Dear Editor: Once again, the whole tawdry City Hall
“scandal” has all but faded into memory, and once again, the
only one keeping it alive is Bruce Tichinin, the self-proclaimed
victim in the whole scenario.
Dear Editor:
Once again, the whole tawdry City Hall “scandal” has all but faded into memory, and once again, the only one keeping it alive is Bruce Tichinin, the self-proclaimed victim in the whole scenario.
What Bruce forgets on a semi-regular basis is:
1. He’s the one who hired a sleazy “private eye” who hired a Santa Cruz skateboard thug to do “surveillance” that appears to have included an attempted frame-up of the city manager. This clumsy-junior-high-Hardy-Boys-on-Ritalin escapade is what led to the city investigation that discredited him in the first place.
- He’s the one who insisted on perpetuating a sleazy “beauty shop” rumor about our city manager and former city attorney despite no proof, solely to promote his own agenda of hillside development. (Anyone besides me remember when Bruce was a slow-growth advocate? Co-author of Measure P? Anyone?)
3. He’s the one who has consistently refused to let the matter drop through repeated articles to this paper proclaiming his non-culpability. (This would likely have been forgotten six months ago otherwise.)
4. He’s already cost the city a truckload of money settling employment issues that would never have happened but for him.
5. He’s mainly responsible for the loss of a highly effective city attorney.
6. He’s been the main cause of publicly dragging the city manager and former city attorney through the mud with no proof other than the aforementioned “beauty shop” rumors. (Whose main promulgators, at least in the press, seemed to be two disgraced, re-called, former council members from years gone by.)
7. His (in my opinion) lack of professionalism and common sense caused a city council member (Hedy Chang) to step down at the end of her term. (Hedy, by the way, was the poster child for dignity and responsibility, and stepped down in a gracious and dignified manor. I offer her my utmost respect and wish her well in her new position with the state, which she is well suited for.) Bruce could take a page or two from Hedy’s book of ethics as far as I’m concerned.
8. In general, people are way smarter than he gives them credit for. (A common lawyerly failing, in my humble opinion.)
In summary, the only lasting harm I see being done to Bruce Tichinin’s reputation is being done by Bruce himself. But if, as he says, he’d drop his suit against the city in exchange for a simple apology…Well, then, the city should apologize.
I think the apology should be something along the line of: “We are sorry that Bruce is such a self-centered horse’s behind that he can’t understand the damage he has done. However, since it appears that it’s all about Bruce, we heartily apologize for any damage done to Bruce’s inflated self-image.”
In closing: Sheesh!
Steve Harkness, Morgan Hill
