Once again I must say that I am flattered that our opposition feels I’m worthy of such attention. You folks are going to give me a big head, and frankly, there are too many of those going around Pt. Pleasant. I do have to wonder though, am I really that threatening to the prosperity of our town or do they really have nothing more substantive? I don’t mind the heat. It’s just part of the dance and I love to dance. It is unfortunate however, that the best approach the opposition has to countering our criticism of years of poor planning and wasteful spending is to keep dragging my wife into this. That’s just the way it is for some people I guess. It must be the only dance they know? Now I don’t know anything about Bob Sabosik or Al Faraldi’s spouses, and I don’t feel I need to. This is a small town and anyone would face a conflict of interest at one point or another. With that in mind I am concerned about our mayor’s spouse.
Mrs. Konkus’ letter to the editor in last week’s Ocean Star was incredibly misleading if not outright false. If she were a Civics teacher being evaluated she would surely receive an “F”. Our local form of government follows the Mayor-Council format, also known as the “weak mayor” format, where legislative power rests in the hands of council and the mayor’s position is almost entirely ceremonial. Our Board of Education operates as what is known as a “special district” which has no direct relationship to the municipal governing body, and is elected independently to minimize the political influences that have no place in the structure or implementation of education. The only circumstance in which that separation of powers is compromised would be one like last year when the residents were deceived into voting down the school budget. In cases like this the responsibility of establishing the school budget is turned over to the municipal body, a group who was never intended to do this and was not elected to do this. Once the budget was in the hands of our council it was laid open to political and personal agendas with little to no influence from the board or administration that truly understand the matters and consequences at hand. This would be like me taking over my wife’s C-section because I didn’t think the doctor was doing it right!
This attitude seems to permeate all aspects of our town’s functioning. I’ve never witnessed a lay person speak to a Chief of Police in a condescending tone until I started attending council meetings. Who that knows him would question Chief Williams’ love of our community or his tenacity in protecting it? I’ve never seen expert opinion treated so casually until I started to peel back the onion layers of our town’s behind the scenes interplay, and I worked in the construction industry where no one respects an expert! Actually that’s not true, they ALL think they’re an expert. A wise person once asked me this: “What’s the difference between an expert and a know-it-all?” Answer: “An expert is asked for their opinion.”
Now I understand Mrs. Konkus’ sentiment, her husband’s public life is coming to a close and she feels the need to protect his legacy, but I don’t understand how her reasoning applies to me more than anyone else who ever has or ever will serve our community on council? Most council members will have to recuse himself or herself at one time or another, that’s why it’s practiced, to protect the individual and all of us. It is deceptive though to suggest that I am a bad candidate because I would be unable to vote on school matters. Unless they are planning on campaigning to vote down a future budget I don’t see this as a major concern. I certainly would not be more concerned than I would be about Bob S. or Al voting on issues pertaining to local business. The public would have to trust that they too would recuse themselves from votes that may serve themselves personally or financially more than the town as a whole. I don’t mean to suggest that Bob or Al would or would not serve faithfully. That’s for the residents to decide. I will say that I feel I have kept myself open and available to inspection and take offense to the insinuation that I would serve anyone above the residents of Point Pleasant.
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