The Silly Season is over for another two years – the local Silly Season that is – and there were jest a couple o’ surprises to be had when the voting was over Nov. 7. Sammy Bluejay was fluttering betwixt the two Demmie headquarters – the official one for Rossi and the ersatz one for O’Brien – and some of the voting did raise some eyebrows.
Yew remember that four years ago when John Picard tried to write himself into a fourth term he lost by a handful of votes. Well, the same can’t be said for hizzoner. The plurality that Demmie Nancy Rossi got almost choked a few of the pundits and prognosticators that seem to think they know what’s going on around the berg.
People went into last Tuesday thinking herself was gonna win by a small margin or that Davie Riccio was gonna go over the top cuz the two Democrats were gonna be fishing outta the same vote pond. Well, not only did Rossi git more votes than expected – about 48 percent of the total – but Riccio didn’t do as well as expected. There were lotsa people hoping things were gonna be close and that a rejuvenated GOP might arise outta the ashes.
That might still happen, but the road the Republicans in this town hafta hoe is still a long one and a tough one. They gotta git some new people on board, and they gotta get more visible. Riccio had a good idea in announcing his candidacy almost two years ago, they gotta keep that up. Eventually, people are gonna git tired of the intramural nonsense the Demmies seem to be rutted in, and will give them a chance.
The inauguration of the new administration is set for Dec. 3 and details will be coming out shortly one would think.
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Sammy Bluejay did indicate that some of the problems in the O’Brien camp are festerin’ jest below the surface and the rank-and-file are a bit miffed at those in charge and aren’t letting their miffdom go unspoke. The biggest complaint had to do with the September loss and the fack that in the eyes of some of the O’Brien supporters their candidate was not as aggressive as he might’ve been.
The word we’re getting is that chances to really take the Rossi campaign down were either ignored or were soft-pedaled. That means – in the eyes of many supporters – the leadership committed the most unpardonable sin a politico can commit: expecting to win.
The O’Brien camp didn’t get into high gear until the write-in candidacy was announced and by that time it was too little, too late. The chances of winning a write-in vote are slim and bringing out yore big guns when the campaign was in a hole was kind o’ useless.
Finger-pointing happens after every election, and we’re sure it’s gonna continue into the next little while. Suffice it to say that the next big battle is coming in March when the Town Committee has to reorganize. Yew can imagine who has a mark on their back for that ballot, and how that is gonna play out. Does the word “primary” mean anything? One expects it’s gonna be another long slog after the foist of the year.
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One of the biggest hurdles that might be coming up is the election of a new chairman of the City Council. This is usually a perty good indicator of the enmity betwixt the factions within the Democratic Party. One time the saga went on fer so long they elected a Republican – Neil Cavallaro – to the chairmanship cuz they couldn’t stand the non-movement. It was a case of who was gonna blink foist and nobody did.
Well, Nelly Nuthatch sez that the betting part of the party – which means every person who darkens the door of one of the city’s gin mills – is lining up to see what the odds are on each member. There are a few favorites and a few dark horses. The consensus is that the alignment on the council will be 7 O’Brien people, which means aligned with Party Chairman Jim Morrissey, and 5 aligned with Rossi, who topped out in the September primary. They are linked with what used to be the Picard faction. With that kind o’ split, it might be a very interesting two years.
One would hope the factions would kind o’ bury the hatchet and not in each other’s noggins, but that ain’t the way things work out here in the Asylum by the Sea. The loathing will continue jest below the surface, and we’ll be seeing it in whatever agenda the new administration has to offer.
It’s gonna be a very interesting budget season after the new year, that is for sure.
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Iva Lootey came in and was wondering whot is gonna happen with the Haven work now that the election is over. As yew know, the O’Brien people insisted that the work was supposed to start in late October and it wasn’t a political ploy to start knocking down domiciles that have been standing for months. We shall see. Effen things stop, we’ll have our answer.
Still, there is another side of this. Some are wondering effen the new administration is gonna put a stop to this and the high school projeck just to see effen the plans are what they are supposed to be. Once again, we shall see.
Iva sez that word on the street is that some are expecting that either or both are gonna be given a thorough going-over similar to what’s happened in the past. The high school, for example, has 14 few classrooms than foist planned, and that was a big complaint of candidate Nancy Rossi. She maybe might wanna take a gander at the plans.
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Robby Raven came over and sez that word is the G-wing of the high school is in the process of being sealed off or cut off or got ready for demolition, and that the new date for that is during Christmas break. That is generally what we hoid way back during the summer.
Effen yew’ve traversed near the high school recently, you’d see that the former girls gym is now reconfigured to be a shop and that most of the shop equipment was moved there before last weekend. The query before the house is what is next.
I hear-tell that there is some angst over there on McDonough Plaza cuz now the gym classes and the shop classes are gonna be intermingling somehow – like with a common corridor. How that is gonna translate into new ways to cause consternation is anyone’s guess. We were kids once, consternation is the coin of the realm when yore of a certain age.
In the words of one of the denizens of our office here, “It doesn’t sound like anyone really thought this thing out very carefully.” Ya think?
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Lastly, the new administration means that some of the appointed members of the staff will be, or are, looking for new situations. Word is starting to leak out about this person being considered for this job or that job, and the reactions from one or t’other part of the community is rather interesting.
We ain’t quite sure what Mrs. Rossi has promised to anyone. We just know that promises were probably made to some or t’other. In the next few weeks, we will find out, for example, who will be the top candidates for Finance Director and other positions. That one position, however, will be the telltale in how things are gonna be run. Effen it’s jest another name from the past, it could be trouble. Effen it’s a really qualified person, it could show that Rossi means business. Until then the speculation mill is running in overdrive, and names are popping up like corn in a pan.
It’ll be a very interesting run until Dec. 3, that’s for sure.
With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,