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Snap Judgment: Stockton’s new City Manager

Over my hiatus from hyper connectivity, I realized one thing. My life was unbalanced. I would hamper my productivity by over using the tool of the moment. I wasn’t producing anything but a poor public perception of my cynicism. One of the many things that I vowed to change was to gain a focus. So with that, I have to find some sort of structure for my musings if I am to maintain a balance. Because even the Greek god Zeus had issues with balancing chaos, so I shouldn’t feel too bad of my inadequacy. (just saw Clash of the Titans in the theatre)

The first piece of the aforementioned structure that I am implementing in my repertoire is a feature called snap judgment. Here I will take a topic that has consumed my thoughts and pick my top five or bottom five (depends on my mood) opinions of the issue, and write short explanations supporting my stance. So here goes snap judgment #2*

Stockton’s new City Manager Bob Deis

When I grabbed this morning’s Stockton Record at my local Starbucks (see Ian) I became uncharacteristically giddy. They announced the new City Manager that all of us politic fan boy’s have been consumed with. Stockton’s leadership pulled an Apple and shrouded the entire process in secrecy, hence creating a frenzy of interest among the interested. The entire process is rife with events that rival those of an M. Night Shamalan WTF movie ending. Secret meetings, car switching, venue diversion and strict contracts of confidentiality. In that regard I was cynical, but in retrospect I give a golf clap to the leadership for using murky ethics to bring about awareness.

The City Manager is basically the boss in our current political structure. Since our Mayor basically presides over the Council meetings and takes pictures reading to kids, which is not a knock to Mayor Johnston. But literally she really only presides over the demigods that create policy from on high. The City Manager has to make their wishes come true. He is akin to the General in the field working among the peasants, taking and carrying out orders from the idealistic and disconnected policy makers. He basically has the shittiest job in the City. One of the only jobs that actually has the requisite of being a leader. It’s basically a job that you don’t want to give to the guy that everyone likes, because he probably isn’t a leader. Which leads me into my list.

1. Deis’ departure from his last position was applauded by labor groups.

This is my favorite thing about the guy. Apparently he has the balls to stand up to the street gangs that wrap themselves in the union collective bargaining agreement. Let’s face it, if our largest industry was the industry of government, innovation is basically strangled and left for our City morgue to deal with the remains. Government jobs should not offer the most lucrative retirement. It should be fair, because truthfully City employees are human and deserve a decent existence, but the reward for choosing to become a member of the machine hence abandoning the ranks of private commerce should not be greater than can be justified. What I am saying is that a person that basically served their community should not be able to retire with full pay at 50ish years old. Their job was beneficial to the community, but not so much to justify that much of an outlay of money. I am excited to see what Deis will bring to the bargaining table when our favorite unions, the Police and Fire, come to the table. Something tells me that it will be entertaining as they weren’t even represented during his hiring or interview process. Maybe the City’s largest gangs will finally be forced to play fair.

2. He is 54 and still in labor’s face

Strange thing to pumped up about, right? Well not really. You see it is a good age for a manager of that level. He has gotten out of his “I need to prove myself to the world because I am 30 and ambitious” age. He leveled up and surpassed the “40 year old burn out bureaucrat that is bought and sold to the man” test of endurance. He is entering the bureaucratic twilight and he is still kicking and punching. Only now with more pointed accuracy as he is still vying for top positions such as the City Manager in places such as America’s most miserable City. A City that has a history of possessing gigantic pussies that get elected and basically roll over to have their bellies scratched by soulless developers and street gangs like the Police and Fire unions. I say that if he is still lighting a fire under people’s asses in his mid-fifties where most guys in their mid-fifties are more worried about retirement and finally getting that red corvette. It is likely that he is not going to stop when our labor officials attempt to further decimate the general fund.

3. He is married

This is just a personal issue for me. It is my belief that married people are more stable. We are less likely to hire a raging alcoholic if we hire a married guy than if we hired a single guy. Marriage adds a sense of stability in life. I will not be surprised at the pot shots that I will endure from my single friends for this view, but they simply will not understand. Now his marital status is not a shoe in. For all I know he could be a power mongering dick head that has a shitty marriage full of lies and deceit. But to his credit he did tour Stockton with his wife and give the obligatory, “We are very impressed with the feel of the City” felatio to the press. I mean we are going to pay this guy handsomely to come and play in our current playground built by spendthrifts drunk on property tax revenue. So the fact that he embellished his Yelp review of Stockton is not scoffed at. At least Deis was playing the family man card, with wife in tow. We just have to make sure that we keep the desperate housewives at bay inside of our walls. We don’t want another Mark Lewis fiasco.

4. He left his last job

Deis isn’t all sugar plums and gum drops. The fact that he left his last job because the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors was still reeling politically from new members does strike a morsel of fear into my heart. I guess I would have to know how bad it was. It could have been the equivalent attempting to force a square shaped block through a round hole. I really don’t know, but I do know that he threw his hands up and walked. I kind of have a respect for that because maybe he is just goal oriented and the elected leadership didn’t like the ties that he donned, so they hatched a plan to discredit him through inaction. But still smells a hint like a quitter. This theory doesn’t sound too out of line, because we all know that elected officials are really just glorified pageant winners. They are usually self important and so far removed from the process, that they can’t understand why everyone isn’t just getting along and play together. So I guess my fear is really based in the fact that our elected officials have a history of infidelity regarding bed fellows. They preach and pander to the constituents but turn tricks for the Police and Fire unions. I hope this guy has the endurance of Lance Armstrong.

5. He is a cancer survivor

The fact that he wears a Live Strong bracelet is a little reassurance that his endurance is similar to Lance’s. Deis received a death sentence, but decided rather than be a pussy and succumb to the prognosis, he kicked its ass. It is so impressive to see a cancer survivor crush it. It’s like watching a master of their craft create. It is the ultimate live in the buff attitude. He understands life’s fragility. Death officially knocked on his door and Deis kicked him in the nuts. So we can have confidence that labor contract negotiations will not shake him. Contract negotiations pale in the comparison of mortality. His technique on the battlefield of life personifies his trait of strength. I love strong leaders.

So that is my snap judgment. Now here’s to hoping our short bus politics won’t scare him away.
* (first was the Masters site, I kind of used it as a beta)