessary to specify the direction of rotation for a thread when it is in fact that of the abnormal or Left design. In fact, the term "rightwingnut" is a derivative of the original "left-hand-wing-nut" designation.

[Mike Thornton]

Chuck, you're doing a really good job of presenting yourself as a pompous ass.
But hey, if that's your choice, go for it!
You guys always use the same right wing talking points and phoney "outrage".
I don't care. It doesn't impress me in the least.
The same goes for the BS patriotic posturing.
And if you believe that I actually give a damn about what you think of me, you need to go have your ego examined. It's way too big!
I told you before, I wasn't the one that brought up the race issue. It was your boy Russ.
And I was directly responding to your post that if I "was agreeing with you, you must have done something wrong". The rest was "Satire". Look it up in the dictionary if you don't know what it means.

[Mike Thornton]

Thank God!
Bob W actually has a sense of humor!!!!!!
I was wondering if it was possible on RR.

[Mike Thornton]

By the way, Chuck, didn't they have to change the Constitution on a couple of occasions?
I think they're called, what was that again...Oh, yeah, "Amendments"
I re-read your post and you sure seem to be doing an awful lot of "projection".
You can look that one up as well, but it basically means, taking all the weird stuff that's going on inside your own head and assigning it to an outside source.

[Russ Steele]

Paul,

I give you permission to call me a right-wing-nut. I am right wing conservative and nuts about a lot of things, my wife, my dog, my truck and my conservative friends, oh yes and blogging on climate change and local politics.

[Todd Juvinall]

Chuck, you got him man, he can't hack it.

[Kathy Jones]

How many ways is the word "head: attached to to make a descriptive statement?

Those of you who want to "rag" on the use of a descriptive word of particular people, living in the desert that wear a scrap of fabric on their heads, need to get a grasp on descriptive words, we ALL use them:

Whitehead
Blackhead
Blockhead
Airhead
Deadhead
Letterhead
Baldhead
Redhead
Towhead
Bonehead
Nailhead
Deadhead
Pothead
S*ithead
Thickhead
Egghead
Meathead
Jughead
Hothead
Knucklehead
Toolhead
Warhead
Thunderhead
etc.

[Dixon Cruickshank]

Jeezz kathy good post - although he doesn't qualify as a raghead - Mr thornton fits like 12 or 13 of those quite well.

BTW Mr knucklehead - Affirmitive Action - Busing - and Diversity Hiring has been around quite awhile, Russ bringing it up in this situation was a good talking point actually - one that had not been brought up before - how did he get here is a logical question.

[George Rebane]

Dear People - now that MikeT has given us his definition of regressive, I have posted it as a separate piece 'Of Ragheads and Regressives' which invites the kinds of off-topic comments that MikeT's definition spawned here.

http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2011/09/of-ragheads-and-regressives.html

Please let's keep this comment stream on topics related to the AtPac case.

[Mike Thornton]

Man, it's amazing how far you folks will go to make excuses for each other.
Don't you ever get dizzy from all that twisting in the wind?

[Chuck Whitten]

Mike-
You just can't bring yourself to believe that it may be wrong to call people Klan members, can you? To try to make my point clear, I mentioned my comments to Bill Wilkinson only in an attempt to show that I truly sympathize with the horrible conditions under which African Americans suffered for so long in this country. I suppose I'm somehow wrong to try to defend myself against a charge of racism, since it's not possible for me to do so in the mind of a radical left wing ideologue. Still, I gave it an effort. From this point on I won't respond to any of your condescending prattle. It's a fruitless and futile effort.

I would like to say that I believe Greg Diaz may well be a fine, kind gentleman. I am just concerned that he may not be qualified for the job to which he was appointed, and subsequently elected. The fault, I believe, lies with the members of the board of supervisors.

[Mike Thornton]

Chuck:
How many time must I tell you before you get it.
Your buddy Russ, threw in the totally unnecessary, dog whistle race statement about Diaz and all I did was call him out on it.
Russ and the rest are your people and rather than you tearing into me, if you really want to prove what your saying, maybe you should be taking Russ, to task for playing the race card.
I never once said you were a racist. I simply said you wouldn't be ostracized from the next anti- Dias Klan meeting at Russ' house for having had me say you were right about something.
For the way you guys rip into folks on a daily basis with nasty personal attacks many of you seem to be incredibly thin skinned.
Go look at some of the stuff that your buddies write about people. Then ask yourself why some of us may have decided to start giving it back to you>

[stevenfrisch]

Oh, come on know....you guys are being unfair to Russ! Suggesting that Greg Diaz may have hired because of his race ("If the selection of Mr. Diaz was PC diversity hire") was clearly intended to imply that what Russ describes as his unsuitability ("shallow grasp of his job") may have been more tolerated because of his race. It is clear, pure, intentional race baiting. To think that a giant intellect like Russ did not know what he was saying is not only ludicrous, it is insulting to his intelligence. I feel compelled to defend Russ here: I think he's really smart, so he knows what he is saying, and sophisticated enough to understand the nuance and twist, not to mention the plausible deniability, afforded him by the English language.

I would ask Paul Emery, do you still think this crew is not engaged in serial, intentional, dog-whistle, racist and bigoted rhetoric; or are you finally willing to admit that they are playing you?

I'm still wondering if people actually think that the previous poster who referred to Mr. Diaz as "boy" did not think twice about that reference, and did not know that one group of people would hear it one way and chuckle, while another group heard it another way, while she could plausibly deny the meaning?

Acceptance of this use of adianoeta is no different than delivering it yourself.

[George Rebane]

It seems that only MikeT's 600pm contained the word 'boy'.

[stevenfrisch]

I think if you search carefully you will find the term in another thread...it kind of slipped by as an oblique reference to Mr. Diaz by a female poster whose name I can't remember now....I don't have time to go through all the dog-whistle contained here now, I am off to work....you remember work, right?

[Todd Juvinall]

Frisch. for the umpteenth time tell us how many minoritys work at your office since you are so sensitive to terms you consider "racist". Are you living the life of an equal opportunity employer? Or are you just another leftwingnut gasbag?

The term "dog whistle" is so funny. Whenever you efty's use it I burst into laughter.

[stevenfrisch]

Todd, as a responsible employer I will never disclose personnel information to you, or anyone else. I respect my staff and their privacy. I post here as an individual, although I don't expect any of you to respect that.

[stevenfrisch]

By the way, fully expecting this post to be deleted, I will say it again, many here are racists and bigots, and anyone who does not hold them to the norms of civilized society is right there with them. Your days of getting away with it without challenge are over.

[George Rebane]

SteveF - "... you remember work, right?" Careful now, you have no idea of what work I have done and continue to do to this day.

So that you will know, your 837am survives because you called no specific person a name, but expressed your opinion about the attributes of a class of people. I see you as a nasty piece of work, but in spite of that you and your thoughts are welcome in this forum.

[Dixon Cruickshank]

Todd et al I guess we can presume that is none, as it would point out the gasbag theory.
Now on the other hand, if someone else had gotten the job over Mr Diaz would that be brought up as they got it because they were white and that was racist??

I really don't seem to see it as an big issue at all, it appears he is pretty weak in the competence catagory - starting with the first election whether he was a member of the Blue Man Crew

[Todd Juvinall]

Once again SteveF dodges the question. Silence is acquiescence SteveF. You could be determined to be a racist hypocrite and you continue to be an embarrassment on these blogs. Too bad, all you have to tell us to clear up your dodge is yes, you have two blacks, a Hispanic and a Pakistani. Admit your employment package and application process institute affirmative action. See how easy that would be? Clear it up SteveF. Put us in our place so we will stop asking you to back up your denial you are a racist.

[Kathy Jones]

Maybe we all need to be reminded of what bigoted means!

Obstinately (stubbornly) convinced of the superiority or correctness of one's own opinions and prejudiced against those who hold different opinions.

I think it would be safe to say many/all who post comments on ANY blog would have to agree they are bigoted.

[George Rebane]

KathyJ - would you consider adding 'unreasonably' to 'obstinately' and 'stubbornly' to make the definition more precise? We all hold certain propositions stubbornly and even obstinately - for example propositions like 'the earth orbits the sun' - but they may not accurately be described as bigoted. And bigoted often has 'socially destructive' as an added semantic dimension.

[Kathy Jones]

George,

I find it disturbing when readers of others writings ascribe pejorative definitions that fit the readers personal agenda.

[George Rebane]

Yes KathyJ, but it happens to be the sum and stuff of critiques that have no other legs to stand on.

[Paul Emery]

Can we get back to the original topic to the extent to ask the question whether in general the elections office is being run in a reasonable manner and how operations compare to previous years.

[Kathy Jones]

Paul,

How would you suggest the public evaluate "a reasonable manner"?

The public had the wool pulled over their eyes about the man they elected.

Are we, the public ,satisfied with reasonable, or do we deserve excellence?

[Paul Emery]

I'm not sure Kathy. The election is the real format for public evaluation. There must be a general sense of how things are going. Is there unusual turnover of personnel, have election results been timely and accurate, is the software system operating in an acceptable manner. have there been an unusual number of public complaints about the services of the office etc. Normal stuff that have nothing to do with this issue. Of course current critics can say they are concerned about what we don't know and that's always a concert. I think you get the drift of what I'm saying.

[George Rebane]

PaulE, just so we don't get confused pursuant to your 724pm, dealing with Greg Diaz and his current normative job performance is one issue. Orthogonal to that is the county's incurred liability of more than $2.5M (no matter what the insurance currently covers). The latter is the real topic of this piece in RR. My assessment of Greg Diaz is a matter of record, and I do not think that it is productive to do anything premature about that man's career in Nevada County, the next election will speak for itself. But the real issue is what kind of environment exists in the Rood Center that promoted the sequence of patently stupid decisions that were made over a span of more than a year. This is a wider concern that effects our entire collective leadership, and should give us more than just pause. The rest is diversion.

[Paul Emery]

George

We're on the same page here. No doubt the AtPac mess was a team effort. When a team plays that badly in one game there is just reason to be concerned they'll play poorly in the next.