Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Some help for Gary Foster

Tuned in only briefly to last night's clown show, but as usual our boys didn't fail to disappoint.

During council correspondence, Denise Duda read a pair of letters that took Foster & Co. to task for their abusive behavior toward CEDC and other unapproved freethinkers within the community. When she finished, Foster felt compelled to opine that he and his pals weren't such bad guys, and that people who make such accusations should provide specifics. Let's see if we can help Gary out:

Matt Sturgis is screwed out of a council chairmanship that he, by seniority and tradition, had every right to expect would be his. This egregious insult causes Matt to resign.

Interim council applicant Julie DeRoche gets dissed when Foster & Co. extend the application period well beyond its original closing date in order to find a more amenable replacement candidate. Julie withdraws.

Foster, voluntarily and without prompting, forwards emails from dozens of irate Pennell referendum supporters to his publicist Elizabeth Prata, who then devotes an entire issue to mocking these private citizens and their views. When asked publicly and directly about Prata's unflattering characterizations, Foster refuses to disassociate himself from them. Most politicos would have said something vaguely conciliatory at this point, but not our Gary. Power means never having to say you're sorry.

Foster, Upham and Crane smear Ray Clark and Peter Gerardo for a nonexistent conflict of interest, and when that doesn't stick they change the crime to incompatibility of office. This also falls flat but the bozos continue to flog it for months.

Foster & Co. reject Pam Wilkinson's application for membership on a committee because "she didn't share the council's vision", whatever the hell that means. It was an act so outrageous that Foster personally apologizes to Pam -- long after the cameras are off. But she still doesn't get on the committee.

Same deal with Richard Hall.

And of course the yahoos viciously and recklessly attacked the committee my wife chairs, impugning her integrity, competence and professionalism. Based on unsubstantiated rumors, the committee is accused not only of failing to do its job but of inappropriate and "embarrassing" behavior. You guys do remember that, don't you? I sure do.

And let's not forget Mitch Berkowitz, Dick Cahill, Bill Dale, the SYT engineers, Dean Bennett, the Planning Board and a host of lesser luminaries -- all victims of this council's relentless, hypocritical finger-wagging about failed responsibilities, professional defects and intellectual inadequacies.

Foster, Upham and Crane appear to be incapable of working constructively with anyone who exhibits anything less than fawning obsequiousness toward them. Do they think people don't recognize such behavior for what it is?

Latest victim? Poor Jan Bourget, our utterly apolitical council recorder, who was harangued and made to feel like some kind of failure by the pathologically abusive Upham because she didn't transcribe Dick Cahill's verbatim comments into council minutes. Note to Andy: Jan records meeting minutes. She is not a transcriber. These are not the same thing. Do you ever actually think things through before opening your mouth?

On the upside, this modest little blog apparently impressed the hell out of Fran Monroe. I am content.