By Jim Shilander
San Clemente development opponent Charles Mann has issued an apology to the San Clemente Chamber of Commerce for making false statements about the Chamber in mailers sent in opposition to Chamber endorsed City Council candidates Jim Dahl and Mike Mortenson.
“I have egg on my face,” Mann said. “We had no intention of ever making a statement that’s false or incorrect.”
The Chamber’s attorney had sent a letter to Mann and his wife Jeri on Monday demanding an apology for what he termed “false” and “libelous” statements made in two mailers sent out by Mann’s political action committee, Watchdog for San Clemente Responsible Government. The mailers included allegations that the Chamber was using taxpayer funds in support of Dahl and Mortenson, and that the Chamber’s support of Dahl represented a “kickback,” to Dahl for past council votes in support of the Chamber.
Mann said the statements were the result of misunderstanding the nature of the relationship between the Chamber and its political action committee. Mann said he now fully understood the difference, and would be sure that the Watchdog group, which he said would continue moving forward, would not make such a mistake again. “There’s nothing I hate more than being incorrect.”
Originally, the Chamber had sought an immediate apology, stating that if the apology was not sent out the next day, the Chamber would file a defamation suit. The apology is dated November 7, the day following the election. Dahl and Mortenson finished third and fourth, respectively, behind Mann backed candidates Chris Hamm and Bob Baker.
The apology reads as follows:
“On behalf of Watchdog for San Clemente Responsible Government – A Committee Formed to Oppose Jim Dahl and Michael Mortenson for City Council 2012 (“Watchdog”), Jeri Mann, Better Presenter LLC, Janice Smith, Pacific Corporate Consultants, Inc., and myself, I hereby acknowledge that statements regarding the San Clemente Chamber of Commerce in two political advertisements that Watchdog distributed are false.
I apologize to the Chamber, its members, and its directors, for any suggestion that anyone associated with the Chamber has engaged in any misconduct.”
Chamber President Lynn Wood stated in an email that the Chamber accepted the apology.
“We are pleased that Charles and Jeri Mann and their associates have acknowledged that during the course of the recent city council campaign, they caused to be published false statements about the Chamber, and that they have apologized for publishing those false statements. We accept their apology. We are hopeful that going forward, although we may disagree on the merits of various ideas and proposals, all sides will debate the facts and relative merits of proposals, and not resort to false statements to support their positions or their favored candidates.”
Classy response from Mr. Mann. The Chamber should stop getting taxpayer money. That is the real problem.
In addition to that, the Chamber pays a dollar a year in rent. Again the San Clemente taxpayers take it in the shorts. Enough with the sweetheart deals!
Mr. Peobody,
You’re right, very classy. Just like if I lied and said you were a pedophile (despite believing that you are not), but then after you get fired from your job, or don’t get hired for a job because of those comments, and you threaten to sue me for defamation unless I publicly disavow those statements and I apologize, I publicly state: “I am sorry. Mr. Peobody is not a pedophile. I was mistaken.”
Definitely classy. In fact, why be humble? Let’s call it what it is – the classiest statement in American political history.
Thank you Mr.Mann. I agree, you are a class act, as are you Mr. Peobody.
Figures you ignore the fact that an admission to printing false information, after influencing an election, is far from classy.
google “analogy” Mr. Peabrain.
Admitting your mistake is a class act. That’s what Mr. Mann did.
What about the sleazy move by Christy McBride Hart signing Zero Bob’s candidates form? I think her husband ran the losing Mortenson campaign. Now there’s some folks with no class.
Admitting a mistake is a class act????? No just shows them what real trash they are. HAMM and BAKER stepping down from the council after being elected on these LIES would be a class act. Now MANN has his puppets elected so they can approve his delvelopment plans. What a sad day for San Clemente. RECALL BAKER AND HAMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FALSE??? How about LIES???? Hamm and Baker must be removed from office after this. What a disgrace! They took money from MANN to lie for them to get elected. These are sick people.
I am shocked that the chamber eceives ANY city taxpayer money– they should be 100% private sector like they always brag to be! Let the “job creators” pay their way or shut them down as not needed.
Mann is a class act!
Florence- your comment cracks me up. Printing tons of lies, and spending tens of thousands of dollars mailing those lies to low information voters to influence an election is far from a “class act.” It’s sneaky, manipulative, deceitful- I could go on, but as long as I continue with my list of adjectives to describe Mann’s actions in the recent CC election, I can assure you- “class” will not be on my list.
Can anybody here defend exactly why the chamber, a private group, gets city funds? Does the city pay surfriders? Or the Girl Scouts?
The city does sometimes contract with the Chamber for services, as it would with other private organizations on occasion.
Staff— I have NO problem with that, or for their contracting with other advocacy groups, I guess? (I could name some groups you might not like the city to support) But The city gives hundreds of thousands of taxpayer money to the chamber— and THEN— the chamber takes a stand endorsing candidates.
Now we all know that public taxpayer funded entities, like cities, are prohibited from endorsing or supporting candidates by law. So, how come what SC is doing here with the chamber does not violate the spirit, if not the letter, of California Penal Code Section 424, Misuse of Public Funds?
Anyone claiming Mann to be a class act for writing a letter of apology only AFTER a legal threat is eager blissfully ignorant or in the tank for Baker/Hamm. Whatever. He who lies the best in a political campaign wins. Congrats Mann, your client won.
Mann is a GIANT CANCER on our town. San Clemente get a clue, Mann has a past and a present of being ONLY a NEGATIVE.
lots of people disagree with you Steve. I believe he has been on the winning side of several city council reversals and has been the support system for many that felt the obligation to reverse course on several very poor decisions. I am pleased to have people like Mr. Mann in our city.
Thank you Charles and Jeri. Many of us wish we could do what you have done for our city.
THANK YOU!
And many, many, people do agree with Steve. Strange with all the people you think that love Charles Mann that he didn’t win when he ran himself. His money won this election. Well- his money combined with the low information voters he targeted that read his mailers full of lies.
Funny how “SC Voter” blames the San Clemente voters when the candidate he managed failed to win. It might have been putting those Mortenson campaign signs on the Outlet Mall property that cost him the election. Not a Smart Move!