☆ Either dupes or dissemblers
Claude Raines plays Inspector Renault in the 1942 movie Casablanca. Friederike Wiegand (FriedeWie), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
"Matt Mahan should know better."
That's your faithful Opp Now team, commenting back on October 4 about our mediagenic mayor's foolish endorsement of the misguided Measure A sales tax hike.
It looks like Mahan--way after the fact--has come to agree with us.
The Merc reports that "Mahan says he would not have endorsed Measure A if DA Jeff Rosen hadn’t." And Rosen--who also supported Measure A--is saying he feels "double-crossed" by the county.
Mahan & Rosen's reversal is included in a stunning recap of the deceit and double-dealing that characterized the county's disgraceful Measure A campaign, by Merc op-ed chief Daniel Borenstein.
His thesis: the county fooled Mahan and DA Jeff Rosen into supporting Measure A.
According to Borenstein, the county provided "assurances" to Rosen and Mahan that some Measure A proceeds would go to public safety, and that was enough for the DA and Mayor. Needless to say, the county appears to be reneging on that pledge, and aims to put all Measure A funds towards hospitals and health care.
But let's get real:
Mahan and Rosen surely are experienced enough to know that backroom deals--made outside the gaze of the public and not in writing--are not commitments, and certainly not legally binding. It is ironic that Rosen, as the top legal authority in the county, seems unaware of this fundamental reality.
Everyone understood that this was a general tax--not a special tax--and that the county can spend the proceeds any way they like. To be fair, the county, via its unelected executive (with the Board's blessing), is ending up doing exactly what they campaigned on and said publicly they intended to do with Measure A--which is spending it on hospitals and health care.
This whole "we were for it before we were against it" rigamarole reminds us of that classic scene in Casablanca where corrupt French Police Chief Renault (played by Claude Raines) exclaims, "I'm shocked, shocked to find out there's gambling going on in here," even as a croupier hands him his winnings.
If Mahan and Rosen really mean it when they say they were duped, and are surprised their smoke-filled-room deal wasn't honored, here are some options for them:
They can commit to opposing the next county tax hike, which many predict will come later this year.
They can commit to opposing SJ's next One Big Bailout Bond, likely scheduled for SJ later this year.
They can join or at least support the lawsuit brought by the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association against Measure A.
We predict that none of the above will happen, and residents can thus draw their own conclusions regarding the seriousness of Mahan and Rosen's post hoc remorse.
--CJE for the team in an Opp Now exclusive.
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