Take My Council, Please: Pushing Paper...

Every now and then the Springfield City Council assembles and does little more than ministerial duties dressed up as discretionary acts.  For example, the city cannot accept a grant or money outside of its own tax base or consistent with a general state law unless the council approves it along with the purpose of the money.  Technically, the city can reject the money or disapprove of its purpose, but seldom does the city turn away money.  Monday was one of those meetings heavy on process and light on policy or politics.  Nothing that needed a recorded vote recorded any opposition.  However, rumblings of future trouble may lie in the background.

The rules of the city council dictate the order in which items may be brought before the council for debate, but that may be set aside if no councilor objects.  Last night featured this en masses as councilors bounced from items on economic development funding to grant acceptances to ordinance revisions.

On the agenda were transfers within departments to purchase a new event tent at the Barney Estate Carriage House in Forest Park, fund an economic development position and pay for additional office supplies in the audit department.  Bracket that last one for now.

Elsewhere the council approved a block of reports on utility work for Verizon and Western Massachusetts Electric.  Grants for the Dispatch department to maintain the facility, Fire Department training, at-risk youths (seemingly not the same as the one in the AWAKE controversy), health and human services, the library and for the construction of a parking garage at Union Station.

Pat Burns, the city Comptroller and a report from the Finance Committee both offered grim pictures for the next fiscal year, but the full details will not be known for a few more weeks.  The City Council also passed the first step of an ordinance to exempt livery vehicles who operate under contract from the state.  This would not apply to "for-hire" livery vehicles like taxis and limousines.  Rather it would apply to buses and vans used by private groups to shuttle people to and from events, for example.  The bill moved to the committee on ordinances where further discussion is expected.

Councilor John Lysak (WMassP&I)

Ward 8 Councilor John Lysak also offered a resolves calling on the Massachusetts to establish a provision in the state's property tax laws to enable to the city to collect a different (read higher) rate on dwellings with four or more units.  Lysak's reasons for the measure would be to relieve some of the upward pressure on business property tax rates.  Lysak also notes that it seems ridiculous that multiple family dwellings are taxed lower residential rates while businesses, also investments pay a higher rate.  He justified the higher rate on the thinking that multiple family dwellings also consume more city services than single family residences.  

The resolution drew opposition from some councilors and the Sears family, notable political Illuminati and owners of Sears Real Estate.  The measure was referred to committee, which is itself a somewhat absurd notion since resolves carry little if any weight.  However, Lysak was resigned to the resolve's fate and stated that he was merely looking to start a conversation.  Among the more bizarre aspects of this situation is that Lysak, allegedly the Council's only known Republican, is pushing for higher taxes, sorta.  However, it has also been stated by council insiders that Lysak is, despite his party identification, is to the left of other councilors confirmed to be Democrats.

The earlier matter to transfer funding in the Audit Department came about after the acting head of that department explained that money for salaries in her department were being used to office supplies.  The transfer was quite simple, but the money came from salary positions that went unfilled.  Indeed, the acting director described herself as the only employee in the Audit Department.  While much of the council seemed nonplussed by this fact, others expressed some concern that the part of the city charged with ensuring the city is spending its money responsible has less than a skeleton crew.

The other detail that raised some flags occurred during a discussion started after Ward 7 Councilor Tim Allen suggested that the Council listen a to a report of the finance committee before taking financial measures out of order in the agenda.  By taking these measures out of order, the council often spent a great deal of time asking questions of officials that would be answered in the report.  At-large Councilor Kateri Walsh correctly noted that Allen could always object and force the agenda be maintained (unanimous consent is needed to go out of order).  At-large Councilor Tim Rooke, the chair of the Finance Committee then offered his report on finances.

(WMassP&I)

What was notable about that report was its suggestion to Allen or any interested party that one attend the budget hearings held before Mayor Domenic Sarno will present his budget.  Allen and others were more interested in budget hearings with department heads rather than just finance officials.  Except, those hearings have not yet happened.  The mayors office confirmed with WMassP&I that none had happened and that none were scheduled.  Thomas Walsh, the mayor's communication director, did intimate that they would happen, but not when.  However, it has been noted that at this time last year the budget meetings had already begun and the mayor will need to present his budget by mid-May at the latest.

There is a rising concern among councilors, or at least ones given to deep contemplation of city business, that the mayor's office may limit these budget hearings.  It is at these meetings that some of the most meaningful budget changes occur in contrast to the often blunter and less surgical cuts the council makes while approving the budget.  Combined with the administration's dire warnings about the FY2013 budget, this may suggest an effort on the part of the mayor to rush the budget and force the council to either unwillingly or blithely accept a budget that may endanger the city's solvency and rainy day funds.

ZBA Burns/Incinerates Biomass Permit...

**This post has been updated with pictures and for grammar.  This post has also been corrected to accurately reflect the comments of one speaker with regard to Massachusetts municipal waste incinerator ban.**

(WMassP&I)

As early as five thirty, a half hour before the zoning board of appeals hearing was set to begin, opponents of a proposed Biomass facility on Page Boulevard were arriving at City Hall.  Opponents from across the city and throughout the region poured into the hearing room that more than fifty years ago housed the second of the city's two legislative bodies.  As the room filled, supporters of the project were limited to a few seats off to the side.  Palmer Renewable Energy's imperious local attorney Frank Fitzgerald opted to stand.

Nobody knew what to expect from the board and between that and the tenor of hearing, many opponents could only guess how the board would rule.  Some were mindful of the high hurdle they would need to clear to sustain their appeal.  They would need not only a strong argument, but they would need to secure a unanimous vote from the board.

Before the ZBA were three matters.  Two involved biomass.  The other, the first one, involved an elderly woman who wanted to erect a temporary carport on her property.  The ZBA approved it with no opposition.

The real battle lay in the other two petitions.  Many had hoped that the biomass issue had died, at least on the city level, when the Springfield City Council revoked PRE's special permit.  However, the situation turned against biomass opponents again when Building Commissioner Steven Desilets issued PRE a building permit on the reasoning that a special permit was unnecessary.  That led to an appeal from local activist Michaelann Bewsee and two residents that live near the plant's proposed location, William and Toni Keefe.  The Springfield City Council, in exercising their prerogative as the authors of the zoning ordinance and issuers of special permits, filed the second appeal.

Michaelann Bewsee
(Michaelann Land Blog)

Bewsee's appeal came first and most of the arguments on the merits were the same for both the council's and her appeals.  However, there were issues of standing, that is were Bewsee and the Keefe's aggrieved parties to Desilets's decision?  While PRE was expected to attack the council's standing as well, that argument would likely fly directly in the face of established case law.

As would become a consistent problem throughout the hearing, ZBA chair Brenda Doherty implored the crowd to limit discussion of public health and air quality to only how it relates to the hearing.  The ZBA's jurisdiction was only zoning and could only consider the public health impacts to the extent they affected standing.  Despite that admonition, both sides veered away at times.

As lead petitioner, Bewsee spoke first.  She outlined the long, sordid history of the project, particularly its switch from burning construction waste to wood chips.  She outlined the project's original plan to burn construction and demolition waste for which the company requested and received a special permit for a recycling center on a 7-2 vote in 2008.  Since then the project changed to burning wood chips and the Springfield City Council completely transformed.  Following that transformation, the council revoked the permit on the grounds that the project had substantially changed.

Behind the desk are from left Commissioners Walter Gould
Brenda Doherty, Henry Nowick, Maria Perez and Daniel
Morrissey (partly obstructed).  Not pictured Commissioner Jose
Gonzelez. (WMassP&I)

Bewsee argued that the building permit was unlawful because Palmer Renewable's air quality permit was being appealed by none other than Bewsee herself and other environmentalists.  The city's ordinance and state regulations require that all air permits be obtained before a building permit is issued from the municipality.

Bewsee then explained how Desilets's decision was contrary to city zoning law.  Although the Page Boulevard property is zoned Industrial A, which is a very permissive designation, PRE was not merely proposing to engage in "processing," one of the approved activities as of right.  Rather the proposed process that the plant involved "incineration," which needs a special permit.  She disputed the notion that the wood being used did not qualify as waste.  Bewsee also defended her standing to appeal because the plant's emission's would affect her respiratory problems, but perhaps more critically, she defended the standing of the Keefes whose commute would be impacted by the trucks hauling waste wood in and ash out.

Pat Markey in 2007 with Karen Powell (WMassP&I)

Pat Markey, an attorney, former City Solicitor and former City Councilor who cast one of the two votes against the 2008 special permit, made the comment that would define the evening.  He told the board that proponents of the plant would offer a bunch of "smoke and mirrors."  He broke down the incineration requirement of the city zoning ordinance to its most basic component, "to burn to ash," and reminded the board that anything beyond that simply does not matter.

Other anti-biomass speakers drifted into air quality issues that Doherty tried to reign in.  The board also heard from a real estate agent who represented the owners of the former Friendly's on Page Boulevard that worried about the impact on that property's marketability.

Desilets was represented by Lisa DeSousa, an assistance city solicitor who, as Markey predicted, began the first round of dissembling.  She said that the plant would not engage in incineration of waste, refuse or offal, but would be burning fuel.  That difference, if it existed at all and expounded upon throughout the hearing, would form the crux of the board's final decision.  She did suggest, if not all that convincingly, that the air quality permit was actually in effect, as Bewsee and others had not requested a stay pending their administrative appeal of the air permit.

Fitzgerald, the lead local PRE attorney, only confidently assured the board that all i's were dotted and t's crossed.  He, too meandered into more detail about the air quality permit than Doherty would have likely preferred, but handed most of the show off to Botson Attorney Thomas Mackie.  Mackie had appeared before the council at the revocation hearing and brought his trademark condescension and attitude that defined much of his earlier remarks before the council.  Absent, however, were the veiled threats of litigation he hurled at the council, as the appeals board members face considerably different political consequences than councilors.  He did display at least a passing respect for Bewsee as the appellant, however.

The Outer Belt Comes Off, Lashes Council President...

 **The following is a follow-up to our Tuesday (1/10) bulletin about the Outer Belt Civic Association's letter condemning Councilor Ferrera's Council Committee Appointments.**

Councilor Ferrera (Urban Compass)

The pressure on Springfield City Council President Jimmy Ferrera continues to mount, but Ferrera shows no sign of buckling after igniting one of the city's highest profile personal political spats in several years.  Earlier this week, the Outer Belt Civic Association sent a letter to city officials and the news media condemning Ferrera's decision to dole out to two of the city's ward councilors meager committee assignments.  The OBCA is a neighborhood council for the city's southeastern corner.  Ward 2 Councilor Mike Fenton received no standing committee assignments, a situation without precedent in the council's recent history and Ward 7 Councilor Tim Allen, who represents the Outer Belt, received one committee.  Other councilors received as many as five assignments.

The letter from the OBCA, signed by its president, vice-president, treasurer and three board members calls the appointments or lack thereof "childish" and a "slap in the face" to the people who voted Fenton and Allen into office.  The OBCA writes that it needs councilors that will listen to them, not ones that "slight us because we may not always agree."  The letter goes on to criticize the rather blatant political process by which Ferrera appointed councils, which, despite dictionary definitions, he claims was not "political."

In a phone interview, OBCA Vice-President Mary Dionne confirmed that her organization wrote the letter and described what brought the letter into being.  Dionne said she had already decided to do something herself, but fate would have it that an OBCA Board Meeting was scheduled for the Saturday after Ferrera made the appointments public on January 5.  At that meeting, the Board of Directors decided to write the letter after two hours of discussion.

Councilor Allen (Facebook)

Dionne emphasized, as the OBCA Board members did in the letter, that the most appalling aspect is the lack of communication.  "Our relationship with City Councilors has always been very good," she said.  There are always disagreements, but she continued, we move on from them with respect among all parties.  In this case, however, she and the others felt, Ferrera had gone too far and given no notice of what he planned to do.

Dionne explained that since ward representation had gone into effect, they tended to work through Allen first and worked their way out to other councilors from there.  The OBCA's concern with Allen having so few committee appointments comes from the important role committees play in council processes.  Since committees review measures and ordinances in addition to gather testimony and write legislation, it seemed that Dionne felt like their ward rep and Ward 2's rep were given second class status by being largely excluded from that process.  She and the OBCA were not happy with a scenario, as they saw it, where their representative was "not part of the real city council."

The OBCA demanded in their letter that the situation to be rectified and an apology given.  Dionne also said they would like to meet with Ferrera to discuss the matter.

BREAKING: Outer Belt Rebels, Others May Follow...

Western Mass Politics & Insight has obtained a letter from the Outer Belt Civic Association condemning Council President Jimmy Ferrera's appointments to the Springfield City Council committees.

The letter calls Ferrera's appointments, which left Ward 7 Councilor Tim Allen (who represents the Outer Belt) with one committee assignment and Ward 2 Councilor Mike Fenton with essentially zero, "devastating."  It demands that the situation be rectified or that Councilor Ferrera step down as president.  The letter was also sent to Councilors Fenton & Allen, Mayor Domenic Sarno and the Republican.

Mary Dionne, Vice-President of the OBCA, said her organization has always had a good relationship with all councilors, but they found Ferrera's actions to be a direct afront to them and their ward councilor.  She also said other civic groups were also angered and may yet act, but that only hers has come forward with a letter so far.

We'll have more as this story develops!  Full story here!

Take My Council, Please: Good Night & Good Luck...

(WMassP&I)

The Springfield City Council closed out the year on a high and uncharacteristically brief note.  Most of the measures were largely uncontroversial approvals of grant money and donations.  An informal caucus was held at the end to select the Council’s officers for next year.

Budget officials announced that the city finances were officially in balance after the council approved reserve funds to fill the budget hole.  Funds were accepted to repave a portion of Sumner Avenue after gas main work, renovate Hubbard Park as part of the UniFirst land swap, and fund health and library programs.

Ward 1 Councilor Zaida Luna unexpectedly withdrew her motion for reconsideration of tax incremental financing for the F.W. Webb project slated for a parcel of the city’s Memorial Industrial Park off of Roosevelt Avenue.  The project has been criticized for creating painfully few jobs while costing the city hundreds of thousands in potential tax revenue over ten years.  With Luna’s withdrawal, the prior acceptance of the financing stands.

The council also gave final approval to an ordinance establishing site assignment fees.  The fees would be used for projects such as the biomass plant, but would have applications beyond the legally uncertain power plant.  Councilors also offered a resolve to encourage the state to push up MCAS testing by several weeks to compensate for lost class time due to the October snowstorm and subsequent eight days without school in Springfield.

Council President Jose Tosado (WMassP&I)

Finally at the end of the meeting, councilors recognized Council President Jose Tosado who, having declined to seek reelection to pursue a mayoral bid, will be leaving the council in January.  Councilors offered a proclamation and a plaque recognizing him for his ten years of service to the council, numerous assignments to council committees and service on the School Committee. 

At an informal caucus after the meeting, councilors made official what had been declared weeks ago.  At-large Councilor James Ferrera was voted Council President.  Ferrera’s acceptance of the presidency and recognition of Tosado and at-large Councilor Kateri Walsh's vice-presidency were executed without any blatant gaffes on his part.  Ward 8 Councilor John Lysak was elected vice-president.  Ferrera’s election was unanimous and included Ward 6 Councilor-elect Ken Shea and once and future at-large councilor Bud Williams.  The unanimity had been a surprise as several councilors were thought to object to Ferrera’s nomination.  Ferrera has been known for his often gratuitous motions, insipid questions and pained understanding of basic council procedure and city business.

(WMassP&I)

Speaking to WMassP&I after the meeting, Tosado said it “feels pretty good,” becoming a civilian again.  For now he intends to focus on his family and full time job at the Department of Mental Health, but will remain involved in the community.  As for any future political activity, Tosado only offered a “Stay tuned.”

For our part, we have in the past been suspicious of Tosado, but in the nearly year and a half since we started “Take My Council, Please,” we have found him to be an imperfect, but diligent member of the council.  It will be strange to cover the council without his fairly effective administration of meetings.  However, as he heads back into civilian the life, we at WMassP&I wish him the best.

Take My Council, Please: Chernobyl Intentions?...

**UPDATED** The following post has been updated with new pictures and additional reporting.

(WMassP&I)

Controversy and passionate, if not always stimulating debate are not foreign to the Springfield City Council.  However, there are certain topics that simply do not make their way into the austere halls of 36 Court Street.  Beach erosion, Iran, and Angelina Jolie are too exotic to have any meaningful place in a council meeting.  However, radiation is not completely out of their court.

At Monday’s meeting, technically a permit hearing meeting followed by a special meeting, the Council considered a zone change at the permit hearing followed by a home rule petition.  UniFirst Corporation, a uniform cleaning service on Parker Street in Indian Orchard, proposed to purchase a slice of Hubbard Park, also on Parker Street.  The parkland would not be used for an expansion of the facility, but rather the facility’s parking lot.  The parking expansion would end a current problem of overflow parking for the facility spilling onto city side streets.

However, sale of parkland of any size is strictly regulated in Massachusetts.  The city could not give up even the slightly more than an acre of Hubbard Parkland without finding a replacement.  Solutia, which owns the private Plastics Park off of Page Boulevard, agreed to donate 21 Acres of the park to the city.  UniFirst offered to buy the parkland itself well above market value as well as fund improvements to Hubbard Park.  The extra money from the sale of the land would be used for improvements to both parks.

Dimmock Pond from the Parkland to Swapped (WMassP&I)

Buildings, Parks and Recreation Director Pat Sullivan detailed the plans that included building a retaining wall between Hubbard Park and the UniFirst parking lot.  He also explained that the money from the cleaning company would be leveraged as matching funds for additional grant money to improve the parks.  Representatives from the Indian Orchard Citizens Council offered their support for the project, noting the group had voted in favor.  Paul Caron, the former state representative and public liaison for the project, noted that the requested zone change for the parkland would only allow parking.

Councilors peppered the speakers present questions about the environmental monitoring equipment at the facility.  It was a rather awkward dance around an elephant in the room that nobody at first, appeared willing to acknowledge.  Opponents to the zone change, however were not as polite.

Take My Council, Please: Who Gives a TIF?...

(WMassP&I)

The gang at 36 Court Street got together once again, but for the most part without the trademark mischief.  The Springfield City Council met again for only the first of two times this week to consider a roster of formal acceptances of grants, approve tax incremental financing approve a permit it lacks the power to approve.

The grants to animal control and the Department of Health and Human Services were accepted late in the meeting, but with nary a word of explanation, an oddity for the council.  The grants to HHS were in excess of $1.2 million in total.  The council also approved the emergency appropriation for the October snowstorm, although Ward 2 Councilor Mike Fenton warned the city may need to issue a type of short-term bond to pay for the disaster pending disaster relief funding from FEMA.

Ward 4 Councilor E. Henry Twiggs spoke about a couple of item that concerned him although no official action was taken at that meeting.  Early on in the meeting he asked that the council investigate or rather asking Code Enforcement to investigate a halfway house going into his neighborhood.  Twiggs’s objection appeared to not be the fact of the halfway house, but rather the fact that it had been established as something other than what it ostensibly was.  The second measure, sponsored with Ward 1 Councilor Zaida Luna, called for assistance to Community Block Development Grand and HOME projects that affected by the June tornado.

The tax incremental financing projects were by far the most contentious items of the evening—or at least one of them was.  The first was an agreement for a TIF to Custom Carbide, which is currently at the corner of Tapley and St. James Avenue.  The company is seeking a TIF, apparently only to finance the move to Dwight Street in a tax-exempt formal postal building.  According to Ward 7 Councilor Tim Allen, the company could move elsewhere as its clients are as diverse and far-flung as Boeing, but wanted to stay in Springfield.  The TIF passed without dissent.

Councilor Allen (Facebook)

The second TIF was less fortunate, indeed its fate remains uncertain.  F.W. Webb, a plumbing supply company wanted to purchase the last bit of the former Smith & Wesson Industrial Park land off of I-291.  Although there is some confusion as to the dollar amount, the TIF called for a 50% break on the taxes on the building for 10 years.  The promised jobs were minimal and total employment at the site was guaranteed to under 20 jobs with the potential for a few more.  Including a sale price of about $1 million and un-exempted tax revenue, the city stands to gain about $6-7 million over ten years from the project.  The project had been in the works for about two years and had surfaced earlier this year, but languished in committee for several months.  Allen, the chair of the council’s economic development committee, presented the project and recommended.

However, Fenton said he could not support the project because the property should be used for a project that will attract more jobs.  By comparison, the Performance Food Group facility nearby has hundreds of employees.  Fenton also noted that there are no assurances for more jobs or assurances that union labor will be preferred during construction.  Ward 6 Councilor Amaad Rivera noted that a similar project with the same company included considerably more concessions from F.W. Webbs, but no TIF was provided.

Take My Council, Please: The Walsh Filibuster...

**UPDATED 12/3/11** Following a report by Maureen Turner posted to her Valley Advocate blog "On Springfield" on biomass & campaign contributions, the Republican today singled out Kateri Walsh's hundreds in campaign contributions from the Callahan family and their lawyer Frank Fitzgerald.  The same report notes that City Comptroller Pat Burns found ZERO financial implications to the city if the council appeals PRE's permits to the Board of Appeals.

(WMassP&I)

When Steven Desilets approved a building permit for Palmer Renewable Energy’s biomass plant off Page Boulevard, he had to know it would provoke a rebuke from the City Council.  Five months before he approved that permit, the council voted 10-2 to revoke PRE’s permit on the grounds that the project had changed considerably from its previous incarnation and would pose a threat to human health.  Desilets would approve the permit on the advice of the Law Department, which argued that PRE did not even need a special permit under the revised proposal.

On Monday the Council gathered for a special meeting to formally appeal the building permit.  Because the council is an integral part of the planning and zoning process of the city, it has standing under the umbrella state zoning law to appeal the decision.  It can appeal to both the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals and, if still unsatisfied, to court as well.  Indeed, it seemed as if the council would do exactly that last night…until one councilor made Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell proud and filibustered.

Councilor Fenton (Facebook)

Before the meeting began it was well-known where everybody stood.  Ward 2 Council Mike Fenton wisely requested a recorded vote on last week’s non-binding resolves and it revealed that at-large Councilors James Ferrera, Tim Rooke and Kateri Walsh were opposed to any further council action to oppose the biomass plant.  All ward councilors and at-large councilors Thomas Ashe and Jose Tosado were in favor of further action just as they were in favor revoking the permit.

Nevertheless, the opponents tried their best to derail the process.  Ferrera started first by trying to sow the seeds of confusion among the councilors with an assist from City Solicitor Ed Pikula.  Ferrera inquired into who would represent the council if it voted to appeal and Pikula argued that the Law Department may need to recuse itself because it would be obligated to defend the building commissioner.  Ferrera also asked about PRE’s existing suit against the city over the council’s permit revocation.  However, that remains, as Pikula described, a placeholder suit if a court or other board rules the special permit is indeed needed.

Ward 8 Councilor John Lysak took on Pikula’s position directly asking how the Law Department could be defending the city against PRE’s lawsuit on the revocation while maintaining the position that a special permit is not necessary.  Pikula argued that the two issues were parallel, but did not have conflict within each case individually.

At the same time, however, Pikula noted that the council cannot appropriate money on its own for a lawyer.  Though true, Pikula could also not deny that the council could finance counsel out of its own pockets, receive pro bono representation, or even go to court pro se.

However, Fenton noted that the council needed no lawyers to appeal to the Board of Appeals.  The board is an administrative body just like the City Council and like the City Council, appellants to the board appear without any council constantly.  Certainly a lawyer can represent an appellant before the board, but there are no legal documents to serve or actions taken that require a law license to be properly executed.  Thus, before the Board of Appeals, the council needs no lawyer and does not even need to contemplate the need to find money for one until and unless the Board rules against the council.

Take My Council, Please: Council Talks Turkey on Biomass...

(WMassP&I)

With the holidays around the corner, the turkeys of the Springfield City Council gathered Monday for a Thanksgiving week meeting to handle some issues that had been at a simmer for several weeks now.  Some of the hottest items were taken care of before they boiled over.  Others had the heat turned up higher for next week‘s special meeting.

Among the minutiae before the council was a series of utility reports, permit revocations for non-renewal, several property donations and grants.  The revocations were for underground storage tanks and parking lots permits brought up by the City Clerk because the permittees failed to respond to renewal notices.  The city formally accepted some parcels of property for public use and the council accepted grant money for Health & Human Services, Dispatch Services and tornado relief.

Bill Gibson of Springfield Speaks in Opposition to Biomass
Plant Permit (WMassP&I)

A speak-out before the meeting included several opponents of the biomass facility on Page Boulevard, which controversially received a building permit despite the council’s revocation of its special permit.  Among the speakers were local activist Michaelann Bewsee and a representative from the Conservation Law Foundation, a New England environmentalist group.  Kevin Sears of the Sears Real Estate Company spoke to oppose to the city’s Foreclosure Ordinances adding in an un-sourced claims of retaliation by lenders who would refuse to loan in the city (a legally suspect action, if true).

Budgetary updates showed the city more or less on target, but the monthly reports are off because City Hall was closed at end of the October when the city often receives tax money.  Ward 7 Councilor Tim Allen requested more information on the Tornado and now October Snowstorm costs to the city.  Those numbers were not included in officials’ reports because spending for disasters is done in separate emergency accounts.  Budget officials promised a detailed report on disaster spending by the next meeting.  In a pleasant surprise, the city also clocked in a higher than expected surplus last year of $4.7 million.

Ward 2 Councilor Mike Fenton, chairman of the Finance Committee, also announced an end to the city’s budget drama with the transfer of $6.2 million from stabilization reserves to close the city’s budget deficit.  Fenton praised the council reduction to $6.2 million from $10.5 million from stabilization reserves used to balance the city’s budget.  The reduction was made possible through cuts and an increase in local aid to the city.  Fenton called it a “much more reasonable position,” for the city in light of still-unknown disaster costs, union contract negotiations and another deficit expected next year.  Fenton also alluded to using some stabilization to mitigate an increase in the property tax rate for the city.

Election Detritus 2011: PAST DUE...

Mayor Sarno (VoteSarno.com)

Anybody watching the elections play out in Springfield and the neighboring towns should not really be surprised what transpired.  Mayor eating that may end the latter's political career and won the city's first four-year mayoral term.  On the other hand, Bud Williams, who was only slightly less bludgeoned by Sarno in 2009 rose from the political dead, Albano ghosts and all, to return the Springfield City Council.  Elsewhere, Holyoke put its future in the hands of an ambitious, recent college graduate.  Ohio spiked the conservative agenda into the face of their conservative governor and Mississippi decided it liked birth control more than it hated abortion.

Locally the results of the Springfield election were really not all that surprising.  All of the incumbents running for the same office won, a feat made easier for the six ward councilors who faced no tangible opposition.  John Lysak dispatched Orland Ramos once again, in a campaign littered with complaints over Lysak's campaign expenditures and rumors Ramos was behind personal attacks on Lysak based on the breakup of the latter's marriage.  In the at-large races all four incumbents running for reelection won.  Bud Williams, whose tenure on the council is distinguished by the very fact that it happened, regained a seat among the at-large seats.

Ward 6 Councilor Amaad Rivera who opted to run at-large failed to crack into the top five falling behind Justin Hurst a scion of the city's arguably most notable black political family.  Meanwhile Kenneth Shea cruised into Rivera's seat facing no opposition.

Mayor Domenic Sarno trounced City Council President Jose Tosado winning nearly all of the city's precincts, including several predominantly minority ones.  While arguably the result seemed inevitable after the June tornado and low turnout in minority wards, the fact is that Tosado ended up being an unlikely standard bearer for reform in the city.  A longtime city official with poor campaigning skills, he lacked the charisma that sells in Springfield politics made famous by Cong. Richard Neal and notorious by former Mayor Michael Albano.  Whatever effort to prop up the minority vote failed as Hispanics voted in abysmal numbers in the city (In an anecdotal side note, Puerto Ricans, who make up the overwhelming majority of the city's Hispanic population are thought to be more prone to voter apathy than Hispanics at large).  Meanwhile, the city's blacks and Asians seemed to have little to get excited about in a Tosado candidacy.

Meanwhile Mayor Sarno took the challenge seriously and fully used the power of incumbency to bolster his position even among minority groups.  The result was one where several other candidates for office further down the ballot, like Amaad Rivera, sought to distance themselves from the Tosado campaign.  Ultimately, Tosado's defeat seems somewhat preordained in retrospect.  From the moment Tosado suspended his campaign after the June tornado to the moment Sarno suspended his after the October snowstorm (which was more effective as the mayor had an emergency he could address, unlike Tosado, who as a city councilor could not address the tornado as directly), it now seems like Tosado's effort was futile.

Mr. President? Eek!
(Urban Compass)

The down ballot effect was palpable, too, as the turnout of Sarno's machine was full-bore, even as Tosado's challenge seemed less lethal week by week.  Indeed, that can be only explanation for Councilor Tom Ashe's top of the ticket performance.  Voters may have mistaken him for Hampden County Sheriff Michael Ashe, who is practically a demigod in Valley politics.  Before the September Primary, Tim Rooke seemed destined for the top spot, but he grabbed the silver with Kateri Walsh getting the bronze.  Ferrera, who seems set to take over the Council Presidency, got fourth beating out his friend Bud Williams, who got fifth.

If there was one outright tragedy of this election, it was the total lack of any meaningful campaign for City Council.  Without passing judgment on the results themselves, there was little if any effort on the part of candidates to actually say what they had to offer the city and why they were running.  Other than vapid statements from candidates assuring they loved the city, a declaration that in itself is as meaningful as declaring one's love for a Kit-Kat Bar, there was nothing that illuminated why anybody was running for the council.  Some candidates tried to offer a more substantive explanation, but they overwhelmingly ended up in the losers pile and even their efforts failed to sharpen the meaning of their races at times.

Mayor-elect Alex Morse

(© RD Photography 2011)

Elsewhere in the Valley, the most notable race was the mayor election in Holyoke where Alex Morse, a 22 year-old Brown graduate beat freshman mayor Elaine Pluta.  Although it seems impossible to diagnose Morse's victory as anything less than the terrific ground game organized by Morse's campaign, in addition to the candidate's fluency in Spanish, there were other factors in play.  Morse had the backing of the Victory Fund, a fund raising group that supports gay candidates, which Morse was.  Additionally, David Cicilline, a Rhode Island congressman for whom Morse intenered when Cicilline was Providence's mayor, held at least one fund raiser for Morse.  That financial backbone, coupled with a campaign that observers say was a campaign better run than Pluta's, led to Morse victory.

Councilor Ayanna
Pressley (Facebook)

In Boston, Ayanna Pressley, who squeaked onto the Boston City Council in 2009 as one of its at-large members topped the at-large field this year as voters returned all incumbents running at-large.  Michael Flaherty, who ran against Mayor Tom Menino in 2009 attempted to get back on the council to set up for a 2013 mayoral run, but was denied.  Pressley's victory is attributed not only to support from political luminaries from John Kerry, for whom she once worked, and a fear that the Boston City Council could go without a female member, but her own tenacity and political savvy.  She forged an alliance with another at-large Councilor John Connolly and the two barnstormed across the city together.  It also gave her invaluable support in West Roxbury, where Connolly lives and which is treasure drove of reliable voters among the immigrant and student-heavy population.  After her victory, prognosticators began talking about her future prospects, but absent a Menino decision to not run in 2013 (his machine backed her toward the end of the campaign) mayor of Boston is unlikely to be one for now.

Across the country, Ohio voters shot down a bill designed to strip collective bargaining rights for virtually all public employees in the state.  The measure was defeated with 61% to 39% voting in favor of repeal.  Gov. John Kasich, following the vote, conceded defeat in a rambling and visibly humble speech.  The win was seen as a major victory for labor, even it essentially maintained the status quo as opposed to gaining any ground.  A loss would have dealt possibly irreversible damage to labor in the Midwest and possibly nationwide.  Instead, it set the stage to embolden efforts in Wisconsin to recall Scott Walker and strengthen Democrats' position in Ohio next year.

In Maine voters restored a forty year-old law that allowed same day voter registration after an opportunistic Republican majority repealed it.  And in Mississippi, a state as blood-red and conservative as it can possibly be, voters dealt a double-digit rebuke to an attempt to define a person as at the beginning of conception.  The measure had been assumed destined to pass given the strength of the pro-life movement in the state, but voters appeared as troubled by the idea as losing access to birth control and questioning ever miscarriage as the fact of abortion.  Another underlying thought has been that Mississippians, who are the nation's poorest citizens as a whole, were upset at being troubled with an arguably ridiculous measure when jobs are people's number one concern.

Contributions May Connect Councilor to Probation Scandal...

Councilor Ferrera (Urban Compass)

Not quite five years ago, with then Council-President Kateri Walsh looking on, Judge William Boyle swore in at-large councilor James Ferrera, III as the city’s newest councilor.  His effective predecessor, Angelo Puppolo, had resigned his seat in order to join the Massachusetts House of Representatives.  Ferrera got the gig by being only a few votes short of securing a seat in the 2005 election.  On that day, however, there was somebody other than family and friends haunting 36 Court Street who may have been among Ferrera’s most important political allies: Senator Stephen Buoniconti.

Over the years, Ferrera would receive only $100 from Buoniconti or his campaign directly even as Ferrera and members of his family would contribute thousands to Buoniconti’s campaign and other influential Beacon Hill politicians.  During this time, Ferrera would begin to work at the Probation Department, which runs under the auspices of  the commonwealth’s trial courts.  This employment began and continues when, in the word of counsel investigating the department, “[hiring] and promotion processes have been fraudulently orchestrated from beginning to end in favor of connected candidates.”

Until around the time Ferrera was sworn-in, he worked as a finance officer at Marcotte Ford in Holyoke.  Some time after that, however, Ferrera began working as an Assistant Court Services Coordinator at the Department of Probation’s Office of Community Corrections.  The exact date of that employment is not fully clear, but it does appear to correspond with the approximate time that Ferrera joined the council.  According to campaign finance records, Ferrera and his mother would donate nearly $3,000 between 2006 and 2010, the year Buoniconti ceased to be an elected official after losing last year’s district attorney race.  However, the year Ferrera joined the council he or his committee gave an annual donation of $100 dollars to State Representative Thomas Petrolati of Ludlow whom the Boston Globe called the “King of Patronage.”  The donations seemingly ended when Petrolati narrowly avoided scandal when Sal DiMasi resigned from the House amid separate accusations.

Ferrera is not the only member of the family to work in Probation while contributing generously to Buoniconti.  His cousin, Jill Cocchi works as a Probation Officer and between her and her family members, has contributed nearly $1000 to Buoniconti, including a $500 contribution in 2007, the year Ferrera joined the council.  Cocchi’s own employment started no earlier than 2005, but that could stretch back to earlier employment elsewhere with the commonwealth.  Between both families, Buoniconti received nearly $4,000 dollars.  According to the Globe's analysis of campaign records and probation documents, Buoniconti had received the most money from Probation employees after Petrolati and current House Speaker Robert DeLeo.

At the time of posting, Ferrera had not responded to a request for comment from WMassP&I on this story and his relationship  with Buoniconti.

Cocchi, whose name appears on the Globe’s 2010 list of possibly-connected employees, was linked to Ferrera after a Republican story highlighted an overpayment Ferrera’s campaign committee made to the candidate.  That story noted that Ferrera had overpaid a loan he made to his campaign by almost $4000.  The Republican reported on a letter from the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance to his grandmother and campaign treasurer, Catherine Cocchi.  A search of public records and newspaper clippings linked Ferrera and Cocchi as cousins.

That Ferrera and his cousin would hold public employment is not itself surprising.  His maternal grandmother and grandfather were a firefighter and teacher respectively and   Cocchi’s father, Mark is a Springfield Police Officer.

Fmr. Sen. Stephen Buoniconti (Valley Advocate)

At no time, did either Buoniconti or Petrolati represent Ferrera in the legislature.  Furthermore, no other elected official representing Springfield or anywhere else in Massachusetts got the same amount of contributions from Ferrera as Buoniconti including Brian Lees, Gale Candaras and Puppolo who have represented Ferrera’s Palmyra street residence over the years.  With the exception of Puppolo, records confirm, none received contributions from either Ferrera or his mother Joanne after Ferrera joined the council despite the fact that Lees is now Clerk of Courts and Candaras a state senator.

Politicians giving to one another, whether one represents the other or not, is common.  However, it is not so for Springfield City Council candidates especially in the amounts Ferrera and his family have given.  Former councilor and present council candidate Bud Williams has given $450 to Petrolati over the years.  Candidate Charles Rucks gave $100 once to Buoniconti.  Of incumbent at-large councilors only Tim Rooke has ever given to Buoniconti or  Petrolati, although in the case of the latter as recently as this year.  Nevertheless Ferrera’s overall contributions to Beacon Hill politicians outstrip anything contributed by other sitting councilors and council candidates.

Take My Council, Please: Anatomy of a Feud...

Sorry for the delayed post of this week's Take My Council, Please.  If it make you feel any better, part of the reason was due to the relatively minor items that were before the council.

(WMassP&I)

The Springfield City Council pulled out a quick meeting despite some divisiveness on non-binding issues and ordinance revisions  The meeting took place following a rally of Occupy Springfield and Take Back Springfield, two separate groups arguably focused on the same issues.  Many from those protests, who were on hand to support a resolve against Bank of America and technical changes to the city's foreclosure ordinance, filled the council chamber and milled around city hall.  Although the chamber and the hall were much fuller during the Biomass debates, police were deployed throughout the building.  Ultimately, the proposal fueling much of the crowd's interest was sent to committee deflating the crowd and causing them to release their anger in not-so-veiled, but somewhat overstated political complaints to the council generally.

Disposing of the minutiae, non-controversial ordinance revisions of the city's vicious dog and criminal disposition ordinances passed second steps.  Fire, Library, Health & Human Services and the Health departments all got approval to receive grants.  Director of the Health and Human Services Department Helen Caulton-Harris once again showed off her departments grant-writing prowess with a $100,000+ haul.  The council received reports from Ward 1 Councilor Zaida Luna on a literacy program and Ward 2 Councilor Mike Fenton on prior year bills.  Payment of the bills was approved without objection.  A permit and some zoning changes were approved and deed delivered to the developer of a tax-foreclosed property.

Councilor Rivera (Facebook)

Toward the end of the debate the council considered two resolves.  Once sponsored by Ward 6 Councilor Amaad Rivera called for the city remove its remaining funds from Bank of America and another calling for greater enforcement of the city's residency ordinance.  The residency ordinance encouraged the mayor to negotiate in residency to the upcoming employee contracts while working to see the spirit if not the letter of the residency ordinance is applied to non-bargained employees.  The city ordinance is rarely enforced and Mayor Domenic Sarno has not appointed the enforcement commission as required by law.  More to the point, he frequently uses its exemption provisions.  Councilors ultimately sent the resolve to committee to discuss broader options to enforce residency.  At-large councilor Jimmy Ferrera called for a home rule petition, but such a petition would require the mayor's signature and would almost certainly die in the legislature.  This was a point noted by at-large Councilor Tim Rooke, but he also pointed out the politics behind legislators avoidance of the issue.  However, neither point suggested a way to actually enforce residency broadly nor a recognition that legislating away residency as a negotiable item is political impossible in this political environment.

On the Bank of America resolve, Ward 7 Councilor Tim Allen rose to ask the city's Treasurer-Collector how much money the city really had in the Bank of America account.  The treasurer said that the money is there because one payee to the city continues to wire the money into that account, despite continued protests to the contrary.  The treasurer went on to say that the only reason the city left the bank anyway was because they got a better RFP from Citizens Bank, a Scottish-owned firm.  Allen was uncomfortable singling out Bank of America, however much the institution deserved it, especially in light of the city's broader efforts of the city to  rein in renegade financial institutions.  Rivera, who sponsored the resolve disagreed and voted against an effort to send the resolve to committee, where it went.  The crowd overheated from the earlier rally attempted to call out "shame" for each councilor that sent the measure to committee, but Council President Jose Tosado squelched that.  The crowd exited chanting, "We'll be back!" as if the measure had died, which it did not.  Rivera said afterward that the dialogue of sending the measure to committee was a positive thing, although he would not have done so.

Take My Council, Please: Fear & Loathing in Springfield...

(WMassP&I)

The Springfield City Council meant to bring some measure of finality to the budget process and a provide a measure closure to the acrimony that has bedeviled the City Council and the Mayor’s office.  Between a canny move by at-large Councilor Jimmy Ferrera and a procedural gaffe, that effort fell apart descending into more acrimony and less fiscal responsibility.

Among the boilerplate disposed of by the council was the formal receipt of grants for the redevelopment of Union Station and the adjacent Hotel Charles site.  Allegedly, the project is moving forward.  An ordinance on livery vehicles was referred to committee and a first step was made for an ordinance that provided clarifying language to the city’s vicious dog ordinance.  Various property transactions were also approved and an authorization to pay bills from previous years was sent to committee.

The council received a report from finance officials that said the city was on track in its budget spending.  Planning and Economic Development Chair Ward 7 Councilor Tim Allen also announced that the city will likely expend more than $106 million in tornado rebuilding and recovery costs.

Councilor Fenton (Facebook)

However, by far the most interesting part of the meeting came from an item that was not even on the agenda.  Ward 2 Councilor Mike Fenton, the Finance Committee chair, brought an item out of the committee to fund tiered furloughs, terrace mowing and an extra position at the animal control center.  However, the actual measure was one sent up by the mayor at the last meeting which would do all those things, but add $100,000 to the police department budget above the mayor FY2012 budget and provide money for bulk pickup.  It is unclear what the bulk-pickup referred to as there has been no apparent cessation of bulk pickup in the city.

The finance committee had been wrangling with the mayor for weeks to get the tiered furloughs without being forced to accept essentially rescinding the more than $2 million in cuts the city had ordered for FY2012.  Administration officials had essentially been claiming that the council had cut terracing mowing and police overtime.  While the former was caused by an indiscriminate 5% cut from other-than-personnel-services accounts led to the reduction of some services like terrace mowing and animal control, police overtime was never at issue.

Fenton, after he offered his changes to the mayor’s appropriation, called on the mayor to “be genuine to the principles of government.”  City Council President Jose Tosado, a challenger to the mayor this November, also chastised the mayor for playing games with the council.  Finance Director T.J. Plante snapped at the council for not alerting him or the administration about the finance committee meeting that preceded the council meeting.  However, the meeting was properly and publicly posted and Fenton reminded Plante that he had apologized for not extending a personal invitation, an apology impliedly had been accepted.  Throughout the back and forth between the council and Plante, the finance director remained evasive and indignant at the council’s deliberations.

Councilor Ferrera (Urban Compass)

Nevertheless nobody saw Ferrera’s move to amend Fenton’s order to include the police overtime and bulk pickup funds anyway.  Confusion ensued as Fenton tried to withdraw his motion to stop the process.  However, the clerk announced that Ferrera could just as easily pull the item back from committee.  City Clerk Wayman Lee said the vote for Ferrera’s motion could proceed because the item had been in the committee for long enough.  However, the clerk miscalculated the days.  Thirty days must pass before “any” councilor can pull an item from committee.  Not nearly as much time had passed since the measure was sent to committee initially.

Members of the council, fearful of appearing to oppose a measure that would ostensibly benefit the police department, fell into line and voted for the measure by a wide margin.  Fenton permitted his original motion for the tiered furlough, mowing and animal control to pass as well, which was approved overwhelmingly.

(WMassP&I)

The entire show was a sad display of the fear, incompetence and opportunism that still, apparently runs wild through the city council.  The council did not cut the police overtime budget.  In fact, the mayor offered a smaller number in this fiscal year than last and now wanted the council to add more to the budget.  Additionally troubling is that police overtime will do nothing to correct the city’s crime problem.  The problem is not enough cops on the beat, but a broader more systemic social problem that no amount of policing can correct by itself.  Problems like poverty, poor education and a lack of jobs play a far bigger role than policing alone.  Sadly, addressing those problems thoughtfully and intelligently because impossible without the wise fiscal stewardship the city requires.

Take My Council, Please: Transfer Me the Money...

(WMassP&I)

The jockeying to preserve the city's reserve fund reached a critical vote yesterday leaving the confrontation between the mayor and the council at a standstill.  The items in question that reflected the mayor's policies took up precious little on the council's agenda, which as per usual was loaded largely with the typical minutiae of approving grants and funds for specific projects.  Additionally, there was movement on new revenue measures taken against tax delinquents and other housekeeping.

The Library Department was formally given money from grants for literacy, technology and education programs.  Health and Human Services accepted money for gyms at schools throughout the money to provide free fitness to city children.  Other grants went to the police department, elder affairs, and the fire department.  Moneys were also accepted from donors to repair a playground destroyed by the tornado.

However, the real action that night was in facing the mayor's proposal to transfer $8.9 million from the city's reserve account to the general budget.  Approximately $7.6 million is necessary to cover the city's remaining budget hole, leaving the council wondering why the discrepancy.  They were treated to the reason in the mayor's supplemental budget, which would essentially reverse much of the more than $2 million in cuts the council made in June.  Those cuts were decried by the mayor then.

In a finance subcommittee meeting, some departments hit particularly hard by the cuts appeared to be gaining leverage with the council, but certainly not enough to equal the $1.3 million the mayor wanted restored.  The largest cut was an indiscrimate removal of 5% from the city's Other Than Personnel Services line items.  It could have affected a whole host of city services from terrace cutting to gasoline for city vehicles, but fundamentally how those cuts were expressed was ultimately at the discretion of the mayor and his department heads.

Take My Council Please: Grocery Ills...

The Springfield City Council held the equivalent of a double feature Monday night.  A regularly scheduled Hearings meeting, during which the council approves or denies permits, followed a special meeting where numerous items were debated.  City Council President Jose Tosado had scheduled the meeting to complete the final steps to pass ordinances related to foreclosures.  However, like any meeting, councilors could and did tack on whatever they wanted.  As momentous as the foreclosure ordinances were, it did not provoke the same level of back and forth, among the councilors at least, as other items.

First the easy stuff.  The Council formally accepted the withdrawal of a petition for an electronic sign on Dorset Street for the Martin Luther King, Jr Charter School.  Reports came from the General Government and Audit Committee over progress at the Putnam High Construction site, specifically possible violations of the city's Responsible Employer Ordinance.  Also discussed, but ultimately referred back to committee was the agreement to a Tax Incremental Financing for a new warehouse for F.W. Webb, a plumbing supply company.  The TIF is a condition for the city to sell some of the remaining land on the city's Smith & Wesson industrial park.  There is a great deal of controversy over the shockingly low number of jobs the project will create and concerns that the developers will make little or no effort to employ city residents.

(WMassP&I)

The council also undertook the second and third steps necessary to approve two ordinances related to foreclosures.  The first ordinance requires the banks that own foreclosed homes to post a $10,000 bond that can be used by the city to maintain the property.  Presently, the city must cover the cost of maintenance necessary to keep the foreclosed properties from blighting the neighborhood.  This ordinance would transfer that cost, if any, to the banks.  They would recover the bond fully upon sale of the property.  The other ordinance mandates mediation between the bank and homeowner when foreclosure become likely.  Banks would be fined for refusing to attempt mediation consistent with the ordinance.  After the second step passed, many of the people in the council chamber in support of the bill erupted in cheers.  Little did they realize that the ordinance had not yet become law.  As they marched out of the chamber and onto the steps of City Hall the council debated several resolves before finally passing both ordinances with a pair of 13-0 votes.

The foreclosure legislation is believed to be a model in the commonwealth if not the nation as a whole.  There are some rumors that congressional Democrats have contacted City Hall for more information about the ordinance.

Some of the biggest fireworks, however, occurred over a resolve, sponsored by at-large Councilors Jimmy Ferrera and Tim Rooke.  The resolve, whose campy language could appeal to anybody favoring style over substance, called on the mayor, police commissioner and Chief Administrative and Financial Officer to meet with the council to find money to add to the police overtime budget to combat the rise in crime.  In short, the resolve wanted more police overtime money because that would reduce the city's crime rate.  Ferrera suggested that the city should raid its cash reserves and other backups immediately to fight crime, even though the city's overtime budget was left completely intact in the 2012 budget.



Councilor Edwards (Facebook)

Ward 3 Councilor Melvin Edwards, however, was not amused or impressed.  In an impassioned, biting and articulate speech, Edwards slapped Ferrera down for advocating pouring money down a very specific hole to solve a problem as complex as the city's crime problem.  He asserted that he fully supported the police department and whatever it needed to keep the city safe.  However, Edwards rejected the notion that throwing money at the problem (or put another way, playing stat games) was the solution.  "If I choose to strangle my wife in the privacy of my own home," Edwards said, "it would not matter if there were a thousand cops on the street."  Even though Ward 5 Councilor Clodo Concepcion stood up in support of the resolve saying "We're scared,"  it was clear that Edwards speech had a deep and instantaneous impact.

Councilor Rooke, a sponsor of the resolve, quickly pivoted saying the call for a meeting with councilors should and must "look more broadly."  Other councilors also stood in support of the resolve, but with the intention of looking more broadly as Rooke suggested, mindful of their sense that the mayor does not include the council often enough in policy discussions.  When Ferrera spoke again on the resolve, it was clear he was on the defensive.  He hastily pointed out that his resolve called for a meeting and that increasing overtime for the police department was merely an idea.  He even pointed out that the city clerk and not he had put titled the resolve as one advocating more overtime.  Tosado acknowledged Ferrera's concerns and City Clerk Wayman Lee promised that the record would reflect it.  The resolve passed in a brilliant display of political theater.