Well sweetie pie, there are times that even ole Cobina gits the shock o’ her life and last week was one o’ the biggest she’s ever had. Jest when yew think yew have the political landscape in this berg figgered out a primary like last week happens.
Jest in case yew’ve been under a rock or cloistered in yore domicile Nancy Rossi eked out a win over hizzoner in last week’s primary and it has the entire political world abuzz. Not in anyone’s wildest dreams did the usual suspects think that was going to happen.
In fack, jest before the vote, Cobina had been talking with some people from the Rossi campaign and they kind of admitted they expected to “pick off” a few council seats, but they thought Rossi beating the Morrissey machine was gonna be a long shot. Long shot or not, that’s jest what happened, and the word from Rossi’s mouth and around the city was “shock.”
In the days after the numbness wore off, the people in the Actors Colony were attempting to sort out jest what happened (No, not like Hillary C). The biggest thing that sort of stands out is the fact that fewer people actually traversed themselves to the polling places. Candidates on both sides were lamenting the numbers, which showed about 1,000 fewer voters came out.
When something like that happens, the chances of the incumbents coming out unscathed are not so good. But havin’ said that, the “picking off” of the top guy on the ticket was the biggest thing to come outta the numbers. Council candidates got more votes than he did, and that stuck out like a sore thumb.
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Meanwhile, Sammy Bluejay was over last week and sez that Peter Massaro has to be the biggest surprise other than Rossi to pick off an incumbent. Over there Massaro, who was not-so-nicely evicted from his Fire Chief position in the Fire Department of West Haven: Allingtown a few months back got his revenge. He beat out Jimmy O’Brien the WHFD (Center) chief and a longtime council member.
I guess there were a lotta people in the borough who didn’t like the power play that was employed to git rid of the chairman of the fire commish and the rather high-handed way that Massaro was treated. Why the mavens of City Hall decided to get involved in that trap is beyond my pay grade. I can tell yew though, the entire incident irked more than a few and the results came out in last week’s primary.
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Whilst we are talking Allingtown, the queen of the borough, Madame Olga came in and decided to let me know what she saw in her crystal ball. She seems to believe that the balance of power in the city’s Democratic Party might be going through some sort o’ reshuffle again. Like I’ve been tellin’ yew for years, the party, like the city and All Gall is in three parts. The Morrissey faction got beat last week, and it’s jest a matter of time before we can figger out what the means.
Y’see come March, the Democratic Town Committee meets to restructure itself for the next two years. It happens the March after the general election. With the Rossi people getting the top rung on the ticket, that makes her the de facto leader of the party. Morrissey is still the chairman – at least until March. The head of the ticket, however, has a lot to say about the direction of the party.
How that plays out over the next few weeks and then after that is anyone’s guess. Yew know as well as I do that when the Democratic Town Committee caucuses come around, there is gonna be one heckuva fight for control, and probably a new primary. I can see that happening very easily.
Soooo, the next few day will be interesting. Do the boys and girls get along and play nice, or do we have what we normally have: a tong war where it’s every man for himself. We shall see.
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Whilst there is talk about the balance of political power, yew know darned well the primary has already affected the way the city is doing things – not in practice, but in attitude. The next query is what does this do for the Education Department? That is a big question.
To say that the natives are not restless in the school system is to ignore what is going on – and don’t think the Hogfeldt incident didn’t raise some eyebrows. But, more on that later. What people are wondering is whether there will be a new attitude on how the B of E runs itself and the way the school system over the last few years has become a place where scores are settled and good people’s names are run through the gutter. I can think of three or four off the top o’ my head.
A few people came in on a white horse and said they were gonna clean things up a few years back. Well, that didn’t happen. Soooo, the question before the house is how the new administration – be it Republican or Democrat come November – is gonna handle the mess that is the school system. We shall see.
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Now watching all this, of course, is the GOP’s David Riccio, who has been walking the streets introducing himself whilst the Demmies committed the death of a thousand cuts. One thing that Dave has to be looking at is those numbers I told you about earlier. The fack that less than 5,000 Demmies came out to vote has gotta be a scary thing to those in the party.
That shows that people aren’t all that happy with the way things are going on. Iva Lootey said that some of the reasons that there was angst among the voters included taxes, the city’s finances and eminent domain on the Haven site. That last one even piqued Cobina’s interest.
Iyam told that candidates who were canvassing neighborhoods heard a lot about all these issues and the candidates were surprised by some of what they heard.
I ain’t gonna tell Davie how to handle his campaign, but this is a battle betwixt two people who say they are outsiders – this seems to be the year for that. Well, who’s been more outside than the GOP.
Watch these next few months be a race to the bottom so to speak, about how outside each one is in the political establishment – like a game of Can You Top This.
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In the aftermath of the Hogfeldt firing last week, some people in the teaching profession had a moment of clarity when they realized – even if they didn’t support ole Vic – that effen they can do that to him, it can be done to them. This is a case of a person who crosses the powers that be, and they build up a dossier in order to get rid of that person. He was erstwhile an OK employee, then jest about the time things go sour in the intramural political scene, that OK person becomes persona non grata.
More than a few magisterial types at the high school have figgered out that they really don’t have much protection and are seeing that things could go south very quickly. Say the wrong thing and yore next on the list. It’s happening already.
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Meanwhile, with the Governor set to veto the budget the General Assembly passed last week, the issue goes back to square one. That means all the cities and towns still don’t know when and if they’re gonna get their money from the state. Closer to home, we wonder how long it’s gonna be before the city has to start making some choices. We don’t think it’ll be too much longer.
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With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,