Hot Dog and Clown Hat
After watching replays of recent meetings, two of them continue to stand out: Hotdog and Hats. While I will stick with the clown theme a bit, what I am seeing goes beyond sarcasm and humor and strays into serious situations that affect our lives, homes, families, and livelihoods. Please excuse the more serious tone of this edition.
Hotdog
Stewing in the Same Water
The guy is still stewing in the same nasty hotdog water because he cannot figure out a way to undermine or damage the mayor. His obsession with, and demonstrated disdain (hatred) for, the mayor is so pervasive that it has spoiled his condiments. Having listened to him squawk and honk his nose for the past two-plus years, it has become blatantly obvious that he lacks the intellect, temperament, and professionalism to handle his own business, much less that of an entire city.
The Failed Coup
In a rare moment of transparency, he executed a failed coup attempt to remove the mayor from office and install his brother from another mother, Jerry Pacheco, as city manager. I call this transparency because he was so desperate to attack the mayor that he did not hide his actions or motivations. His hatred was on full, blatant display.
Side note: Jerry Pacheco moved on to the city manager position in Walsenburg and lasted a whopping four and a half months until history repeated itself. Thankfully, Pueblo dodged the bullet Hotdog loaded into the gun.
Enter AI
In his search for new ways to attack the mayor, he enlisted a new ally: the AI on his cell phone. While this is not a surprising move considering his mental deficiency, it raises other issues that require scrutiny.
Lack of intelligence. Simply put, anyone who must use AI to tell them what to think and say does not belong in a position of authority over a city's finances. Remember, Hotdog couldn't even manage a hotdog stand and had to close it.
Security and transparency. Considering the significant issues related to AI going rogue that are popping up, do the residents of Bessemer, and the city as a whole, want city leadership putting city information into an AI program just so they can try to look intelligent? How much classified city information does he feed into his phone that is at risk of being compromised? Is he using a city phone or a personal one? This detail matters in the event someone files a CORA request.
Decorum. Then there is the question of professionalism and common courtesy. A city council member should not be using a phone on the dais to come up with answers and slick comments. If he cannot think for himself and is unprepared, he should not be there.
A Private Conversation Is Overdue
To be honest, if I were on that council, I would already have had a private conversation with Hotdog and told him that he needs to either read and understand the material and know his job, or step down. Council members should have enough respect for the office they hold and the people they represent that pointing this kind of behavior out should not be necessary. The fact that it is necessary indicates that the clown show has graduated from satire to dangerously ill-managed.
People seem to have a number of complaints about how things are going in the city, but they also seem to be missing the fact that one of their council members is so inept that he has to furiously type on his phone so the phone can tell him what he thinks, and then regurgitate what AI told him to say. It is embarrassing, not to mention reckless. The council president should step in and ban cell phone and AI usage from the dais.
Hats
Mask the Clown?
Hats the clown may be angling for a name change. "Mask the Clown" may soon be more appropriate. Maybe I'll ask AI to give me that answer.
In a way, I feel sorry for the fool. He has nothing relevant to add to any of the many (every) discussions he imposes his presence on, and when he feels he is not getting enough attention, he escalates like a child throwing a tantrum. His most recent escalation was coming to the council meeting wearing a mask. I was surprised to see that he abandoned his hat fetish for the evening. That's a first, though not in a good way.
A History of Attention-Grabbing Moments
The vandalized vehicle. He has repeatedly claimed during public comment that someone vandalized his vehicle and suggested it was related to his political involvement. After being forced to listen to this guy force his way into every possible discussion at council meetings, I have little doubt that he lives the rest of his life the same way. It is more likely that he rubbed someone the wrong way and they went after him, though in Pueblo I would expect that the way he treats people would have landed him in the ER rather than needing a mechanic. That leaves me wondering whether he did it to his own car to get attention.
The restraining order. He received a restraining order and had to attend council meetings virtually. This is indicative of an obsessive personality combined with anger issues, family issues, low intelligence, narcissism, and a healthy portion of little man syndrome. I notice that, for the most part, he goes after women in positions of authority. His current target appears to be the mayor, since Crooked Clown is no longer in the picture.
The judge. Closely related to the above: during his hearing regarding harassment against Crooked, Hats was taken into custody for making inappropriate comments to the judge. If memory serves, he was arrested for threatening the judge, and now he has a second case against him The latter is a felony charge, if I am not mistaken.
The Mask Was Not a First Amendment Violation
There has been an accusation that Hats was kicked out of the council meeting for wearing a mask, and people are claiming First Amendment infringement. That is not true. He was allowed to come back into the meeting after removing his mask, a detail that people spreading the story on social media are conveniently leaving out because it shoots down their dramatic assertion that the city and mayor are attacking Hats' First Amendment rights.
The mask was another in a series of ridiculous antics: maybe a cry for help... nah, definitely a childish attempt at getting attention and being a clown. Here is why this is not infringement. A council meeting is open to the public, much like a court proceeding. If you walk into a courtroom and create a distraction or disturbance, the judge will throw you out. The same principle applies here. This is especially poignant considering the trouble he got himself into with the judge in his harassment case. Really, this is a case of natural consequences finally catching up to the clown.
Not a Victim
Hats clearly has a number of issues, which I touched on earlier. He has no intention of being productive or helping the city and its citizens. In fact, I do not think he has the mental capacity to. He has simply found an outlet to vent his many issues, and he banks on being able to hijack public forums, slow them down, and derail them, knowing nobody can do anything about it because he will scream that his rights are being violated. Hats is not a victim. He is an aggressor whose intent is to harass, denigrate, threaten, and bully in order to satisfy his unhealthy need for attention by manipulating the system.
I applaud whoever made the decision to remove him until he removed the mask. City council meetings are for discussing and deciding city business through debate and civil discourse. They are not a haberdashery or an outlet for childish narcissists with anger and mental issues
