When I moved here, I think Ted Walker was the mayor of the Commission/(Village). I actually don't remember much of anything about him. But after he died, John Hornbuckle was the mayor. John was an excellent mayor, at least with respect to running tight and efficient meetings which accomplished the goals, and addressed everything on the agenda. Meetings were typically two to 2 1/2 hours. Frankly, it seemed a bit creepy to me, and it was even suspicious, how five Commissioners could come to quick usually unanimous agreement with little or no discussion. But I still think John was great.
Then, Roxy Ross became the mayor. It's a little unclear how to evaluate Roxy in her role as mayor. She's a magnificent human being and an off the charts Commissioner, but the continuous flak she took from the two children who were then on the Commission (Steve Bernard and Bryan Cooper) made it difficult or impossible for Roxy to function normally as a mayor. Her influence (in the Village's favor) outside of Commission meetings, like with the state legislature, was spectacular. But she had a hard time controlling meetings, because of the children.
One of the children (Bernard) didn't run for re-election, because his wife/mother wouldn't let him, but the other one remained, and Bernard used what influence he still had left to help Barbara Watts and Noah Jacobs get elected. These three formed a bloc. Cooper was in some orbit no one could track, Watts was extremely flighty and disorganized, and Jacobs didn't know nothin' about nothin'. So, since Cooper was not fully present and had no social skills, and Watts couldn't control herself, let alone a Commission meeting, the two of them and their pal Jacobs elected Jacobs mayor. Jacobs had come in third (two year term only) in the election he won, and he had not the slightest idea what was going on, or what the Village was about. But he took himself very seriously, and he thought he had been anointed something or other by being elected mayor, by default, by himself and two misfits. He never appeared to have figured out that his election to be mayor was a joke. He certainly never developed anything anyone would call humility.
Village voters came to their senses, and they did not re-elect Jacobs. Instead, they elected Roxy Ross to another term, David Coviello, and me. The three of us and Bob Anderson elected David Coviello to be mayor, because too many people somehow persuaded themselves that Roxy Ross was imperfect, which she is not. David was a steady and effective mayor, and he exerted himself to be of help to the Village and its government. Which he was. He was no Roxy Ross -- no one is -- but he was very creditable, and everyone allowed themselves to like him. (It was a loss to the Village when David moved away before the end of his term, but he had been displaced and made irrelevant anyway.) Because...
By then, we had had another election, and Tracy Truppman and her stooges won. The first stooges were Jenny Johnson-Sardella and Will Tudor, and the three of them were enough to displace David from the mayor's/middle seat, and elect Tracy. Tracy, like Noah Jacobs, never seemed to understand that her election to the Commission, and to the mayor's position, was a joke. She took herself extremely seriously. She had the stooges constantly under her thumb (in part because neither of them had any agenda, nor any idea what to do), and she appeared unable to admit to herself that without the pressure of her thumb on those stooges, she would never in a million years have been elected mayor.
After David moved away, we had a special election to replace him, and that election was won by Harvey Bilt, who also didn't seem to have any agenda, except to dump on Roxy Ross, whatever that was about. But Harvey would never have challenged Tracy's position as mayor. Harvey didn't run in the next election, but Betsy Wise did, and Will Tudor ran for re-election. Both of them got elected, both were extremely faithful stooges of Tracy's, and the two of them, and Jenny, and Tracy, re-elected her mayor. And she still didn't seem to recognize and understand the joke. Not one good thing came out of the Truppman Commissions, and a lot of damage was done, and none of these people appear able to recognize the problem.
Then, the heat got turned on, and Betsy Wise realized she might be in some trouble. Jenny Johnson-Sardella realized the same thing about herself. So they both quit. The election to replace them was won by Ginny O'Halpin and Mac Kennedy, Tracy's ability to perform simple arithmetic was good enough for her to realize what this would mean about her tenure as mayor, and she, too, quit. She quit just in time not to be re-elected mayor, and many of us (mistakenly) thought it would be workable if Ginny got elected to the middle seat. Well, Ginny is out of touch, disinterested, or both, and that election quickly became a disaster. But not quite quickly enough. Because...
In the meantime, Dan Samaria, who surprisingly seemed in the two years before that to have had his head screwed on in the right direction, completely lost his bearings. Roxy Ross agreed to sit in temporarily to finish Tracy's term after Tracy jumped ship, and all of them agreed to let Ginny continue to be the mayor. Ginny's very considerable limitations became increasingly conspicuous, and by the end of that year, it was time for Commission elections again. Ginny and Samaria stayed, and Judy Hamelburg got elected. That was enough to keep Ginny in the mayor's seat, and she provides no evidence at all of realizing what a dysfunctional joke this is.
John Hornbuckle refuses to run again. Kelly Mallette, who would make a wonderful mayor, won't run. David Coviello and Roxy Ross have moved away. Richard Ederr won't run. It's unclear if we'll just agree, in an ongoing way, to have way too many ridiculous mayors, and Commissions that have trouble functioning, even with "functioning" being limited to getting through a meeting efficiently and satisfactorily.
It's a huge drawback when Commissioners think being Commissioners is about them(selves). And they elect mayors who don't get the joke.
I get the joke and while funny, its a sad kinda funny!
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