Adam Hill needs discipline, not the chairmanship

January 8, 2018

OPINION by T. KEITH GURNEE

An open letter to the San Luis Obispo County of Board of Supervisors:

As one of your District 5 constituents, I must express my profound disappointment at the apparent inability of the Board of Supervisors to somehow discipline Supervisor Adam Hill for the abusive and obscene emails he sent me last month over the County’s own email system.

Alleging that I have a homosexual obsession with him on County emails (when nothing could be further from the truth) is one thing. But his latest email attack on me wherein he referred to me as “T Bone, you little minx” went too far.

Innocently, I thought the term “T Bone” was a play on my name “T. Keith.” Not so.

Someone who knew what that term meant suggested I look it up in the Urban Dictionary. So I did, only to find a definition too perverse to repeat here. Just Google “T Bone”, scroll down to the Urban Dictionary and brace yourself. Once you find out what it means, just remember that Hill sent this out to me over the County’s own website.

His tawdry taunts against me and others, like Pismo Beach Councilmember Eric Howell, have confirmed at least one thing: Adam’s “perversity IQ” is off the charts!

It’s just his latest transgression

While I had hoped to be done writing about Hill, the recent Tribune editorial urging his ascension to chairman of the board despite his bullying behavior towards you and your peers was too much to let stand.

Despite the Tribune’s arguments that passing over Hill as chair would be politically motivated, what are those editors smoking? This is not partisanship. It comes down to an issue of respect and basic human decency. Respect of one’s peers is earned, not bestowed. Hill has done nothing to earn that respect.

Remember that League of Women Voters resolution urging “civility” in conducting meetings that Hill brought to the board a few years ago? Once the board adopted it, the ink had yet to dry when Hill started violating it in spades. He has been ignoring that resolution ever since.

His tantrums at board meetings, his continuous nasty Facebook rants against his fellow board members, the hostile work environment he has created by harassing the women on the board, and his latest threats to go ballistic if he doesn’t get his way have only alienated those whose support he needs.

Who in their right mind would reward such behavior by making him chair of the board? Certainly not an “adult” as the Tribune stunningly argues. Hill has essentially delivered a hand-written invitation to the board to deny him the very position he so sorely covets. Please accept that invitation.

The real Adam Hill

While Hill would have us believe that he is a Progressive, some who identify with that label are starting to see him for who he really is. Would a “Progressive” accuse county constituents of having a homosexual obsession with him in an effort to harm me when he knows it’s not the truth? Hardly. Such attacks are nothing more than derisive slanders on gays by a closet gay-basher.

At this point, Adam Hill has outlived his usefulness. When will 3rd District voters realize that he has relegated himself to being the most ineffective member of the board?

Selecting the chair and vice chair of the board is not about left or right or liberal vs. conservative. Rather the selection of the chair should be based on character over bombast, on ethics over party, on maturity over childishness, and on common sense over dogma.

Fear, intimidation, and harassment have been Hill’s credo. Lying, exaggerating, and slandering have been his methods. Are these the characteristics of a true Progressive? I think not.

The decent thing for Hill to do is to resign his position and spare us any further exposure to his embarrassing behavior. While it would be great if we could unite in ending the reign of a person inherently unsuited for public office, we know that he craves his position way too much to do the decent thing.

In conclusion

What Adam has said to me says far more about him than it does about me. Abusing the county’s email system reflects poorly—not only upon our county government but the board of supervisors personally. More than any apology to the members of the public he has attacked, he owes an apology more to you and your fellow board members than anyone else.

If the board of supervisors can find any recourse to prevent him from abusing the county’s email again—whether it be demanding an apology to the board, a censure, filing a claim of hostile work environment, or another measure– please do so.

If not, I know there is one thing you can do: remove him from any further consideration as chairman or vice chairman of your board. He has forever disqualified himself from those positions.