"I Did Not Call You Crazy" and Some Other Bullshit

Ojai City Council Series Part III

said The Councilwoman F when I returned to city hall to address what had happened during my last time there. Little did I know that I would be walking into what felt like something of a coup as The Name Redacted with the help of his posse of supporters rose from the ashes of his removal due to threats of a lawsuit and “fuzzy language in the motion to remove him”, some would say, although we all knew the intent, including our new city manager who, after watching the last meeting, drafted a “thank you for serving and you are removed” letter to The Name Redacted. The outcome is that he is for now still on our city planning commission.

(This is the third in a series. If you missed them, you can read Part I Here and Part II Here)

The council voted 3-2 to start the process all over again. If they decide to. And the cis-gendered heterosexual white man is once again vindicated. Hallelujah! They must be protected at all costs, regardless of what this does to the many who speak to their abusive behavior and tactics. (I know, I know, “not all men!” I am talking about patriarchal constructs here and the damage we all carry from bearing the weight of a lopsided power game). However, if you feel the need to shout, “Not all men!” when we begin to talk about the devastation the patriarchy has wrought, perhaps it would be helpful for you to look at your own misogyny, internalized or otherwise.

Most of the people who were originally in attendance the last time in support of removing The Name Redacted were not there. I got a sinking feeling in my gut when I realized Jon and I were two of very few and were surrounded by a larger crowd all showing up to reinstate the white privileged cisgender heterosexual male who was in the process of weaponizing his pretend victimhood against our female mayor.

His actions will catch up to him, of this I have no doubt. We are not the first community The Name Redacted has tried to monopolize and manipulate. He demonstrated last night so clearly why he needs to go, as he threatened an expensive lawsuit against the city, denied making a misogynistic statement, and cried foul about his first amendment rights, (the city lawyer, always present and on the dais at the meetings quoted precedent to refute those claims), and took up another two hours of the council’s time on top of the 5 hours during the prior session.

I signed up to make a general public comment, meaning my comment was not related to anything on the agenda. General public comments are given during the first 30 minutes of the meeting, and comments related to items on the agenda are given prior to each specific agenda item being discussed for a vote.

I was called up right after The ExCouncilman W gave his public comment about a planned park in my neighborhood. Again I spent some time crafting a statement, and I had it in my hand as I walked up. Already I had sat through a number of comments singing The Name Redacted’s praises. Earlier in the day The Ojai Valley News (a big fan of The Name Redacted) and partly owned by Fox Sports’ own Eric Shanks, who lives in the Ojai Valley, had run an opinion piece entitled “Women for The Name Redacted to remain on the Ojai Planning Commission” (you can guess the content) and was signed by a list of female names including The Councilwoman F and The Councilwoman R, raising conflict-of-interest eyebrows. It was suggested by a community member that they should recuse themselves from further votes about him. I think they will not do this.

When I was called on, stepped up to the lectern, and looked at the faces of these people I know, some of whom I have known for many years, I put my written statement down and just spoke about how nerve-wracking it feels to stand at the lectern and speak to them, how I took time and energy to put together what I had come in to say the last time I was there, and that the response I received from The Councilwoman F and The Councilwoman R was bullying, disrespectful, and belittling. I spoke to the fact that other members of the community witnessing my treatment at the lectern are more likely to be afraid to come forward and speak about the things that are meaningful to them if the expectation is that they will experience abusive behavior from the council as well.

I then spoke specifically about the use of the word “crazy” and how it is a form of ableism to use it in the way it was used. I paraphrased this statement which I pulled from the internet blog “The Rolling Explorer”.

“Crazy has a long, historic connection with mental illness. Crazy is frequently used to discredit others and essentially gaslight them into thinking that they are burdensome in some way. Regardless of intention, anytime you use the word crazy to describe another human being you are attempting to diagnose that person, which is inherently ableist. This action feeds into the stigmatization of mental illness and further isolates those who do have severe mental health conditions."

I said to The Councilwoman F - “I have known you a long time, and to hear you call me crazy when I stepped away hurt. It hurt.”

The Councilwoman F then said, “May I please say that I did not call you crazy.” destroying her opportunity to publicly apologize to me and the other members of our community she was referring to.

“It. Is. On. Video!” I replied as she then cut me off.

“I did not….” she started, and then Mayor Stix interrupted which The Councilwoman F ignored and proceeded with, “I did not direct that at you, and I want the public to know that I did not direct what I said at you.”

There you have it, Public. She called me crazy. It’s on video. But she wants it on the record that she did not. Later at home, Jon said I could have said, “Okay, if you were not calling me crazy, then who exactly were you referring to?” In the heat of the moment, I was not quick enough, I was “Costanza-ed” (Seinfeld, S8 E13, The Comeback, it has its own Wikipedia page), but it would have been so rewarding to make her name names.

I started to speak again and The Councilwoman F interjected. At this point, Mayor Stix banged her gavel and shut The Councilwoman F down with the reminder that during general comment the council is not to speak, (It’s actually illegal for them to comment on items that are not on the agenda, and the abusive practices of some of these people were certainly not on that night’s agenda), and asked me if I would like to finish my comment.

And again, like the last time I was there, I had reached my limit. There is nothing like someone lying to my face that triggers my anger.

“Yeah, I do,” I replied to the mayor. I turned my head back to The Councilwoman F and said, with my voice raised a bit more loudly and speaking more assertively, “As I stepped away you said, ‘These people are crazy’, immediately after I spoke!”

I then addressed The Councilwoman R, “You did this heart chakra clearing thing (miming it), and then played with your mirror to redirect the energy or whatever you did, which felt completely inappropriate to me. That’s inappropriate.”

Then my voice got even louder, “You work for the community! You are elected officials, and you can be removed just as easily as you were elected into your positions, and if you treat the community this way, you’re not going to hold your seats!” and the timer went off.

There were a couple more general comments and then the council began to address the agenda items. At the beginning of the meeting The Councilwoman F had
re-agendized item D, which was the acceptance of the minutes from the prior meeting into the record, to the front of the agenda. Apparently, The Name Redacted’s Posse knew this would be happening and none of the rest of the community seemed to as no one else was there to speak in support of accepting the minutes as stated (this is all about the difference between the word “removed” and the phrase “let him step down”). Even though the city attorney and the new city manager both said that minutes are not a direct transcription of what was said, they are a summary, and clearly, the underlying intent was for removal, we were all going to have to hear them argue about what they meant, with The Councilwomen F & R leading the charge.

And there sat Councilwoman Lang, in between our two warring factions on the council, Mayor Stix and Councilman Whitman vs The Councilwomen F & R. Members of The Posse including The Name Redacted repeatedly pressured and manipulated Councilwoman Lang to change her vote under the guise of The Name Redacted being unjustly accused.

The Name Redacted even referenced the fact that he and Councilwoman Lang had recently met in person. I got the “uh-oh feeling” when he said it. I knew right then what was about to happen.

It came down to a motion to accept the minutes as they were with the understanding that the word “remove” would remain. Before a vote could proceed a substitute motion was called for by The Councilwoman F and seconded by The Councilwoman R which stated, “To not adopt the minutes as received by Council on the agenda packet and to start over with a staff report (where The Name Redacted is concerned)”. So, basically, to scrap the entirety of what had happened and start all over. If they decided to.

At some point, Mayor Stix reminded everyone there as a matter of record that a commissioner can be removed by the council for any reason at any time. (I am paraphrasing her statement here).

A vote was called and even though earlier in the meeting Councilwoman Lang had said that her ultimate intent in the last vote was removal if he would not willingly step down and that she did not want to go through all of this again or ask the community to go through all of this again, referencing me and my statement specifically, she did the opposite of what I and many of the speakers at the last meeting wanted/intended and voted “yes” to the motion to start over.

Immediately after the vote, The Name Redacted got out of his chair and walked to the back of the room right toward where we were seated, grinning and fist bumping and high-fiving as he did so as if he had won the golden ticket (it’s a volunteer position, the planning commission, but if you’re trying to take over a community and someday rise to a position of greater power, it certainly would not look good on your resume to have been fired from a volunteer job. He’d already lost his bid for schoolboard here). I stood up and pushed my way disgustedly past him, and Jon and I left as the meeting reconvened.

There you have it, the white man lives to see another day. Long live the white privileged cisgender heterosexual men and F you to the rest of us, especially those identifying as female.

Perhaps once Venus goes direct in early September another change will occur. Let’s Go, Venus!

I thought I had finished this piece, but I just read that Sinéad O'Connor died. In honor of her bravery and the fact that this action by her was weaponized against her by the patriarchal powers that be were, I give you this.

From the BBC:
”In 1992, one of the most notable events of her career took place when she ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul II on the US TV show Saturday Night Live, where she was the invited performer.

Following an acapella performance of Bob Marley's War, she looked at the camera and said "fight the real enemy", a protest against the Catholic Church.

Her action resulted in her being banned for life by broadcaster NBC and protests against her in the US, which saw copies of her records destroyed in New York's Times Square.

"I'm not sorry I did it. It was brilliant," she said in an interview with the New York Times in 2021.”

Fly free, Sinéad. You gave us so much of your beauty and light.

Read Part IV of my City Council Series Here