Bill Dauphin’s Excellent Response to Christy Vale
” Ms. Vale opines that Democrats should “start thinking about some real issues that affect Vernon.” Well, one real issue is this: Leaves will be falling soon, and not long after that, snow and ice, and Vernon still has no Director of Public Works. I’m sure the workers at DPW will do their very best to cope, but facing a busy season of leaf removal, snow removal, and repair of weather-related damage to streets and town infrastructure understaffed and without a leader can’t be easy for them.
We’re in this situation because the mayor has failed to do what Ms. Vale points out is his job: “… recommend candidates to the Town Council .” Instead, he has recommended one unsuitable candidate (unsuitable, by the way, not because he’s a Republican but because he has no relevant experience) whom the Council rejected on a bipartisan basis, and has stubbornly refused to bring forward any further candidates (though we know there were other finalists). If Democrats have resorted to extraordinary methods, it’s only because the mayor has refused to do his ordinary duty in this urgent matter.
More generally, accountability and evenhandedness in government is a real issue that affects Vernon. We have minority representation rules for a reason: ALL the town’s citizens deserve a voice in government, including those who voted for Democrats. Denying, as the mayor repeatedly has, Democrats the simple matter of a place on the agenda doesn’t hurt Herbst, Winkler, Schaeffer, and Fox, nor does it hurt Tom DiDio and the DTC; it hurts the people of Vernon, who deserve better than to be shut out of their own government.
I don’t know Mayor McCoy personally; he may well be, as Ms. Vale describes him, “honest, bright, energetic, and thoughtful” in his private and professional dealings. He has not, however, governed Vernon in a professional, effective, publicly accountable way, and that’s what voters deserve. “
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