Shame on Stew Bubar. Shame on Dana Russell.
Where was their sense of even minimal discretion?
Are dignity and gracefulness anomalous to them?
Aren’t there boundaries for pettiness?
On a recent night when Ms. Davis was called away from a School Board meeting by the death of her father, they began acting like naughty little schoolboys whose mothers had sent them out to play.
Oh, how the naughty little schoolboys played.
They don’t have to like Ms. Davis, and their conduct the past four years makes it plain they don’t. But they do owe the lady respect.
Worse, they spoke critically of Ms. Davis at an hour when she was grieving.
Private vs. Public
Their friends say that Mr. Bubar and Dr. Russell feel bulletproof about community criticism. At the moment, neither intends to face Culver City voters again after winning their re-election bids by a whisker.
These naughty little schoolboys who turned out the lights, clapped their hands and crawled under a big, fat desk to divvy up their excessive healthcare benefits far from public scrutiny, had no qualms about publicly whaling Ms. Davis.
These paragons of probity went to pains to question the validity of an honorary doctorate Ms. Davis recently received. An eyewitness told me her teammates bashed the honor.
The boys insist that any discussion about them must be behind closed doors. But Ms. Davis they treat like a kid sister whom they can disparage at will, good taste notwithstanding.
The more they can embarrass Ms. Davis, the more they giggle and rub their hands together.
What Is the Motivation?
Are the schoolboys jealous? Are they envious of Ms. Davis’s classiness? Her work ethic? Her overwhelming involvement in school affairs? Her attractiveness?
The boys should be paddled and sent to their rooms without dinner — for the next two years in Mr. Bubar’s case, the next four years for the dentist.
The boys should take a lesson in conduct from their big brothers on the City Council. For all of the members’ squabbling, their disputes center on policy disagreements, not what happens in their lives off-stage.
Mr. Bubar and Dr. Russell evidently are too embarrassed about their abysmal performances on their own healthcare benefits to talk about the self-inflicted fiasco in public. For eleven months they have stuck their fingers in their ears and pretended they have not heard the questions we have asked.
But, hoo boy, when it comes to deconstructing Ms. Davis, picking her apart so personally as if she were a chicken bone, these naughty little schoolboys act fifty years younger than their true ages.
Their coarse actions violate the lowest, most boorish standards of gentlemanly behavior. Surely their parents taught them better manners.
Once again, for what must be the hundredth time since they came to office, Mr. Bubar and Dr. Russell have awkwardly placed themselves in defenseless positions.
How do you defend a sneak attack? How do you defend playing bully?
After so childishly beating up on Ms. Davis, how can they be taken seriously as policymakers?
It is perfectly appropriate for Mr. Bubar and Dr. Russell to challenge any personal claim by Ms. Davis — in private, not in public. The schoolboys, however, seem a little slow on the uptake.
A man from the Democratic Club told me about a letter the club received from a School Board member criticizing the club for saluting Ms. Davis.
Will the gall of these people ever bottom out?
For the unfortunate but courageous Ms. Davis, this must feel like being locked into a dreadful forced marriage.
How stomach-turning it must be at every meeting, facing your unmanly accusers.
As more hip people say, you go, girl. The weight of right is on your side.