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Council to Janey: Don't think about stepping out of line
By adamg on Wed, 06/09/2021 - 4:09pm
The Herald reports the City Council gave itself the right to dethrone an acting mayor.
As we all know by now, the city council president becomes acting mayor should the elected mayor leave office. The council voted today to give itself the right to remove the city-council president by a two-thirds vote, which means that whoever the acting mayor was at the time would stop being acting mayor.
Councilor Lydia Edwards sponsored the motion; Kim Janey ally Ricardo Arroyo voted against, while Councilor Julia Mejia voted "present."
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Comments
Talk about your palace intrigue....
* also reminds me when the Legislature changed the rules around how interim US Senators are appointed when Teddy K was about to create an unplanned vacancy, to prevent the Gov from appointing an R.
Nothing like changing the rules to suit your needs.
Twice
They first changed the rules when Romney was Governor to make it a special election in case John Kerry won the Presidency. He failed to, but the rule stayed. It then backfired on them when Scott Brown beat MARSHA MARSHA MARSHA (actually Martha) Coakley when she wouldn't stand outside Fenway park in the cold to campaign.
They changed it back to appointment by Governor when Deval Patrick was Governor and Kerry left to become Secretary of State.
And they would change it back to special election tomorrow if there was a Senate vacancy.
Elected officials should not be allowed to
leave their office before their term is up for another office, appointment, or outside job - period.
That would eliminate the need for 99% of this utter nonsense that goes on when they decide their own selfish ambitions are more important than the commitment they made to the voters who elected them to that office.
A counter
No one should be able to apply for a job if they already have one. Nobody at all.
I mean, that is what you are proposing.
Involuntary servitude is prohibited by the 13th Amendment
… and the 4th Commandment!
… and the 4th Commandment!
I mean how do you even
I mean how do you even enforce this?
As a voter you can choose not to vote for whoever you choose but you can't force someone to fulfill a job if they do not want to.
What I believe we need is a better way of appointing replacements for seats that do not involve favoritism for any one person. That includes for whoever fills an empty seat and for when someone leaves a seat prompting a snap special election favoring those who already had big bank accounts.
I have always been of the opinion that appointees to an open seat should be someone who signs a contract that they will not pursue that seat at the next election. Being lucky enough to be in the right place when lighting strikes is not fair. I also believe when it comes to special elections that they only take place in the fall and in the mean time the votes and office are handled by the highest ranking person in their office who signs a contract that they will not run for the seat.
They changed it back to
They didn't change it back. They changed it to temporary appointment so that MA would have representation for the window of time between Kerry's resignation and the special election for the new Senator.
Well, this ought to be fun
Now we'll get a revolving door of Council Presidents/Acting Mayors/Mayor-wanna-bes....
Proposal
Everyone gets one week then we start the rotation over.
If only Garrison was still on
If only Garrison was still on the council. That would be entertaining.
You get to be Mayor!
And you get to be Mayor! Everybody gets to be Mayor!
* Acting
* Acting Mayor
It worked so well for the
It worked so well for the Chicago Cubs.
It would be tough
Seeing as slightly less than a third the City Council is currently running for mayor, it would be tough to get support for moves such like this.
It does make me ponder what the process for changing City Council Presidents was a year ago.
Ponder no more
https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/2021/06/08/the-inside-story-how-kim-j...
Ponder No More
Would make a great Rush album title
A proper selection process
The selection process should reflect the gravitas of such an august, legislative body as the City Council.
I recommend musical chairs.
If Jeopardy! can do it...
n/t
Well the good news is they
Well the good news is they won't have to impeach her.
Mayoral temp agency....
Now hiring...
Seems..immature
“It just says that at anytime, for any reason, on a whim, the council can try move to remove a president, who they already elected,” said Arroyo. “I actually disagree with that.”
He's speaking very common sense^
On another note, has Janey even done anything remotely out of line? All these folks are more or less the same with the exception of Frank Baker. An maybe Ed Flynn?
People are just mad they're not acting Mayor... but I mean cmon, they won't vote her out because then it'd be a huge fight about who they would vote in.
Overall, it's good that City Council is giving themselves more power for the future but they should've put some details on why they would vote someone out who they voted in.
Remember Arroyo is the
Remember Arroyo is the councilor who pushed to cancel the special election for Mayor which would've happened had the Senate confirmed Walsh quicker, to keep Janey in the Mayor's office longer.
Arroyo is not taking a principled stance based on common sense. He's taking a partisan one based on strategy.
Strategy?
Of what exactly, basically everyone agreed having four elections for Mayor in a pandemic was dumb, and here this thing passed 10-1-1.
If your the only no vote, what exactly is the strategy?
Feely me boney belly
Isn't this how we ended up with multiple Popes back in the day?
Was that a bad thing?
I mean, it would be a bad thing if they were all old white men. Would God be down with that?
Magoo sez
Oh snap. Magoo thinks that voting present is such a Magoo move. How. Could. Anyone. Be. Such. A. Magoo. ? Magoo.
If they did...
She'd become the first black and first female acting mayor removed from the city council presidency.
She could even put it on her Twitter bio.
Arrest Lydia
Is that legal? This lady is out of control.
Seriously?
Making a motion to amend a city-council rule is an arrestable offense?
Adam, I believe the correct
Adam, I believe the correct response is simply "No."
Quid Pro Quo
Perhaps. Yes. It could very well be. I have many questions I would like answers to by the council.
Show your work
Show your work. What you're proposing is nutty.
What is the crime?
This is the United States of America, and you can't arrest someone without probable cause, so what crime is being committed here?
Double standards
When Thomas Menino was acting Mayor would the city council dare threaten him. !! Don't do it to this acting mayor.
This seems like an odd
This seems like an odd implication of racism when you consider the makeup of the council and the councillor who proposed it.
Two things
1. Menino was 28 years ago. Unless you think that the world we live in today is exactly the same as 1993, I don't see how it could ever be double standards. Standards change over time.
2. At this point, in 1993, Menino wasn't even acting Mayor yet!
Purpose please?
Can someone please explain the purpose of a “present”vote? Why would one say present instead of vote?
Present == Abstention
The vote means that she was in the Council chamber but did not want to vote yes or no.
She doesn't want to live up
She doesn't want to live up to her obligations to the city. Also, known as smokescreen.