‘THE OLD PROFESSOR’ GRADES AT-LARGE COUNCILORS, MAYOR
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION Sept. 1-3, 2017) — THE PLANET continues our grading of Pittsfield’s political cadre, today focusing on councilors at-large and the mayor.
Before The Old Professor inroduces the politicians to their well-deserved destinies, allow one observation on the state of city politics. There are many forms of absolute government: authoritarianism, totalitarianism, national socialism, fascism, and dictatorship. These can all happen in republics, that is, any form of government that is not a monarchy (which itself is uber-authoritarian). That, of course, applies a loose meaning to the term “republic.” Allow us, then, to provide the more narrow definition, meaning “representative government” with powers divested in competing offices. Even in this least offensive form of government, however, absolutism can occur. Unfortunately, Massachusetts provides a fitting example.
The Democrat party has for some time maintained an iron grip over the Commonwealth’s politics. Beacon Hill requires only one thing of Berkshire County: that its five legislative votes be delivered to the Party without question. For that fealty and the enforcement thereof, the Bosses in Boston rely upon the party’s local committee. As long as the local bosses deliver total obedience to the state capitol, the Berkshires are allowed to do what they want. That includes all manner of legal thievery, with generous pinches of the other kind likely thrown in to fill the sheer number of fat, filthy pockets.
As for the scattering of local and statewide Republicans, let us just shake our heads in pity. That not-so Grand Old Party must bear the responsibility of its abject, irrelevant fate. Its members have succumbed, and even tokenism remains out of the party’s reach let alone grasp. They act defeated and have failed to convince sufficient numbers of citizens of the superiority of their ideas. What are these ideas? What is its vision. How are Massachusetts Republicans any different than the Democrats?
With that, let us now address the councilors at-large and the mayor.
AT-LARGE
- Council President Peter Marchetti — Marchetti has become the Nowhere Man of Pittsfield politics: “Doesn’t have a point of view. Knows not where he’s going to.” He failed in his one bid for the corner office despite having the celestial bodies magically aligned in his favor. He rescued defeat from the jaws of victory, done in by the character flaw that has limited him as a councilor. He doesn’t know who he is, what he stands for, what he wants to say, or where he wants to take the city. Marchetti has enough intelligence, so the vacillation leaves us with one of two possibilities: Either he is afraid to lead and won’t even articulate these personal definitions, or he has a vision but lacks the confidence to articulate, let alone implement, it. Fear is the common element. Of what is he afraid? THE PLANET wouldn’t hazard a guess, having stopped looking into other people’s souls in college. D
- Melissa Mazzeo — She’s the ultimate “loyal opposition,” shining when she’s a member of the “outs,” as is presently the case. She can nit-pick and nag with the best of them, and it’s this type of questioning that, with a more astute body of colleagues, would lead to vital debate, discussion, and deliberation. When she’s on the “in,” Mazzeo stumbles, as we saw with her council presidency under Mayor Dan Bianchi. One wonders, then, how badly she would perform as mayor. B-.
- Peter White — Casper the Friendly Ghost would do well as this man’s meme. “Snow” White is the ultimate tag-a-long, a sidekick’s sidekick. He has forever wanted to play with the big boys and to eat at the adult’s table. He attended every meeting just to be noticed, fetching coffee, shining shoes, and carrying out tasks far more demeaning. The Suits couldn’t resist that type of loyal, uninhibited non-entity and thus wrapped him up cozy, as they do with every sycophant who will sell out in such an unqualified manner. They even give “Snow” a Tootsie Pop now and then. That he can win a citywide office tells you everything about the seriousness of the state of reform in this bedraggled town. D-.
- Kathy Amuso — Say it ain’t so, Kath. She’s packing it in politically having gotten enough years for a public pension. That ought to go along tidily with her severance package when she finally leaves BMC. As a councilor, Amuso was like a quasar, alternating between off and on, sometimes providing wisdom and sound counsel, sometimes going along to get along. C-.
MAYOR
- Linda Tyer — We have to grade her honor with an “Incomplete.” She’s only half way through the term. In case you forgot, The Suits rigged a new charter while you weren’t paying attention. One of its provisions was to extend the mayoral term, doubling it from two to four years. THE PLANET will point out The Lovely Linda‘s political ascendancy with admiration. On determination, pluck, and smelling salts, she rose from public school secretary to win three city offices: ward councilor, clerk, and mayor.
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“Definition: Alone, n., ‘in bad company’” — Ambrose Bierce.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
The Usual Disclaimer.
I feel Marchetti, Amuso and White represent everything that is wrong with government. They have their own agenda and do not represent the people except when it also works in their own favor.
I agree with your assessment of Mazzeo which basically makes her the same as the others. Self serving.
Tyer doesn’t get a mid term grade Dan?
Incomplete
Picture of a robber stealing a 400 pound safe from the American Legion? Don’t they have alarms? Shooting at Parking lot of restaurant? There are several incidents for whatever reason, that have not been printed in the newspaper, one or two were pretty serious?
Astute observation. Whatever happened to the printing of the Police Blotter, which was around for eons ?
http://www.pittsfieldpd.org/presslog/
this what your looking for?
I would grade Mazzeo a “D”. She continues to fight against a Super Walmart.
Cue up all the grades from wannabes…
Watch out for the gas gougers….Cumbys in Coltsville up to $2.70 as of 10AM. BJs at $2.35 AS OF 10am.
Sometimes
$ it’$ good not to be prepared for a di$a$ter,right Donald? Are you trying to tell me there is no oil in reserve?
I agree with your grades DV – as for LT as mid-term – she gets a D – crime is up, blight is stagnant, St. Mary’s still festering, taxes up – shot spotter for 300k if it has been secretly installed is a flop, still 2 provisional chiefs, ALL promises made 2 years ago unfulfilled – I was a supporter but I’m disappointed…
At this point the “D” in Democrat represents disappointment.
Make sure we all vote some more in this November so we can see the city stagnate some more
Pittsfield is stagnating. The rest of the country is cranking out jobs. This area is actually getting worse. Many people in this area would like to leave, but not everyone can easily move. There are elderly relatives that can’t be moved to other states easily, Family and friends networks that would be disrupted. The answer has to be more intelligent decisions coming from local government and the people being ignored need to demand it. As it stands only a small portion of the city benefits from our current government. The needs of the majority are ignored.
I thought jobs were abundant here? Pat.
No, everyone knows that it’s a fairy tale made up by local government that there are thousands of jobs available here in the Berkshires at any given time. Just ask anyone who is employed at Berkshire Works. They have the real data and it doesn’t match up with what local politicians and the Berkshire Eagle are claiming.
Intelligent decisions coming from gov’t? There’s a better chance of getting blood from a stone.
I think you are right. The words intelligent and politicians do not really belong together. Whether we are talking about this country or Europe, there isn’t much brain power coming from these politicians.
If Trump tries to fight his own Party, he will lose.
If there was an academic textbook on how not to run a municipality, it would be called “Pittsfield politics”!
Every year, they raise taxes by 5%. They increase debts by well over $10 million per year. The tax base shrinks every year with losses in population and jobs. Pittsfield is ageing out. The GE pensioners are a dying breed. The public schools are rated as one of the worst districts in the commonwealth. Downtown Pittsfield is a dangerous and scary place at night. The Good Old Boys run the show. If someone doesn’t fall in line with the one political party domination, they are like a snowball in Hell. If you want a good job in Pittsfield, you have to come from one of the inbred, multigenerational Pittsfield families. Beacon Hill doesn’t do Pittsfield any favors, either. Pittsfield is still polluted with capped PCBs. FYI, the caps do not last forever! Gerry Doyle and Jack Welch pulled a fast one! PEDA is an empty and vacant toxic waste site at 19 years of age. The Lovely Linda M. Tyer says Pittsfield is “Vibrant” and “Dynamic”, which is silly talk! She rose from the ashes of Jimmy Ruberto’s big spending ways. “Spice” was a flop! Apparently, so was the Dan Bianchi bust! The lovely Linda lives in a millionaire’s home in a gated community, while the working poor work several part-time $12/hour jobs. She gave lucrative tax breaks to an out-of-town millionaire, then said Pittsfield’s finances are in “dire” times.
– Jonathan Melle
Think of Pittsfield as a yo yo,you tight the loop around you’re index finger, throw it vertical and it falls apart,we are a broken yo yo.
It is major league critical that the Polish Club be open soon, winter is coming, heating season,and Steve has worked to hard for the abby to change direction at this point. This board can’t get out of it’s own way.
Yes. The cement pylons are hip.
I hope the snow plows don’t knock over the pylons on Tyler street. They are very important to the vibrancy of that area. They need to be cemented into the roadway and the sooner the better.
You just know some of those plow drivers are going to try to play nine pins with them. Cement them down now!
I am also for cement pylons as it will add to the ambiance of Tyler. I am also for the Chesnut seed program also.
Houston looks worst than New Orleans.
Make Texas Great Again.
I want to see Trump standing in a boat going down Lake Galviston like George crossing the Delaware.
I’d like to see Ted Kennedy drive over a bridge in Texas
Re: A toxic stew
I read Alan Chartock’s latest political column this evening in The Berkshire Eagle (online) about all of the historical injustices and the controversial monuments, artifacts, and symbols that have been left behind. We can only move forward in time. We cannot go back in time and kill Hitler before he became the dictator of Nazi Germany. But we can stand up against the neo-nazis who carry on his legacy of hate, violence, and war.
There are extremists in nearly every religion, political movement, and government. There are people and groups who believe they are superior and others are inferior. This is the opposite of what Human Rights stands for.
Politics is about one thing: An Agenda. The people with power get to decide what issues are addressed and who receive the economic benefits, and which issues get deferred or ignored, which means they bear the economic costs of supporting our society. For example, if a group of people with children elect politicians who support public school teachers, then you will see that community invest in public education with quality teachers who will educate their students.
Under Human Rights, politics rejects extremists and their hate-filled political movements, and forms a government that represents all of its citizens equally. It sounds too easy! However, there are always people who take advantage of other peoples’ status in society to promise them things they aren’t currently getting from their government. Critics of President Donald Trump say this is exactly how he won the Oval Office last year.
Unlike Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump went to Appalachia and the rust belt states in the midwest and Bible-belt and promised the people a better life with living-wage blue-collar jobs like “the good old days” of the 1950s. But, Trump also had neo-nazis and white nationalists messages and staff, such as Stephen Bannon, who sent messages of hate against immigrants, Islam, Mexicans, globalization, and the like.
Political extremism is a toxic stew of moral hypocrites like Donald Trump and Mike Pence who say they are “Christians” to gain power, but then do nothing but sow the seeds of hate, conflict, and division among people in our society. Extremists target groups of people to persecute and treat unfairly to rally their supporters.
I believe either in part or possibly in whole, Donald Trump is manipulating the people with his messages of hate and conflict. Like President George W. Bush manipulated the people with his lies about WMDs, Iraq, and “a mushroom cloud over NYC” after the tragic events of 9/11, Trump is diverting us from what politics is all about: An Agenda! Bush had big oil, three tax cuts, and two terms in the Oval Office. Trump’s political agenda will see a bigger military industrial complex, huge tax cuts for the billionaire class of individuals and corporations, and his aspirations for two terms in the Oval Office.
Whether Trump is truly a white nationalist or it is a diversion, we should all stand for Human Rights in our political system. We need to see Donald Trump as a questionable politician who is stirring a toxic stew and feeding it to his extremist supporters to gain and keep power in order to control the agenda.
– Jonathan Melle
Jonathan, you need to use critical thinking skills to think outside the Democratic box. Not voting Democrat doesn’t make half of the country extremists. Stop watching CNN and MSNBC and Alan Chartok too. They just want to divide people in order to gain power. It’s the old divide and conquer. MSNBC and CNN are just pushing one conspiracy theory after another.
Pat, don’t listen to JM. He just forgot to take a laxative today.
There is only one real political party in our great country: The Incumbents! They are all career politicians who take care of themselves with pay raises, great healthcare insurance benefits, and big pensions. It must be nice to be part of the ruling class – most of whom are multi-millionaires!
Yah Pat but ya gotta admit that Fox, Rusher Limbaugh and Breibart and Hannity along with ten other right leaning news outlets kinda even things out. Don’t ya think?
Trump is a complex Individual who has his own vision and ideas of how to run our Country, unfortunately, he is a Nut. He,clearly has show his colors and his vindictiveness towards certain groups,and is clearly playing Vince McMahon in real life.
The problem with his agenda is that he cares only about how he won the election and has forgetting the main goal, getting the American workforce in the right direction.
The other day, he and Melania showed up in Texas and he had to be distracted when he touched down, the woman is gorgeous and how can he focus his attention on Texas when his wife is wearing tight tight, pants like that,he had to be thinking of other things.nHoepw does she get those pants on, they are so tight,Trump must hire assistants to put her pants on.
So, grading seems to be the theme here,and agree the Mayor should get an incomplete also.
Questions concerning Trumps grade should be centered around the Wall,his Mia culpa about hate groups, his firings hiring and firings.
I was watching the situation in Texas and was amazed by all of the area that was flooded. you look at shitty little P E D A site and you wonder how the hell we can’t bring anything to that dump.
Amuso’s C stands for clown. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass Kathy…….at least i won’t have to hear how she had to struggle with votes that ended up screwing taxpayers.
The struggler.
She’ll be reduced to gearing down for retirement and complaining how the snow is plowed on Leona..
Like most other bored retirees I have a laboratory in my attic and am working on solutions to solve world problems. Currently, with occasional advice from my cat, I am attempting to perfect a sponge which will absorb PCBs and PCBs only. While I am willing to front the costs of creating this new world product there will soon be a need for production funding. If their are any new candidates running for city office in Pittsfield who would be willing to work on the inside to get monies from the city from tax incentives or free cash they will have my vote and a high five from my assistant. If it helps to know I will be putting in a reclining chair in my attic, which is particularly useful as the roof has a steep slope..
Nuciforo will grow his pot on PCB contaminated soil and it will be know as PCBTHC. It’ll also be a golf course and the turf will be a cross , Kentucky bluegrass, featherbed bent, and northern California sinsemilla. The amazing stuff about this is that you can play 36 holes on it in the afternoon take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt at night on this stuff.
Dusty,
This is very exciting news…….just tell the city that you are a bio-tech firm, that you will be creating 300 new jobs, and would be willing to build in the Wm. Stanley business park……I’m sure Mayor Tyer and the council will supply all the cash and tax incentives that you need. Then leave town 2 years later. Use Nuclea as your business model.
Tell me Nuke Clay Uh sent you.
Looks like the Eagle has been asked to hold off on the story about the Pittsfield shooting yesterday but you can find the story on iberkshires.com
I understand about protecting the public, but when they shoot, why don’t they try to wound, not kill the person, did he have a family? Wasn’t there a sense of the situation? Or did he just come running at them?
In that situation things happen so fast and unlike what you might see in the movies there isn’t time for precision shooting of a moving target. I don’t expect any cop to take foolish chances in such a situation. Cops want to go home at night to their families too.
We live in a very high tech society. There has to be another way outside of bullets to stop these situations. Albeit,some situations like gun against gun you can’t avoid.
At this point we really don’t know what happened
Precision shooting?
Iberkshires has the shooting story, p.us it’s free.
Plus, it’s free.
Where is the viral video, show it amateur video camera person. let the peeps see it?
Video Person. Please send us the Video to this site.
Bottom Line….Jim Ruberto is still calling the shots . He says who is running for office and who is not…Jody Phillips had wanted to run for re election until Jim Ruberto stopped her. Why can’t people see
the writing on the wall. A very sad state of affairs for Pittsfield indeed.
Is that the same Jimmy Ruberto who moved into his mother’s Pittsfield home in 2001 as a man in his late-50’s, then within a couple of years put his mother into a nursing home and usurped his mother’s Pittsfield home, and then successfully ran for Mayor of Pittsfield in 2003?
Is that the same Jimmy Ruberto who was found guilty of “ethics” violations, including buying 2004 World Series Red Sox tickets from Dan Duquette?
Is that the same Jimmy Ruberto who spent a couple million dollars of GE’s settlement money on downtown Pittsfield revitalization projects?
Is that the same Jimmy Ruberto who said he had a “rolodex” and falsely stated he would use his rolodex to bring businesses and jobs to Pittsfield?
Is that the same Jimmy Ruberto who was the King of the Good Old Boys club that has run Pittsfield into the proverbial ditch?
I thought that Jimmy Ruberto lived in a fancy condo in Naples, Florida? Does that mean he is now in his early-70’s and still lives in his late-mother’s Pittsfield home?
ALL police officers are trained to shoot in the chest first, not wound a leg or arm. It’s what they are taught. If you are chasing a woman around with a knife, the cops show up and tell you to drop the knife, you refuse and act combative, you do the math.
Rocky,
Do you have any more info about the pipe-bomb suspect from mid-August?
Rocky, any info on the Alcove St. Incident?
Just bring a fire hose.
If the Eagle is constantly told to withhold stories, so much for investigative reporting. They are useless.
33% of Trump also believe in tooth
Time for your meds