"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Wednesday 18 November 2009

Oh Me Oh My

The baleful glare and menacing smile are much in evidence these days as the Mayor twists and turns in the wind of difficulties of her own making.

Thirty- six months into the term of office, councillors are now being advised of individual Rules of Order, the Mayor is planning to enforce in the future.

The rule requiring council approval to withdraw a motion from the table after extensive debate has been discovered. It has always been there. But never before noticed I guess.

Recently an e-mail was circulated by the Mayor citing specific wording of the clause governing mayhem. The closest we come to that is when the Mayor loses it , shouts people down and or bangs the table.rat-a-tat-tat for several minutes as if it was the head of the person challenging her style of maintaining order.

Last night prior to going into camera to deal with three innocuous matters, a lecture was presented about declaring publicly if a councillor was not prepared to accept that a particular item on the agenda should be dealt with behind closed doors.The Mayor's meaningful gaze focused throughout her comments upon myself.

It's never exactly clear what's expected when the presiding member engages in this bizarre behaviour.

Am I supposed to crumple, weeping and begging forgiveness? Or vanish like the Wicked Witch of the West into a fizzle and a puddle on the floor?

The inclination is to place both thumbs on the side of my head and wag my fingers in her direction but of course that would be decidedly lacking in decorum

The lecture about objecting to confidentiality prior to attending an in-camera meeting was not unlike a child care worker admonishing her charges to go to the bathroom before leaving for an expedition. .

Monday night's special committee meeting was electric. It was held to provide responses to councillors' queries raised at a previous all day Saturday budget meeting.

At the hour of adjournment, half the agenda still remained. I hear some people did not leave the Town Hall until 12.30 a.m.

No matter the nature of comments, the presiding member is compelled to deliver a dissertation on the merits or lack thereof of each and every one.

Silent pauses hung in the air as if an explosion was anticipated.

Frequent gushing bouts of self praise and plaudits are spread generously among the Mayor's inner circle and of course directed to new staff who have replaced all the "ne'er-do-wells" long vanished from the scene.

There comes a time, when endless nittering, nattering and self-aggrandizement can no longer be endured.

At ten-thirty, the hour of adjournment, the small body of work only half-completed. I arose from my seat, donned my raiment and left that place.

David Letterman's Late Night Show is currently featuring a list of ten things more painful than reading Sarah Palin's Memoirs.

7 comments:

Anonymous Indeed said...

This mayor is really too much. She just digs herself deeper and deeper, and becomes more transparent with every "issue". It is comical in some ways, but mostly disturbing.

Something Fishy in Aurora said...

Perhaps the Mayor was embarrassed by her lack of control at the November 10th meeting. Calling a recess to try to regain her composure. I’m sure she is trying her best to figure out how to reign everybody in and make sure that nothing like that happens again.

Is it true as was posted elsewhere:

“the Mayor has requested that members of Council provide their New Business to the clerk/secretary in writing in advance of meetings. It’s being positioned “to provide assistance to staff”.”

This would also show how she is attempting to gain the control she has lost (or never really had).

It's 'Rein', Dear... said...

"to reign (sic) everybody in"

Freudian slip, considering her regal Phyllis-ness?

Something Fishy in Aurora said...

She is a rein dear.

Great, just in time for Christmas.

White Knight said...

When I observe council meetings I am totally nauseated by the mutual admiration society that is Gaertner, Granger and Maceachern in particular.

Anonymous for a Reason said...

Yes, the mutual admiration society is nauseating and so very obvious. However, it is sometimes very amusing.
I was at a function where Mrs. Morris was rabbiting on and repeating herself when she called out to her minion Granger expecting him to acknowledge her ramblings. He had been lectured into a stupified state like the rest of us. He didn't snap out of his Phyllis induced coma, so her mayorship quickly moved on in her pontifications. It was HILARIOUS. PM's uncomfortable pause, and Granger's oblivion was immensely entertaining.
It is obvious to all but Granger that he is her puppet. You don't even notice her hand up his backside anymore.

White Knight said...

... oops, and of the course, the mayor... but then that is a given.