Let me state that it was — and is — not my intent to make this blog a ‘he said-she said’ sort of thing.
However, last night candidate Steve Danon commented to me that he is "100 percent in" the race in 2012, whether incumbent 3rd District San Diego County Supervisor Pam Slater-Price runs for a sixth term or not, and that he was misunderstood if the Slater-Price folks believed him to say otherwise. (You may want to read that post and the couple of linked prior ones as a primer.)
In fairness to John Weil, chief of staff to Slater-Price, he attempted to post the following comment as a response to last night’s blog entry, but to no avail, so here it is…
Mr. Jantz:
I did not ‘misunderstand’ Steve Danon. He told me twice that he will not run against Vice Chairwoman Pam Slater-Price. He made it very clear. He can assert otherwise all he wants. However, I have a witness.
If Danon wants to manipulate the English language to break a promise, that is too bad. His actions are an early example of what the public can expect from someone who is in it for the political game rather than the important work of county government.
The Vice Chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors has more important things to do to serve the public and do her job rather than waste time listening to the squeaky, mouse-like sound of freshly polished shoes doing a political back-pedal.
I need to get back to work.
John C. Weil
Chief of Staff,
Vice Chairwoman Pam Slater-Price
As a note, not wanting to turn my FR entries into the intended comments section below each post; please use that section as you see fit (within reason), knowing that you must first be a registered user to do so.
July 17th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Wow – someone has certainly hit a nerve here. John “Mr Defensive” Weil is clearly over-reacting which says one of two things – either one – Sup. Price is VERY concerned about a potential candidacy from Danon or b) and something that is well known in San Diego circles – John has ambitions to run for the seat once Pam does retire and is now caught in a Catch-22 since news of Danon’s candidacy has become widespread – he’s essentially called their bluff. Pam is certainly not prepared to announce her retirement yet – and for her chief of staff’s sake, it would have made sense for her to wait as long as possible and as close to the filing date as possible to make such an announcement so that no other viable candidates could emerge – John could file and run virtually unopposed. Now, Danon has thrown a huge wrench into that plan. Rather than engage Danon in this ridiculous ‘tit for tat’ – the equivalent of an adolescent tantrum, Weil should instead relax and sit tight – instead, he is attacking Danon and doing a major dis-service to his boss because the only reason you attack someone this soon and with this much venom is if they pose a threat.