Mayor Sam Abed

Abed Alert: Mayor ditches post-election meet

(Margaret McCown Liles started blogging about the Escondido City Council following the demise of the North County Times as a public resource. Please visit her blog, from which this is taken, at http://ablueviewescondido.com.) Mayor Sam Abed was conspicuous by his absence at last Wednesday’s council meeting (Nov. 28). The change in the atmosphere was palpable. I was trying to remember if I had ever attended a…


Abed’s Esco mayor lead shrinks from 275 to 29 votes (UPDATED 6 P.M. NOV. 13)

Don’t believe EVERY vote matters? One might term it the ‘Big Mac Attack.’ With Escondido mayoral mail-in and provisional ballots continuing to be counted Monday afternoon, Democratic challenger Paul “Mac McNamara pulled within 29 votes of Republican incumbent Sam Abed. Although all 75 Escondido precincts have reported results, the race for Escondido mayor turned into a race for the ages this weekend as McNamara cut into…


Surprise! Escondido city manager resigns

ESCONDIDO, CA. — Stop if you’ve heard this one before: Escondido city manager suddenly, and without warning, resigns. Clay Phillips, the last city manager, pulled that act almost exactly one year ago. He left office on Dec. 18, 2015. His successor, his former assistant, and city manager this year, Graham Mitchell pulled the same plug on Friday afternoon. “After serious reflection and for personal reasons,…