City Life:

Five days after Arizona passed its controversial anti-illegal immigration law, Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor called a press conference to announce that he wants to crack down on undocumented workers and drivers.

When asked about the timing, Mansoor denied that his announcement had something to with the recent Arizona law or the fact that he is running for a state Assembly seat. He said that with a straight face.

You have to love this stuff. You have to love it when you see someone who has drunk so much of his own Kool-Aid that he actually starts to convince himself that he can get away with this ridiculous spin. Worse, readers, he thinks you believe this nonsense too.

The ID check program Mansoor is supporting is yet another example of his extremely poor judgment. It would have been a good idea, for example, to confer with at least one council member, Eric Bever, before making this announcement. Bever, you see, understands that the key to restoring the after-school funds he and Mansoor voted to cut, the key to maintaining the proper levels of police and fire service, and the key to ensuring a viable future for the city does not lie in calling a press conference to announce toothless support for a new program that the city has no money to fund. Instead, Bever is focusing on the positive, on trying to get some businesses to take over the abandoned car dealer facilities along Harbor Boulevard.

By the way, Mansoor had the nerve to bring up the after-school programs in his opening remarks last week. Those programs would still be in place, had he not voted to cut them.

But it’s hard to attract the right type of business when one of your colleagues has been seeking out cameras and microphones for years in order to tell anyone who will listen that the city is not worthy of investment. When you talk to the media about the violent criminals in your city, which Mansoor has done, or get air time only to paint the picture that there are illegal immigrants roaming all over town all the time, which Mansoor has done, it doesn’t exactly appeal to the director of business development for a national franchise who is looking for places to expand.

But it’s good for Mansoor, and that’s all that matters.

And just what would have been so bad about connecting the announcement to the new Arizona law? Nothing.

In fact, it would have been the smarter move to say, “Yes, the new Arizona law inspired me to propose this. It’s an idea whose time has come.”

Bingo. Instead, he’s deflecting questions about a subject other than the one he wants to talk about.

But wait, there’s more. This press conference was called by a guy who says, on his website, that he’s going to “ … stand up to wasteful spending, budget gimmicks and political handouts.”

Unfortunately, Mansoor didn’t announce a new policy or program at his press conference, nor did he issue any sort of directive or executive order to get something started. After a lengthy campaign-style speech, his stated purpose for the conference was to suggest a study session to the City Council so it could dive deeper into the subject.

Yes, that’s right: Mansoor turned on the lights in a public facility, ensured that it was staffed with public employees to make sure that everything worked, then proposed something that could easily have been done instead at the next council meeting. Oh, and he was late to his own press conference.

Instead of silly press conferences that waste taxpayer dollars, Mansoor should try working on the budget to reduce the city’s deficit. Or maybe he can start meeting more often, or once, with the Chamber of Commerce to see how the city can help them promote investment here.

He probably won’t, though, because that requires leadership skills and is a lot harder to do. Announcing a request for a study session is easy.

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Send story ideas to smi161@aol.com.