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Commentary: Sore winners and other oxymorons

Any views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views, opinions and thoughts of The Coast News.

By Eleanor Musick

A special City Council meeting on Dec. 10 provided an opportunity to publicly express appreciation to outgoing Encinitas council members.  

Most who spoke came in the spirit of recognizing the enormous investment of time and effort made by these individuals — members whose loss in the November election was more than sufficient to convey the message that a majority of those who voted desired change.  

One speaker wasn’t satisfied to simply take the win with grace and look to the future. Instead, he felt compelled to stand at the podium and call the outgoing council members “incompetent,” castigating them for doing, in his opinion, “a bad job.”  

This gratuitous scolding served no legitimate purpose — nothing would be changed by his words — he simply drew satisfaction from rubbing salt in the wound.

Certain local social media groups persist in vicious attacks on Destiny Preston more than seven weeks after the election, criticizing a lack of contrition in her loss, even copying and pasting her posts in other social media groups covering topics unrelated to the race solely to instigate a pile-on.  

Their chosen candidates won, but that’s not enough — they want to humiliate and silence those who had the audacity to offer a different vision and challenge their candidates. Unsatisfied with their win — they want the “others” to pay a price.

The notion of a sore winner is hardly a new one. It’s a deplorable character trait, one that true leaders seek to avoid by expressing humility and grace following a win. The sore winner phenomenon may not be new, but it has been normalized in recent years, representing a steady decline in civility, empathy and basic humanity at national and local levels.  

In still another example, in late 2022, five Encinitas residents led by Garvin Walsh filed a lawsuit against Catherine Blakespear, alleging that she had breached a settlement agreement arising from her blocking certain individuals from posting comments on her social media pages.  

The group had obtained a favorable result in the first case — a public apology was issued and the agreed-upon money was paid.  

The 2022 complaint asserted that Blakespear’s apology was “insincere” and that the $5,000 payment did not come from her personal funds. The win wasn’t enough — the sore winners wanted Blakespear to grovel. 

Blakespear filed an anti-SLAPP counterclaim in response. SLAPPs, strategic lawsuits against public participation, have long been used as a tool for silencing speech.  

The counterclaim alleged that the Walsh group’s demand for specific language in the apology was a violation of her free speech rights.  

Anti-SLAPP laws provide a remedy for such acts, including an award of attorney fees to a prevailing party.  After considering the parties’ arguments in voluminous pleadings, the judge ruled in Blakespear’s favor and awarded her $120,577 in attorney fees.  

In reporting the decision, The Coast News described the amount of the award and a searing criticism by the Walsh group’s attorney.  

Ignored was the detailed explanation by Judge Bowman of why the fees were justified, finding, among other things, that the quality of work produced by Blakespear’s counsel was “top-notch,” contrasting the work by the Walsh group’s attorney, who took twice the amount of time to brief the same issues.   

It’s no surprise that the Walsh group’s attorney angrily lashed out at the decision — no attorney likes having a judge publicly critique their work. Bowman also repeatedly observed that the Walsh group’s allegations were politically motivated — another point glossed over in the news reporting. (It is worth noting that Bowman is a Republican.)  

The lawsuit was ultimately resolved through a mutual settlement under which the award of Blakespear’s attorney’s fees was not enforced, an apology was issued, and the disputed payment was made from Blakespear’s personal funds. A high price was paid in a quest for political vengeance, and the sore winners gained little satisfaction in the process.

Winston Churchill famously wrote: “In Victory: Magnanimity.”  

Grace, in the face of victory, manifests strong character — it sends the message that the past is the past and the future belongs to those who work together. 

In contrast, the sore winners’ rhetoric and actions proclaim that grievance remains their driving motivation.  There appears to be little desire for unity but, instead, to seek vengeance for perceived “wrongs” of the past.   

Enough of these sore winners. For the sake of the Encinitas community, it’s time to find a path to civility and common decency.

Let’s all move forward without the baggage.

Eleanor Musick is a Cardiff resident.

2 comments

JB January 1, 2025 at 8:42 pm

The author might take a glimpse in her mirror. This sounds more like sore loser angst. Eleanor, why don’t you take Garvin out for coffee and bury the hatchet? Would appreciate it if you took your personal feud with him private.

Tony got off easy. He proved himself to be a poor mayor, leaving the city with a lot of issues, like homelessness, crime and traffic and very little money to fix them with. It’s why he was a one term mayor.

The city needed change and I wish the new mayor and council well. They have some big messes to clean and have too few resources with which to do it. Tony knew this. It’s why that tax increase was so important to him.

steve333 January 1, 2025 at 3:29 pm

After lambasting opponents for the entire article, Musick is asking for decency.
Typical Blakespear minion behavior. When has this group ever given civility and decency to anyone that opposes their bizarre combination of developer puppet lackey plus fauxgressive DEI racism?
This City , if anything, has been way too nice to the defeated Mayor and Council.
Just drive around and walk around and see if you recognize the quiet, peaceful town that used to exist Pre-Blakespear. I’m not talking 20 years ago, there is a palpable difference from even 6-10 years ago.
It will get worse, after all of the developments Blakespear. Kranz, etc approved even though they could have been altered or in the case of Goodson, canceled in it’s entirety.
Musick and her cohorts have been nasty and vitriolic for years, now they can’t handle the fact that voters finally woke up (years too late sadly) and booted out the crew responsible for what Encinitas has turned into.
Sore Winners? No, the Right Winners.
Deal with it, Lyndes is next to go.

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