Summary: The unexplained absence of council carpetbagger Sam Toles from last night’s city council meeting caused the Council to deadlock two to two on the question of whether to allow marijuana dispensaries in Cathedral city. This is an issue that has been percolating since long before carpetbagging Sam Toles was ever on the Council. Yet he couldn’t be bothered to attend, even to phone it in. We are not receiving honest services from Sam Toles, who flaunts in the face of Cathedral city voters his non-residence in the city he was elected to serve . Maybe it’s time federal and state prosecutors took a look at our New Yorkers on the Council, whose bona fide residency in Cathedral city continues to be a subject of speculation.
Sam Toles, it’s time for you to get off the city Council in Cathedral City with what little dignity you have left and hope that your behavior does not give federal and state prosecutors a certain incentive to make an example of your wrongful conduct.
The misbegotten political career of councilmember George Samuel Toles reached its predictable, ineluctable low point last night when his absence in New York City caused the Council to deadlock two to two on the much-discussed issue of whether to end Cathedral City’s ban on medical marijuana dispensaries, an issue that has been percolating in our community since long before George Samuel Toles carpetbagged his way onto the Council in 2010. Toles was not in Cathedral City to do the work the voters of this community had elected him to do. Instead, carpetbagging nonresident Toles was in New York on the job he took knowing that he had a prior responsibility to the people of this community.
Thus, predictably, the four council members present split right down the middle. Not surprisingly, lame-duck Mayor Kathleen Joan DeRosa chose to pander to her low-information religious right constituency by voting “no.” Presumptive mayoral nominee Stan Henry, a former police chief, pandered to his police union by also voting “no.” The two yes votes were Mayor pro tem Chuck Vasquez and councilmember Greg Pettis. Sam Toles couldn’t be bothered to show up.
Now Toles has already submitted a resignation to the Council, but his actual departure date is a matter of some speculation. If being a no-show (after having assured his colleagues that he would be present by teleconference) is how Sam Toles thinks he gets his job done, then we wonder how long he can be expected to last in his new job in New York.
At all events, it really is time for Sam Toles to get off the Council and stop insulting the voters of Cathedral City by “phoning it in.” Of course, Sam Toles, who carpetbagged his way on to the Council after living in Cathedral City for less than two years, never really had any commitment to the people of this community. Instead, he traveled extensively outside the United States for his private-sector employer. Worse, while Sam Toles should have been doing the job we in Cathedral City elected him to do, he was busy looking for other lucrative employment on the other side of the country.
We have not received honest services from Sam Toles, and that ought to be a matter of some interest to the United States Attorney for the Central District of California; “honest services fraud” by a public official is a federal crime. Moreover, we have also been victimized by Mr. Toles ostentatiously moving to New York while trying to hold on to his council seat here. California law on the subject is very clear: you must reside in your constituency. Failure to do so has gotten a number of politicians, including Democratic state Senator Roderick Wright and Los Angeles councilmember Richard Alarcon into some fairly serious hot water. Wright has already been convicted, and oddsmakers predict that Alarcon will also be found guilty.
If prosecutors can have the hardihood to go after Roderick Wright and Richard Alarcon, then surely prosecutors in Riverside County can have the hardihood to go after Sam Toles. Of course, both of our New York-born councilmembers, Toles and lame-duck mayoral incumbent DeRosa, find themselves confronting swirling rumors about their residency. Already, Facebook chatter has begun to produce sharp speculation about the extent to which DeRosa really maintains a bona fide residence in Cathedral City. If the rumors are correct, and DeRosa actually primarily resides elsewhere, she, too, may potentially be subject to prosecution for non-residency.
To the extent that both Toles and DeRosa have residency issues, such issues also raise a legitimate question about the extent to which they may also be potentially subject to prosecution for honest services fraud. Do we not, as honest to God Cathedral City residents, have a right to expect that we will receive honest services from elected officials who actually live in this community? Apparently, with the New Yorkers on the Council, the answer may be “no.”
The question of medical marijuana dispensaries has been before the Cathedral City electorate for years. After much hemming and hawing, to-ing and fro-ing, and a great deal of handwringing by drug warriors peddling outdated and indefensible notions, the matter finally was before the Council for an up or down vote. Yet Buffalo native and Cathedral City nonresident Sam Toles could not even trouble himself to phone it in and permit a legitimate, up-or-down vote. Such conduct is reprehensible.
Sam Toles, it’s time for you to get your ass off the Council and don’t let the door hit you on the way out. You might also want to start looking for a competent criminal defense lawyer.
