“From city halls to county courthouses, from the State house to the White House – bureaucrats control our lives.  Public servants who often try to become our masters.  People whose salaries we pay, but what goods and services do we get?  On Sierra Wave’s Bureaucrat Beat, we’ll report what they’re up to.”

Former Mammoth Town Manager Marianna Marysheva-Martinez.

Former Mammoth Town Manager Marianna Marysheva-Martinez.

So, what ever became of Triple  M?  That’s Marianna Marysheva-Martinez, the former Town Manager of Mammoth Lakes.  According to the internet, she is now a Managing Director at FTI Consulting in Los Angeles. The website says she’s recognized as “an expert in a wide range of municipal government areas….”  That’s for sure.  She’s sharp and likely guided Mammoth Lakes on the razor’s edge around bankruptcy.  We in the Bureaucrat Beat Newsroom thought she would land on her feet after her swift exit from Mammoth.

So, is anyone else going to run for Mammoth Town Council?  Sounds like the current councilmen would rather not.  One of the current candidates, Joe Parrino, displayed his brand of public relations when he emailed the newsroom to say he would sue us if we deleted his website comments.  Joe emailed me to say he wasn’t threatening suit, just a claim against us for discrimination.  OK.  We also heard Kevin Green is back in Mammoth and trying to remake himself as a politician.

The question inquiring minds have posed – did LA City Councilman Tom LaBonge set out to tick people off?  At the recent Standing Committee meeting in Inyo, he bragged about a wetland created in the middle of LA, showed around his photographic calendar that featured a picture of the Mulholland fountain, boasted of programs to help LA youth while he broke a promise to Inyo’s high school farm, and generally found ways to pull Inyo’s chain.  We have to remember the people who come here don’t feel they owe their allegiance to the Owens Valley.  La Bonge was asked in a 2012 interview what day in LA’s history he would like to return to.  He picked the day DWP’s Mulholland turned on the spigot of Owens Valley water and said, “There it is.  Take it.”  Need we say more?

News flash to Mono County.  State Government Code established many years ago a number of rules for government officials who run for office. The Legislature saw public concern over undue influence by officials as a statewide issue.  The goal was,as the law firm of Burke, Williams and Sorenson put it, that taxpayers who fund local governmental entities are “entitled to a fair and unbiased election process free of the undue influence possible when public officers or employees use their official positions to promote specific political goals.”

Since the ICARE board has rightfully put off this year’s fundraising dinner to focus on a new animal shelter, why not give what you would have from the dinner to the shelter fund?

Paul Dostie and his cadaver dog Buster went back to Tarawa last month to help search for long-buried Marines.  Buster also played a role in the deep, dark mystery of the Black Dahlia. The

Paul Dostie and Buster

Paul Dostie and Buster

son of the major suspect in that 1947 murder is trying to prove his physician father did it! Buster “alerted” to the scent of human decomposition near the home of the doctor. The son is retired LAPD officer Steve Hodel.  Soil analysis reports have gone to the current LAPD.

Like the satirical approach to news?  Then stay tuned on April 27th for John Oliver’s new HBO series called “Last week tonight with John Oliver”.  We in the Bureaucrat Beat Newsroom like the humorous take on our sometimes hard to hear political news.  Main stream news reporters frequently fail to ask the hard questions.  Comics can just say it.

And Capitol One has said they might drop by for tea.  According to LA Times columnist David Lazarus, Capitol One’s new contract updates say they can come to your house or office to contact you. And, they can change their caller ID to a phony number so you’ll pick up the phone.  What??? And, when they ring the door bell, it won’t be Alec Baldwin or Samuel Jackson waiting to chit chat.

With that, this is Benett Kessler, signing off for Bureaucrat Beat where we await your word on our lives in the Eastern Sierra and beyond.

 

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