03-27-09, Still More on Teahan's Candidacy for City Council by Herbert Molano

After listening carefully to the responses Michael Teahan made last night at the Larry Zarian Forum and reading his responses to my observations about the city's financial issues, I am convinced, even more so now, that this is a resident that should never set foot behind the city council dais to make any financial decisions for city government.

Not only has Mr. Teahan not showed up at budget study sessions, nor provided any observations before the public on his ideas to make city government's finances more prudent or just, he besmirches those who have put considerable effort and time to learn the dynamics that have put the future of the city's finances in serious trouble.

In his written response he does not address how a city that grows by 5% can increase its general staff by 10% and its mid-managers by 54% in the same time span. He does not address how a city can consistently have project cost over-runs in the tens of millions of dollars and still be a supporter of the current staff evaluation process and compensation we provide.

He is a proponent of a business tax because, according to his reasoning, we cannot compile Glendale business information consistently. That logic presupposes that we cannot find within the city's increasing management staff sufficient man-hours to perform such a task. To him we need a whole new bureaucracy to accomplish it regularly. Never mind looking for efficiencies in current staffing, never mind looking for it from the economic development role that the redevelopment agency has had for so many years.

He then questions my background, as if posing a question would raise doubts about my capability to understand financial accounting. Had Mr. Teahan been truly paying attention to the dozens of presentations I've made before the council and budget study sessions, he would not speak so recklessly.

During his closing session at the Larry Zarian's forum last night, he proceeded to raise ethical issues about Mr. Philpott’s background as a police chief. Teahan made the claim that Mr. Philpott had served for only three months as a police chief and then retired on a police Chief's pension.

Even if such a claim were true, it would not diminish Mr. Philpott's two-year experience as special assistant to the city manager on budget issues. But such a claim about Philpott's length of service as Pasadena Police Chief is erroneous and reckless.

Not only have I learned about Teahan's approach to government, I've learned a lot about his character and the apparent role he is playing in this election. We are very fortunate that Mr. Teahan decided to run for a council seat. Without this exposure, I doubt that we would have learned as much about him as we have now.

Herbert Molano

Note to Molano from Bruce Philpott: “Herb, before Hal sends this out, you might want to add the fact that when I retired, I did so at 41% of my salary, a far cry from the 90% today. And, had I worked another two years, I would have retired at 70% of my salary, so I saved the taxpayers of Pasadena a lot of money. (It is the taxpayers of Pasadena because I was in a closed local pension system and not CalPERS). Bruce”