Mike and the Babysitter

February 28, 2006 by Publius  
Filed under Blogging, Maryland, Salisbury Politics

Monday night’s Salisbury Council meeting was relatively uneventful and went by in near record time. The big event was a non-event. Council President Mike Dunn behaved himself. Sure he still doesn’t follow all of the rules, but there wasn’t one snide remark (at least the PAC-14 audio didn’t pick any up).

Mikey was trying awful hard to act like a grownup. It was hard too. He grinded his teeth, twitched, moved around in his seat; but he was 75% of what a presiding officer should be.

This lead to some thought. Why was Mikey acquitting himself so well? Since he doesn’t read the blogs, it couldn’t have been because we somehow shamed him into it. Did he suddenly become less arrogant? It’s my experience that this disease isn’t cured in just a few weeks.

Some fast calls and conversations after the meeting lead to a probable reason. The powers that be got a babysitter for Mike. Sitting right up front was Jan Wiseman, Executive Director of the Greater Salisbury Committee. Evidently, the honchos at the GSC wanted a first hand report as to Mikey’s demeanor. Was it really as bad as they heard? Now even Mike isn’t foolish enough to bite the hand that feeds him; he was on his best behavior (or what poses for it in certain circles).

I have a request for the civic leaders over at the GSC. Please keep sending Mr. Wiseman to the city council meetings. If you are truly interested in the future of Salisbury and in good municipal government this will be a big help. Of course the council will continue to hand the keys to the city over to you and your friends, but at least it will be done in a much more civilized manner.