Some people tend to have preconceived ideas about people or things and they are very difficult to convince when they are wrong. I choose not to respond to most of the criticisms I get in the hope that they come from a minority in the community or that they’ll see the light without having to be offensive.
Politics has come to be a sporting event in Lawrence with opponents and enemies, not just sympathizers of one candidate or party. I have lost friends (Latinos as well as Americans) as a result of this political process. There were no arguments between us – they just stopped talking to me and I know that it is based on the conviction that I am a “Lantiguista.” While it is unfair and it saddens me, I wonder if it was fortunate that I found out how fickle those friendships were.
Perhaps it was a bit of my fault for admitting that Alberto and I have a 25-year friendship with Willie (long before he went into politics) and we know the man; that doesn’t mean that we blindly supported the candidate. I have said on the radio that I would not apologize for this friendship and it may have sounded arrogant.
We are beginning a new era, a new administration has been elected and we should cooperate with them for the benefit of us all. Mayor William Lantigua may have lost the elections but it seems as if he is still a threat to society because the attacks are relentless on a daily basis.
The problem is that some people cannot differentiate between personal life and the duties of a newspaper. They have a limited capacity of understanding my reasoning or simply never read Rumbo so it’s very easy to get stuck on today’s rumble. Reading my column will show consistency with every previous mayor in Lawrence.
That was the case last week when Matt Brien called WCCM complaining about my comments on CrossOver about Mayor Dan Rivera appointing hand-picked people without first going before the City Council, not advertising the positions and hiring without funds in the budget. Just because Rivera is a decent person trying to do a good job for the city, he should not be given a free pass and overlook things when they are outside of the rules.
Matt even said that I never complained when Lantigua did the same things. That sent me straight to my website to check all four years of his administration because I remember that, friend or not, I expected him to do things right and according to the law. Anyone can go to www.rumbonews.com and read my columns on the following dates:
1/8/2010 – I wrote about the people that were let go immediately and those he hired.
1/22/2010 – The controversy over Bonilla’s promotion and the council’s vote to fire Michael Sweeney.
2/1/2010 – More terminations at City Hall. Eight additional employees were let go.
2/15/2010 – I took him to task for arranging with the Speaker of the House so that Marcos Devers could go and work out of his office at the State House long before the special election took place. I told him that it was an unfair advantage and it was inappropriate.
2/22/2010 – Councilor Marc Laplante published a letter in Rumbo complaining about Lantigua not reaching out to the English-speaking side of the community. I agreed with him and chastised the mayor for not granting interviews to the media or answering to the negative reports being spread.
3/8/2010 – I wrote Different Administration: Same Results” complaining about not getting responses to my Freedom of Information Act Requests.
5/8/2010 – Nancy Greenwood was talking on Hotline about my article “Robbin’ The Hood” describing how Brian Cahoon, director of the Information Technology Department (who is already serving his sentence), who stole $9.7 million resulting in all the employees being fired. Very unwisely Matt Brien called the show and said, “I have not read it but I want to debate it.” When he said that we had to recall Lantigua, Bruce Arnold asked him under what grounds and he just said, “Because I don’t like him.” You cannot reason with that mentality!
In that issue I also criticized the members of the City Council for becoming rubber stamps approving unqualified people the mayor nominated for boards and commissions.
9/15/2010 – My scolding of Lantigua for calling Councilor Marc Laplante “idiot” before the television cameras was harsh. Actually, I called his behavior degrading for using words like “BS” and “horse manure” referring to the council’s actions.
10/8/2010 – “Lantigua disappoints me, again” and this was for missing the ceremony for the 100th anniversary of the Ayer Mills at Lawrence History Center.
12/1/2010 – This was another time when Mayor Lantigua simply told someone to report to work taking the personnel director by surprise. There were three individuals mentioned there that were hired without following the procedures of advertising, accepting applications, interviewing candidates and selecting the best candidate for the job. These positions were filled while other employees had been laid off.
On that day I expressed my disappointment hoping that things would be different under this administration. “I knew him as a community organizer looking for justice and I thought his management style would be based on fairness. Instead, nothing has changed,” I wrote.
In 2011 and subsequent years, I continued writing about the “investigation” that the media was talking about; I admonished him for his comments to a Boston television channel about police officers being lazy and the gag order imposed on city employees, etc. Lantigua understood my obligation and respected my opinion.
Perhaps Matt will be more satisfied if we “copy and paste” from the Eagle-Tribune but we will continue to do our job and hope that Mayor Rivera reacts the same way as Willie. He has the potential to be a great mayor in this city but the media owes the public truth in their reporting.