As part of a public records request seeking more information about the League of Women Voters’ role and guidelines used to validate protest statements, I found an interesting email between Tammy Rudock and the members of the Board. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. Frank DeMicco was a member of the citizen’s group that worked on the first rates protest and is currently a candidate for CCSD Director. The same week he filed as a candidate, the general manager “finally had time” to look into Mr. DeMicco’s credentials. She said some on the Board and some staff wanted to know if he was really a professional engineer, as he had described himself at a public meeting. The email explaining her actions apparently came after Director Clift asked her why he and the other board members was being sent Mr. DeMicco’s CV.
It is more than a little troublesome to know that the CCSD staff is investigating those who don’t agree with them and those who may be elected as their employer. What’s more, they did not ask Mr. DeMicco directly, but tried to get the information without his knowledge, first through his employer and, when that did not work, through the City of Santa Maria, which uses the engineering firm he works for on projects for the city. This action could in fact be in violation of ethics and fair political practices laws. At the very least, it shows reckless disregard for a member of the community and how a General Manager of a CSD checking his credentials might affect his job or reputation.
Who else has been subjected to this kind of digging? This is a small town, not some impersonal large city. Anyone who wants to know Mr. DeMicco’s qualifications, whether to evaluate the authority of his opinions or some other reason, can email or call him and ask him.
Perhaps we need have some kind of “official” repository where the resumes, curricula vitae, credentials, awards, diplomas, certificates of participation and pictures of all trophies won by each and every Cambrian is available for all to see. Oh, and let’s not forget to include any criminal convictions, bankrupties, traffic court records and civil court judgments, regardless of how long ago they were recorded or their outcome. Of course, such a repository would bar any unsubstantiated allegations and respect the “innocent until proven guilty” doctrine that underlies our legal system.
Such a collection would certainly be interesting. Since the median age in Cambria is about 51 and many are retired, it stands to reason that our neighbors don’t necessarily know our professional and personal histories. But the bigger question is this: do we really need to make people to substantiate their histories?
Unless the CCSD plans to hire Mr. DeMicco or rely on his experience and advice in making a decision for the community, there is no reason for them to be taking time to look into his credentials – or anyone else’s for that matter. Cambria deserves better.
See the emails between Tammy Rudock and the Board about Mr. DeMicco.
See Muril Clift’s Response to Tammy’s Email.
Read the Resume Mr. Demicco gave me.
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Last 5 posts by Amanda Rice
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Shades of Karl Rove and Scooter Libby! Thank you director Muril Cliff for defending the castle from the barbarians.
I don’t see much of a problem with the above mentioned emails. If however, they would have mentioned sharing with the public info re said candidate’s track record ( published in the NY Times Oct. 21 1999) as “stonewalling” and “bullying” rate payers and issues with “conservationists” (while he was President of United Water) or his documented support and funding of the Swift Boat Vets for Truth (exaggerated and deliberate misrepresentation of political opponents in the 2004 presidential campaign)… then your comments would probably be valid and less biased.
I appreciate your opinion, but I disagree with the premise that biased comments are necessarily invalid. Filing this under the two-to-tango category, it’s hard to have a conversation with only one side talking. This site started as a resource to exchange information during the the effort to stop the first rate increase. It has some distance to go before Cambrians on all sides see it as a place for their voice to be heard. My aim is to have a resource that is accurate and is a place to discuss and perhaps better understand the multiple viewpoints of Cambrians.
In my opinion, it was inappropriate to spend CCSD employee time or energy to track down credentials of someone who had been outspoken critic and potential board member and sending the information to the Board. That could be misconstrued too easily.
Throughout this campaign I have made an effort to give the candidates a forum where they could express their views and explain their positions as they relate to Cambria. A few in the community wanted to use the space to discredit candidates or launch personal attacks. While Mr. DeMicco’s experiences as a water/wastewater executive are hardly irrelevant, comments made by an individual to a reporter about their water company (not Mr. DeMicco specifically) are hardly a “track record”. It wouldn’t take much effort to find similar articles with similar sentiments being made about the incumbent CCSD directors in our local paper.
That said, I think it’s just as dangerous to evaluate whether someone would be a good director based solely on a CV that could be out-of-date. That is why I have been posting the responses from the candidates and why I organized the Forum at Rabobank. I want to know (and share with other Cambrians) about what the candidates will do once elected (or re-elected), if they would make the same decisions or different ones.
As for bias – this site is loaded with it. I’d like to claim there is a balance of opinions expressed here that is representative of the variety of views in community. And there are more than two sides. Steve Figler explained it this way: Ask three Cambrians what they think about something and you’re likely to get at least four different answers. Please continue to add your voice to the conversation.
Director Funke-Bilu quoted Sarah Palin near the end of the Rabobank forum: “Let’s go forward in the future, stop looking in the back.” (He also quickly noted he is not supporter of Governor Palin, causing some laughter in the room.)
At least we know the people attempting to smear Frank De Micco failed. Try again folks the people spoke and your dirt did not stick.