Editor:
I've been reading SMDP columnists Jack Neworth and Bill Bauer for some time and am usually in agreement with each, even though they are both self-serving, opinionated egotists!
Neworth prides himself on being funny, but lacks a sense of humor towards anyone who disagrees with his strong opinions, especially about noise at the beach and secondhand smoke. I can understand his antagonism towards Donald Trump and Arnold Schwarzenegger, but for some reason, he has a pronounced penchant to call anyone he dislikes a narcissist. I wonder where this comes from, although I suspect he is projecting his own need for self-affirmation and his excessive yearning for the admiration of others. He once called me a narcissist for being a perennial candidate for City Council. While that may be true of those candidates who run for office out of vanity, I have consistently run to promote my agenda for a Virtual Town Hall on the City website. If I wanted to promote myself, I would have not have chosen an issue that has garnered me so much contempt and ridicule.
Bauer, on the other hand, is a curmudgeon who knows what he is. He is justified in holding a grudge against me because I once called him a Republican for some of his positions when he ran for City Council with David Cole. Bauer's latest column mentions how SMRR leaders are only interested in calling the shots and staying in power, and for that I can tolerate his excessive arrogance. I completely agree with his comment that the SMRR myth needs to be exposed in time to elect four new councilpersons in November 2016.
Jon Mann
Santa Monica
