On both boards the new members have already proven themselves as part of the Giant Melrose Rubber Stamp, with their recent votes for the leaders of the two boards and their sycophant statements in support of those disappointing positions.
K L-G started out with a forceful and quite remarkable (in its staggering ignorance) statement in favor of GI, citing for starters, GI's having "watched every single one of the school committee meetings, even before they were televised," as if that automatically implied a virtuous and informed position about education in Melrose. (It will be interesting to see how long it takes this woman to pull her own little kid out of the MPS when she inevitably discovers what should have been patently obvious to someone of her education and professional standing. CT/RD and the cabal, with the abundance of funding by the SC, have done such an excellent snowjob catering to the little-kid mommies and propping up the early childhood end of MPS education so that it's contrived to appear like such a marvelous system.) Anyone who has ever heard GI babble about the schools or rave about the wonders of Cyndy Taymore knows that GI is just another self-proclaimed "education expert" (Dolan's moniker for himself), and that GI's opinion about such matters is not worthy of trust or support by anyone who actually cares about Melrose's students and teachers. Gotta give GI her due, though, because when it comes to potholes, she knows her stuff.
MB's vote (for womankind, apparently) is similarly bankrupt, as was JL's.
All of those SC suck-ups are exactly that and just as disgusting as the former line-up, in their unanimous vote for Driscoll (good grief) and ... The Felon as vice chair (is this really what Melrose has come to?!). At least the BOA had a stark split vote for four candidates, indicating that not all thought process is dead on that board (pitiful though it obviously is in its lack of actual integrity and backbone); but the SC is really a wasteland of awful across the board.
Sad state of affairs for our community.
KL-G and JL both said in their statements of support for GI that a major factor was GI's self-imposed limiting of her mayoral term to the two year fill-in period. As a voter myself, I like the idea that the slate will be clean for a 2019 mayoral election without an incumbent in place. That is my preferred outcome and as close to a "special election" as we can hope for without causing a huge logistical problem for Melrose.
The aldermen had to choose a successor in this instance. Dolan made it so that there would not be a special election by not leaving office prior to beginning his 3rd year. He could have taken a month off before starting his new job with his fat pay raise, but he didn't.
MB voted for MZ in all 4 contested ballots. I may not have supported her choice, but it was an acceptable choice to make. She didn't vote "for womankind" as you stated (I'm assuming you meant she voted for GI because she is a woman). That statement alone is sexist as all get out. The idea that JL or KL-G (or MM for that matter) only ended up supporting Gail because of some "sisterhood" thing is ridiculous! You wouldn't say PM or SF voted for MZ because he has a penis, would you?
I don't believe this particular vote stained ANY alderman, whether they voted for MZ, GI, MM, or JT. They were all doing the best with the mess that the mayor handed them. I think they acquitted themselves well.
Why is it that the school committee has elected as its top two members the only ones that have been found to violate the law? What message is this sending to the electorate and our students?
Your point is well taken. However, even Lizbeth was part of the heinous OCR violations, voting each and every time to support in full every action of the superintendent and the chair (who actively censors all communications with the full cooperation and knowledge by every member except CKK who stood firmly against their "Norms"). None of the former SC except CKK are without culpability in the egregious violations of laws and regulations, state or federal. That being said, the two chosen to lead have a proven horrible track record and reflect just how low our community has sunk in allowing this to happen.