Editorial:
It seems the City of Chula Vista has a love/hate relationship with their appointed port commissioners. They love to hate them!
This was demonstrated again with the unceremonious dumping of Steve Padilla this week, just a couple of hours after his swearing in as vice chairman of the San Diego Unified Port District board. It reminded us of the unceremonious dumping of Mike Nejara last year. After ousting Padilla, without any public input or process, the city council appointed Ann Moore, former city attorney, as commissioner. Moore is the fourth commissioner in two years.
To be upfront, La Prensa endorsed Steve Padilla in his reelection bid as mayor of Chula Vista and Padilla contributed several articles to this paper for publication. We saw Padilla as an effective leader who had been able to build consensus and get things done. We think it is disgraceful and embarrassing the way this city council handled the whole process – small town politics at its worst.
We get it that some of the council members were not fans of Padilla’s. It is no secret that Councilman Steve Castañeda had issues with Padilla and newly elected council person Pat Aguilar worked long and hard to make sure that Padilla was not reelected as mayor, but this does not excuse civility and human decency in treating another person with a bit of respect.
Chula Vista City Councilmembers didn’t have the decency to inform Padilla at any time that they were considering replacing him. At a luncheon this week, three Chula Vista councilmembers sat and watched as Padilla was sworn in as vice chairman. Only a few hours later at their regular Chula Vista City Council meeting, a vote was taken to remove Padilla from the Port Commission. If this was intended to humiliate Padilla it didn’t work.
We also find it disappointing that the week after the shooting of Representative Giffords in Arizona and the subsequent national discussion on the need for political disagreements to be conducted in a civil manner, the message of civility has been lost on the elected representatives of Chula Vista.
To compound this messy situation the city council went ahead and appointed Ann Moore – without any public discussion! This did not follow the usual protocol of notifying the community and seeking applicants. This smells of a backroom deal hatched well ahead of the council meeting.
What we find interesting is that newly elected council person Pat Aguilar, as her rational to vote Padilla out, is quoted as not liking the “backroom” settlement that placed restrictions on a park planned for the bayfront in Chula Vista, that Padilla helped broker. So we are left scratching our head, if she didn’t like that “backroom” deal, how does she justify this “backroom” deal to oust Padilla and appoint Moore?
This is politics at its worst, here in Chula Vista.