Marx blames “blog” in settling SLO flag dispute

March 6, 2013

flagThe San Luis Obispo City Council patched up its flag display policy Tuesday night, despite Mayor Jan Marx blaming a “blog” for raising the issue.

The council voted 3-1 to add Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, as well as September 11 and a fallen firefighters day, to a list of days in which it instructs staffers to fly flags at half-staff. Marx voted in favor of the flag policy additions, which many people requested after a December 2012 incident in which city management instructed staffers to raise a flag they had lowered in honor of the Pearl Harbor victims.

CalCoastNews first reported the flag dispute in a Dec. 10 article.

“This blog was never true or correct in its inaccurate and poorly done article,” Marx said Tuesday night. “They didn’t do the research they needed to do before they made their accusations.”

Marx said the city complied with its flag display policy during the Pearl Harbor Day incident.

“The blog insisted on with the ‘California city snubs president, victims of Pearl Harbor,’ despite numerous attempts to convey the actual city policy, which we did follow,” Marx said.

CalCoastNews reported in the article referenced by Marx that city management indeed complied with the flag policy in disallowing staffers to fly flags at half-staff on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day without mayoral approval. Marx, however, told CalCoastNews after the posting of the article that she did not learn about the request to lower the flag on Pearl Harbor Day until staff had already rejected it.

At Tuesday night’s council meeting, Marx said she endured “unnecessary and difficult” reaction to the raising of the flags on Pearl Harbor Day.

“Certain people who either work for the blog or read the blog then contacted various veterans groups around the country who are very concerned about these kinds of issues,” Marx said. “And then I got a lot of various nasty email from people all over the place who had a really distorted and inaccurate picture of what the role of the mayor is and what the policy of the city is.”

Prior to voting to add Pearl Harbor Day to the list of half-staff days, Marx said, “I support this change in the policy, so it will be even more clear, not that this is going to create better reporting on this blog.”

The council also considered amending the flag policy so that the mayor can only instruct staff to lower the city flag, and not the American flag, following the death of a prominent citizen of city employee. But, the council dropped that amendment to the policy after Councilman Dan Carpenter said it would show “some level of insignificance” to lower one flag and not the other.”

“We’re Americans first,” Carpenter said.

Councilwoman Kathy Smith cast the lone vote against the flag policy update. Smith said the council did not receive enough public input on the matter.


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Just remember, the people of San Luis Obispo re-elected this lady. We had a common-sense alternative in Steve Barasch, but Marx’s minions painted this successful businessman/architect as the devil incarnate who hates students and would destroy our city.


Do you miss him yet??


If nothing else, CCN is highly effective at fueling the torches and sharpening the pitchforks of its readers. Well stated by Mayor Marx, in this case.


I give this posting about 45 seconds air time before it is deleted by the CCN moderator.


Hello Moderator!

Goodbye Moderator!


Russ, you’re always so bitter… Marx, as usual, sounded like a tool in her remarks. Tough sh!t, madam mayor, you wanted this job, you should toughen your skin and own up and be responsible for once. She’s just too used to kid gloves and a compliant media.


We invite commentary for our story by providing publishing tools for our readers.

We ask that the focus of your comments be the story.

I consider comments about CCN and staff to be derails to the story, ” lets talk about the reporter, nevermind the report “.

Thanks so much. ??? or !!! (moderator@calcoastnews)


Well put, mod.

The story is about a political figure and her “whining” about the supposed “flag dislay dispute”. Time for somebody to put on her big jeans and do the patriotic thing…


Just a note of thanks to the two city employees who first raised the matter with City Administrators in an attempt to resolve it.


Based on Marx refusal to take responsibility and her blaming of this news source, I am left wondering what type of treatment the two employees received or what awaits them.


I think it is safe to say that the spirits of the many young Americans who perished on Dec 7, 1941 salute the two employees who stood up for them 71 years later.


They got a scolding for using the PC at work,, like all the city officials do DAILY for their personal use