Posted by patrick - Sat, May 19, 2012, 7:08 A

Voting on Tuesday

I have pretty mixed feelings here. Jeff is clearly a very bright guy with an excellent understanding of the issues. On qualifications alone, he is a good candidate for the School Committee, or any other committee in town, for that matter.

The problem, for me, goes back to posts in this very forum where Jeff was critical of other committee members and of the superintendent. Posts which, in some people's eyes, led the superintendent to seek other employment and left the district without leadership once again. I know some people are OK with Jeff expressing his opinions in this forum, and I am too, to a point. For me, the line is crossed when people are openly criticized. They aren't here to defend themselves, nor would they want to have to do so in a public forum. The discussion became a one-sided rant about a personnel issue that the superintendent didn't want to discuss in a meeting, let alone in this forum. This forum is not the place for that.

When I brought this up to Jeff, he said, essentially, that he had no choice but to gripe about the committee and the super in here because they don't listen to him otherwise. My take on that is that it's like justifying hitting your kids with a baseball bat because they won't do what you say otherwise. If the appropriate channels of communication don't work, it falls upon Jeff to find other appropriate channels, not to publicly criticize elected and appointed town officials in this forum. One time, Jeff even came into my shop, raised his voice at me about my disapproval of his methods, and all the customers left. He was so upset that he didn't even notice until I pointed it out.

Having bright people who understand the issues in town politics is very important. Even more important, though, is having people who know how act appropriately and to work well with other people.