Adam Hill: “Forget civility”

March 12, 2017

OPINION by T. KEITH GURNEE

A few days ago, San Luis Obispo County District 3 Supervisor Adam Hill wrote “forget civility” on a Facebook post in response to an article by yours truly in the New Times last week. Interesting.

Is this the same Adam Hill who practically knocked the wind out of himself in taking credit for introducing the “civil discourse” resolution that the League of Women Voters helped draft before the Board of Supervisors adopted it a couple of years back? How quickly he forgets.

When Supervisor Lynn Compton exposed supervisors Hill and Bruce Gibson’s sneaky redirection of development impact funds away from the heavily imposed fees in District 4 to their own districts (Gibson’s no-growth was the greatest beneficiary), Compton had incisively investigated how those fees had been historically spent. She found that the best interests of her constituents had not been served for years. Then Hill chose to squeal like a pig.

Avowing to cast aside “civility” in the interests of “the truth,” Hill did little more than expose himself. That wasn’t a pretty sight. Recalling the great movie “A Few Good Men,” Jack Nicholson’s memorable quote “You can’t handle the truth!” seems to have been designed to be heard by no other than Adam Hill.

Hill’s protestations that he had a “commitment to honesty, and a respect for the facts” were undone by his own words. The statements by Lynn Compton that Hill called “repeated lies” were conclusively demonstrated to be “repeated truths.”

Adam, I sure wish you would stop giving me more material to write about you. There must be far better things to do. But the arrogance of a public official like you demands a response—the truth!

Forget civility? Forget the truth? Forget decency? That must be your mantra. But now it’s time to forget you!