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Venting oozes past facade of Civility Month
By JENNIFER GOLDBLATT, Times Staff Writer NEW PORT RICHEY -- Here's how Tom Finn spent the first day of the city's newly proclaimed "Civility Month:" Unhappy that fellow council members failed to elect him to the position of deputy mayor, he said at Tuesday's meeting that the position should be filled based on merit. He politely handed them a 14-point list of his accomplishments and said he would be justified in asking for another vote. But he wasn't going to "since it is Civility Month." On Wednesday, Finn continued his observance of Civility Month with an attack on the new deputy mayor, Susan Clark. "I don't see what Susan's done that's so special," Finn said. He was also critical of councilwoman Ginny Miller, who nominated Clark to be deputy mayor. That sequence of events began at an otherwise uneventful council meeting Tuesday, the highlight of which was a batch of proclamations. One declared May "Civility Month" in the city and noted that displays of anger, disrespect and personal attacks detract from the open exchange of ideas and fair discussion. At the end of the meeting Finn gave his fellow council members the list of his accomplishments. On it, he credited himself with: leading the city's efforts to annex properties, sell the shuffleboard club, create downtown directional signs, a skateboard park and hire a second code enforcement officer. Wednesday, Finn explained his handout. "I really got ripped off," Finn told the Times. "Being nominated for deputy mayor is an honor amongst your peers, a sign that you've gone out and brought home the bacon for the city. It should be based on merit. Instead, it was based on politics and petty vendettas that have existed there for years." Three weeks ago, then-Deputy Mayor Scott Chittum nominated Finn for the job. When no other council members seconded the nomination, it was dropped. Miller nominated Chittum -- who declined -- then Clark, who is entering her second year in office. She was elected in a 5-0 vote. Finn said Miller has a vendetta against him for not re-nominating her for deputy mayor in 2001, after she had served one year in that role. He said Miller's nomination of Clark was "a stab in the back." "I feel I've merited that position," he said. "I don't see what Susan's ever done that's so special. She doesn't bring ideas that are so outside of the box. She's just sort of there." Clark and Miller declined to comment on Finn's assertions. Finn added that the whole ordeal infringed on the council's efforts to reign in personal attacks, derogatory remarks, and statements about other council members' motives and personalities. The council recently revised its rules of conduct to that effect. "I've even talked over the year about getting a counselor in there to deal with the different personalities," he said. Finn said he did not think his comments about the deputy mayor violated those efforts. "It was sort of a nudge to them, not a get-in-your-face thing like we had so many of last year," he said. "I'm not out to attack individual council members here, but I'm certainly making an observation that there was a commitment to deal with things on a non-personal level, and that doesn't seem to have applied in this situation. I guess that nothing's really changed here."
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From today's Pasco Times |
