Out of the Blue: Checking of Madison’s resume was fair play

It’s finally fall and the tourists are gone. It feels like we in Laguna Beach can breathe again. It’s a return to parking and civility. Unless, of course, you are running for office. In that case, buckle your chin strap.

It’s exciting times. We are in the thick of a pennant run, a City Council election and one of the scariest and most prolonged droughts anyone can remember.

But the big news last week was that fundraising leader and all-around gregarious fellow Jon Madison had reportedly engaged, in the words of Stephen Colbert, in a little “truthiness” where his academic degrees, age and work history are concerned. But Madison seems unfazed and, as of this writing, is still very much in the race.

He hasn’t directly answered the allegations, telling the Coastline Pilot, “I am who I am. I don’t think my educational history or my age or voter registration has anything to do with what I’m trying to do in this city.”

His prominent supporters have rushed to his side, including former Mayor Jane Egly and current Mayor Elizabeth Pearson. In fact, Pearson went so far as to claim the exposé on Madison was vile, the work of “some people — and one specific group — who will do anything to win.”

She may be right about this group, but she’s wrong to call this character assassination, which Webster’s defines as “the act of saying false things about a person usually in order to make the public stop liking or trusting that person.”

Had this group gone though his trash, tapped his phone, monitored his emails and outed any scabrous information, it would certainly be justified to call it foul play. But the candidate listed degrees on his website that can’t be verified. We’ve seen corporate executives dismissed for fluffing their resumes. Public servants should be held to an even higher standard.

I like Madison. He’s passionate, loves this town and sacrifices himself for it. And let’s face it, politicians lie all the time. No biggie, really, when it’s about issues. But this could speak to something more. A lack of judgment, the absence of a filter. And perhaps, if true, even delusional behavior to so freely tamper with the truth, particularly in a public forum.

Maybe Madison can indeed produce supporting documentation. But until then, questions of character remain, and whoever might have been out to get him had every right to fact-check his record. Hopefully each and every candidate is being vetted in the same way.

Hopefully we’ll know far more about what makes Madison tick since he will have been my guest on Thursday’s radio show. I warned him in advance I would have to address the elephant in the room, and gave him the chance to withdraw if he wasn’t comfortable. But to his credit, he said he wanted to tell his side of the story.

And I’ll be giving every candidate the chance to tell his and her story over the next six weeks, including Toni Iseman this Thursday at 9 p.m. on KX93.5. For a complete schedule of interviews, go to https://www.kx93.5.com/lagunatalks. You’ll even be able to listen to the Madison interview.

Yep, summer is gone, but the heat has just started.

BILLY FRIED is the chief paddling officer of La Vida Laguna and member of the board of Transition Laguna. He can be reached at [email protected].