My View
BY DON SORCHYCH | DECEMBER 18, 2013
Francia’s uttering’s
I have never seen more words wasted on minor issues than those written by Mayor Vincent Francia and his boss Vice Mayor Adam Trenk. Following Trenk’s libelous trash in Sara Vannucci’s blog, Francia copied some of Trenk’s nonsense in both his monthly letter and the aptly named Cave Creek Coyote. I am somewhat fond of coyotes but I don’t trust them since they have nipped a couple of dogs I’ve owned, very much like the majority of the current council.
In the current Coyote Francia wrote, “But if anyone of us is in trouble or in need, the neighbor you wave at but never really spoke with will be there for you.”
I guess his Facebook revelation where he sent a connection which could yield tens of thousands of dollars to realtor Kim Brennan is an example. Never mind that there is a large population of realtors in town who have never broken open meetings laws nor straddled the fence to tell a client what to charge the town for property while seated on the council. But then Brennan is a strong supporter of the slate, as is Francia.
After Francia’s Coyote bluster about Cave Creek we are treated to his monthly diatribe in his expensive mailings to citizens. He follows the lead of his friend Interim Town Manager Rodney Glassman (in the Coyote) by repeating the political nonsense about the phony Cave Creek-Scottsdale Western Challenge. Francia wrote, “Spurred by the voluminous publicity from the New York Times as well as constant articles from the Arizona Republic concerning the Cave Creek-Scottsdale Challenge, Wild West Days was the best ever.” The bolding is Francia’s.
Wild West Days was an event sponsored by the Cave Creek Merchants and Events Association, not by the town, and the connection to the so-called challenge is a fable or as Scottsdale City Councilman Guy Phillips said, “Speaking for myself, I’m not going to waste my constituents’ time and tax dollars on this ridiculous media marketing scheme.”
So, no councilmen from Scottsdale showed up at the so-called “shootout.” Only Francia and a few supporters showed up to observe egg on Francia’s face. Observers said Francia even borrowed Trenk’s drugstore cowboy hat.
For Trenk, Glassman and Francia to keep repeating the fable that any of the “advertising” in the big three newspapers affected Wild West Days or Cave Creek is trivia. I don’t think even those libtard rags will suffer embarrassment by acknowledging a non-event about Cave Creek again. These three compadres tell the same stories over and over, obviously showing their belief that the voters here are stupid. Well, they aren’t.
Francia wrote, “Special Event Town Banners are now being placed on poles in the median. This gives the town the ability to advertise upcoming events weeks out in a cost effective manner.”
Earth to Vince, the very best advertising medium in the six zip codes we serve is Sonoran News. You and your slate brag, and even passed a resolution, about how you support local businesses and yet for your corrupt politics you won’t advertise here because we don’t kiss your butt, despite the fact Sonoran News has been a tax paying business here for 18 years and is by far the best advertising venue in Cave Creek and five other zip codes.
For Francia to keep mentioning “cost effective” is more proof he doesn’t know what is going on in Cave Creek, nor does he recognize the banners are about as non Cave Creek as you can get. It rivals the growing array of signs in Carefree which accomplish nothing there either. The medians in Cave Creek are for landscaping, not advertising, especially true when they are honky tonk and poorly crafted like the ones the town planted. The other signs which say “Whoa” are equally stupid. Both series are a waste of taxpayer money and cause more sign blight in town.
Francia mentioned three new businesses are opening in town, but he didn’t mention that all of them were put in motion by the Abujbarah administration, not his slate friends.
Then comes the most important step planned by the slate – and the slate is steam rolling this to get it done before the public wakes up, like they did in lynching Abujbarah.
Trenk and Francia set up a four-man group to evaluate the 80 resumes received for a “permanent” town manager. So that means the decision of choosing finalists was to be made by three who are from outside the town and the most recent slate member, turncoat Francia. This in effect puts Scottsdale Trenk in charge.
The decision during the Monday night council meeting was to try to hire (pending the applicant’s acceptance) Peter Jankowski from Massachusetts and a backup of James Palenick from North Carolina. A 7-0 council vote, after some shuffling, was achieved.
We had assumed Himanshu Patel, an ex-town manager from Florence, Ariz., was the slate pick. We received, as did council, a series of Phoenix New Times articles not favorable about Patel. So if we were right, the slate backed off. It does raise the question though about how shallow the town’s investigation of candidates was.
However, I wonder if any truly acceptable town manager would step into a job where his future bosses are uncertain. Let’s face it, the council will change and the slate will be defeated in a recall election along with Francia.
In addition to putting the town at financial risk, the Trenk-led slate put in place an incompetent Interim Town Manager even though Town Clerk Carrie Dyrek could have been a perfect fill-in. Furthermore Dyrek wouldn’t have cost the town and the result would have been an understanding of what governance the town needs. Glassman doesn’t have a clue; neither does Trenk or his current subordinate, Francia, nor the rest of the slate.
What is deeply disappointing is Francia was able to get away with insulting and humiliating treatment of speakers Steve LaMar and Janet Mohr during the last council meeting. I understand the slate wouldn’t condemn his illegal politicking since he is one of them now, but where were Ernie Bunch and Tom McGuire? First amendment rights were involved here and the mayor stepped over the line.
