Public is not fooled
To the editor:
The FAB Five have done it again. Cronyism at its best! (Cronyism [noun] giving jobs or advantages to friends. the practice of giving jobs and other advantages to friends, especially in politics.)
I have just finished watching the biggest charade and farce I have ever seen. Thursday’s selection of a city manager was a total joke. I do not understand why the council wasted nine and a half hours making a selection that was predetermined by the FAB Five way before Thursday’s meeting.
Let’s see what cronyism has produced in the city: Eric Kuehn being appointed to be on the council; Sal Grosso appointed to the Financial Advisory Committee; and Gary King being selected as city manager. Well, the positions that are currently open or will be open are: police chief; financial director and probably city attorney and public works director. Undoubtedly, the FAB Five still owes favors to Lynn Rosko, Lee Mars and others. Don’t be surprised to see the above mentioned positions filled with these individuals.
Thursday’s “show” was well planned, staged, rehearsed and executed. The FAB Five must think the citizens are all stupid and believe their shenanigans. Well, we don’t! We see right through their actions.
The FAB Five didn’t want to pay travel expenses for the applicants as they knew that the out-of-town candidate’s credentials and experience far outweighed Gary King’s and there would be many questions and doubts if none of the other candidates were selected. Surprise… a loose coalition of citizens paid for Mr. Oliver to come from Arizona for an interview. I owned my own business and I would pay travel expenses when I was interviewing individuals for middle management positions i.e. Sales manager; marketing manager, tradeshow coordinator, etc.
If the council was going to vote, why did the honorable mayor call for a recess immediately before the vote? Hmmm… to come up with a game plan and strategy to make the vote look legitimate? Or, did he forget the script and had to get guidance? Strange that the first two votes were as follows: four for King; two for Schwing and two for Oliver (one vote for Oliver by the honorable one himself.) Finally, on the third vote his honor changed his vote to King thus giving a majority of five to three for King’s appointment as city manager.
I hope that Carl Schwing understands what happened and polishes up his resume as it was made quite evident that other than councilmen Donnell, McClain and McGrail the FAB Five don’t think much of Mr. Schwing. Let’s put it another way… he did not get a vote of confidence by the council.
I love the city and have been an ardent supporter of it having served on many committees and task forces. With that said, I feel the city is quickly headed to ruination. As one of the cartoons in another newspaper recently depicted “The last person out of the Cape shut off the lights.”
Enough said. Time will tell.
Irwin A. Gordon
Cape Coral