In a recent post at CE News, a resident submitted a letter suggesting Mayor Bailey donate his ~$25K of leftover campaign funds to Coronado Schools Foundation. Donations to charities are a permissible use of leftover campaign funds. In fact, back in 2018, the mayor's hit squad, in an effort to smear Councilman Sandke, sent anonymous letters to local journalists and even me as admin of a local Facebook group expressing outrage that Councilman Sandke had not donated $500 of leftover campaign funds to charity.
As Mayor Bailey has almost 50 times the amount of leftover campaign funds Sandke had, a suggestion that Bailey donate these funds to charity seems exceedingly reasonable under these circumstances, particularly as Bailey is running unopposed for mayor. Nonetheless, the resident who submitted the letter to CE News had her character attacked for making this suggestion, with a staunch supporter of the mayor calling her a "public enemy" of the mayor. According to Merriam-Webster, a "public enemy" is "one that constitutes a menace to society." Is this resident really a menace to society for suggesting the mayor donate his leftover campaign funds to our schools? This begs the question - who is the real public enemy in Coronado? The answer, as this piece suggests, is that "it depends"... it depends on your point of view, who you speak with, and who you believe. The mayor and his hit squad will have you believe the public enemy is the secret Facebook group Coronado Electorate (CE), it's administrator, and its members. CE was created in part to serve as an interface between elected representatives and their constituents. However, as CE was designed to address local civic topics, its members often ask tough questions of their elected officials... questions that Mayor Bailey could not answer and did not want addressed, so he voluntarily left CE in 2018, and has since gone, along with his hit squad, on a multi-year ongoing character assassination against CE, its administrator, and its members. But who are CE's members? CE is a vetted group comprised of 1,300+ Coronado residents, a majority of City Council, a majority of CUSD's governing board, many former elected officials and 2020 candidates for local offices, etc. CE is a well represented cross section of our community. Yet, Mayor Bailey and his hit squad will have you believe this cross section of our community is public enemy #1. I can tell you as the admin for CE, I have been subject to ongoing character assassinations from the mayor and his hit squad for many years, and it is exhausting for me and my family... so much that I have stopped posting political content to social media, and I am no longer actively moderating CE. With regard to the question "who is the public enemy" in Coronado, you might get a very different response from the CE admin and many of its members. So, ultimately, who the public enemy is in Coronado depends on who you speak with, and who you believe.
Daron A. Case, Esq.
Resident letters submitted to Coronado Electorate News & Commentary (CEN&C) are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CEN&C. Submit letters to CoronadoElectorate@gmail.com