Monday, Feb. 26, 2007 | Mayor Sanders, Chief Financial Officer Goldstone and Public Relations flack Fred Sainz sound as removed from reality as Vice-President Dick Cheney is on Iraq when spinning their story on former auditor John Torell.
This city administration is more dysfunctional than that of the Murphy era as it tries to prevent the seeds of open government from germinating in San Diego. The only argument against an independent city auditor is their paranoid fear that any financial incompetence or malfeasance by Sanders’ hired sycophants becomes public.
You have to wonder if Sainz is really running the city while the mayor serves as a figurehead enjoying his role as a glad hander and his Chief Operating Officer sits mummified or in a catatonic state at her desk. After all, the public hears more about the mayor’s social events than his solutions for San Diego’s fiscal problems and Ronne Froman is missing in action.
The Torell story is the clearest indication to date that Sanders still thinks he is running a paramilitary organization that is not allowed to discuss, let alone, oppose policy decisions made behind closed doors.