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Unfortunately articles like these call into question the intent of our mayor. Is he a man who is concerned with what is best for the city of New Bedford, or is he more concern with his political aspirations? Mr. Mayor please do the job that you were elected to do that of serving the people of the city of New Bedford. Citizens of New Bedford give this man the opportunity to correct the ship, if not take note and ask yourself if this is the man you want to serve you? Unfortunately we have too many politicians with personal agendas that have little to do with serving the people, but a whole lot with serving themselves.
From Whaling City Watch Blog http://whalingcitywatch.wordpress.com/
The Honeymoon’s Over…
It looks like that cozy relationship between Mayor Jon Mitchell and the city council is history. Well, all good things must come to an end.
On Thursday, Mitchell vetoed an ordinance that would have raised city council compensation by 44 percent. By the way, it would have been their first pay hike since 1997. I realize that a good city councilor is on the job 24/7 and that individual councilors are frequently asked to make donations to various charitable groups and causes. Most reasonable people would say that an increase was overdue. It was the sneaky, slimy way that the council tried to sneak it by the average Joe and Maria taxpayer that raised red flags. The amount of the hike and how it tied further raises to annual cost-of-living increases also didn’t help their case. Councilor Saunders then threw more gasoline on the fire when he said “I’ve been here 27 years. … If people don’t like the job I’m doing, they can vote me out.”
Council President Steve Martins confirms that there was a deal and that Mayor Mitchell was going to quietly let the raises pass. Everything fell apart when former mayor Scott Lang started to raise questions. Martins charges that Mitchell is afraid that Lang will seek the top job again. The council president offered a harsh assessment of Mitchell’s character and political acumen. ”Maybe he doesn’t have the experience. … Whatever position you’re in, your word is your word. … That just really showed his true character.”
Mr. Mitchell’s big mistake was that he should have insisted that the council pay raise proposal be out in the open. What happened to all of his talk about “transparency” and respecting the taxpayers of our fair city? Instead, the FFP took the easy way out. This avoided the hard work of advocating for his budget and negotiating with the council.
It looks like we have a mayor that’s a lousy politician and lacks the courage of his convictions. When the going gets tough, Mitchell bails. Scott Lang was correct. The mayor vetoed the pay raise for the wrong reasons. Gee, that’s real leadership. How many other deals has Mitchell cut since January? I’ll leave that subject for another time because there’s plenty of evidence to suggest he’s been involved in other shady endeavors.
Where does all of this leave the average New Bedford resident? It shows that you can’t trust your mayor and city council. You can toss most of the school committee into that category as well. The relationship between the mayor and council has been damaged. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m willing to bet the race for mayor will be getting underway soon and unless Jon Mitchell can work some miracles, his tenure at city hall will be brief.
City Councilor Brian Gomes was on WBSM this afternoon. He stated that Mayor Jon Mitchell had cut a deal with the Council. He went on to say that the mayor "lied" to the citizens of New Bedford regarding the deal.
The city council president accused Mayor Mitchell with reneging on deals he had struck with the city council.
Martins said. "Maybe he doesn't have the experience. ... Whatever position you're in, your word is your word. ... That just really showed his true character."
"We did everything correctly," Martins said. "The council would never have moved this forward without making sure that the mayor would be in agreement going forward."
Last week Mitchell claimed he had not cut a deal with council.
Martin said the veto would start a "rocky relationship" between the mayor and the council.
5 comments:
Unfortunately articles like these call into question the intent of our mayor. Is he a man who is concerned with what is best for the city of New Bedford, or is he more concern with his political aspirations? Mr. Mayor please do the job that you were elected to do that of serving the people of the city of New Bedford. Citizens of New Bedford give this man the opportunity to correct the ship, if not take note and ask yourself if this is the man you want to serve you? Unfortunately we have too many politicians with personal agendas that have little to do with serving the people, but a whole lot with serving themselves.
From Whaling City Watch Blog
http://whalingcitywatch.wordpress.com/
The Honeymoon’s Over…
It looks like that cozy relationship between Mayor Jon Mitchell and the city council is history. Well, all good things must come to an end.
On Thursday, Mitchell vetoed an ordinance that would have raised city council compensation by 44 percent. By the way, it would have been their first pay hike since 1997. I realize that a good city councilor is on the job 24/7 and that individual councilors are frequently asked to make donations to various charitable groups and causes. Most reasonable people would say that an increase was overdue. It was the sneaky, slimy way that the council tried to sneak it by the average Joe and Maria taxpayer that raised red flags. The amount of the hike and how it tied further raises to annual cost-of-living increases also didn’t help their case. Councilor Saunders then threw more gasoline on the fire when he said “I’ve been here 27 years. … If people don’t like the job I’m doing, they can vote me out.”
Council President Steve Martins confirms that there was a deal and that Mayor Mitchell was going to quietly let the raises pass. Everything fell apart when former mayor Scott Lang started to raise questions. Martins charges that Mitchell is afraid that Lang will seek the top job again. The council president offered a harsh assessment of Mitchell’s character and political acumen. ”Maybe he doesn’t have the experience. … Whatever position you’re in, your word is your word. … That just really showed his true character.”
Mr. Mitchell’s big mistake was that he should have insisted that the council pay raise proposal be out in the open. What happened to all of his talk about “transparency” and respecting the taxpayers of our fair city? Instead, the FFP took the easy way out. This avoided the hard work of advocating for his budget and negotiating with the council.
It looks like we have a mayor that’s a lousy politician and lacks the courage of his convictions. When the going gets tough, Mitchell bails. Scott Lang was correct. The mayor vetoed the pay raise for the wrong reasons. Gee, that’s real leadership. How many other deals has Mitchell cut since January? I’ll leave that subject for another time because there’s plenty of evidence to suggest he’s been involved in other shady endeavors.
Where does all of this leave the average New Bedford resident? It shows that you can’t trust your mayor and city council. You can toss most of the school committee into that category as well. The relationship between the mayor and council has been damaged. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m willing to bet the race for mayor will be getting underway soon and unless Jon Mitchell can work some miracles, his tenure at city hall will be brief.
Did Mitchell do the right thing because it was the right thing to do or did he veto the raise because he got caught?
City Councilor Brian Gomes was on WBSM this afternoon. He stated that Mayor Jon Mitchell had cut a deal with the Council. He went on to say that the mayor "lied" to the citizens of New Bedford regarding the deal.
The city council president accused Mayor Mitchell with reneging on deals he had struck with the city council.
Martins said. "Maybe he doesn't have the experience. ... Whatever position you're in, your word is your word. ... That just really showed his true character."
"We did everything correctly," Martins said. "The council would never have moved this forward without making sure that the mayor would be in agreement going forward."
Last week Mitchell claimed he had not cut a deal with council.
Martin said the veto would start a "rocky relationship" between the mayor and the council.
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