April 30, 2008

A thoroughly ineffective lobbying tactic

Opponents of the proposed chief operating officer for City Hall have been bombarding Mayor Art Ward and City Council members with a generic email. Though many senders hail from Bristol, plenty of others are scattered across the state.
What they have in common is that they're all sending the same message:

The Bristol City Council is considering an ill-advised plan to
create a new chief financial officer position. Bristol has done
well without one for all these years. Another six figure salary
that requires a two-thirds vote to remove is not going to help
move Bristol in the right direction. Taxpayer dollars could best
be spent on projects that would directly benefit city residents.

Right or wrong, anybody who hopes to have any influence ought to put their thoughts in their own words. All this sort of thing does is irritate the officials who receive the notes.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

McCauley and Ward will say they recieved MANY emails against the COO. When in reality it sounds like it's been a union tactic!

However, what else would you expect from the two who are owned by the unions!!

Anonymous said...

What's also funny is that templated email refers to a CFO rather than a COO (which is the position being debated). They need to get their fact in order.

Anonymous said...

Just cuz YOU don't like the message 12:10, doesn't mean it's a "union tactic." Fact is, the majority of people just don't want a COO. Stop trying to put your "union-hating" spin on it.

Anonymous said...

Poster 1:00

I don't know where your getting your info but the FACT isn't that most people are against it!

The fact is that most people are infavor of it. However the Union is pushing against it. They don't want to loose the hold they have on City Hall! They might have to start answering to someone.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to burst your bubble, 1:00pm, but I talk to a lot of people about the COO idea and the vast majority of them see the wisdom of it. Except, of course, any union employee. They are dead-set against it, for obvious reasons.

Anonymous said...

It is well know that politicians don't read all of their mail. What they do is count how many letters they receive on a given topic. So keep organizing and sending the emails because they are counting. And remember if they don't listen you should make your vote count the next time around.

Anonymous said...

You "talk to lots of people". Wow, I guess that makes you an authority on the subject!

The citizens of Bristol have always ELECTED our leaders. We can CHOOSE our candidates based on their vision and their plans for our city's future. If they don't hold up their end of the deal, we can vote them out too. It's a system that works. The COO is a poorly thought out and potentially very expensive idea, and I think the majority of people understand that....(It really isn't about those "darned evil union employees" after all).

Anonymous said...

So what is a lot of people? 100 out of the 32000+ voters in the city of Bristol? If they are all so dead set against it then you should have no problem letting everybody vote yes or no? You say a Majority are against it then I guess that means you have spoken to over 16000 voters in Bristol so far?

Anonymous said...

I am NOT pro union and I am totally against a COO!!

Anonymous said...

The Unions at work! LOL! So sad it wont work! The Republicans are very good at this sort of thing! There will be a vote for COO on the ballot come Nov. The unions are a joke! They have no clout in local politics! HAHA! Let freshman rum dumb Block vote against the COO and he can kiss his seat good-by as well with Ward.

Anonymous said...

And, the COO seems to be dead in Yardes mind too.

Why not concentrate on a Town Manager, do it right?

Of course Artie would like a COO so he can sit backm do nothing and add to his pension, big time!

Anonymous said...

I'm not PRO union or PRO Ward, but I am also 100% against a COO.

Anonymous said...

I voted for Cockayne in part b/c he campaigned on this issue. It was a part of his "vision and plans for our city's future". So I am glad the leader I CHOSE who was ELECTED is following through on his promises to push this issue.

Say what you want about him, he has tried to follow through on everything he has campaigned on.