By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, MAY 12, 2014) — Dan Bianchi — a.k.a. The Empty Suit, a.k.a. TES — sure knows how to pick ’em. If he went to Saratoga in August, which nag do you think he’s pick from the following field: Seabiscuit, War Admiral, Secretariat, Man o’ War, Citation, Kelso, Seattle Slew, Spectacular Bid, Affirmed, and … Retalc? Yes, we wrote, “Retalc.”

Right you are.

Losers love losers. The mayor would bet the house on Retalc not out of conviction but because he paid a consultant tons of taxpayers dollars to tell him what he wanted to hear. That way, when Retalc loses, he blames the consultant. Bianchi would also tell taxpayers: “I picked a horse so great it took nine other horses to beat him.” That’s what bullshitters so. They flee from the truth faster than Seabiscuit.

Mayor Bianchi, caught in the act of kissing Pat Muraca’s butt. Ah, but these were in better times. (Photo: Kayla Galway, The Berkshire Eagle)

For example, Bianchi’s the guy who plucked William Monterosso from an adrift state after his ship got shot out from under him for unknown and mysterious reasons in the Kentucky Ocean. TES give him John Barrett III‘s job at Berkshire Works, advertised for $94,000+bennies. That came on Jan. 21, 2014. Less than three months later, Monterosso was placed on “administrative leave with pay.” Translation: Free paid vacation at nearly two grand a week. Why? TES hasn’t said.

Despite his reluctance to take ownership of his mistakes, he’s the nominal “Buck Stops Here” guy, as he was when three stooges of DPW workers got caught pilfering from the city. There has been such a rash of stealing among city employees, apparently, that one city councilor cites and endorses what he called the views of Scanlon and Associates, Pittsfield’s auditor, who supposedly explained that low pay causes thievery.

THE PLANET agrees that theft is probably at an all-time high — official thievery, that is. For proof of legal stealing, you only have to look at Bianchi $148,142,572 budget request, about 70-75% of which comes from the Administration-led “Den of Thieves,” a.k.a., the Pittsfield School Department.

When Bianchi tried to push huge pay hike for the city side, he conveniently left out the workers — the grunts, secretaries, laborers, and such who do the actual work. The Empty Suit wants the rich to get richer, and so he requested the extra city-side dough for himself, department heads, and exempt (professional) employees. Doesn’t matter that they are the ones who need it the least. Bianchi’s only trying to buy votes, an indication that he’s planning to run for re-election, this time to a four-year term and therefore trying to grab a possible 40% pay hike for his own greedy little paws.

All of this leads to Pat Muraca, the head honcho at Nuclea, who last week told Bianchi “never mind.” Now forget how the mayor previously gushed over Muraca. Forget how the mayor shined Muraca’s shoes, fanned him in the shade when the sun got to hot, and lap-dogged in a way that made THE PLANET’s terrier blush.

At least we finally found the answer to the age-old philosophical conundrum: What happens when an $8 bill meets a $3 bill? Answer: The eight eventually walks away as a ten, and the three is left a one.

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The Empty Suit and Muraca exchange The Clasp. Too bad Bianchi didn’t know that Muraca would pull the ripchord and bail out of the plummeting city … after he got his. (Photo: Kayla Galway, The Berkshire Eagle)

A couple years ago and countless taxpayers dollars going to Muraca, Bianchi ejaculated verbal sperm on how great Nuclea was going to be for PEDA. It was going to be a “magnet” for attracting other businesses to the site. It would, TES said, create a “real future” for Pittsfield’s young professionals. TES told us that every job Muraca created would lead to “three to five ancillary jobs.”

Dare we say, “economic engine?”

Others among The Suits chimed in, great wise men and women who have sacrificed everything … for themselves. North Adams State Teachers College  president Mary Grant talked in mystical tongues about “synergy.” PEDA’s Corydon Thurston said he was “excited.” The governor chirped likewise, and in February 2013, Bianchi praised Muraca, and we quoth: “He never gave up on Pittsfield.”

Right. Little more than a year later, Muraca ordered (“to go” of course) a couple Double King Chili Cheese Burgers, supersized fries, a 50-ounce Coke, and played “Aloha” on the steel guitar.

At least Bianchi’s magnet analogy proved true. Nuclea had an uncanny ability to suck dollars from taxpayers. In the end, though, like so many before him, Muraca said bon voyage to The Empty Suit — only after taking the public dollars, of course. Mister Muraca “gave up on Pittsfield” the same way a john suddenly loses interest in a hooker after the encounter. The only difference is that with the Muraca-Pittsfield relationship, the hooker paid the john.

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Okay, even with all this, you think that Bianchi would admit he picked the wrong nag? Nah. That would take character. That would take spine. As we demonstrated on PV-TV last Thursday, The Empty Suit can’t stand on his own.

We could be wrong, but when Bianchi spoke to The Boring Broadsheet following Muraca’s bombshell, he had to be lying through his gums. We can’t say for 100% sure, only 99.99999%. See, he doesn’t talk to THE PLANET any more! (SUNG LIKE BING CROSBY: “… and I go to sleep counting my blessings”).

The BB‘s business writer, our good friend Tony Dobrowolski, wrote, “Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi, who also is a PEDA board member, said Nuclea’s decision to withdraw from the project shouldn’t affect the city’s ability to obtain the state funding it needs to build the structure. … ‘It doesn’t affect it at all,’ Bianchi said Thursday. ‘We’re still moving forward with it. (Many) companies want to be part of the membership.'”

Yes, TES actually said, “It doesn’t affect [PEDA or the city] at all.”

“At all.”

Shit-eating grins galore. Truly, is THAT how little Bianchi thinks of taxpayers, citizens, and constituents? We wonder. (Photo: Kayla Galway, Berkshire Eagle)

Truly, does The Empty Suit think that little of citizens and taxpyers? When he presided over the multiple photo-op press conferences, he kissed Muraca’s ample butt up, down, sideways, over, and under. Now, after Muraca drops him like bubonic, “It doesn’t affect [us].”

“At all.”

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This, Mayor Bianchi, is why the public sees right through you. You are hollow, and they finally get it: That’s what you meant when you talked about “transparency” during the 2011 campaign. That’s also why, should you be stupid enough to seek re-election in 2015, voters shall be pleased to hand you your gluteus maximus.

That’s if you survive a possible and evermore likely recall effort.

As Queeg said, “We kid you not.”

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“Bye bye blues. Bye bye blues. Bells ring, birds sing, sun is shining, no more pining. Just we two, smiling through. Don’t sigh, don’t cry, bye bye blues.” — Les Paul and Mary Ford, “Bye-Bye, Blues,” (1952).

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.