If you want ugly, you should have been out in the hall after the vote when Dolan left. "Slander - the action of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation." Ugly.
Yep, ugly indeed.
KL-G showed her true colors right out of the box with her gushing praise for GI, including gushing about how GI had "watched every single School Committee meeting even before they were televised!" This new member is dangerous, as she also serves as counsel for the DESE and is supposed to know something about education. To think that GI is knowledgeable about education or "the will of the community" demonstrates catastrophic ignorance on KL-G's part. How can she really be that ignorant? GI is just plain dumb when it comes to education (and about so much else, besides--except perhaps potholes, which she revels in). Does KL-G really buy into GI's absolute adoration of this superintendent? (Apparently she does.) Does she really believe this is her own KClark path to glory? Is she that ignorant or without an ethical compass that she's willing (like so many others in Melrose) to ignore the obvious conclusions about this school administration/School Committee/mayor after the OCR Findings? One might have expected better from her. So far she's just shown that she's as crass in her cynical political calculations (and/or as ignorant) as KC, PB, and most of those in local government.
MB was no better, but expectations were significantly lower based on conduct to date.
Monica showed grace and intelligence in her actions, as did John. Mike jumped on the bandwagon at the very end because he saw the handwriting on the wall and wanted a few political bennies (though it was clear how angry and entitled--thanks to Rob's manipulations, that failed--he was).
Rob can feel relatively safe that the skeletons in his closet will be fiercely (though certainly ineptly) kept under wraps with this compromise solution, at least until the guaranteed bumbling idiot makes messes that cannot shove genies back in bottles.
Truly a shameful night for Melrose citizens who basically allowed this to happen with nary a whimper, right down to the outright denying of Public Participation (changed last night, most officiously, to "Public Comment") until after the bickering vote, because heaven forbid, citizens should have a chance to weigh in about who is going to be their MAYOR (note: NOT interim or acting). Monica proposed allowing the public to have their tiny bit of say beforehand, and she was quickly shut down by the rest of the thugs in that room (and, aside from Boisselle and Tramontozzi, they actually are political bullies of the worst sort, fully in line with our national leader in their mode of operations). (Note: Monica had also proposed in December that there be at least a public discussion about the possibility of a special election before their "straw poll" for board president, and the whole lot of them made sure to shut that down and send it off to a non-functional committee.) Ugly, ugly, ugly. Now go enjoy your bloated water and tax bills and have another drink.
The public participation was blocked before the vote because the public SHOULD NOT have any say in who the Aldermen choose as their president. What business is it of the public's (or the people that were instructed to come by a particular candidate) to have a say in whom the Aldermen choose to head their body?
That said, the public did have a chance to talk after the vote and could have made any comment they wanted regarding the outcome or the need for a special and NO ONE stood up.
"What business is it of the public's (or the people that were instructed to come by a particular candidate) to have a say in whom the Aldermen choose to head their body?"
It's absolutely the public's business. Every bit of this is the public's business, and the fact that you claim otherwise is revealing, both of who you are and why you are posting.
Really? How?
Does the public get a say when the House of Representatives chooses it's speaker? Or when the Senate chooses it's President? It is the body's internal choice. Any public comment can be done by sending letters or emails or making phone calls to the Aldermen ahead of time.
When has the public had a say in years past? It doesn't work that way. The Aldermen where choosing their president and a few citizens who decided to come down should not be granted outsize influence over the process. Also, it wouldn't have changed jack. Anyone who wanted to speak could have done so after the vote and said their piece. They didn't. Must not have been that important to them when they couldn't use it as a platform to stump for Monica
Apparently you get it. I'll leave it at that. It's not my decision whether or not to seek redress. I would, but it wasn't directed at me.