Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Big Mama Protects Her Little Brood.
Last week at the budget meeting, David Raymond wanted a few minutes for a special request. He and Art Gonzalez wanted to organize a Meet the Candidates forum, of the type we always do here, and he wanted to request the fee for use of the log cabin be waived, as it always is for such events. But Tracy Truppman wouldn't allow David to get on the record to make his request, and she told him he'd have to come back tonight, for the regular Commission meeting.
David wasn't there tonight, and neither was Art. I had already heard they were having trouble getting the candidates to agree to a forum (what?!). I wanted to do a forum, too. Mine was to be structured a little differently from theirs. And I wanted the fee for use of the recreation center waived. So during public comment, I made my request, for David and Art, and for myself. Tracy decided to shift the matter to the end of the meeting, during New Business. And so it was.
This should have been a simple matter. For as long as I've lived here, every Commission has unflinchingly waived the fee for use of whatever building this forum occupied. And there has always been a forum. Always. All the Commission had to do was say what every Commission says: of course. David and Art would have planned their event, if they could, and I would have planned mine, if I could. And for the record, this election season was remarkable for an almost complete lack of cooperation and commitment on the parts of the candidates. Only Jared Susi instantly agreed to both fora. The other four either balked or refused. Or didn't respond to the requests.
The matter was introduced by Roxy Ross, who explained that this is so typical and unquestioned as to be a no-brainer. Harvey Bilt had other ideas. He formulated for himself some concept of political liability for the Village, if it waived the fee for such an event. No one-- not the other Commissioners or the Village Attorney-- understood Harvey's point. Tracy then glared at Jenny Johnson-Sardella, signaling to her that it was her responsibility to come up with some obstacle. Presumably, Jenny will later get spanked, or whatever Tracy does to people who don't do what she says, because she couldn't think of any problem. So Tracy went on a little rampage, in which she constructed various theories having to do with candidates either being coerced or excluded, as if something unfair was being perpetrated on them. Tracy did not want this to happen. She wants to spare her old and new pets from any problematic exposure. So she hit upon her tactic.
She had Roxy make a motion. Roxy's motion was that the fee would be waived, if at least three candidates agreed to participate. And this is where I learned what cards Tracy has. She, and Harvey-boy, voted against Roxy's motion. If the motion doesn't pass, then it fails. And with Will out of the room, because someone told him he had to recuse himself, there were only four. Two-two is a defeat for the motion. Tracy asked Roxy if she wanted to try again. And Roxy fell right into Tracy's trap. Roxy adjusted her motion to waive the fees, if at least four of the candidates participate. Tracy, and Harvey-boy, agreed to this one.
Tracy knows her cards. She controls Will and Betsy, and she'll instruct both of them not to participate. That leaves a maximum of three, which means the fee doesn't get waived. It doesn't mean the event can't happen. It just means the room has to be paid for.
But in the meantime, David and Art withdrew their request, because only Jared was willing to participate. And only Jared was willing to participate in the event I wanted to hold. So, because all but one of our Commission candidates this year are children who have no material, and are terrified that anyone should witness this, we will, for the first time in my memory, not a have Meet the Candidates forum.
And I will retract my earlier position about voting for three people, because we're going to get three Commissioners. Mac Kennedy and Janey Anderson were right, and I was wrong. The other four really are equally useless and meaningless, and it really doesn't matter which of them are on the Commission. And too bad for Jared, if he wins, and if he accepts a victory, that he will sit there, as Roxy has sat there, and allow one dictator to run the Village, with the mindless acquiescence of three stooges. Well, now we know.
Fred to be fair Manny agreed to attend as well not just Jared. He had one date he would be out of town but he was open to attend any other date. Dan was not thrilled, wanted things his way and would only agree if Tudor would attend. Tudor flat out declined and said he liked the one on one format hes been doing. Thats funny because I reached out to him and on 3 occasions he said he would stop by and in all 3 he blew me off and never showed. Thats a great one on NONE strategy! Betsy said she could attend then said she had dates she couldn't, whatever she never committed either, I am very disheartened with the whole thing. Like in National politics it seems Local politics are one in the same. One puppeteer and a bunch of puppets that shake there heads just enough to show they are there but totally irrelevant without the one pulling the strings. I fear for anyone elected thats not on this bandwagon they will have a miserable time just like Rox has had for the last few years. Ive always said, if nothing changes, nothing changes and nothing will. Tracy will continue on as Mayor, nothing other than 4 hour meetings will get accomplished just like the last few years, Krishan will continue to be her lap dog and the rest on that commission will either submit to her highness or be ostracized to the point of wanting to resign. Very sad situation indeed!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Art. Only Jared replied to me, and Tracy said last night (wait a minute; I'm starting a comment with "Tracy said?" Never mind.) that no one but Jared agreed to the event you and David wanted to do.
DeleteAs for Will, his response bespeaks a lot of problems. Not only does he not want to interact with his neighbors as a candidate, but he's describing a severe limitation which we've already witnessed for two years: he cannot function as a Commissioner. He's one of five there, and he is unable to articulate any real material, or much of anything. He can't interact with them, either. I've come to understand some of his one-on-one manipulations. He tells people anything he wants, and there's no one else there to point out he's making it up. You can't do that in public the way you can in private.
Yeah, it's pretty empty on the Commission now, and it's going to stay that way for a while. Barbara Kuhl last night said, if I heard her correctly, that she's done coming to meetings. I probably am, too. What's the point? Just to watch it happen to the Village? The rest of the Commission refuses to function, and the manager can't. The open question about him is whether he has the ability if Tracy allowed it, but she doesn't. We watch that happen, too. And maybe he's really telling us he hasn't got it. If he did, he would not tolerate this nonsense, and he'd quit and go somewhere else. But he gets nice pay to be Tracy's administrative assistant. He gets a title, too. At some point, Tracy won't be on the Commission any more, and I guess Krishan will have to leave.
As an unrelated aside, it was amazing to see the end of the tenure of Roxy Ross last night. She's quite incredible. She makes the rest of them look so tragically bad, just by comparison. Tracy must be dying to be relieved of the kind of stuff we saw last night. Tracy thinks she's a genius, and, like Trump, the only person who ever accomplished anything in the Village, even though she accomplishes nothing, and she gets her silly little crusades. Her current one has to do with a house that's a chronic problem here. Tracy-- the only Village elected official ever to care about this or to have the power and resolve to do anything about it; exquisitely Trump-like -- decided the Village should get the property condemned, take it over, and do something or other which she didn't specify. Rox pointed out, in her careful, legal, level-headed way, what was not only complicated, but frankly spurious and outright wrong about this scheme, and the Village attorney agreed with her. Even Jenny, who's an attorney, but not nearly as smart and good at it as Rox is, agreed with Rox. It's such a loss to the Village not to have people of the caliber of Roxy Ross on the Commission any more, and to left with people like Tracy Truppman, Will Tudor, and Jenny Johnson-Sardella. Harvey Bilt was totally worthless last night, too, but we're replacing him, probably with someone not at all better. If I had to guess today, I would think we're getting Jared, Will, and Betsy. But it really doesn't matter, because either way, we're stuck with Tracy.
Fred the fact that only you and I have commented on this very important topic speaks volumes. The apathy in this Village is palpable. This is tough to say but this is why we find ourselves in this predicament.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right.
ReplyDeleteI’m limited as to what I want to say since my choice of words has gotten me in trouble recently.
ReplyDeleteI’m very disappointed that the candidates could not come together on a date. It’s a telling sign of the future, if they can’t agree on a date, how can they all agree to be in attendance for a commission meeting ? Reading the timeline and how candidates responded to the idea, is even more discouraging.
As for the commission having concerns about liability... give me a break. Another stall tactic.
One on one meetings are nice and all but commission meetings are not one on one.
I read the Herald article on the candidates on there were mentions by the candidates that i had never heard before and drastically changed my idea on voting for them, I think a forum may have the same affect. Change voters minds. But I’m ASSumig ( we know what they say about assuming ) that’s why the commission isn’t giving any village facility au gratis.
I think the residents are the real losers in this case.
Please forgive any typos, I’m typing this as mason eats pasta covered in red sauce, on my lap.... wish me and my dining room fabric chairs LUCK!
Nicole,
DeleteThe problem here is that four of the candidates want to avoid their neighbors, whose votes they want, being able to learn about them in any real sense. I'm not sure what David and Art were planning, but I was planning to introduce four items for discussion. This would have been exactly like what happens on the Commission. First of all, they shouldn't be afraid to act like Commissioners. That's what they want to be. Second, I think part of their fear, and Tracy's fear, was of me, and that I would somehow find a way to construct this to the advantage or disadvantage or some of them. But I circulated the questions in advance, and they were general interest topics. They're paranoid. And so is Tracy.
As for the article you read, I read it, too. Either Chuck Rabin was very careless in what he accepted, or he was lied to. I wrote back to him. The only spot that was essentially true was about Jared, and I'm sure your views on voting haven't changed about him. Disregard the rest.
Yes, the Village is a big loser here. And part of why we're losers is that we're going to wind up with three of these characters, no matter what. They are unfit. Jared is by far the best of the group. By far.
Fred
Fred and Art - I've lived here way longer than both of you and in all those years there has never been an issue where any commission put constraints on the fee waiver. Quite the contrary they always seemed to realize the value TO THE RESIDENTS (pardon my caps) of these forums and didn't look to invent problems where none existed. This is truly a first.
ReplyDeleteIf any candidate thinks it's only the same people who show up to these - wrong, very wrong. These forums are one of the times when you will see primarily new faces. Other candidates claim to prefer "one on one". Those have there place but I sincerely doubt any candidate will have the time to have one on ones with as many people who show for the forums. Nor do most residents have the time to meet with 5 candidates. Perhaps most important - one on ones bear no resemblance to commission meetings. You cannot get a read on how the candidate will react under pressure, in a group setting or how they react if their comments are challenged. Over the years we have had several commissioners who in person sounded sharp and focused only to find out once elected they were anything but.
Perhaps the most disconcerting thing about all this (and add to it the orchestrated vendetta against one of the 5 candidates) is to have sitting members of a commission not putting our village first. If they were the last thing they would be doing is sheltering any candidate. We stand to pay a very high price for their paranoia.
Janey, I have never known a pre-election forum not to occur, and I have never known a Commission not to automatically agree to waive the fee. I have also not known of any candidate choosing not to participate. At the last Commission meeting, where this topic was discussed, and Tracy was trying to protect her children from having to participate, Roxy said she knew of at least one time when someone didn't participate. She's been here a long time, and maybe she's right, but I've never known of it. Also, Milton wrote to me privately (and asked me not to reveal what he said), and he said that at the last election, Roxy argued not to waive the fee. I can't imagine that Roxy would have made such an argument, and I think Milton was either mistaken or dissembling. But maybe someone else remembers what Milton claims to remember, under which condition I will stand corrected.
DeleteYes, it is distinctly "anti-social," in the sense of being antithetical to the interests of Village residents, for candidates to hide themselves from the voters, and even more so for Tracy to do it for them. It's a hell of a message, and a breathtaking expression of lack of confidence.
By the way, the other problem with "one-on-one" sessions is that the candidate can say whatever he or she wants, and no one else can point out the possible error or even lie. As I said, I have already heard stories of candidates this time saying to one person the opposite of what they said to someone else. Also, when I was last running, I met the occasional Village resident who had been told something grossly untrue by some other candidate.
And regarding who comes to these events, I have rarely or never seen the recreation center or the log cabin as full for any function as they regularly were for these Meet the Candidates fora. It seems lots of people who don't normally come to anything come to those.
Milt's not incorrect. Rox did express, shall I politely call it, some reservations regarding waiving the fee in 2016. But - she rather quickly came around and did not put any stipulations on the waiver. As for having a candidate who did not participate - that's going back many, many moons ago. One of our perennial candidates. She was the exception, not the rule.
ReplyDeleteAnd I too have heard of candidates telling different "stories" to different residents. And of course - who's to prove it since it's all done in private.
I stand corrected. Apologies to Milt.
DeleteI could ask Rox, but do you happen to remember what she said was the basis for her even temporary reservations?
As I recall it was no huge deal. She just wanted to know who was on the committee, assurances that we would be unbiased. We let her know we actually had two newer residents involved and none of us would be the moderator. That was it. No big deal. Fee got waived 5-0 with no stipulations or roadblocks.
ReplyDeleteThis was Milt's actual comment to me. "I suppose you don't remember during the last election that Rox pulled the same stunt trying to make the MTC group pay the fee ourselves for the use of the room. That and all of her other protests in an effort to attempt to protect you from being exposed, singled out, call it what you will and possibly, in losing her automatic second vote." I gather that is not how you remember it, even though, as I recall it, you yourself were desperate to prevent Fred from getting re-elected. But it sounds like you didn't think, as Milt apparently did, that Rox was trying to interfere with your goal by running interference for Fred. I can tell you that Fred himself would have approved of the Commission's waiving the fee for use of the log cabin. Fred tends to be very democratic and fair that way, even if it's to his own detriment.
DeleteJaney,
ReplyDeleteI actually completely forgot the details of two years ago, until I just now remembered them. I still have no idea why Milt wrote to me, but the context for this issue has now come back into focus.
At the time, there was to be a MTC forum, as is customary, but this time, the sponsors included Milt, you, and possibly Barbara Kuhl. What's noteworthy about that was that each of you was on a dramatic, open, and vocal mission to defeat one of the then candidates: Fred. If Rox was concerned about the idea that an exercise which had always been reliably impartial might now be used as a weapon against one of the candidates, I don't see how anyone could blame her. And she would have been right, if that was her concern, to consider not agreeing to allow a hit squad to use Village premises for free, to stage their execution. In fact, if Bob, or Barbara Watts, had not also been just as devoted to seeing to it that Fred did not get re-elected, either of them might equally have asked questions. That, of course, would have required of them a level of honesty and sense of democracy that perhaps neither of them has, but the issue was the same.
As it happens, Fred himself was not at all concerned with this possibility. As I recall, he understood such an attack might very well occur, but he didn't care. For one thing, he thought he could manage himself well enough, and he considered it his responsibility to take whatever came, as a Commissioner is expected to take whatever comes. For another thing, as Rox, and Chuck, knew from Fred himself, Fred was not dedicated to trying to get himself re-elected. His initial plan had been not even to run. He only did so at the end of the qualifying period as a gesture, to offer himself and his devotion to the Village, for the specific purpose of saving the Village from the Commission we now have. So Fred accepted, and Rox knew it, that a MTC exercise might not only be used, but might successfully be used, to sabotage his candidacy. And that would have been OK with him. His feeling ultimately was that when the votes were counted, he won, and the Village lost, by his not getting elected. But the other true fact of the matter was that Fred did not in any way feel that the MTC exercise had been anything but impartial in how it was executed.
So I think Milt's conceptualization about a "stunt [being] pulled" was an apt one, but I don't think it's Rox he should have been indicting.
Fred
The MTC group also included Mac Kennedy and Virginia O'Halpin, the two newer residents I referenced.
ReplyDeleteYes, Janey, I'm sure that the main thing that reassured Rox was the presence of Mac and Ginny, who could have been counted on to be the "adults in the room." Mac never told me any details about it, but he did say that the first round of questions the three initial organizers composed were not impartial, and that only on subsequent rounds did they become more normal. So thanks for including those adults. Not that I cared, but I gather Rox did.
DeleteLast go-round, I didn't know many of the players here in BP, but I was fully aware of the "anyone but Fred" posture of some residents so I volunteered to join the MTC group to make sure a "hit" didn't happen. I didn't know you well then, Fred, but it seemed so weird and wrong that I had to get involved. (Little did I know how weird things in BP could be....) And, yes, from the start, one person seemed to be on a mission to play gotcha with you, Fred, including writing questions aimed straight at you. Janey and Barbara, although they may not have supported you, left their biases at Janey's front door and acted completely professionally and appropriate. I volunteered for the sole purpose of making sure the event was impartial. Rox was justified in her concerns in making sure the MTC event was impartial ... and it was in the end. BTW, Ginny was also a sharp addition to the group and seemed intent on keeping things on the up-and-up when they started drifting off-course.
ReplyDelete