AnonymousBy Mark Mansfield
[Monday] night’s Solvang Council meeting was entertaining to say the least. Ironically it ran like a clock work movie script with a predictable ending.
Everyone knew the Mayor of Solvang was going to be the deciding vote, and most everyone knew he would vote “in support” of the controversial Pride banners that have made not only local and national news, but also international news recently. This was a given all along. It’s called “save face” in spite of their faces.
Also predictable were the responses from ALL five council members. The two women on the board held their collective ground in supporting the banner proposal and the two men on the board held their collective ‘d*cks’ against the banner proposal, with the Honorable Mayor having the honorable honor of becoming everyone’s honorable hero. One male member (ironically) went as far as to state “be careful what you ask for” like it was some sort of warning that next up after the Pride banners will be the NRA’s banners or White Nationalist banners or ‘God forbid’ Trump rally MAGA banners.
Sadly we should have been more careful as to who and how, we the voters, allow our public servants to add ‘non-elected’ and ‘election-defeated’ people to City councils. Fortunately we, the people, have an opportunity to rid our council of its most vocal bigot sooner than later.
It was brought up very obviously in the meeting [Monday] night that Robert Clarke has been guilty of clear ethics violations. Of course also stated at the meeting by Mr. Clarke was his proclamation of just how nice and kind a person he thinks he is, minus the quips to his minions in his private emails and texts of citizens being ‘Clowns,’ ‘A**holes,’ and ‘Woke Poison.’ But then again the poor guy thinks he’s being picked on, so I’m sure his new strategy will be that of a martyr.
And lets hope there’s no more “evil do-ers” allegedly secretly going through his (and allegedly a few of his minions) garbage cans, and the alleged ‘car tailing’ and ‘peeping tom’ undercover activity going on by those very same “evil do-ers” (rolls eyes). Of course if pathological lying works for Mr. Trump, why wouldn’t it work for Mr. Clarke, right?
It will be interesting to hear about the inevitable Ethics Violation inquiries that surely will be in store for Mr. Clarke, and coming to your local news organizations soon enough. It would also be interesting to know just how much money Mr. Clarke will be donating to his favorite ‘nationally recognized Pride hate group’ with his pledge of $10 per “butt-hurt speaker” comment he got last night. (There were a lot).
Bottom line is this little tourist town of Solvang and it’s little town City Council has no place for bigoted people to be in positions of public service… Ever!
Op-Ed’s are written by community members, not representatives of edhat. The views and opinions expressed in Op-Ed articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of edhat. [Do you have an opinion on something local? Share it with us at info@edhat.com.]
Indeed!
Mark – Great piece! Love the writing style too. It’s long past time we allow people like Clarke to make decisions on behalf of a community.
Why do you care what I like? Find something else to do today pal.
“two men on the board held their collective ‘d*cks’ against the banner proposal” and if the writer referenced a women holding their private parts would you still “love the writing style”.
whataboutwhataboutwhatabout
“‘Clowns,’ ‘A**holes,’ and ‘Woke Poison.”
In what alternate universe is it okay to appoint a councilmember who lost the most recent election for their position? What’s the point of even voting? I blame Mark Infanti more than Robert Clarke, the latter is too ignorant to hold public office but Infanti went against the clear will of his constituents and should know better. Solvang deserves better than this trashy embarrassing nonsense.
If I understand correctly, he lost a district seat and was appointed to the last at-large seat.
The council was at loggerheads.
Obviously, Clarke was NOT worth $40k worth of bad press and bad blood.
Thanks again to the poster who shared this link:
https://santamariatimes.com/news/local/divided-solvang-council-appoints-robert-clarke-to-at-large-seat-vacated-by-infanti/article_f0a9e51c-fbf8-50f4-ae5b-6ce6e9a09fac.html
It sounds like the article was written by a juvenile. Very unprofessional and offensive.
Replace “by” with “about” and your comment is accurate.
Is there a petition to recall him (I realize he was appointed, but believe the same tool can be used to replace him), or can he be removed by another mechanism?
What a nasty OP Ed .
This is clearly just a political power grab. I respect Ed Hat less for allowing this to be published because of the language and put downs, so aggressively hateful
And extremely hypocritical.
Yes, the language used by Clarke about anyone who disagrees with him and his support for such a hateful organization are absolutely disgusting.
Lorax – Based on your deleted comment, you should crawl back to the sewer from whence you came. What an odious bit of bigotry.
Thank you for the Op-Ed.
Mark, you lose people when you post an Op-Ed and write about “holding collective dicks”…. not helping your cause. Just leave that out.
If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all
CONSERVATIVESB – what expression are you being denied?
So now maybe I can just hang whatever I want reguardless of who it offends. It’s my belief so you have to agree with me or your in the wrong. I think all flags or anything that decides this country more each day should be banned then all the Karen’s would shut up.
“So now maybe I can just hang whatever I want reguardless of who it offends.”
No, the city council voted to hang the flags. And yes, hanging pride flags can be done “reguardless (sic)” of whether it offends bigots.
“It’s my belief so you have to agree with me or your in the wrong.”
That is indeed your position–if gay representation offends you personally then the city is in the wrong for hanging pride flags.
“I think all flags or anything that decides this country more each day should be banned then all the Karen’s would shut up.”
I think you should try to be coherent. The “decision” (i.e., division) is coming from the bigots who whine about being offended by the very existence of other people–that’s exactly what Karenism is about.
MEBK – go for it. Sad thing is, you’re implying that people are offended by rainbow flags. Why would you be offended by the way someone is born? Hang your flags high, but just know the difference between choice and something you’re born with. I hope you enjoy your flag day!
@Meb, you can! You can hang whatever confederate, don’t tread on me, trump, or KKK flags you want in or on your own home. Freedom of Speech. And there are plenty of countries more in line with your thinking: Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela. Have your pick!
This flag stuff is stupid. How about American Flags only!
“This flag stuff is stupid. How about American Flags only!” – but you just said flag stuff is stupid… lol
You don’t see how banning all flags but our nation’s flag would be a little, uh how do you say, um….. Third Reichy? A little Soviety? Maybe a tad third world dictatorshipy?
1682609414
OMFG you make assumptions not even knowing me. If you did know me you would know what you said is farthest from the truth. This is a big problem on this site. FYI I was thinking more on the line of Mickey Mouse, National hot dog day, Valentine’s Day. So please quit labeling people just to get everyone upset. But if people want to hang those flags they should be able to if that’s what they believe. What’s good for the goose…..
They have Hot Dog Day flags? Cool!