BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JAN. 20, 2020) — Happy MLK Day, another free day for all public sector workers courtesy of those all-day suckers, the hard-pressed and bedraggled Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski.

As you know if you’ve been following THE PLANET recently, we presented pieces on the 2019 mayoral election as well as council president Peter Marchetti’s controversial and political committee appointments. They must have hit a nerve, because the “other side” got to us with their take on both. In the interest of a full-throated discussion and to share info you won’t get anywhere else, THE PLANET gives you these two “guesters.” They are presented as written, edited only for style and mechanics.

The first is by a member(s) of the mayor’s re-election campaign, a person or persons we call Top Insider (“Top” for short). The second is from a source called Eliminator.

BY TOP

“What’s the old adage in elections?  If you’re winning an election don’t blow it in the last two weeks.  This is what I will never understand about the Mazzeo campaign.  If they were winning by “10 points” as they believed, then why did they take such aggressive tactics in the last few weeks?

“Melissa’s last debate performance was unhinged.  She was disheveled, her glasses were crooked on her face, she was hostile and attacking her opponent with snide remarks, and she was incessantly flipping her papers. I heard from spies on her team that she was wearing a bluetooth device and that Pam Malumphy was telling her what to say.  It actually explains the oddly messy hair (hide the bluetooth), the strange pauses and flipping papers (time to listen for a few seconds), and the crooked glasses (bluetooth was looped over her ear).  Pam was seen leaning forward with her hands over her mouth during the entire debate. It made sense after I heard this because up until then Melissa had mostly kept her cool.  Who do we all know that acts like such a complete, vicious pit bull? Pam Malumphy.  Melissa proudly claims Pam to be her friend and political mentor.  That’s too bad.  Pam literally killed Melissa’s campaign.

“The final nail in the coffin was Melissa’s last mailing that had the photo of a police SWAT team bashing in a door. While they wanted it to depict an unfolding scene in Pittsfield, it was quickly debunked as a ten-year-old photo from Kansas City.  It offended a lot of people right at the very end of the campaign.  So dumb.  But here’s what’s really shocking about that lit piece.  John Krol designed it.  After years of spiteful hate between Melissa and John (she’s been heard multiple times calling him an asshole in the middle of city council meetings) they teamed up and caused the final unforced error.  It’s either a strange bedfellows story or he finally paid her back for all those years of hatred.  You decide.

“Campaign 101 – when you’re winning, stay cool and don’t make any mistakes.  When you’re losing, attack your opponent relentlessly.  To my eyes it looked like the Mazzeo campaign thought they were losing.  And they did.”

MEELISSA MAZZEO HAD THIS REACTION TO TOP’S INFORMATION:

“O, my God! I can not believe someone seriously wrote that,” Mazzeo said. “I don’t even know where to begin, and I find it odd that this farce of a story is coming out at this time. Can it be someone is trying to distract your readers from talking about the DA issue? Now that’s a story. Anyway, the notion that I had an earpiece in for my debate is so ridiculous. If I needed someone to tell me how to answer the questions being asked, then I would have needed that for all of my council meetings, since the questions were based on issues that happened over the last 4 years. As for my last mailing, the only people who seemed upset by it were Mayor Tyer supporters. People who were supporting me agreed 100% with the message,” Mazzeo said.

“We chose to not use a picture of the Pittsfield swat team, though we had a lot of pictures we could have used. Would all the ‘appalled’ voters have been less ‘appalled’ if I used a picture of our own swat team in action? And finally for the most bizarre accusation. John Krol was not the designer of this mailing or any mailing or material I used. I thought the earpeice idea was ludicrous, but this is even more so. Again, I can’t help wonder why all this is coming out now, and I can only think that THEY are trying to control the narrative [with the heat being directed at the district attorney]. Is it the DA ethics situation or maybe another violation of some sort they seem worried about?. I guess we will all just have to wait and see.”

THE PLANET thanks Mazzeo for the response.

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THEN THIS ONE, BY ELIMINATOR

“I disagree that Finance is the most powerful committee.  I believe that is Ordinance and rules.  They meet monthly, finance meets 1/4ly.  Way more business is done at O & R than Finance.  I have closely observed Chris Connell for a few years. Chris has a limited understanding of municipal finance, which is very different than corporate finance.  He acts like he knows everything, but is largely clueless.

“In fact, Chris acts like he knows everything no matter what the topic is.  He is the finance director, a lawyer, can fill potholes, engineer a water plant, stop crime, and put out fires.  Chris is VERY aggressive not only at council meetings but also at committee meetings.  He is disrespectful to department heads, tells them how to do their jobs, and demeans them.  He says either “okay” or “right” after everything he says, like by saying those words it makes him correct.  Department heads hate him not because he calls them out, but because he is a know-it-all.  I believe this is why Marchetti didn’t give him a chair and took him off finance.

“Morandi isn’t as aggressive as Connell.

“Now, let’s assume politics played a role in this, and I’m not saying it did.

“In 2012 – 2013, Clairmont and Lothrop were on Finance, with Lothrop as the Chair. Clairmont and Lothrop were on O & R, along with Krol. Krol was on Community and Economic Development. These three committees are the most powerful on the Council.

“When Mazzeo became the President of the Council in 2014 and Connell was the Vice-President, Lothrop stayed on Ordinance & Rules but was removed from Finance.  Clairmont stayed on Finance but didn’t get the Chair or Vice-Chair despite being the only numbers guy on the committee.  Clairmont was removed from O & R and relegated to Public Buildings.  Krol took the brunt losing O & R and Community & Economic development for Public Health and Public Works.

“Mazzeo made herself either Chair or vice-chair of O & R, Finance, and Community and Economic Development.  Connell was appointed either Chair or Vice-chair of O & R and Finance, plus picked up Public Buildings.

“Both Melissa and Chris were okay with taking political vengeance on who they perceived were their enemies, even though that year there was no Mayor’s race. Where was Chris and Kevin’s outrage in 2014?  For them to bitch about it now is hypocritical and disingenuous at best. People pick sides in politics, that is just a fact.  To the victors go the spoils.  If you don’t like how this works, either align yourself with the winning side, or get the hell out of the kitchen.”

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THE PLANET thanks Top and Eliminator for their views. We have a call into Chris Connell. If he responds, we share share it with you. We are open the all sides of any issue. Keep that in mind if you have something to say either with a comment or perhaps something longer in a guest essay. As we like to say, “THE PLANET is open for business.”

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“Rome wasn’t built in a day, but Caesar was killed in a minute” — Dialogue from the TV series The Invaders.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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