Smug Club Dummies give Tandy an Early Christmas

On Friday Morning, December 23, 2005, George Scott Tandy will be appointed Contra Costa County Administrator and in one of the shortest hazing rituals in modern time will become head of the Smug Club.

Once again the Smug Club Dummies, the Contra Costa Supes, not the rock group, met behind closed doors yesterday, according to reliable sources. And, from what the rumorists have informed me of, it wasn't to unwrap Christmas presents. It was more of a swap meet, bargaining for the best deal they could get from the soon to be next appointed fall guy.

It appears that Scott Tandy, the assistant county administrator, is already attempting to cut the budget. He proposed that if he were given the catbird seat he could very easily just tape over the word "Assistant" on all of his signs and save the county more money than the Dummies have over the past few years.

Rather astounding in the search for a new County Administrator is the fact that the job has not yet been advertised and the Board is already interviewing Tandy. By George, that seems rather under the table illegal. But, we bloggers don't know the laws as well as the politicians. And, if not illegal it certainly appears unethical and contrary to the county's policy. Plus, how does it look to other truly qualified candidates who are not yet in the Smug Club. And, it has been a long standing unspeakable Smug Club Constitutional Amendment that if you are a member of the club- similar to the Skull and Bones guys at Yale- you get special treatment. Like a pre-Christmas, pre-advertised job interview. I am sure that the Club members would preface the whole closed door gig as a "personnel matter" which enables them by law to circumvent- the law.

Unfortunately, as we reported last week, the great unwashed need not apply for the position of County Administrator. Save the money for the plane fair- no sense helping the John Muir Inn through the rainy months of winter. The interview process is just a pre warm-up game for an already chosen coach. The board, we are told, is in awe of Tandy's quick sharp pencil. They were all quite financially enamored by Tandy's money saving suggestions when it came to the signage. Supe Glover was heard asking DeSaulnier "Why they didn't think of that?"

The question is still haunting. Why hasn't someone looked into the incompetence of the board. We must believe that they are drinking some very addictive Kool-Aid at the meetings. That would be the only reason Mary Piepho has become so ineffective, so rapidly. The great female hope, who everyone thought would give the added bit of oomph to the other female Supe, so the two get take control of the board now that DeSaulnier is figuring on the best route to Sacramento, instead has fallen behind Federal Glover in the decision making process. Supe Glover cannot make a decision, so we know where Peipho stands.

But back to the Tandy meet. It seems while all this was going on County Administrator Jacque Cousteau Sweeten, the underwater photographer who surfaced as a lame duck, has been heard talking to himself, frequently questioning where he went wrong on reading the board. He never assumed he would get blamed for all the mismanagement that the board directed over the past year but in this year's stocking Sweeten found a big pile of coal that DeSaulnier has been working on so he can pass his inefficiencies over to Sweeten's side of the performance chart.

If Sweeten really wanted to do the County a service, which is what he originally signed up to do, he would forget about the under water photography and start singing like a robin in spring. I am sure by telling all he knows about the dummies that he had sitting on his knee for the past years, he could derail DeSaulnier's trip to Sacramento, still get his boy, George, into his old office, and finally let the voters know what dummies they pulled the lever for.