Left In Lowell

Maturity, Intimidation, and Pizza

by Lynne at 1:57 pm.

If you get the Lowell Sun, you probably read the Column. I don’t (I won’t pay for that thing til the editor is, at a minimum, failed upwards and is no longer in charge of day to day operations), but a friend sent me the relevant quote regarding the night of the GLT Board meeting and a creepy, disgusting display of immaturity from one of Santoro’s supporters (again, eliciting an “I’m for Cox” moment to my mind). No link as the Column is not online any more (funny how that means I stopped quoting it at all until now…hmmm…):

“After Tuesday night’s vote to hire Mary Jo Santoro as the next superintendent of Greater Lowell Tech., School Committee member George O’Hare of Lowell and local activist Michael Ready got into a loud war of words. Ready proclaimed that Santoro’s hiring was a bag job from the beginning. O’Hare disagreed. School spokesman Michael McGovern jumped into the fray, literally blocking Ready’s access to school officials with his chest and escorting Ready out of the administrative offices.

Shortly after Ready arrived at his Nesmith Street home, a pizza delivery guy showed up on his doorstep. On cheese pizza from Santoro’s Sub Shop - as in Mary Jo’s namesake and a reference to her victory that night. The number given to the delivery man was O’Hare’s cell-phone, which Ready immediately called. O’Hare returned Ready’s call the next morning. “I said I did not deliver any pizza to him”, O’Hare told the SUN. Ready said he believes O’Hare didn’t do it.”

I’ll let others jump in on the McGovern interference, as I was not there to see it. However, on the second, the pizza delivery, I want to make some commentary.

First, there are two ways to interpret the act, which was much discussed this week among friends…does one ignore it and give it no power to affect anything? Or go public and show the complete stupidity that accompanies this GOB atmosphere? Confront a bully instead of enable them?

The first and most likely motivation for this is that some idiot bonehead got a little too excited and decided to pull a “na-na na-na BOO BOO” move on Ready, who has put himself out there and is the most available target for bragging about their “win.” Since GOBs are full of people like this, I tend to believe that is likely what happened.

However, the sending of this pizza to an activist’s house (even as easy as it is to find addresses these days), could also be interpreted as intimidation, i.e., “I know where you live. Watch your step.” And while it sounds paranoid to think this might be a motivation for such an act, in this town, such acts have been a time honored tradition. I have heard more than one first hand account of such intimidation. I myself have been the recipient of it. This cowards’ mafioso attitude in this town (it’s like the baby mafia; they use intimidation and thuggery, but yet, as soon as you shine a light on it, or stand up to them even mildly, they back down right quick…very manly of them, on both counts) is all too common, though I suspect it’s on its lame way to becoming out of fashion.

Thank goodness myself, and the many active citizens of Lowell who want to see things change for the better for everyone (as opposed to the privileged few), can see right through such pitiful acts of cowardice. No one’s going anywhere. If anything, such childish attempts to intimidate only make us more driven to see the system change. 2011 is right around the corner.

One final thought. If I were Mr. O’Hare, and I didn’t send the pizza (and let’s face it, he probably didn’t - at least, most public officials have that much good sense), I’d be taking a real hard look at my friends. It’s not just anyone who would have his unpublished cell phone number, so it’s a good bet that someone he knows well may have done it. I’d be trying to find out who, so that I could give them a good talking to about embarrassing me like that.

[Filed under Local politics, School Committee] [link]

12 Responses to “Maturity, Intimidation, and Pizza”

Prince Charming Says:
May 9th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Pizza-gate. If it were a fish wrapped in newspaper, I’d be concerned. Pizza? Yummy.
Paul@01852 Says:
May 9th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Mr Ready was NOT escorted out of the meeting! He (and I beside him) left of our own free will! The “war of words” was initiated by Mr O’Hare who left the Council table and confronted Mr Ready who only stood his ground. Several people at the meeting did suggest we leave but only because there needed to be an executive session which common mortals are not allowed to attend
JC Says:
May 9th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
From: THE GLTHS DIRTY TRICKS RECIPE BOOK

Page 106: RECIPE FOR PAY-BACK PIZZA

Ingredients: a)ONE NEWLY ELECTED SUPERINTENDENT
b)SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS
c)SEVERAL POSSE GALS
d)ONE CELL PHONE
e)BEVERAGES

Procedure: Assemble a, b, c, d, and e at Angela’s. Mix gently and let stand for one hour.

Then, add a pinch of meanness, a dash of resentment, a bit of foolishness, and a whiff of
inadequacy.

Have a good laugh, your pay-back pizza has been ordered!
Lynne Says:
May 9th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
JC you crack me up.

Paul I am going to front page that comment. I had a feeling there was more to that, as I had chatted with Michael last week, but I didn’t remember the details.

Obviously the “PR flack” (WTF school has a PR flack???) also spoke to the Sun Column writers. What a load of crap.

If ONLY there’d be a TV camera present like there *should* have been!
Paul@01852 Says:
May 9th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
JC:
Pizza? Santoro’s!
GLTHS Superintendent? NOT!!!
JC Says:
May 9th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Paul:
Hire a fact checker please.
K-R-S Says:
May 9th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
to comment #3, sounds like a devilish recipe!
Kim Says:
May 9th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Comment #3 lol great post!
Smooth Says:
May 9th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
If someone sent me Santoro’s pizza, I’d be pissed too. Yuck. Espresso’s please!
Maggie Says:
May 10th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Dumb question here - Why isn’t this considered intimidation? Why isn’t the pizza delivery thing illegal? Why can’t someone find out who placed the order and return the “favor” .
And last but far from least - only a true gentleman would have paid for a pizza he did not order.
Lynne Says:
May 10th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Or a hungry one…
Paul@01852 Says:
May 10th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Maggie it *is* intimidation! And it probably is illegal! And it is probably a violation of Mr Ready’s civil rights as well! And we *know* who placed the order from tracing the cell phone that was used to order it! But… for us to “return the favor” would be just as illegal and just as intimidating as the incident itself! We at MoveLowellForward will use legal and MATURE efforts to show our disgust and displeasure with tactics such as this! As starters Michael and I were guests on Warren Shaw’s Saturday Morning Show where we discussed the selection process. You can listen to a recording here: http://www.dracutforum.net/2010/05/09/mlf-sweeney-and-ready-on-980-wcap/

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May 9, 2010

Maturity, Intimidation, and Pizza

12 Responses to “Maturity, Intimidation, and Pizza”

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