The Contempt is Breathtaking.

We've seen this before.  Since I moved to BP, we saw Steve Bernard do it.  He tapped people-- I'm thinking of Bryan Cooper, Barbara Watts, and Noah Jacobs-- who were completely or largely detached from the Village, its traditions, and its functioning, and he worked to get them elected to the then Commissions.  The results when it was just Steve and Bryan on the Commission, were obnoxious.  The results when he arranged a whole majority-- Cooper, Watts, and Jacobs-- were disastrous.  And Steve bizarrely orchestrated among his proteges that Jacobs, who had been here the shortest time, did not own the home in which he lived, and only got a two-year term, should be Mayor. 

Then, we had three peaceful and productive years, with only Watts still on the Commission, and Bob Anderson, who was angry and had lost interest completely, to join forces with her, and an adaptive majority that made a number of dramatic accomplishments for the Village.

And then, it was back to lawlessness and disorder.  Tracy Truppman got herself elected to the Commission, and following in the pattern of Steve Bernard, she chose underlings who were uninvolved, unknown, and disinterested, but who would do whatever she told them to do.  And she apparently had enough juice in the Village that she could get them elected, too, as Steve managed to get elected grossly inappropriate people.

After David Coviello resigned, Harvey Bilt got elected to fulfill David's term.  It didn't take long to realize that Harvey, who is a long time resident, and very involved with the Village, and who should have known better and been independent, also collapsed and became a stooge for Tracy Truppman.  Harvey finished David's term, and he did not run again.  But Will Tudor did, and Tracy worked to get him the best deal she could, which turned out to be another two year term.  Will had shown absolutely nothing during his first two year term, and although he later made very brief, tentative, and inconsequential noises which could have suggested he might have a little bit of independence from Tracy, he soon enough collapsed again, doing whatever was Tracy's bidding.  And with Will, Tracy supported the successful candidacy of Betsy Wise, who was exactly like Bryan Cooper, Noah Jacobs, and Will, in that there was no connection to the Village, apart from living here, and no commitment, except to Tracy.  None of these people know anything about the Village, and none of them care.  They all only have one patron, and that patron either was Steve Bernard or is Tracy Truppman.  The whole sense of Village government is badly corrupted by this dynamic.

Now, Betsy Wise and Jenny Johnson-Sardella, both dutiful Truppman clients, have resigned, and we are about to fill their seats.  Our choice is one candidate (Mac Kennedy) who owes nothing to Tracy, one (Ginny O'Halpin) who probably has no connection to her, and one (Rafael Ciordia) who is most likely the next bobblehead.  The best evidence for this likelihood is that Rafael, like Cooper, Jacobs, Tudor, and Wise, is uncontaminated by any connection at all to the Village, apart from the fact that he lives here, and what is known of him includes a connection of sorts to Krishan Manners, who will do anything to save Tracy (and his own job, apparently), and the fact that Tracy did not put up anyone else whom she more conspicuously backs.  Tracy wants stooges, and she's not subtle about it.  If one of her known stooges isn't running, and she didn't put up anyone else, then Rafael is it.

The issue, though, is the mindsets of people like Steve Bernard and Tracy Truppman.  Both are dramatically manipulative, and neither seems to feel remotely bound by any concept of the truth, or any apparent obligation to tell it.  Both are self-serving.  Neither one cares about the Village, its laws, rules, and traditions, or how anything affects other Village residents.  Both will work to foist onto Village residents both representatives and consequences that are not in the interests of Village residents, but are intended only to protect and elevate the patrons themselves.

It's a level of contempt-- of disdain-- that's hard to fathom.  It's a terrible way to be treated by some of our own neighbors.  But we're back where we were in 2013, and we have the opportunity to shake this off, and elect Mac Kennedy and Ginny O'Halpin.  It remains to be seen how much influence Tracy still has with the people who, like her clients, are completely out of the loop, and will believe and respond to whatever Tracy tells them.  Will they somehow come to believe that Mac Kennedy and Ginny O'Halpin are terrible people, which is what they will be told, that Tracy is working hard, and at the disadvantage of being completely unfairly under siege from evil-doers, and will they bother, which they would normally never do, to come out for a special election in order to vote for Rafael Ciordia, who, they'll be told, is the only person who can save their dear, special Tracy from the forces of the dark side?  Rafael Ciordia, they'll ask?  Who's he?  I've never heard of him.  Oh, he's great, Tracy will reassure.  Very involved, and very concerned.  Do me and all of us, and yourself, a favor, and vote for him.  It's really important.

We shall see.