Newport Beach City Manager Guilty of a Misdemeanor?

Hmmmm...

Intermixed in the Daily Pilot's story about whether embattled Newport Beach Police Chief John Klein should keep his job, is this interesting tidbit.

"City Ordinance No. 866 requires the chief to be selected from a list of candidates. That list is compiled through an “open” recruitment, meaning a recruitment “not restricted to city employees,” according to the ordinance.

In the March 2 Civil Service Board staff report, and confirmed by a city official, Newport Beach City Manager Homer Bludau recruited Klein from a closed recruitment, meaning it was limited to city employees.

Bludau acknowledged his intentions in a May 2006 board meeting, according to the board minutes."

and during that May 2006 board meeting,

"...he plainly told board members he’d be looking to go along with the “intent” of the ordinance for recruiting the chief, though he wouldn’t follow it."

So according to this, and the Daily Pilot, Newport Beach's City Manager knowingly and intentionally broke his own city's law and according to the Daily Pilot, is

"...apparently is guilty of a misdemeanor?"

Wow.

However...

"No one is suggesting that Bludau should actually be charged with a misdemeanor."

So let me get this straight then...

1. The City of Newport Beach has laws.
2. The City Manager INTENTIONALLY breaks one particular ordinance which has a MAJOR INFLUENCE IN PROTECTING NEWPORT BEACH'S RESIDENTS AND VISITORS.
3. The City Manager should be held to the standards of the law/society by being held accountable for INTENTIONALLY breaking the law. But he's not going to be?
   

Now...if he accidentally broke the law...could there be some slack given to him?

Sure.

But, according to the Daily Pilot article, he knew full well of the ordinance but had NO INTENTION IN FOLLOWING IT.

Wow.

I have a question.

For "normal" folks, it was well known of the discord within the Newport Beach Police Department.

Barbara Venezia wrote about it a couple of times, and was then publicly chastised for them until this latest lawsuit blew wide open.

The Newport Beach Police Union even circulated documents in 2006 indicating that they were losing Police Officers to other Police Departments (higher paying), but surprisingly were also losing Police Officers who were going BACK TO THE LAPD AND BACK TO THE ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, many times for LESS PAY than what Newport Beach was offering.

So pay wasn't an issue for those officers.

Morale was.

and if I knew about these "issues" within the Newport Beach Police Department, you'd better be sure that our City Manager knew about those issues and concerns.

So why would Homer Bludau completely ignore these morale issues and not even bother making an effort to fix it by looking outside of the Newport Beach Police Department management for their new Chief?

The City of Newport Beach will be paying out $1.2 million bucks based upon lapses in the Department's morale...why should the City Manager have to worry about fixing it.

He's retiring soon.

Won't have to worry about the consequences of him ignoring the City's laws.

Won't have to worry about John Wayne airport (remember this quote from the LA Times, "My nervousness will start Jan. 1, 2016, when the agreement goes away...")

Won't have to worry about paying for the morale lapses in the City he manages...

Now...I'm sure the consequences of this misdemeanor offense is minimal, if any at all, but PLEASE, make him accountable to intentionally breaking the law and set that example that

NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW!

...not even our City Manager.