Left In Lowell

Apparently, being a Columnist and having an original thought in your head is not valued over at the Blog of Record.

Once again, it’s Mr. Dan “Chaz Bono got turned into a man, dear.“Phelps.

I caught a whiff of Phelps’ latest blog … offering … and immediately recognized the stench. It is, of course, the standard fare of the disgruntled Bernie Bashers that came up short, last November. If Phelp’s deserves credit, it would be conjuring the verbal diaherra into blog form.

Murphy is a one-term city councilor. The other councilor who put his hat in for mayor is Rodney Elliott, who is starting his eighth term and has never been mayor. He was a councilor when Murphy was in diapers. And Elliott came in second — second — in the November election behind Rita Mercier, who may just be able to lay claim to the title “most popular Lowell city councilor ever.”

I shouldn’t take exception to Phelps’ hyperbole, but wouldn’t Murphy have been 13-ish when Elliott was first elected? I’m not sure what Phelps knows of diapers. Has Phelps been hanging out at Gemstones, lately? Whatever. Phelps is playing up Murphy’s youth, as a negative. This allows Phelps to skip over the inconvenient question of Elliott’s inabilty to close the deal with several different Council lineups. What’s that cliche? “Always the bridesmaid?”

Ooops. I shouldn’t talk up Elliott’s failings. Dan wants to point a crooked finger at Patrick Murphy.

Phelps goes on, parroting Bill Taupier, et al., “… title of mayor is largely ceremonial. You’re expected to show up at all the ribbon-cuttings ..” This is followed by what many on the School Committee have been saying, off record, ‘the Mayor’s most significant role is on the school side.’

Phelp’s is hitting all the points, but he hasn’t thought of one, yet. He obviously watches City Life reruns.

It goes on:

Apparently, though, some councilors have had their feelings hurt by Elliott, who is known to ruffle feathers, especially those of City Manager Bernie Lynch, which is a no-no for some councilors.
This is Elliott’s comeuppance. It’s his fellow councilors’ way of saying to him, maybe if you voted with us more often and didn’t make so many waves, we’d support you for mayor. And that’s just plain wrong.

Here we catch Phelps, red handed, carrying the Bernie Bashers water. Of course, this is ALL about resisting the tyranny of Bernie Lynch, something the “three blind mice,” the “rubber stamps” would never do. Phelps has ‘poetically’ nailed Elliott to a cross. Martyrdom has never been so … insipid.

Phelps is a sham artist, mailing in the regurgitated gripes of petty hacks.

Since the election, regarding Elliott, I have heard his bid for Mayor framed in “deserves.” You see it above when Phelps talks about this being Elliott’s 8th term. You see it from Elliott, himself, when he tries to save face with Jen Myers, saying, “I ask the questions my constituents want asked, as evidenced by my second-place finish. …”

Let’s make something very clear. Nine Councilors will decide next Tuesday what “deserves” means. If you wish to pretend it has something to do with votes for or against “the Manager,” please go right ahead. But I have talked to most of the 9 and they tell me, even those supporting Elliott, that he diminshed the body by his blatant pandering and disregard for decorum.

You will read from bloggers and hear from pundits many things about what it means to be a Mayor, what it takes to be chosen for Mayor. But, this don’t mean shit.

Councilors will police their ranks, next Tuesday. Learn from it or not. Lowell goes on.

Oh, Brown. Are you that desperate already? (Wait, don’t answer that!)

And so Brown sat down for a friendly interview with the Boston Herald, a conservative paper, to complain about the coverage his likely rival is getting.

“And it would help if you guys would ask her some tough questions, too,” Brown commented. “Ask her how she would vote on things, and why. It’s all fluff, it’s all fluff. Give me a break.”

He also added: “I just think that if you’re gonna find out where people stand, you’ve gotta ask them tough questions like you guys ask me every single day.”

Waaaah. WAAAAH!! This from the guy who runs away from questions, and who, so far as I know, refuses to hold an open town hall style meeting with his constituents. You know, because they might ask tough questions. Scary!

This quote from Brown made me laugh - a lot.

“Well I think the consensus out there is that she is obviously very very liberal. And especially when she’s stating that she’s created the intellectual foundation for the Occupy Wall Street — and you know all the problems we had with those folks here. And then the fact that she’s gonna leave blood and teeth in the street, and she’s not gonna compromise and only wants to work on big things. Well you know, we have plenty of ideologues down there, and a lot of partisanship down there already.”

Hits all the talking points. Created OWS, and OWS was a bad thing. Check. Blood and teeth - because she uhhh…meant that literally. Check. Oh and then he jumps inside Warren’s head and declares she will never compromise (ding!) and will…only work on big things? (DING!). Check.

I really have been worried that the Republicans and Brown had something they were withholding that they could hit back with, but as time goes on, I see the same tired and easily parried talking points, and now we have Brown whining about Warren’s press coverage…the latter being the last bastion of a drowning candidate…one who in the last poll was 7 points down, and dropping rapidly. You don’t see a candidate do this unless they are really, really worried.

I’ve heard that Patrick Murphy is “ambitious.” ;v)

(Note: When you first connect there is a link that prompts you for an Adobe player. Ignore it. Then comes an ad. They can be up to 30 seconds long. Finally the clip.)

0:00 – 2:41
George Anthes starts off somewhat delighting in Elliott’s misfortune. Elliott is irked, but knows he doesn’t have the votes to be elected Mayor, so he grins and bears it. Taupier intervenes, asking “Why are we selecting a rookie to be Mayor?” Taupier deducts that “… they don’t want Rodney to be Mayor because Rodney does not play according to the rules.”
Taupier rehashes the ‘3 blind mice’ motif, stating that he, if on the Council, would NOT vote for Elliott to be Mayor, so Elliot could challenge the City Manager from the floor.
2:41 – 3:43
Taupier then turns towards “the young Murphy fellow,” saying he was “infamous” for bringing forward so many motions in his first term. That Murphy is gathering ideas from around the region to bring to Lowell in an effort to appear “intellectual,” but ends up being a ”pseudo-intellectual.”

People, you know, repeat this stuff. Check, please.

You ever wonder who/what the source of some of the more outlandish talking points you hear floated into The Bubble is?

Here is a ‘Whitman Sampler,’ of sorts:

(Note: When you first connect there is a link that prompts you for an Adobe player. Ignore it. Then comes an ad. They can be up to 30 seconds long. Finally the clip.)

0:00 – 1:34
Taupier discusses the importance of the Mayor not speaking from the chair. He goes on to speculate that the City Manager should want C. Elliott to be Mayor because it would effectively muzzle Elliott. He continues by insulting Martin, Broderick & Millinazzo, calling them “the three blind mice.” Speculating further, that Lynch would want them on the floor to speak in support. After praising Martin’s intelligence, he suggests that Martin is a mere parrot: “He sounds like,Polly wants a cracker.” C.Elliot chuckles sheepishly.
1:34 – 4:36
In this segment, Taupier asserts that Lynch sent a very clear message to sitting Councilors, by what he did to then C. Kazanjian. That Lynch ‘said’ to the Council “Don’t fool around with me because I’m mean and I’m not fair.”
Segway into a short talk about how the City Solicitor (aka “a woman, who is saying things she has no right to say”) squelches debate by informing councilors of potential risks stemming from sensitive matters that stem from pending lawsuits, ect. Taupier poo-poos the notion, citing 1st Amendment protections.
4:36 – 6:00
Elliot notes “Well, what’s interesting is that on the Kazanjian thing, the Inspector General was in immediately.”(Unlike the LHA matter) Taupier asks who called the IG? Elliott replies,’the City Manager.’ Pounding the table, Taupier snorts, “You should have fired the City Manager, then!”
A rehash of the sewer line tie in mess.
6:00 – 6:58
Taupier lectures us that if anyone, including the CM, messes with the Council, they need to stick together, but that “they do just the opposite.” The remedy? End at-large city elections.

PS. The term ‘Downtown Mob’ is frequently used by Bill Taupier, if not coined by him.

It’s a vision thing!

November 9th, on City Life, I looked forward and dared Lowell to consider Patrick Murphy for Mayor. At the time, the Council’s choice was heavily favored for Kevin Broderick. It was the conventional wisdom. The bubble speak. Within a day or so, Kevin made it clear to all, that he wanted to spend more time at home. A noble choice.

The bubble boiled over.

………………………..

The Blog of Record:

The key vote for Murphy appears to be Martin’s, as it’s been known for days Murphy’s had four votes.

Martin, a former mayor himself, declined to comment, saying he’ll let everyone know after Christmas.

Numerous sources, however, have told The Column it’s over.

In all sincerity, I’ll say that Lowell has had an array of great Mayors. These women and men have made their mark, by being distinct, as Mayor, in their own rite. I’m looking forward to Patrick giving us another, unique interpretation of what it means to be our Mayor.

That said, I’m keeping my cigar in my pocket.

It’s been talked about for years. Could it be done? Could we tap into something like this?

The Phoenix Media Corporate Video from Marketing Phoenix on Vimeo.

We have enough folks sick of The Sun. We have the students. We have the downtown folks and the “creative economy.”

Could a ‘Phoenix’ rise in Lowell?

There is no doubt that the Dan Phelps column discussed in Lynne’s diary below was utterly tasteless and decidedly tone deaf.

It should be noted that Lowell is, politically, much closer to Manchester, NH than say Cambridge, MA. Where this picture:

AP PHOTO

was snapped in May of 2004, then run on the front page of The Sun.

Suffice to say, those that habitually digest The Sun’s editorial slant were not so happy with the above picture. At the time, there was pushback, as there is today. I refuse to defend Phelps’ phuck up. But, it is not insignificant that the paper was caught trying in May 2004.

It shows, that we are winning the debate and that time is on our side.

Phelps’ column is a step back. It is not surprising, as this dead tree rag tries to claw for survival. Having a front row seat, I smirk watching the Sun try to become Lowell’s ‘Blog of Record.’ What the folks at the helm have not figured out, is how to straddle the line between providing the dead tree, Limbaugh slant, that its old world readers consume, like so much junk food and providing a center-left diet to those of us that read the news with a mouse and not a magnifying glass.

Well well well…the Lowell Sun made national blog news on FireDogLake for what is, and I agree with the post, one of the assiest things written in there in a long time. And yes, that is saying something considering the source.

As we approach the Christmas holidays, what editor thought this was fit to print? Here’s an excerpt from “Christmas carols - with a twist” written by columnist and copy editor Dan Phelps at the Lowell Sun. …

We’re instructed to sing it “to the tune of ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer’”.

Chaz Bono got turned into a man, dear.
Dancin’ with a woman on TV.
You might say there’s no such thing as Santa
Till you see what Chaz got ‘neath his tree.

Chastity was once a cute girl
On her parents’ TV show.
Then she stunned the whole dang nation,
When she said her girl parts had to go.

Now transgenders in the Bay State
Have a law that’s etched in black.
It says they can change their gender.
Then if they want, they can change it back. …

I agree with FDL, what an insensitive piece of crap. It not even funny, so it doesn’t have even that excuse. Pathetic, and typically mean the way the Sun just loves to be.

If you think so too, call them and say so (FDL has the relevant numbers for the so-called editor and the publisher at the initial link to their post).

Just when I think they can sink no lower…they surprise me. *rolls eyes*

Update: MassEquality Executive Director Kara Suffredini has submitted this letter to the editor. Any bets on whether or not our “editor” in chief will print it?

We are down to the wire.

LOWELL CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY DECEMBER 20, 2011
CITY HALL, CITY COUNCIL CHAMBER
TIME 6:30 PM
-snip

GENERAL PUBLIC HEARINGS (Scheduled for 7PM)
3. Vote - Accept Section 19 of MGL c.32B (Health Care).

But of course, the LHA blame game is sooooooooooooooooo much more important!

Update 2: From the Blog of Record:

LOWELL — The United Teachers of Lowell, the largest union in the city, reached an agreement Monday evening with City Manager Bernie Lynch to joint the Group Insurance Commission, which the manager estimates could save the city $5 million to $9 million in the first year alone.

Both Lynch and Paul Georges, UTL president, confirmed the agreement.
-snip

Update: From the Blog of Record:

Months of negotiations have produced a consensus among 14 city-side unions, including police and firefighters. Lynch and union executives deserve credit for getting this done in a unified, civil manner. All that stands in the way of a unanimous agreement is for the United Teachers of Lowell, the city’s largest union, to sign on with other school contingents. The teachers were scheduled to vote today.

If all agree, it clears the way for Lynch and the unions to enter into coalition bargaining en route to joining the state’s Group Insurance Commission, or GIC.
-snip

Now there is a catch. If Lowell’s teachers’ union decides not to join the consensus group already in tow, it kills the entire proposed deal. In that case, it would trigger a City Council vote to give the city manager the authority to make health-care program design changes to achieve cost savings. The unions would have limited input in what could become a highly charged and risky process.

Please bargain collectively on this Open Thread.

What is wrong with Lowell politics? Seriously?

“The last people government thinks about is the taxpayer,” Commission Chairman Walter Bayliss said, adding the business owners pay a higher tax rate and should be accommodated.

The commission voted to hold its next meeting Thursday, Jan. 12. Bayliss said if Lynch does not make the Council Chamber available to them, they will meet somewhere else.

“If it’s locked, it’s locked and we’ll hold it in the hallway,” he said. “If the manager wants to put us in the basement, God bless him, it’s his building, we can meet in the broom closet.”

First, we get the old saw. Can’t you just see the scars on the taxpayers backs? Mr. Bayliss can!

Then, comes the martyrdom. Thank God we have public servants like Mr. Bayliss! He will endure any disrespect the manager berates him with. He will do THIS for us.

Oh, my aching head.

What the hell is going on in this frickin city? I can’t, truly, single Bayliss out for this type of hackneyed codswallop. It’s actually quite prevalent in the way city officials talk to us.

I’m sick of it. You?