From the Times Argus:
Even though we predicted the outcry of the narrow-minded that would follow, we chose the latter. In retrospect, while others allowed emotions and fear to drive their comments, the council made a well-informed and thoughtful decision. I knew they would.
That’s Barre City’s newest Mayor (as of last summer) talking. Pretty harsh words, eh? Must be quite an issue to get him using such unusually insulting rhetoric, eh? Maybe it was an op-ed about the Iraq War, or Vermonters without health insurance, or the AIDS epidemic, or… or…
… a weather vane?!?
A little background – and I do mean a little. If you want more details, here’s a link. Basically, there’s this cool old weather vane that used to sit atop the Barre Fire House. They took it down several years back to display in the library when City officials realized it was probably valuable. Well, they were more right than they knew, as an offer of a cool $400k came in for the piece out of the blue. Concerned that there was a half-million dollar piece of art there for the casual taking, city officials decided to put the vane in a vault for safe keeping and consider their options. They’ve since decided not to sell, but not to put it back yet either.
And there’ve been some words, of course. Most notably between Lauzon and longtime Barre activist Joellen Mulvaney-Stanak. But hey, that sorta thing comes with the job of being mayor, right? …right? Here’s more from the Mayor’s bizarre rant-in-print:
While the personal attacks that ultimately follow the fights are tiring at times, I’m secure in the knowledge that I don’t pick the easy fights – I pick the fights that need fighting. For me, selling pieces of history would be an admittance that we as a community have given up hope for a better future – something I’ll never do.
Cue violins… after all, this is all about the children:
Someday in the near future, when families and children visit the weather vane display in a bustling downtown within a vibrant community, I hope they’ll have us to thank for it. I hope they’ll be able to hear about our lives and times. A time when we, acting as a community, declined the easy path and fought for a better future. That time is now.
Let’s leave the merits of this case to the side for now (I certainly don’t have a dog in that fight). Let’s also assume the guy isn’t pathological in some way – which then begs the question as to how big an ego one would have to have in order to feel free to spout such embarassingly insulting and self-aggrandizing nonsense without the slightest twinge of self-doubt or self-consciousness. And this from a guy who, from all indications, has loftier political ambitions. If he gets this freaky over a weather vane, imagine what awaits those who might disagree with him over something a bit more substantive. Holy moley.
But perhaps Mr. Lauzon was just having a bad day. And only ran the piece by other people who were also having bad days. Or something.
Sadly, no – and it’s no coincidence that Lauzon has risen to prominence in Barre City. He’s just the latest chapter of a troubled city’s recent history – a city seemingly divided into many truly amazing people busting their butts to make a healthier, stronger community on the one side, and those who have seemed to just give up on city government on the other.
(Please note: The Times Argus is heavily referenced. Unfortunately, they’ve chosed to put any articles more than a couple weeks old behind a #$%@ pay wall. I’ve therefore snipped what I could and linked to the search page where the complete article can be viewed at a price, although you may need to scroll and look for it.)
Barre has been hit as hard from skyrocketing property assessments as anywhere. It’s also slipped ahead of the curve in the trend towards greater anger and frustration towards government. Many there are still simmering over civil unions, and that rage has continued to smoulder, generating a solid “anti-everything” bloc that is the most consistent voting bloc in town.
They’re a minority, sure, but the rest of the City has become increasingly cynical, and the left (including some of the most committed, smart and organized activists you’ll ever meet) has had an increasingly hard time turning out the vote in key elections, even when the citizenry (or, more often the case, their children’s) self-interest is on the chopping block.
What has resulted is a toxic stew of name-calling and political opportunism, and what we’re seeing in Lauzon are those chickens coming home to roost.
Barre City was fiscally challenged back when Harry Monti was mayor, and the challenges were only going to increase with the pricey construction of a new Public Safety Building. The City had to build it, but the process became protracted, running into cost overruns, controversy and public resentment. After presiding over the process that got the ball rolling and put a plan on the table, Monti announced he wouldn’t run again. He clearly knew the Herculean challenges that were on the horizon:
Now that Harry Monti isn’t mayor of Barre any more, he has some advice for the man who is.. “He’d better buckle his seatbelt,” advised Monti, who this week reflected on his years as the leader of central Vermont’s largest city and the challenges facing Peter Anthony as the new mayor settles into the center seat on the City Council. “It’s going to be a wild [term]
In 2004’s closely watched mayoral race that saw Governor Douglas directly involve himself in the nonpartisan affair on the side of Republican State Representative Leo Valliere, Peter Anthony (backed by the left) ended up with the victory.
It was during Anthony’s term that things really came to a head. Anthony threw himself into finding ways to address the growing crisis of Barre City simply not being able to pay for itself with his inherited building committment dragging the whole process down:
May 6, 2004…City officials admit Barre can’t afford to build a public safety complex that has already been sited, designed and priced out, even if it spends every penny of the $3.9 million voters approved for the project more than two years ago.
…and it got more complicated:
Public Safety complex compromise falls apart, now heads to court
Date: June 17, 2004
Publication: Times Argus, The (Montpelier-Barre, VT)
By David Delcore TIMES ARGUS STAFF. BARRE – Landlord Paul Irons didn’t blink.. Faced with what amounted to an ultimatum from the City Council, the local landlord whose permit appeal has stalled construction of Barre’s new $3.5 million public safety building, rolled the dice on Wednesday.. For the second straight day, Irons refused to accept the city’s offer to create parking for his tenants on Fourth Street in exchange for his agreement
Looking at the process from every angle seemed to lead to the same conclusion: Barre City would save little to no money bailing out of the project – which left Anthony in the unenviable position of trying to find more revenue from an electorate that felt overburdened by property taxes already – and with a strong recent history of rejecting them (at least on the first tries). Anthony turned to an electorate largely burned out on the process and not interested in voting, but for a committed bloc seemingly interested in shutting down the whole process:
Mayor Peter Anthony says he won’t revive the short list of local options taxes that was bombed by Barre voters on Tuesday, but he warned they shouldn’t be surprised if some other revenue-raising initiative appears on the ballot in March. Frustrated by the overwhelming defeat of an alternative tax package that was pitched in conjunction with Montpelier and Berlin, Anthony said there is little point in pursuing that proposal any further
Recriminations flew, and he found himself challenged for the mayor’s office by Thomas Lauzon.
Lauzon ran a nasty campaign. It was replete with the name calling, scapegoating and faux suggestions of magic fixes that we’ve come to expect from the worst campaigns. It drew energy from the anger that had already caused the rejection of all the city’s budget requests, school and otherwise. To make matters worse, Harry Monti – who, as mayor for many years, arguably bore more responsibility for the overall dynamic than Anthony who simply inherited a crappy situation – threw his fellow Democrat under the bus, and endorsed Lauzon, who took the prize…
Date: May 11, 2006
Publication: Rutland Herald (VT)
BARRE – Voters ousted their first-term mayor and rejected school budgets for the third time this year and the city budget for the first time. Mayor Peter Anthony was trounced by challenger Thomas Lauzon, an accountant and developer
And yes, you read that right — the vote included the rejection of the school budget for the third time. That was the mood of the residents who came out to vote, and that was the flame fanned by Lauzon that burned his path into office.
But he found he couldn’t just bark at people and magically make things better. Suddenly it was his pile of crap. And guess what happened? The budget went down again:
Date: June 30, 2006
Publication: Times Argus, The (Montpelier-Barre, VT)
BARRE – Granite City voters have steered their community where officials say no Vermont town has gone before: into a new fiscal year without the authority to spend one red cent. In the latest of a seemingly endless series of special elections that have afflicted this city of 9,200, voters Thursday rejected a $7.9 million municipal budget, 632-516
TIme for desperate scapegoat mode, and that scapegoat was in the person of another of Lauzon’s campaign targets, City Manager Robin Bennett. The problem was, Bennett had recently been giving a shining performance review by the City Council. How then to handle the problem of putting her head on the wall?
Easy, just throw together another performance review to your liking behind closed doors (I kid you not), then fire her. From the Times Argus again:
The day after voters bombed their budget, city councilors bounced the city manager. After spending more than 90 minutes behind closed doors during a hastily arranged special session late Friday afternoon, councilors refused to renew City Manager Robin Bennett’s contract and informed her that she will be out of work in 90 days
Nobody will care, right? After all, she already riled up alot of voters complaining about the pornography in Barre City firefighter’s lockers…
Date: May 4, 2006
Publication: Times Argus, The (Montpelier-Barre, VT)
BARRE – Firefighters are fuming, but City Manager Robin Bennett is standing her ground in the face of complaints she opened a firefighter’s locker in the city’s new public safety building, finding a nude photograph taped inside the door. The incident, which occurred while Bennett was inspecting the public safety building days before last Saturday’s open house, has fueled tense relations between the manager and unionized firefighters,
… so nobody should bat an eye.
But there’s still that pesky problem of a budget. For the first time (I believe in the state’s history), a municipality was operating without one.
Lauzon’s petulance, unfiltered through any more scapegoats, shined through:
…”If we don’t have a budget I don’t think we can in any stretch consider Homecoming an ‘essential service,'” Lauzon told city counselors, suggesting he would not support providing the police and public works’ manpower that organizers say is crucial to the success of the popular four-day festival.
“It is virtually impossible to pull off without the city’s support,” Lauzon said of the community-wide celebration that is scheduled to start July 27.
Meanwhile, Lauzon warned that another budget defeat would finally prompt him to support “pulling the plug” on the municipal swimming pool. Although Barre is already operating without any authority to spend money this fiscal year, Lauzon has stood unflinchingly behind the council’s decision to lay off several city workers and curtail some services while at the same time keeping the pool open.
Berlin Street resident Laura Boldosser publicly questioned Tuesday night the decision to keep the pool open, claiming it was a concern shared by other taxpayers she has spoken with.
“That’s a bone of contention with a lot of people,” said Boldosser, who said the council had sacrificed public safety to keep the pool open.
…”I feel like I’m standing here in the batter’s box and I can’t get anyone to pitch to me,” lamented Lauzon, who defended a budget that calls for a 7 percent increase in spending and a 3 percent increase in the property taxes needed to pay for it.
“I ran on a platform of controlling spending and taxes and I think this council has responded to that,” he said, vowing to mount a campaign to recruit absentee voters in the run-up to next Thursday’s election.
In hopes of pushing turnout over the 1,400-voter mark Lauzon said he has already contacted 163 registered voters and signed them up for absentee ballots. He is asking other council members to do the same in coming days.
“I didn’t think it would come to this, but now I’ve learned to play the voter apathy game,”
If Lauzon sounds like a weasel, well that’s exactly the word one insider I spoke to used to describe him. His reputation is of someone less than trustworthy, and some have privately questioned his professional ethics. So why throw Anthony over for him?
Peter Anthony is a good guy, but what I’m always told is that he’s not a “people person” and that a lot of folks don’t like him. Monti in particular was annoyed by him, from accounts. All I can say from personal experience is that Peter is a very decent, hardworking, committed and smart guy, and I’ve never seen this surly side. What I can tell you is he comes off, in mannerisms and appearence (especially his car) very working class. And he’s a very no-nonsense guy. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if part of the complaints about him were simply a matter of his inability to look like a member of the movers-and-shakers club, as well as a refusal to be deferential to the members of that club.
I’m not saying I couldn’t be completely mistaken, but that’s sure as hell what it looks like from here.
So now Barre City has Mayor Thomas Lauzon.
God help them. And their weather vanes.