In May “Yes man” Russ Rizzo said he was retiring. Those of us tired of being bullied or treated like we’re morons by him were happy.
Carpetbagger Cathy Schwandt had been appointed and set up to become president of the Council again IF elected in November.
Also appointed, not elected, were Bob Pecoraro, Dennis Quinn—and Mayor Art Pappas!
Then Rizzo, claiming no one else wanted the job, changed his mind and is running. Isn’t there one other Republican wanting to run to represent those in his ward? Has he made such a mess of it over his too many years in office?
Schwandt and her husband appear to have invested in NT real estate, relocating here around 1996. Starting as a Democrat; she changed to Republican before the 2003 election; served as Council president from 2001-2005. Did she become involved in NT politics the minute she closed on her home here? Did Pecoraro do the same?
In 2006, Schwandt tried running against Robin Schimminger for the Assembly post he’d held, and still does, since 1976. Schimminger needs to retire, but Schwandt would have been a nightmare.
In 2008, she was appointed to fill Brett Sommer’s position of Council president when he, fed up with NT politics, vacated the position. Schwandt filled that role until the end of 2012, by then a 12-year veteran of the Common Council.
While an elected official, she was given a pass on being seriously behind on property taxes instead of treated like other taxpayers would have been treated. Asked then not to run for re-election because of the taxes, word around town is she’s again seriously behind on property taxes.
Schwandt was appointed during the George Maziarz era to the Power Authority and is currently supposed to be planning to operate a “tavern & eatery” on Webster Street in a building owned by former Mayor David Burgio. While operating a business on Webster, will she help clean up the problems the tavern crowd and event-goers make for the rest of the businesses and occupants of Webster Street and nearby residents?
Pecoraro, a Johnny-come-lately who may have been great as a military man, knows how to follow orders well, but doesn’t seem to realize or doesn’t care that he works for us, not for the party and political crowd. He shows his very thin skin by bullying residents who try to discuss concerns he doesn’t agree with. He has no idea what we expect of him as our representative, doesn’t seem to realize it’s us he’s supposed to represent. From what we hear around town, instead of being “an officer and a gentleman,” he is more like a street bully if you don’t agree with him, even with neighbors. Although History Museum representatives are tight-lipped, reliable sources report that they refused to renew his museum membership, thus removing him as a legal trustee because of his negative and destructive attacks and intimidation tactics against supporters as well as other board members. We hear the Museum's attorney sent him a letter asking that he stop his intimidation attempts.
Donna Braun is a nice lady but has been about as invisible as an alderwoman can be for most of her first term. She has increased her photo-ops by “cleaning up” litter around town instead of cleaning up the littering problem itself. Many in her ward complain they have not seen her during her first term and never saw her before she was elected, either, although she seems to have done a credible job in organizations in which she was and is involved.
Eric Zadzilka is not a boat rocker. His interest is totally focused on his mostly Wurlitzer Park ward.
Pappas has to toe the political line. Will he ever have the inner fortitude to be his own man and represent us?
Remember news articles in 2005 when he ran unsuccessfully for Mayor? He was late on taxes on his boat houses. City Republican Committee Chairman Paton warned all likely GOP candidates they'd better have their taxes paid up. Treasurer Leslie Stolzenfels was quoted in the same news articles as saying Pappas had a history of being late in payments on waterfront properties at 545 Sweeney, 29 and 30 Weatherbest Slip Road.
None of these characters are qualified to represent the citizens of NT.
A municipality isn’t supposed to be a fiefdom. City government is supposed to provide administration of local affairs for its residents, its citizens. It isn’t meant to provide taxpayer-funded income for a special few political puppets.
Register before October 9 or make sure your registration is still valid! Then get out and vote for public servants, not for political puppets. Boot out those who aren’t listening to us!