Doug MacEachern: Phone Home

Have you paid attention to the latest kerfuffle at Phoenix City Hall?  The Republic's Scott Wong has the story.

The Phoenix City Council's newest member, Sal DiCiccio, has accused a colleague of breaking the law, saying Councilman Michael Nowakowski violated the city charter when he urged a high-ranking city official to dismiss the police chief.

"By asking for Jack Harris' ouster, Nowakoswki is committing an illegal act," said DiCiccio,

DiCiccio's charge is extremely serious and if proven, could result in Nowakowski's removal from the Council.  Nowakowski's, response makes it clear that he takes the charge seriously.

When asked about DiCiccio's remarks, Nowakowski responded: "Sal is a liar."

Wow, he's not claiming that DiCiccio is making a mountain out of a mole hill, or that this practice is common, or saying that his conversation was taken out of context.  No, Nowakowski understands the stakes and denies the charges in the strongest and most personal terms possible.  "Sal is a liar."  A hundred years ago, that response would have been met with a challenge to duel. 

So who is lying?  Who can shed some light on this serious accusation and absolute denial?

Enter Republic Editorial writer Doug MacEachern who discloses that his sources have confirmed DiCiccio's account.  That's a huge addition to the story.  DiCiccio is acting as whistle blower and has come forward with an extremely serious charge; Nowakowski denies the charge and calls DiCiccio a liar but MacEachern confirms that he has multiple sources who confirm DiCiccio's account.  

But look how MacEachern writes it up.  

We know, for example, that despite charter provisions prohibiting elected Phoenix City Council members from trying to influence the hiring or firing of city personnel, they sometimes do. Try, that is.

So, call us jaded, but we were not especially vexed to hear rumors - through a variety of grapevines - that council member Michael Nowakowski was seeking the ouster of Police Chief Jack Harris.

Not especially vexed?  What the heck is that?  Dude, if Nowakowski really did try to remove Harris then it's an illegal and potentially career-ending violation of the City Charter.  DiCiccio steps up to make the accusation and runs into a buzz saw; then the Republic confirms DiCiccio's account but isn't "especially vexed."

Read the entire editorial and you will get the picture; in the business, it's called "Phoning It In." 

Frankly, MacEachern's editorial reads like he's a coasting tweener--too old to change careers and too young to retire, so he's doing what it takes to get by.  In addition to glossing over the point that DiCiccio is right, the editorial is cynical and trite. 

Check out this line.

Call us shocked - shocked! - then to hear Nowakowski say he may seek legal action against DiCiccio for publicly declaring that Nowakowski has it in for Harris and that he tried to pressure an assistant city manager to give the top cop the axe.

OK, the Casablanca quote has to be the most overused quote in journalism.  Dude, that movie is from 1942.  Incredibly, MacEachern uses the tired quote TWICE in the same editorial.  The conclusion repeats the theme--the Republic has heard from a variety of sources that DiCiccio is right and then quotes Captain Renault once again to show that the Editorial Board doesn't care.  

DiCiccio is a political provocateur, certainly. And an ambitious one at that. But if DiCiccio is making up stories about Nowakowski's political machinations regarding Harris, we here at Editorial Board Central can declare with absolute certainty that DiCiccio is not the first to tell such tales.

Nor the second. Nor third. Nor . . . you get the picture.

Politicians carrying on politically?

We're shocked. Shocked.

Maybe instead of quoting Casablanca, MacEachern should quote Gone With the Wind.  "Frankly Sal, we don't give a damn"--at least that would have been more honest and less hackneyed. 

Or, how about this for a jaded line.

Like we said, Nowakowski's purported pursuit of Harris' scalp was about as "secret" as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's meeting schedule with the CIA.

Talk about an non sequitur.  MacEachern again confirms that DiCiccio's underlying charge is both accurate and widely known--the Pelosi reference is simply an indication that Doug spends most of his day reading the Drudge Report. 

I've often said that the mainstream media is becoming increasingly irrelevant.  However they can occasionally step up and make a difference.  In this case MacEachern could have used his platform, his information and his moral high ground to point out that Nowakowski was out of line, that DiCiccio was right and that this type of illegal interference in the city's day-to-day operations can't be tolerated. 

Instead he chose to phone it in and go back to Drudge. 

Comments

[Joe G.]

"Politicians acting politically" apparently includes operating frequently and openly in violation of the city charter.

Glad the "watchdogs" are on the case.

[AZpublius]

Interesting timing for a post blasting Doug M. Although a violation of the city charter, elected officials expressing opinions is something that First Amendment weenies aren't likely to criticize as vociferously. Also, isn't Harris a consultant/public retiree and not a city employee?

[Doug MacEachern]

Actually DUDE, I didn't go "back to Drudge." I went searching for an explanation why you've turned into such a venal, simpering whiner with a Viagra-induced thing for the news business.
And, guess what? I've found one.
From a 1994 Republic essay by Keven Willey titled, "Bright Lights and Dim Bulbs at the Legislature."
Under the sub-head, Legislative "Lows"...
"Eddie Haskel with an Uzi (or Legislator Peers Would Most Like to Spank) Rep. Greg Patterson, R-east Phoenix

Unquestionably bright and promising, his middle name is Patronize. Patterson, 30, a certified public accountant, is rude to the public and his peers during committee hearings and constantly flaunts his ''superior intelligence'' by lecturing others on conservative fiscal theory. Favorite line: ''You do know who Milton Friedman is, don't you?'' His friendship with Majority Leader Brenda Burns has enhanced his influence, but his impudence and pedantic tendencies make him a polarizing force and often, sadly, hurt his own cause. This self-described ''bomb thrower'' scaled the height of hypocrisy last month when he lectured moderate Republican John Verkamp on the virtues of being a ''team player.'' The team may be without him next year, as he is considering running for a seat on the Corporation Commission."
Explains a lot.
By all means, little Eddie, take another cheap shot.

[Jim Torgeson]

So, why does he want to fire him?

[Scott Gustafson]

So in typical liberal media fashion, Doug goes after the messenger rather than respond to the issue. Way to go Doug. Your actions certainly vindicate my decision to quit paying for your paper.

[Scorekeeper]

Doug gets pwned by Greg. Maybe Doug can take that unpaid week-long furlough this quarter and lick his wounds.

Greg 1
Doug 0

[Huppenthal]

Sal Deciccio is a very good man and Nowakowski was out of line for slandering him, but I'd be torqued at the police department if I were Nowakowski. He has the highest crime neighborhoods in Arizona - more prison inmates, more jail inmates, more parolees, more probationers than any other zip codes. More net criminals and crime than predicted by demographics than any other zip code in the state.

We know from the New York and now the Los Angeles experience that big cities can managed their police departments in a way that hugely reduces crime and prison populations.

Phoenix isn't doing it. The police chief is only partly to blame. He hasn't been given the power that New York and LA both gave to Bratton to make changes, hire and fire particularly.

Nowakowski has juveniles driving down the street shooting out the windows, citizens being stabbed in parking lots of Walgreens; graffitti staying up way too long with an incredibly beaucratic procedure for getting rid of it; neighborhoods where every window and orifice of every house is covered with iron bars; burglars regularly hitting homes while the elderly citizens are still at home.

In our neighborhoods, we worry about bikes being stolen and an occasional burglary and some violent crime. Nowakowski's citizens have completely different worries of a far more constant factor.

Nowakowski is completely justified in his outrage. He probably improperly lashed out at Deciccio just out of fear. He should have upped the ante instead.

Few people understand just how bad it is in those neighborhoods.

[Scorekeeper]

And Doug fights back with a Keven Willey quote. This being the same Keven Willey who named illegal immigrants "Texans of the Year" last year and has turned the Dallas Morning News into a bigger craphole than the Republic.

Greg 2
Doug 0

[ron]

AZ, You are correct Mr. Harris is not Chief Harris. He is Public Safety Manager Harris. A job title creation when he graduated from DROP and Frank Fairbanks wanted to keep him.

[PaulS]

Doug, just admit that you got caught doing a comparatively poor job on this particular editorial. Just for the record, I usually like your take on things, but here's one time when the writing and analysis was weak.

Go ahead and slam me personally - like you did with Greg - if you feel you must, instead of actually talking about the critique. But the fact is, everyone has an off day once in a while. Doesn't mean you're a putz - just means... you had an off day.

No one will condemn you (well, ok, some people on here would condemn Mother Theresa), for admitting you didn't do your best work on this one, learning from the experience, and moving on. But we will - and rightly so - call you out for making personal attacks on a blogger while refusing to actually speak to the issue at hand.

[Jennifer]

I had to laugh "I went searching for an explanation" From a 1994 Republic essay by Keven Willey titled, "Bright Lights and Dim Bulbs at the Legislature."
Under the sub-head, Legislative "Lows"...

This by far is the most searching Doug has ever done. call it in Doug, call it in. He's a copy desk joke.

[Scorekeeper]

Zing!

Greg 2
Jennifer 1
Paul 1
Scott 1

Doug 0

[James L.]

Neither the Republic or Greg bothered to tell us what the Phoenix Charter actually says. Here it is:
"Sec. 4. Council and Councilmen to deal with City officers and employees through the City Manager.
Neither the Council nor any of its Members shall direct or request the appointment of any person to, or his removal from, office by the City Manager or by any of his subordinates, or in any manner take part in the appointment or removal of officers and employees in the administrative service of the City. Except for the purpose of inquiry, the Council and its Members shall deal with the administrative service solely through the City Manager and neither the Council nor any Member thereof shall give orders to any subordinates of the City Manager, either publicly or privately.
Any Member of the Council violating the provisions of this section, or offering a resolution or ordinance in violation of this section, shall be removed from office as in this Charter elsewhere provided."

So did he violate this provision or not?

[Travis]

Interesting that MacEachern took the time to knock Greg a couple of days ago for what he laments is Greg's calousness over reporters losing their jobs.

Now MacEachern claims he's completely indifferent to a city councilmember trying to illegally oust a public servant from his job.

Not that I'm shocked.

[Brian]

Truth is McEachern and his pathetic cheap shot against Greg reveals who he really is. Doug is nothing more than a school yard BULLY who attacks people he doesn't like for no reason, and defends law breakers who he agrees with.

Doug "The Bully" MacEachern

[Dewey]

Dang, Greg, Doug MacEachern got you good and that has to hurt. Little did I know that you were so RUDE in those committee hearings back in the first term of the Symington administration. But you were so PATRONIZING, IMPUDENT, and PEDANTIC! My God, you turn out to have been a bomb-throwing scaler of the HEIGHTS of hypocrisy!!! How did you manage to throw all those bombs while simultaneously scaling all those heights? Only a truly dastardly person could have done so, that's for sure.

I find myself shocked -- SHOCKED! -- that you turn out to have been a FRIEND of Brenda Burns!!!!!!!!

KEVEN WILLEY DID NOT LIKE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm really not sure I should read your blog anymore after this. Are there even more character defects from 1994 that are about to break into the cold, harsh light of legitimate journalistic vigor?

I am so very, very disillusioned.

[Mike]

"venal simpering whiner?"

Wow. Resorting to name calling when someone actually has the audacity to criticize you.

Or in other words...let me translate.

"How dare you Greg Patterson have the temerity to criticize the news industry and more importantly me"

Sound about right Doug?

[RonB]

I love this stuff! Thanks.

[Fascist Nation]

I say we use a time honored method of ascertaining whom is telling the truth. Strap each gentleman to a chair. Tie a large boulder to each chair, and toss both into the nearest lake. Whomever floats is telling the truth.

Hey, it worked in Salem.

[Dewey]

Greg, I've thought about it long and hard, and even though Doug MacEachern has educated me about your true character (you being venal and all), I've decided I'm going to keep reading your blog for now.

But you'll be on probabation with me for awhile, because I do draw the line at simpering. I warn you now, if you can't stop the simpering, I'll be forced to get my opinions someplace else.

I do hope that Doug MacEachern will take the time to continue to alert us to any other character flaws of yours which he knows about but we don't. Not that I'm looking for trouble, but were I to find out, for example, that you have a tendency towards grousing, rather than just your normal whining, that might just be enough to put me over the edge.

Doug, if you're still there, does he ever grouse? Thanks.

[mike]

Venal? I didn't know you were on the take Greg...Oh wait that's the Republic's former publisher Sue Johnson and her gifts to the Guv who her paper was supposed to be objectively covering.

Come on Doug, get the adjectives/insults right.

[Benson]

Don't worry Greg, I was just on AZCentral.com and it appears the Republic is now on the case:
/www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2009/05/21/20090521factfinding0521.html