There have been a couple of postings that I believe unfairly criticize a very
hard working public official. I know that the list manager has asked that
responses be taken off line, but if the statement was made in public, I think
the only fair way is to have an answer in public.
What I am angry about is the sniping comments made about City Coordinator
Kathy O'Brien and the process of selecting the new Finance Director. Russ
Peterson said "A Finance Director is named after a national search and there
was no mention of process of finalists." Russ, I usually agree with most of
your posts, but here I think you typed before you thought it through. Just
because there was no mention of the other finalists does not mean there were
no other finalists. I am very confident that there were finalists -- let's
find out.
And there was Tim Connolly's baseball analogy (which was cute), but there was
no reason to say, "Ms. O'Brien coyly avers that the stadium issue is only one
of Mr. Born's duties....." The use of the word "coyly" was not warranted, it
is demeaning. And this is my point - you don't know she said it "coyly".
She said it - period. Don't shade it. Another jab was his parting shot,
"I'd love to get a look at Kathy O'Brien's calendar. Five'll get you twenty
she didn't interview a person outside the third ring of suburbs." Again, you
don't know that, and I realize you made the statement in the context of a a
wager, but it is that type of sniping that undermines the public's confidence
in public officials.
I worked for Kathy O'Brien and have been a friend of hers for 25 years. If
there is one thing about her I know, it is that she is a "process person." I
am sure she or someone on her staff would be glad to give an outline of the
selection process, how many resumes came in, what the selection criteria
were, how many finalists, etc., to anyone who would take the time to ask.
My point is: People just can't go around saying things that aren't true.
Talk radio drives me crazy because people say things that aren't true and
pretty soon dozens of others are quoting it because "They heard it on the
radio, it must be true." This is dangerous, dangerous, dangerous.
Opinions are fine, good arguments make everyone sharpen their thinking - just
make sure that attempts at humor aren't mean and untrue accusations aren't
unleashed under the guise of making a point.
Jan Del Calzo
Lynnhurst
