Columns

Just where have you gone, Mrs. Robinson?

By JEFF WEBB
Published November 19, 2006

As I walked down the back steps toward the parking lot of the government complex in downtown Brooksville on Tuesday, I started piecing together the column I would write about Nancy Robinson.

I was impressed by her professionalism and her humility as she thanked the crowd of about 75 people for giving her the opportunity to serve as their commissioner. Losing that job after 14 years had to be tough, I thought, and saying goodbye even tougher. But she had handled it well, managing to fight back most of her tears.

Turns out, they were crocodile tears. The kind that feign sorrow. The kind that decorate the eyes of hypocrites.

So, instead of a column that would have been a tribute to Robinson, in which I would have publicly thanked her, as I did privately Tuesday, for her notable run in elected office, I am compelled to write something altogether different.

You see, while Robinson put on her show and accepted the sincere thanks of all those people - only a few of whom knew what was going on behind the scenes - her lawyer was putting the finishing touches on a lawsuit to invalidate the election she lost a week earlier to Rose Rocco.

Robinson's mouth was saying "So long," but her mouthpiece was saying "So what?"

The gist of Robinson's lawsuit is that Rocco was not a qualified candidate because she did not live in District 2 on Election Day, Nov. 7. In her defense, Rocco says she has bought a house in the district and moved in Thursday, the day before the election results were to be certified and five days before she is scheduled to be sworn in as commissioner. The job is hers, Rocco says.

The law is vague and open to interpretation, but for now it appears Rocco will wait to take her seat on the commission, while the rest of us wait for the folks who wear black robes to sort it out.

But this much is clear: Even if Robinson wins, she loses.

She loses credibility. She loses respect. She loses effectiveness.

Even if Rocco technically violated the law, Robinson knows that a solid majority voted for her opponent, or against the incumbent. By pursuing this lawsuit, Robinson is violating the will of the people she has always claimed were foremost in her decisionmaking.

And if Robinson wins? Can she rationalize going to work every day knowing that most of the people in the county don't want her there? Can she look in the mirror each morning and convince herself once again that she is not a thief?

Does Robinson realize she is trading the mostly laudable reputation she cultivated the past 14 years, for an enduring image of a scheming sore loser who served sour grapes and a pound of flesh at her retirement party?

Augie Peretti was more of a visionary than I gave him credit for when he said, before losing to Robinson in the Sept. 5 Republican primary, "She thinks she owns this job."

Indeed, this boils down to Robinson's being selfish. If she truly cared more about the people who gave her the privilege of serving them all these years , she would drop this lawsuit. Other than a clarification of election law, nothing good can come from it. Even if Robinson called it quits now, she has come undone, politically speaking.

So, with apologies to Simon and Garfunkel for dragging them into this vindictive mess, I say to Mrs. Robinson:

" ... laugh about it, shout about it,

when you've got to choose,

every way you look at this you lose."

Reach Jeff Webb at webb@sptimes.com or 352 754-6123.

[Last modified November 19, 2006, 01:47:53]