When scanning political news stories from around California this morning, as I do each day, from time to time I come across something, or someone, worthy of special note, this time out the San Bernardino County Sun…
The City of Colton has about 175,000 residents, and you can find it on a map by sticking a pin right at the intersections of the 10 and 215 freeways.
Once upon a time Colton was the home of famous wild west frontiersman Wyatt Earp. But for those who follow politics, I guess it is notable that in recent years, several members of the City Council have left office in scandals, and that the Mayor of this city, Kelly Chastain, is facing a recall on this June’s ballot.
None of that, however is what drew my attention to this city. It was an article referencing destroyed e-mails in city government, which led me to read further down where I got to what I thought was the 
best part of the story — apparently the City Manager, Darryl Parrish and the Assistant City Manager, Mark Nuaimi (pictured), have a lot of pithy opinions about the people in their city… At least one can assume from just a couple of their e-mails that made the story… Parrish refers on one e-mail to employees of the city’s Chamber of Commerce as "chamber monkeys" and Nuaimi, in reference to some local residents who oppose a bike path, referred to them as "urban idiots" – nice.
Apparently the city has brought in a consultant to help, "…establish a standard set of ethics policies and communications protocols that will foster public trust and quell some long-standing animosity…" — oh yeah with a five figure price tag!
I thought I would "Google" these two e-mail clowns just to see if there was more… Guess what I found out… You aren’t going to believe this… Mr. "Urban Idiots" is the MAYOR of another local city! That’s right, he is elected Mayor of Fontana!
The first two items I came across while sifting through "Mark Nuaimi" online are worthy of mentioning. The first is that that last December, the Mayor "abstained" while three of his colleagues voted him a pay raise (so noble of him) — more than doubling the stipend that he receives for being in his elected job. Oh, but wait, isn’t he have a full time job with the other city? Oh, well. If he had concerns that raising salaries during tough economic times for California (massive state budget shortfalls and all), he apparently forgot to bring those up…
The other item was a Letter to the Editor that Nuaimi had in the San Bernardino County Sun, where he says thusly of himself, "I’m a pretty unreasonable person. Pigheaded, some might even say." (Don’t take my word for it, read it here.)
The context is that apparently Nuaimi is in some sort of "battle" with the folks at WalMart. I guess he doesn’t like the idea of them building a store on their own property in "his" city. His ending message for the property owners: "Take a gorilla-size Q-tip from aisle 55, clean out your ears, and re-watch the numerous council meetings and State of the City addresses where the vision for Fontana has been presented."
Yes, people of Fontana, this is the rhetoric coming from your Mayor. Aren’t you proud?
Yes, people of Colton, this is the rhetoric coming from your Assistant City Manager, Aren’t you proud?
Of course, you have to wonder what kinds of conflicts of interest arise when you are the Mayor of one city, and just a few miles away you are a senior manager for another. (Like what if the Council in Colton wanted to reach out to WalMart, for example. I suspect they wouldn’t want to send Mr. "Gorilla-size Q-Tip" would they?
I think I will spend more time looking into the hubris-exhibiting, conflict-laden, citizen-insulting Mr. Nuaimi. You never know what will turn up (if you have any intel, feel free to pass it along).
In the meantime, I am going to drop a phone call onto an old friend of mine from High School days, Janice Rutherford (she and I were both involved with the Junior Statesmen of America debate society back in those days). I just realized that she serves on the Fontana City Council with Mr. Nuaimi (by the way, she voted "no" on that pay raise). I think I’ll advise her NOT to e-mail with Nuaimi, whether in his capacity as her city’s Mayor, or in his position as Assistant City Manager for the nearby city of Colton.
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