Summary
It's not the first time [Sue McCloud] has been accused of being secretive. But City Councilor Paula Hazdovac defends the mayor's openness. "This is far more transparent than what I experienced under a former mayor," she says. "Sue is very forthcoming, and she will ask my opinions on things."
Though she loves dogs, she doesn't find it at all endearing that I'm sniffing around her business. When I ask her for the names of some friends I can talk to-in hopes that they'll shed light on her fascinating transformation from undercover operative to small-town mayor-she becomes suspicious. And while I am sure she didn't put thorns under anyone's thumbnails, I do get the sense she's instructed people not to talk to me. In response to an interview request several weeks ago, McCloud's sister, Sarah Berling, leaves a voice message saying that she'll be happy to talk at greater length. The next day, McCloud leaves a tense message advising me to back off. "I am not going to drag my friends and contacts into this," she says. "I am just not gonna go there." Berling doesn't return subsequent calls.As my deadline approaches, McCloud even cautions me that this article could incite threatening behavior, citing recent graffiti at City Hall depicting a clown holding a video camera and the words, "Thanks for taking care of tourists before citizens." As another example, McCloud offers that "a small man with a large backpack" wandered around the foyer of City Hall during a recent Council meeting. He was perfectly innocent, she adds, but you can't be too careful. "It's just the reality of the world we're living in today," she says.See the full content of this document
Extract
Mccloud of Mystery
Mayor Sue McCloud sits across the table from me at II Fornaio. Neither of us have anything to eat or drink. The waiter doesn't even bother to check up on us. This is strictly business. And though the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea is happy to discuss economic revitalization, muscle cars and dogs, she gets edgy when I toe a line she has drawn in the sand.
I want to ask her about the CIA's so-called "Family Jewels," a recently unearthed cache of information on illegal agency activities cond...See the full content of this document
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