Well, my little pretty, here we are in month number four of 2021, and spring has spring – but that ain’t the only thing in these parts that has begun. Not. By. A. Long. Shot. Whilst the trees are startin’ to show life, and the crocuses are sprouting up, and the weather is getting warmer, something else is heating up – the Silly Season.
Whilst it’s too complicated to git into here, let’s jest say that last week what should have been a little matter of a press release turned into a battle of emails, social media back-and-forths and..well, yew git the idea. The only thing to conclude from this is that Silly Season, that biennial time when politicos go postal and anything and everything becomes a matter of politics is upon us. It’s a bit early, but it’s happened before.
The episode in question began innocently enough, but went nuclear within hours, and showed some lack of prudence on the parts of one or two individuals. Tennyrate, it’s here and we should get used to it. It’s gonna be with us until the foist Tuesday after the foist Monday in November.
The reason the season might’ve started a bit early this go-round is that the rumor mill concerning possible primaries in both parties has been moving at warp speed. Sammy Bluejay was here t’other afternoon, and sez that whoever gits the scorecard concession this year might make a bundle. Yew definitely will not be able to tell the players without one. Not only that, but who, or which part o’ the party they are associated with will hafta be outlined. And we ain’t talkin’ about jest the Demmies. The GOP seems to be sufferin’ from a bit o’ the disunities as well.
According to Sammy, we know that Mayor Nancy Rossi will go for her third term. She ain’t announced it yet, but there are sure-fire indications. One of the biggest ones is the way the budget was constructed. Once herronner made a point o’ saying that taxes would remain “constant,” those who’ve been watchin’ the political scene around here knew what that meant – another term attempt. There are other indicators, too, but she probably wants to be able to have a term where she can actually do things on her own without the Municipal Accountability Review Board (MARB) over her shoulder.
Then there are the “other contenders” being talked about, and already announcing. John Lewis made his intentions known two weeks ago, capping off reports about his being interested for the last several months. Lewis is a respected and capable opponent, and could pose quite the foil for herronner in debates. We shall see.
Lewis has supporters all over the city, but might have his strongest support in his own district (the thoid), and could have a lot of support in Allingtown. We see that Darryl Cummings is working with his campaign. Cummings is a thorn in the side of the current administration, and a big supporter of getting things done in the Allingtown Borough. Allingtown was like the red-headed step child for many decades, and whilst things are looking up over there, some still believe things an be done.
Effen yew things you’ve hoid about Cummings recently, yew have. He is heading the “other” centennial commish, and was locked in some type of legal action concerning the city empaneling its own and then taking the name that his committee had. Fun times!
Then, to round out the Democratic field, there is strong talk that former Mayor Ed O’Brien is gonna try, once again, to return to the thoid floor of the Actors Colony. O’Brien tried two years ago, and lost, but still believes he has a better message than anyone else in getting the city on track.
That would be quite a primary battle methinks, and, I hafta say it, Lewis is the wild card. His share of the vote could make this things very fluid, and very unpredictable. He can get enough votes to win, or determine who does. There’s a long way until the primary, and certainly a long way until November.
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Over on the GOP side, we told yew that there is some mumbling about Tenth Districk Councilman Barry Lee Cohen opting to run for mayor. This is only talk right now, and we ain’t sure how seriously he’s taking the talk, or whether he’s even considering a run, but we know one thing. He has shown the fissures in the GOP.
Cohen didn’t make any friends during the last election, and seemed to show that the Republican Town Committee has its own set of “establishment” types that have been running the party for a long time, and want to keep it that way. He’s the type of person, we’ve noticed, that says the quiet part out loud, and that seems to rankle people. He speaks his mind, and those around him can like it or lump it.
Cohen ain’t the only name being tossed about, there are the usual suspecks as well, but we hear that another person might be looking into a run, and is being talked to by several people. He himself is getting the counsel of others to see effen there is a shot. We won’t mention whom it is until we’re sure it’s a real possibility. No sense having someone go through the nasty phone calls and emails effen he ain’t really considering it.
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The wag was in fine fettle over the last couple o’ weeks, and had some wry things to say concerning the recent visit of Kamala Harris to the city to hype that $1.9T boondoggle passed recently, and in which only about $840 billion (according to some estimates) was actually for COVID relief. The rest was party favors being handed out in pork, but I digress.
Miss Harris’ visit was a last-minute change of plans he she determined to visit the West Haven Child Development Center at the former Noble School. Herein is what the Wag sent:
“Dear Cobina. I find it ironic that VP Harris will be visiting the WH Child Development Center today, and local Democratic politicos are falling all over each other to “get in the game” since the City of West Haven has been on a mission for a couple of years now to kick them out of the Johnson Center….lol!”
There’s two truisms in this lit’le note: one, we hear that politicos in town were chomping at the bit trying to git seen with Harris. The fact is few were allowed. The entire event was scripted and even the number of press people allowed was tightly controlled – can’t have any unfortunate questions about the border crisis don’tcha know. Two, the recent raise in rent for the WHCDC has strained the relationship betwixt the city and the agency. So, yeah. There had to be a few smiles coming from some quarters about the turn of events.
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Of course, before I sign off, the City Council is getting ready to review the mayor’s budget. By the time this missive gets to you, the public hearing will have already been done, and the work of review begin. As I said to yew last time, don’t expeck too much to come outta this review. In fack, the odds are the entire thing will be accepted as is.
With an election coming up and taxes staying “constant,” there’s gonna be little reason to make many changes. That don’t mean that there might be some shifting around of things, but that’ll probably be the most of it. We shall see, but methinks the budget review part of the program will be perty simple this time around.
With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next mitt luff und kizzez,