Short Inyo Supervisors’ Meeting;
Long Good-bye from Matt Kingsley
Tuesday’s Inyo Board of Supervisors’ meeting lasted 46 minutes. In that span of time, the Board approved the Eastern Sierra Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), authorized the Eastern Sierra Council of Governments to submit the document to the federal Economic Development Administration and authorized an additional $55,000 to the Emergency Medical Services Budget.
Supervisor Scott Marcellin attended remotely; Matt Kingsley was absent, attending a Wildfire Leadership Council meeting in Yosemite.
The other Supervisor-related news of the day was confirmation that the Fifth District Supervisor Kingsley will not be running for re-election in 2024. When contacted for a comment, he e-mailed this, borrowing a quote from Mark Twain: “I’m hoping to not quite die yet and I’m not sure how many people really think of me as a hero, but who knows what you’d think of me in four years. You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.”
“I will have another 15 months in office, so” it’s unclear whether I will be a lame duck, or a loose cannon, or both? “
Kingsley won the Fifth District seat in 2013. An old-style Republican, he has been a strong advocate for the needs of the southern expanse of Inyo County. You may not have agreed with all his votes on the Board, but you couldn’t question his commitment to his constituents or his ideals. Another plus, he was accessible and honest when this reporter was trying to figure out “what was that all about.”
He will be missed.
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I for one will miss Matt Kingsley, as far as I can tell he always tries to be fair and do the right thing.
Good riddance.
I can say from experience without any hesitation whatsoever that Supervisor Kingsley is a liar and a thief.
If I need to say that is my “opinion,” then I do; but that opinion is based on verifiable facts in the public record.
Thank you.
PS – It is also my opinion that, unless offered in an editorial, a news reporter should not state his/her personal views on whether a retiring politician will or will not be “missed.”
So when are you running for Supervisor?
Vaguely:
If you are saying that as a citizen I can’t or shouldn’t criticize a crooked politician unless I run for public office, your point is pretty lame.
But, as long as you asked:
Having worked with and otherwise observed them for many years I have concluded I
lack the questionable ethics that it takes to be a politician.
Plus which, I have such an obnoxious persona no one would vote for me!
Thanks.
State your facts if you are going to talk that kind of smack.
OK; here are some:
Supervisor Kingsley, along with former CAO Kevin Carunchio and the rest of the then-Board of Supervisors stole my idea that Inyo County use eminent domain to acquire the LADWP land upon which the County operates its landfills.
He and they then lied to an LA Times reporter about it, duping him into thinking – and writing an article stating – that is was THEIR idea, and that they were neo-heroes in the County’s ongoing wars with big bad LADWP.
I had offered that idea in good faith, as a citizen, trying to help Inyo County out of the dilemma it had gotten itself into over LADWP’s draconian landfill leases.
(I think the County couldn’t handle the fact that a moron civilian like me – and not one of its many brilliant and highly-paid attorneys – had come up with such an innovative idea).
Anyway, cheaters never prosper, as the saying goes: Inyo County and its then-County Counsel botched the whole deal and ended up having to pay LADWP over $500,000 of OUR money in attorney’s fees.
And that, my friend, is one of the many reasons I think Supervisor Kingsley is a liar and a thief.
Thanks for asking.
Are you trying to say that if you have an idea it is worth what? Cash? glory? a lot of people can have the same “idea” at the same time, unless it is a patent, I don’t see how you are injured by this situation. You say the deal didn’t go down right, is that cause you weren’t in charge?
What did Kingsley and Carunchio gain by stealing your “idea”?
Seriously…an idea is what he “stole” from you, leading you to label him a “thief”?
Do you want a parade for your “idea” that has been around since long before Kingsley got on the board and long before you “invented” it? If it was such a great idea, maybe it wouldn’t have been discarded by prior boards, and wouldn’t have ended up costing the county a half-mil. But hey – GREAT IDEA! We’ll get you a monument to put at the dump.