California politics is a tough way to make a living. We play hardball out here on the coast! If you can’t hit major league pitching you gotta leave the bright lights big city and head back in bowed-down shame to Santa Monica or West Hollywood or some other no-count small town.

Our faithful correspondent was just informed this morning by none other than BID mouthpiece Jeffrey Charles Briggs that “Steven [Whiddon] is no longer with the BID.” JCB didn’t say why it was that Mr. Whiddon didn’t even last a year in his new job. How did the BID go from shelling out way, WAY too much money for new computers for Steven in October 2014 to him being “no longer with the BID” in September 2015? Perhaps it was his tin-eared insensitivity to the subtly expressed desires of his board. Perhaps it was his general all-round dude-bro-itude. Perhaps it was reckless disregard of both law and decency. Perhap it was his crazed and imprudent spending habits. Perhaps, though, as rumor has it…(we always put the unsubstantiated juicy stuff after the break, don’t you know?)

Perhaps it was that Laurie Goldman, Board Member and Grubmistress, just had it in for the guy because he was so dense and was rude to her during board meetings. She’s about as sane as BID Board Members come, is our Laurie, and she clearly had the political capital to take him out if taking him out was what was desired. In other words, then, Laurie Goldman had means, motive, and opportunity. She’s a person of interest in the case, if not an outright suspect.

Well, we won’t have Steven Whiddon to kick around any more, but we will have the pleasure of trying to figure out what happened to him. Unfortunately we weren’t able to tape the last few meetings, where this matter was evidently discussed. We do have some old tape that may shed light on the issue. More news as soon as we get it.

NOTE TO STEVEN: Bro, if you’re reading this, we apologize. We’re kind of sorry we’ve been so mean to you. Obviously we’re going to leave you alone now unless your next job piques our animosity. But if you were done wrong by the BID, forced out for some idiotic reason, please consider that you can wreak your revenge by sending us copies of secret documents. Check our advice to whistleblowers, or just send us the goodies and we promise we won’t betray you. We will even publish a guest post from you about why you no longer work for the BID. Just think how that’ll piss ’em off!


Image of Steven Whiddon is a public record and is therefore in the great state of California also in the public domain. Image of buddy-boy Nixon is in the public domain for the same reasons, only federalized.