Brett Channing comes to Aliso Viejo

A new city manager puts the $$$$$ in Ali$$$$$o.

So last week week, the Aliso Viejo City Council introduced the new city manager, Brett Channing.

And, before we dive into the nitty gritty of what it all means, I’d like to welcome Brett to town with this image of a donut.

Now that that’s out of the way—Channing!

He is a man I have yet to meet, yet a man it would be wise to befriend, for his new salary is (this is not a misprint) $342,000 per year, plus (also not a misprint) phone, transportation, vacation package, 240 hours of paid leave (seriously—two hundred and forty hours) and all sorts of perks, goodies and office desk doodads. Here’s the contract. Put different: If anyone in local government has the means to throw the kick-ass Chanukah party of 2026, it’s Brett. Bring the chips and guac, y’all!

And, to be clear, I am not dogging Brett Channing. For all I know, he winds up doing a great job and, upon retirement, Aliso Viejo will be coined, “Brettville.” Hell, this Q&A makes him sound like a lovely chap. I’m being serious—perhaps he kicks ass. That would be tremendous.

But, well, this whole jamboree makes no sense. Let’s review …

So, last December Mitzi Ortiz, the Aliso Viejo city manager, died at age 45. By all accounts, Ortiz was a lovely person and committed public servant. A good egg, as my Grandpa Nat would have said. And it was (technically) up to the five-member Aliso Viejo City Council to find a replacement. Normally, when people are blessed with human skulls and IQs clearing 50, this would involve hiring an executive search firm to line up a slate of candidates. After all, one can argue this is the most important position in the metropolis.

According to sources inside City Hall, however, instead of enlisting a head hunter, Tim Zandbergen and Garrett Dwyer (both council members, both MAGA bruhs) decided they would take the lead.

What followed was, well stupidity. Resumes were solicited, phone calls were made, Samantha Fox DVDs were watched—and Zandbergen and Dwyer offered up a handful of finalists who were vetted in a hyper-specific and impressive manner that involved breaking down the qualities, examining past experiences, researching municipal trends apparently very little. And with almost no public scrutiny.

They chose Channing.

And, to reiterate, I’ve got no beef with the man. He might wind up great. Better than great. Uber great!

But riddle me this: David Doyle, Ortiz’s predecessor, was paid approximately $350,000 for his (shitty) services before being fired in 2024. Ortiz, his replacement (and—gasp!—a woman of color) had to settle for $70,000 less. And now Channing is back, bling blinging his best life. Why the skyrocketed pay? Why the tight lips? Why so little (aka almost no) transparency? Well … hmm … um … it’s not entirely clear.

The Aliso Viejo City Council is made up of five people. Four of the five are white Trumpy dudes who, together, look like the the members of a reunited Grade-D midwestern boy band who moonlight as pharmaceutical salesmen …

… and the fifth is Tiffany Ackley (aka: a woman whose brain wasn’t hollowed out by the MAGA virus, and serves as the glue holding together any lingering morsels of municipal sanity).

When one attends a council meeting, there is a palpable weirdness—Ackley fighting for reason, the four boy band members fighting against Pride flags and non-existent DEI efforts. It forces one to question whether, for $342,000, they’re hoping for more than a well-run city and a pioneering spirit.

It forces one to question what the hell just happened.