Don’t follow the leaders like I did

I think it started with the windmills. It grew with the sales tax distribution, then really escalated a couple of weeks ago when a couple of county supervisors began mocking a couple of other county supervisors at a committee meeting at which the targets of the mockery were not present.

I remember taking a mental inventory of those present and thinking, "How dumb are they?" I knew darned good and well with the parties present, the incident was going to get back to the parties who weren’t.

It happened again at another meeting, then another meeting (all with press and members of the public present), and those incidents got back to the targets, also. Name-calling and accusations flew back and forth. Republicans were calling other Republicans "Democrat" or worse. A lot of people were getting angry.

Flash forward to March 28, when the situation reached critical mass.

One angry-looking supervisor walked into a committee meeting. One of the skewered, he looked likely to spit nails. Fireworks, however, ignited from the other side of the room when a member of the committee pounced on a visiting (non-committee member) supervisor over the windmill payments in lieu of taxes issue from two months ago. In essence, he shut him down…took his voice away.

Did I mention the press was present? Not one of us picked up our pens. The arguments have grown wearisome…we’ve already heard them. Repeatedly. There is healthy debate, which is necessary and welcome, then there is this, but I’m not sure quite what "this" is. Personal agendas? Personality conflicts? Party politics? David and Goliath syndrome? I don’t know, but it’s counterproductive.

The unfortunate part of that particular incident is that each of them had a valid point, but they were having two separate conversations, so they couldn’t hear each other. They were confusing the February Airtricity negotiations with overall Madison County PILOT negotiation policy. I’d like to talk more with them about that. But the injured party, normally a very level-headed sort, walked out of the meeting early.

No sooner was that attack quelled when something set off the angry individual who later told the press that he could have put his time to better use addressing problems at the town level. He tried to make a point that of all the talk generated about helping out the smaller towns, the one thing the county could do was let them keep the resources they DO have available to them (e.g., revenue generated by renewable energy sources).

The head of the county retorted the county helped HIS town out, and the angry man asked for details, and the two of them began yelling at each other. The unhappy gentleman cited the lack of respect promulgated by committee chairmen and the board of supervisors chairman who failed to discourage the belittling and back-stabbing that goes on at committee meetings.

Then something surprising happened: One of the supervisors who had done some of the belittling and back-stabbing said, "If you’ve got a problem with me, take it up with me."

Then those two began a verbal battle.

A colleague passed me a note that she thought there was going to be a "Celebrity Death Match" sort of scenario between the two arguing supervisors in the center of the meeting tables.

"It’s already set up in a ring," she observed.

I have to admit that was a great mental image.

My personal feeling is that yelling has no place in the professional world, though I don’t really believe it has a place in the private world, either. I wanted to crawl under the table, and I’m betting the department heads/staff and other members of the press could have happily joined me there. Or anywhere else, for that matter.

"Death Match" girl got disgusted with the bickering and left early. Eventually the county head yelled at everyone about the disgusting behavior and shut them all up, not unlike Dad the Disciplinarian at the dinner table.

Then the committee chairman mentioned another committee needed the room at 4 p.m. The press didn’t know of any 4 p.m. meeting. In fact, the person in charge of scheduling the rooms didn’t know anything about the meeting.

When the public argument committee meeting was adjourned, I stood up and told the BOS chairman I was officially protesting the absence of notice of the 4 p.m. meeting…at which point, he and I became embroiled in an argument. Another supervisor jumped in, whether to mitigate or inflame is anyone’s guess, I prefer to believe the latter rather than the former because when I said I already had other appointments, he sarcastically said it wasn’t good for his schedule, either, so maybe they should call the whole thing off.

And so it was I joined the ranks of the yellers. I told them maybe they should shut down county government because it is not working and is not public. The county’s head said committees don't count. I countered that they DO count, as they are policy-establishing bodies. He said they don't consist of a quorum of members of the BOS. I said that has nothing to do with anything, as they have to have a quorum of the committee to take action on anything and stormed out.

I don’t often lose my cool, but I was thinking at that point if "they" don’t want the press covering the county, perhaps we wouldn’t print their press releases or public service announcements, either. Let’em buy ads. On a good note, it didn’t come close to the tantrum I REALLY wanted to throw. I’m over it now.

In the meantime, I offer my sincere apologies to those (I think) were still in the room during my verbal pyrotechnics: Planning Department Director Jack Miller, Supervisor James Rafte Sr. (Oneida Wards 4, 5 and 6), Supervisor Michel DeBottis (Oneida Wards 1, 2 and 3), Administrative Assistant Russell Lura, board of supervisors Chairman Rocco J. DiVeronica (Lenox), Supervisor Loren Corbin (Brookfield), Planning Department Assistant Director Paul Miller, Supervisor Richard O. Bargabos (Smithfield), Supervisor John M. Becker (Sullivan) and Alaina Potrikus of that other newspaper (and formerly of ours). Unfortunately, important messages frequently get lost in the method of their delivery.

Reprinted courtesy Eagle Newspapers, Syracuse, New York.