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| Cheers & Jeers Cheers John C. Decas - No, really. This is not a reprint. We realize Mr. Decas likes us about as much as a root canal, but we have to applaud a guy who intentionally sits down beside us at a power elite recall rally and provides a running commentary to us about our paper. With so many political partisans taking personal shots at our writers while hiding behind anonymous screen names, we just have to like a guy with the stones to do it in person. We admire his lack of pretense.John Sanguinet - The interim town administrator is off to a good start. After less than a week of crunching numbers, he decided to abandon his predecessor’s inane plan to force town employees into mandatory work furloughs without even clearing it with local unions. After putting insurance contracts out for bid, the town saved $75,000. Former Town Administrator John McAuliffe wanted to keep that money in the cookie jar. It belongs in the hands of town employees, who shouldn’t be asked to take mandatory time off when their bosses get to collect their full salaries. It’s an excellent first step toward the equity Wareham has long lacked while slicing up the financial pie. Jeers James Potter - This has nothing to do with his decision to vote against firing former town administrator John McAuliffe. As we noted last week, we applaud anyone with the courage to stand in the minority. But we’re a bit troubled by his appearance at last week’s secret recall rally, especially because he’s the only selectmen not being targeted by political partisans. Yes, being available to any and all residents is part of his job. But he came dangerously close to actually promoting a recall against his fellow board members. If that’s his desire, he should just come out and say so. Remember, although he didn’t vote to terminate McAuliffe’s contract, he was a vocal critic of McAuliffe’s job performance as well. Potter has always walked the political tightrope in Wareham like a pro, balancing the desires of his Onset base with the needs of Wareham. But last Thursday night he seemed to have finally stepped off to one side. That’s fine, as long as he’s honest about it.Bruce Sauvageau - We’ve always admired his ability to cut through the gaps of other people’s logic and speak the truth on issues. But when he openly shows contempt for his political opponents, as he did on Tuesday night, he simply reinforces their perception that he’s arrogant and dismissive. We certainly understand his frustration after being the object of unwarranted personal attacks for years. But he hurts himself when he lets his frustration bubble over. We still think he’s the right man for the job because of his willingness to speak the truth regardless of the political consequences, but he just plays into his opponent’s hands when he allows his emotions to get the best of him. Funny numbers - A petition with 1,200 signatures may seem impressive to some, but that’s still a long way from getting 1,400 registered voters to sign on for a politically driven recall. There is no way to determine if even half of those 1,200 names can legally vote in Wareham. Also, there have been several reports that residents were told the decision to fire McAuliffe would cost the town $250,000. That’s ridiculous. It’s the kind of scare tactic we should all expect by now. There are also several cases when individuals signed the petition more than once. The petition crew even scoured local bars late Saturday night desperately hoping to collect more names. If you have to resort to those kind of tactics, the road toward a successful recall remains very, very long.
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