For a Worcester city councilor it's not about doing the majority's biding or making a better society, it's about giving a minority undue influence.
Did you know that a Worcester council seat can be bought pretty cheaply? Worcester in fact has the cheapest council races in MA. It doesn't take a lot of money to become a city councilor. For pennies a vote, you too can become a city councilor. Think about it - change the world!
So what's the problem with local politics? Leadership? Not really. Our councilors prefer to be followers; not that they have a leader or that leader is really a leader per se. As a follower you get to blame the leader when things go wrong. Lots of that goin round.
The issue is really about a lack of character. Sure, they all reach out to groups, associations and cadres to establish their political persona as do-gooders. Funny thing, there's not one councilor who can lay claim to moral high ground, or low ground, on any issue, or exhibits a degree of character that puts them above the rest. Not even the sanctimonious Councilor Konnie Lukes has a lock on it. The fact is, contrary to popular opinion, Worcester politics is amoral. That's where our story begins.
If there is one character in Worcester politics who had a proclivity for making bombastic statements about her political veracity, it was Councilor Barbara Haller. A manipulator of the first order who waged a campaign of misinformation over the years that even she came to believe it; profiling herself on issues that she could not affect - she sold voters a bill of goods she couldn't deliver on. By 2011 the voters had enough.
Barbara Haller championed many issues, never gave more than lip service to any. Her claims of liberating D4 of prostitutes, drug addicts, criminals and college students were at best - exaggerated. Her interventions with Clark University, Becker College and Holy Cross College were so inept - exacerbating tensions - that the city manager intervened. Still she spun the events as successes, or was noticeably silent. For a photo-op she was available - time and place, you name it. Getting a resolution to issues was impossible.
The public's criticism of her handling of college student issues was one of the many issues leading to her downfall. D4 was sinking in town-n-gown issues and all Councilor Barbara Haller could do was mouth lame paroles. Was she in over her head? Conflict management was clearly not her forte. Overwhelmed by the number of complaints, unable to resolve them, Councilor Barbara Haller became the issue.
Having been warned of an undermining of her credibility among the voters, Councilor Haller resorted to her preferred rebuttal of critics: Identify them and then spread rumors about them.
Isn't democracy grand? To be continued.
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