Where Credit's Due?

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One just has to smile at the New Times and its efforts to beat up on the Tribune for taking credit where it wasn't earned. Talk about the pot calling the kettle . . . .

Faithful readers will recall that back on January 10, I wrote a piece on Councilman Allen Settle's home in Arroyo Grande. You can find it below or click on the link in the last sentence. Two months later, the Shredder covered the issue as did Patrick Howe in a New Times article.

On Thursday, April 3, I took the opportunity to chide Howe for failing to give credit where credit is due, and a week later (Thursday, April 10), old Shred had the audacity to chide the Tribune for doing what Howe and Shred had done to me.

As the Shredder said, ". . . it doesn't hurt a bit to give a little credit where it's due." Gosh, I couldn't agree more. In fact, I said the same thing about New Times.

And to further drive the point home, the Shredder wrapped it up thus:

"This is a hell of a small place, and refusing to give credit--just like the big boys in the real media markets do--just makes you look dumb."

Who could possibly argue with that around here?

Shredder, are you and your side-kick, Mr. Howe, listening?

Allen [Un]Settle[d]?

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Councilman Allen Settle responded recently (Friday, April 18) to the Tribune's news article and editorial that I discussed in the below post. As Settle points out, "I legally reside in San Luis Obispo."

An alert reader will note the use of the qualifying word "legally" in that statement. While most of us could easily state that we reside in SLO, Settle qualifies his statement the way we have come to expect from many politicians and lawyers.

Settle goes on to write, "This is where I am registered to vote, tax returns are filed, homeowner’s exemption is held; where automobiles are registered, garbage service is used, utility bills are sent, my mailing address, telephone location and directory listing are located. It is where I live and temporary absences are just that, temporary. By law, all of the above are determinative of domicile."

We are expected to believe that after a hard day's work, he returns to his wife and a house full of students for a quiet meal, a little TV, and a good night's sleep.

To make things clear to us, Settle wraps it up with, "Nearly every day, I do all the items you listed such as shop, talk to citizens and drive and walk the streets in the city of San Luis Obispo. When finished with other activities, I return to my San Luis Obispo residence."

For someone who likes to qualify his statements, it's odd that he did not say his SLO City residence. Could he have meant his SLO County residence?

Trib Notices Settle

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It took longer than it should have, but a few days after my last comments regarding the New Times follow-up to my comments on Councilman Allen Settle's home in Arroyo Grande, someone woke up at the Tribune and sent a reporter, Sally Connell, to check it out (Sunday, April 6). In an interview, Settle said that he "treats the Drake Circle address as his primary residence and domicile."

According to Connell, "He [Settle] said foreign students attending Cal Poly also stay at the Drake Circle address and that he collects some money from them for utilities, but he does not report it as rent on economic papers filed with the City Clerk’s Office."

One has to wonder if he reports it as income when he files his taxes with the IRS.

Connell wrote that "When asked how many nights he stayed at one residence versus the other recently, he wouldn’t answer, saying that isn’t the issue."

Actually, it is the issue. Most adults would find it absurd to believe that Settle lives with his wife in the modest Drake Circle home with its driveway filled with student vehicles when he owns a hilltop McMansion in Arroyo Grande.

But then as Connell noted, "Councilman Paul Brown said nobody knows the ins and outs of city government better than Settle. But Brown is not sure spending so much time outside the city is what residents expect of a councilman." I could not have said it better myself.

But wait, that's not all. A few days later (Tuesday, April 8), the Tribune asked, "Where do you live, councilman?" in an editorial. The editorial started off:

"San Luis Obispo City Councilman Allen Settle may treat his home on Drake Circle as his primary residence because he gets his mail there and is registered to vote there.

But the question remains, does he actually live there? That shouldn’t be a hard question to answer—despite what the convoluted state Election Code may or may not have to say about residency.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, a philosopher or even an attorney to provide a definition of domicile. All it takes is common sense."

The editorial then proceeds to ask a series of questions that would seem pretty straightforward to most of us but are apparently quite complicated for many politicians and most lawyers. For those of us used to relying on common sense, they are easy to answer. In fact, I'll bet that most (if not all) of Settle's neighbors in Arroyo Grande are pretty darned certain that they live in Arroyo Grande and not in San Luis Obispo.

The editorial sums things up nicely:

". . . to be the most effective representative possible, we think you should actually live in the city that you were elected to represent. That’s the best way to get the intimate, day-to-day knowledge that comes from driving city streets, talking to neighbors, buying milk at the corner grocery, mailing a package at the post office, listening to the whine of police sirens on a Friday night.

We aren’t saying that council members shouldn’t own multiple residences. And we certainly understand that they may have to spend extended time outside the city—be it for business, pleasure or family commitments.

But we strongly believe that council members should honor the spirit of the law — not just the letter of the law — when it comes to residency requirements. That means San Luis Obispo should be your primary home—not just the place where you work, or pick up your mail or claim a homeowner’s exemption on your taxes."

Thank you Tribune. I could not have said that better myself, either.

Flattered? and Howe!

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As my dear Mother often tells me, "Jimmy, pay attention and you might learn something."

I suppose that one might say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I suppose one might be correct.

Most readers don't comment on my posts, and that's fine with me; I just hope they think about what they've read. A reader who signed his name "Rick" left a comment on the below post and pointed out that he'd sent a link to the New Times (and uncoveredslo.com) about my post regarding Councilman Allen Settle and where he lives and that he thought that New Times had taken my work as their own ("imitated" me). My post was titled "Where did Allen Settle?" and was published on January 10, 2008.

Following "Rick's" suggestion, I searched past copies of New Times that I hadn't yet read since getting home and found an article by Patrick Howe titled "Where has Allen Settle(d)" that was published on about March 5, 2008. Mighty nice imitation, I'd say.

Amazingly, Howe discovered the same public records that I did (he's a reporter after all) and even found the same Zillow listing that I did (he's a thorough reporter). And even more amazingly, he followed Settle home from a Council Meeting and photographed the house (can't say I didn't warn you, Allen).

As he's a real reporter, I suppose Howe felt obligated to talk with the city's attorney (my sympathies go out to Howe for having to do that) who found the whole concept of residency very complicated (he's an attorney after all, and they live and die by weasel words).

And, as a real reporter, Howe apparently talked with Settle, and "Settle said he imagines those who raised questions about his residence are motivated by politics. "If you vote against their interests, they try to smear you," he [Settle] said. "That's what you get for entering public service." "

No, Mr. Settle, a lot of people are interested in ethical behavior on the part of politicians, and it is not as complicated as you and the city's attorney would like us to believe. You either live in the city or you don't. You may have a vacation home in another city (or county or state) that you visit, but you don't rent your "home" out and live in another house a few miles outside the city limits and call yourself a resident of the city where your "home" is located.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, "Shame on you Allen Settle." You are setting a bad example for your students and the real residents of San Luis Obispo. If you want to run for City Council in Arroyo Grande since you live there, that's fine, but don't pretend to be a resident of our town. And for you, Mr. Howe, I just like to give credit where credit is due (apparently unlike New Times). Nice job of following-up though.