City Hall Corruption Circus: Weste, Miranda and Ayala riding in the clown car.
Unpacking the City Hall Chaos with a Side of Accountability
Tuesday evening left me grappling with what I’d witnessed—my phone’s been buzzing nonstop, wrestling with how to unpack this City Hall circus. But first, a pause for the Kampbell family, who lost a husband and father in a devastating crash on Highway 126 last week. That road, a Santa Clarita staple for Ventura day trips, is unforgiving—too many lives lost to impatient drivers risking blind corners. It’s a sobering reminder to take it easy and get everyone home safe. Read more in The Signal.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Santa Clarita, grab your popcorn—this council meeting was a 💩 sandwich with a small side of hope. First, the top bread: Jason Gibbs, our quintessential gentleman, delivering truth with surgical precision: “Historically, commissioners serve at the pleasure of the council. That’s true. But it takes extreme circumstances to remove one, and I don’t see anything here that rises to that level…there’s no basis for removal.” He is correct, commissions, whether Planning, Parks, or Arts, aren’t here to bow to any one council member’s ego. The primary purpose of a commission is to serve the entire council, and its purpose is to provide a second set of qualified eyes on areas that may offer helpful insights. Essentially, it is their job to ask questions and make recommendations to the entire city council, not just be a puppet to the council member who nominated them. The rest of the council agreed with Weste that Lite was qualified to serve on the planning commission back in September. Now they’re removing her because she had the integrity to ask some questions, rather than just going along with the corruption. Lite’s lawyer warning bells went off, and she did what a good lawyer is supposed to do: ask questions. So, kudos to Gibbs, who is relatively early in his political career, sidestepping an obvious blunder that these other three pendejos sprinted toward like fentanyl fiends looking for their next fix.
The funniest moment of the meeting has to go to Santa Clarita’s 2025 Man of the Year winner and part-time comedian Josh Rivas, who said in regards to Lite asking questions, “I ask you to have the balls to take her seriously,” then ended with “Sorry I had to say balls” 😂 I also must give props to Perry Smith; his writing on this topic has been some of his best work. I was somewhat surprised the next morning when the article about the meeting was a little short, but it was a late meeting, and he was probably as put off by all of this nonsense as the rest of us. When have the Signal, KHTS, Santa Clarita Man of the Year, and this substack all been on the same page about anything? Well done, Laurene, you have united the community against yourself. I suppose you might still have the Chambers’ support if that is even a thing that matters anymore.
Another more surprising kudos has to go to Marsha McClean, who said in a very brief statement, “When it comes to removal, there needs to be clear evidence of wrongdoing, and I haven’t seen that presented tonight.” She is absolutely correct; there is no evidence to suggest that Denise Lite did anything other than her job. Marsha saw this for what it was and should be commended for doing the right thing by the people of this city, and its municipal code. You can read the planning commission’s codes under chapter 2.26, maybe Tony Maldonado, who went on a laughably arrogant rant about ”THE LAW” as it is written, basically saying that Council is not bound to any ethics or moral standards, and that Commissioners serve at the pleasure of the City Council so they can pull the plug on anyone commissioner for any reason. Read the statute, Tony. You show me where commissioners owe undying loyalty to the one who appointed them, and they must get all questions and comments approved beforehand in Chapter 2.26? He further embarrassed himself by complaining that Mayor Miranda gave Denise Lite a few extra minutes at the previous meeting. Why wouldn’t they want to hear more from the commissioner in question? That seems perfectly reasonable to me, and weren’t you basically arguing that the counsel can do whatever they want? Let’s work on that consistency.
Maldonado started his comments by declaring the entire thing a circus. If that is the case, the ring master of this three-ring circus is none other than Scott Wilk’s girl, Patsy Ayala, firing off questions to the city’s legal counsel to justify Weste’s developer deal, as if something being lawful automatically makes it ethical and moral. No one is disputing that council members should be involved in city business—the problem is the brass at City Hall sitting on their thumbs. At the same time, Weste makes up her own rules to tear down 150-year-old buildings while disrupting KHTS' operations and funneling money that should go into city coffers to her pet nonprofit, setting a precedent that with enough cash, the city council will do gymnastics to sell off our city's history for spare parts.
The people of this city elected Patsy in the hope that she would prioritize their best interests. Instead, she spent the end of the meeting yelling at the very constituents she was chosen to serve. She claimed that the deal was transparent simply because it was conducted right in front of us. That’s like saying the man running a three-card monte scam is trustworthy because he does his dirty business right under your nose. The most significant indication that everything Patsy was doing was nothing but poorly executed political theatre is that Laurene, in her comments, said, “I wish Denise all the best,” ahhh, so you already knew that outcome, the fix was in days before this meeting. Just some good old-fashioned corruption, par for the course for a crook like Weste.
Patsy went on to push some nonsense about the state and the US Constitution. Mrs. Ayala, you couldn't distinguish the Constitution of this country from a Vons ad. What does any of that have to do with this? Laurene Weste does not have a constitutional right to give away our money or to have the council vote her way. If anyone's constitutional rights were being violated, it was Denise Lite, who was denied her Fifth Amendment right to fair due process for essentially doing her job, which City Council members basically admitted to, while claiming to have looked at the evidence. What evidence? There was none; let's call this whole thing what it was: political revenge because Patsy went to the Republican 40th Central Committee, which Lite chaired, and got denied the endorsement, mostly because she declared herself the "DEI" candidate and basically told them they needed her more than she needed them. Why would anyone declare themselves the "DEI" candidate when calling someone a “DEI hire” is essentially saying that person is incompetent and unqualified, which is what you appear to be with your silly little rant? As the old adage goes, it is better to be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and prove it.
As for Bill Miranda it was a “mask off” type moment for him, he was pretty much a jerk all night, which is not really a surprise if you have been paying attention, he got into a shouting match from behind the dias with Steve Petzold, after Petz rightly pointed out that the Human Relations Roundtable was completely illegal, Petz was Petz which means he was a little over the top with his claims. Still, he wasn’t wrong that it was one big brown act violation, which is why the city quietly disbanded it. This resignation letter from the Roundtable is pretty wild. Mr. Petzold did not deserve to be told “sit down and shut up,” not a great look for a guy that wrote a book titled A New Kind Of Mayor: Breaking The Mold, what mold is he breaking, the one where elected officials are kind to their constituents and don’t shout down from the dias? What is his next book gonna be? “How to Disappoint Friends & Alienate Santa Clarita” Be Better.
I would have liked to see Denise Lite file an appeal and use it as an opportunity to read her full statement, which was published by KHTS. You can read it here. She could have used that opportunity to officially launch her campaign. These three clowns essentially gave Lite a platform and a reason for people to support her. Unfortunately, that opportunity may have slipped away because the appeal must be filed within 10 days, although 'days' typically refers to the days City Hall is open for business. Either way, Patsy is gonna have a bumpy ride once Denise Lite gets behind that Dias. Good luck with that.
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