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The next president of the Medford City Council will be a heartbeat away from the corner office; one health scare (or indictment) to go from Tuesday night meetings to running the city of Medford.
Now, in a perfect world, the individual who received the second most amount of votes to become Mayor, in this case Anthony D'Antonio, should be the person chosen by the people of Medford to lead them should a crisis arise. That's the way it works with the City Council. If a councilor should resign (as Budget Director Stephanie Muccini Burke did) or become incapacitated...or indicted...the person with the most votes out of the 13 candidates - would step in and be the next councilor. In the case of election 2013 that would be Republican Mark Crowley.
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Knowing what we know now about the late Sheriff James V. DiPaola, there is no way we would want Mr. DiPaola as City Council president, a heartbeat away from being Mayor of the city. What we know now about disgraced cop Gerry Clemente is another reason why we would not want Mr. Clemente as Council President, Mayor or even as a representative of the School Committee. We deserve higher standards for someone on a City Council being paid more money than most communities offer, and in line to pick up another three thousand dollars if they assume the presidency of the city council.
CITY PRIDE
Medford citizens want a City Council to be proud of - yet - the Boston Globe runs headlines with describing the most expensive council in the northern part of Massachusetts, or - just as bad - the screaming, the feigned outrage and over-the-top histrionics making front page of one of the paper's sections. This is not something citizens should be proud of. It's actually, a disgrace.
Where are the headlines describing the businesses flocking to our region to fill the empty spaces on Salem Street and Mystic Ave? Where are the headlines that River's Edge is a success rather than a 4 million dollar plus debacle over the eminent domain lawsuit.
In 2013 a parade of taxi cab drivers came up to city hall and were "vetted" by Councilor Paul A. Camuso. This "vetting process" is to see if the individuals can be trusted with knowing where people live, and safely driving them from one destination to another. Here's a description of that process:
______________________________________________________http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vetting
Vetting is the process of performing a background check on someone before offering them employment, conferring an award, etc. A prospective person or project may be vetted before making a hiring decision.
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In 2013 the headlines again roared with uncivil behavior at the Medford City Council. This time it was a selfish power-grab by the recently retired Robert A. Maiocco. Maiocco's vitriol aimed at fellow councilors considering someone other than the long-time councilor was uncalled for and hurt the process. Maiocco came off as a whiner, a small-minded man with no concern for "public service" or putting the citizens of Medford first. And worse, after lashing out at his fellow elected officials, he started being antagonistic to the few members of the audience who do attend the hostile council. After three politicians on the phone informed this writer that Maiocco said "I could have used that a few moments ago" - referencing a big metal pipe he wanted to hit me with (Police Chief Leo Sacco calling the unfortunate comment "inappropriate" in an e mail to me,) it was obvious, the vetting process was not in place to see that an individual with the right temperament would be in control of the council, and a heartbeat away from the corner office.
Now Mr. Maiocco has his supporters, the churchgoers who show him respect, the citizens fooled by the man who one colleague said "spent two weeks in front of the mirror getting ready to be sworn in" - but with no serious investigation into Maiocco's background, even his fellow councilors didn't know his very real problems as a financial adviser at Wells Fargo. Three complaints that we know of, two resulting in fines, one fine a payout of Four Hundred and Two Thousand Dollars. For comparison, the West Medford Hillside Little League complaint now working its way through Somerville District Court was initially for 50K but might be up to $180,000.00. See American Swindlers for some details: http://www.americanswindlers.com/swindler/stanley-komins/
Though Mr. Maiocco settled the case for more than double what the Komins' clan is in court for, had the facts about the complaints been made public DURING the contentious vote when Maiocco demanded he be council president, the council colleagues would have had the information necessary to DENY Maiocco the opportunity to oversee the budget. The big question is: should a city budget be in the hands of an individual with multiple complaints at his daily job as a financial adviser.
Add up the buffoonery - the abusive name calling from Maiocco on camera, the metal pipe incident, the whining and the financial complaints, and you get an individual that should not have been trusted with such a prestigious and important place in our community.
Now Maiocco's nephew-by-marriage cut a deal in a Committee of the Whole meeting towards the end of 2013 where Paul A. Camuso thinks he should be one heartbeat away from the corner office without letting the citizens know anything about his background.
Camuso - the individual who must have vetted over one hundred taxi cab drivers, wants to waltz into the second highest office in the city of Medford without 57,000 people knowing a damn thing about him.
This is a slap in the face to every Medford citizen, and begs the question, is Mr. Camuso hiding something as his uncle-by-marriage, Bob Maiocco, clearly withheld information about his personal life from the public.
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The fitness of a City Council President
A doctor's report on the health of a public figure seeking higher office is mandatory. This is not "private information" when the individual is in line to be Mayor. It is essential. Do we know Mr. Camuso's health issues? He mentioned that he was hospitalized last year - citizens should know the reasons why.
EDUCATION
Education is paramount when it comes to running a city. Where did Mr. Camuso go to school, K through 12, and college, if any? Residents have a right to know.
Mr. Camuso allegedly went to the Curtis/Tufts School, an important place for special needs students as well as certain, shall we say, castoffs from society who have had trouble with the law. Now Camuso certainly doesn't appear to have any handicaps "special needs" so the citizens have a right to probe and see if the person who "vetted" so many taxi cab drivers has anything he wants to tell the public.
SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT
Mr. Camuso worked for the late Sheriff James V. DiPaola, and now works for Peter Koutoujian. It was our understanding that Mr. Koutoujian was going to bring in an entirely new regime. Clearly, that did not happen. As Mr. Camuso was allegedly hired during and for the DiPaola administration, citizens have a right to ask specific questions.
It would be unfortunate if Mr. Camuso forces his way into the presidency without giving residents the same courtesy that taxi cab drivers give our city. Indeed, we now know why Mr. Maiocco didn't want us to know about his dealings, and Medford is the worse for it.
There are no term limits in this city. We are presently stuck with a form of government that gives too much power to a small group, if not one person with enormous power. The complaints on a currently dissolving non-profit are Exhibit A, with West Medford Hillside Little League being Exhibit B, the River's Edge eminent domain fiasco Exhibit C, the Medford Housing Authority Exhibits D, E and F, need we go on?
If Mr. Camuso honestly opens up to the citizens and tells us the truth, that he's squeaky clean and the nicest guy in the world, and if we see that the problems that plagued his uncle aren't swirling around him like a dark cloud, then the citizens will feel more secure.
If Mr. Camuso does not want to be forthright with us. If he feels he is the anointed one and is ENTITLED to get a Three Thousand Dollar raise without going through the interview process for Council President, then Houston (and Medford), we have a problem.
Getting the most votes for City Council is not enough. It was a tiny percentage of the population AND a tiny percentage of registered voters who made that decision. There was no effort to inform the voters that a council president would step in as Mayor if Governor Deval Patrick appoints Mike McGlynn to a new position in life. and - quite frankly - Mr. Camuso's dubious attendance record and his penchant for skipping out on votes (Lawrence Memorial Hospital, TV3) when he does attend a council meeting, well, in a private corporation he would have been shown the door rather than been given a promotion.
Also, Mr. Camuso's ties to Medford Community Cablevision, Inc., the embattled 501c3 that often promoted candidates or besmirched candidates, a clear violation of the Internal Revenue Code that non-profit was supposed to adhere to, was deeply troubling. Camuso, like his uncle, Bob Maiocco, would often say "let the Mayor handle it, he's the Issuing Authority" (paraphrased.) But that's not good enough. Since the Mayor was unable to or unwilling to resolve the many problems, it was up to the elected officials to create a solution, not enable the problem.
Mr. Camuso heard the complaints and he blamed the messenger. TV3 sued the city (and lost) and dragged a senior citizen into court. The monies spent on court and on legal representation hovers around the one hundred thousand dollar mark. Mr. Camuso blamed one of the victims of the abuse of the court system (the TV station was found by the Honorable Judge Singh to have violated the anti-SLAPP statute; they were found using the court system to harass, to use it in a manner in which it was not intended to be used. When they harassed again, prematurely appealing the ruling, Judge LaMothe upheld Judge Singh's findings.) Mr. Camuso blamed the messenger for the hundred thousand or so dollars used to sue the city and tie the city lawyer up for about two years and God knows how many hours of taxpayer-funded time.
On January 7th one of the loudest voices at TV3 is at a pretrial conference after being indicted by a Grand Jury. That individual often had Paul Camuso on the air. That individual was enabled by the employee of the Sheriff's Department. Mr. Camuso cannot feign ignorance over his good friend's bad actions, because the history of complaints goes back about 15 years. Mr. Camuso promised an elder person he would put the old fellow's show on the air, then Mr. Camuso reneged. But Councilor Camuso had no problem when the Friday night host brought in a convicted sex offender, a child rapist, to use TV3 to try to rehabilitate the image of a convicted predator who spent three years in a federal prison. Do the math: the person who would be Council President DENIED a senior citizen the right to have his Medford show broadcast, but ENABLED a child predator from out of town the right to go on TV3 and say he was a victim of a frame-up. The child was fourteen years old. How was that individual framed and, Mr. Camuso, why did he deserve to be on TV3 while Golden Memories, a legacy TV3 show, was denied broadcast time when you, Paul Camuso, publicly, at the city council, said you would personally broadcast the show.
Those are the questions Medford citizens need answered, along with many, many others. Tomorrow night Mr. Camuso will be presented with questions. Let us see if he dodges them, answers honestly, or attacks the messenger. We aren't running for Council President, Paul Camuso is. Don't let Paul Camuso change the subject: let Paul Camuso respond and, if found unworthy, have the dignity to step down and allow a more qualified person to operate this important council.
Because it is the opinion of this writer that Paul A. Camuso is not ready for prime time. And that comes from my own personal experiences with Mr. Camuso, and attending more council meetings than most citizens who live and/or work in Medford.
http://medford.patch.com/groups/joe-vigliones-blog/p/citizens-deserve-a-classy-council-president