Mailbag: Not sold on mayor's workload

January 12, 2011

I'm referring to the article in the Jan. 6 issue of the Independent ("Mayor could increase stipend") that details Mayor Joe Carchio adding more job responsibilities to his agenda than a world-class spinner of plates on poles could handle…even if they had a dozen sets of hands.

Carchio states, "If you see me on a lot of boards, it's because I have a lot of time." Carchio also states that "my main concern is that the city of Huntington Beach is well represented." Carchio may indeed "have a lot of time"; however, it is absolutely impossible for one person to even remotely devote equal attention to 24 committee positions and be a mayor, too, unless they've had a computer installed in their brain. Carchio's claim that his "main concern is that the city of Huntington Beach is well represented," is a myth and fantasy that only exists in Carchio's vivid imagination.

Carchio can best serve the citizens of Huntington Beach and Orange County by concentrating his attention and focus on just a few committee positions, rather than spreading himself thinner than a sheet of paper.

With summer just six months away, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Carchio is in training to add two more positions to his agenda – becoming a lifeguard and heading up the nightly trash pick-up at the beach.

With the ink still wet regarding the stories about the politicians in Bell lining their pockets with "committee cash," in my opinion, Carchio is several giant steps from living in reality. Where will the checks and balances come from to make sure that Carchio isn't paid for meetings that do not take place, or last less than two minutes? Or is Carchio heading up that committee, too?

A precedent must be put into place – no politician should be allowed to serve on more than a set number of committees. That will serve the citizens of Huntington Beach and Orange County best.

Howard George

Huntington Beach

Is Bell tolling in Surf City?

Joe Carchio is not the mayor of Huntington Beach taxpayers ("Mayor could increase stipend," Jan. 6). He is the mayor of the special interests and is demonstrating his arrogance by appointing himself to four boards that pay him to attend. Now when two paying boards meet at the same time, does the mayor of special interests claim two paychecks?

Where are the checks and balances in government? Who audits the payments and attendance? Is the city of Bell beginning to clang?

Milt Dardis

Huntington Beach

Two 'top stories' that weren't

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