Mayor Art Ward said today that he's already signed the petition to have the chief operating officer proposal reach the ballot box on November 4.
Ward said he wants to give people the chance to vote against the idea.
A petition drive kicks off Saturday when supporters of the plan begin their effort to round up more than 3,000 signatures to force the city to put the Charter Revision Commission's recommendation on the ballot.
Ward voted against it when the council shot down the concept on a 5-2 vote, but signed the petition anyway because he's interested to see if there's enough support to get it on the ballot.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
40 comments:
olde hypocrite ken johnson must be doing head-spins wondering what to do next
Ken Johnson a Hypocrite..What about Ward..What planent is he on?
He votes againist putting it on the ballot than signs the petition to put it on the ballot, and he calls this Leadership?
at least he isn't afraid to listen to other opinions or allow others the opportunity to make a choice
Artie listens all right. That's why his current opinion is the opinion of the last strongly opinionated person he spoke to.
Art once had an original thought, but it died of loneliness.
It's the old democrat razzle dazzle. I voted against it before I voted for it. Then I voted against it but I signed the petition to give the voters a chance at giving the voters a choice.
Jeeeezzzzz! How many ways can you split a hair Art?
~ Ward voted against the COO position, not against the citizens' right to vote on it. You've got to give him credit, even though he's against the position, he's all for giving the people a chance to vote on it if they choose. Leadership at its best. Nice job Mayor Ward!
ward voted against supporting the charter revision commission's reccomendation to support the coo position, doesn't mean that he is against everyone else having a say in the proposal at the voting booth.
actually, it seems somewhat rather refreshing now that I really think about it.
June 19, 2008 4:14 PM
Then why didn't he just vote for the question to go to referendum in the first place? Why force the voters to go through the academic exercise of the petition if you are honestly interested in whether or not they support the concept.
It just seems to me that this is the mayor looking to have it both ways. Give the city employees one impression by voting against the question and then try to give the voters another impression by signing the petition.
I guess if the mayor honestly believes that he represents the citizens of the city and that his "no" vote was in their best interest then he should have conviction in his belief by not signing a petition which, if ratified will reverse his vote.
Unless of course his signature was simply form over function and he believes (or is hoping) that the petition drive will fail or the petition will be rejected.
Ward is playing both sides and is playing with the people.
He might just get burned.
Ward is a joke and a complete hypocrite!
Thanks for nothing! Why would you not support it in front of the counsel then sign the petition?
Please do not include his signature. He does not deserve a voice in this after he supported taking ours away!
Why don't you go shoot off another informative press release on pool safety!
And whoever keeps writing things on these posts saying "Thank God for Art Ward." is a dope. What has he done besides avoid any tough decisions?
Refreshing?!?!?
Ward should have just supported the people's right to vote on it the first time. Remember early on, he said he would support it although he really wasn't in favor of it. He was okay with putting it to referendum so the people could vote. What happened?
The union got to him, that's what happened!
Exactly, Ward is plAying games with the issue and with the voters. This guy is a clown. Is he for it or not?
KEN JOHNSON IN 2009.
? 4:37pm - depends on the density of the follicles "BALDY."
Some of you people have NO CLUE!
He voted against the COO Position, NOT against the people of Bristol to sign a Petition to get it on the Ballot in November(if Minor & Cockayne get >3000 signatures)He's giving the citizen's of Bristol a choice to sign the Petition or Not.
I give him alot of credit...I wish some of you others would too(you may get burned)~Think About It!
Thank God for Art Ward
Ward doesn't want a COO: if he happens, he is out of a job!
Maybe he will follow through on his campaign rhetoric - let the people VOTE on big ticket pocketbook items - like the 100++ million mega school building program!
Instead, we get to vote on this crap while they stick their hands in every pocket in town!
~ Ward voted against the COO position (a potentially very expensive and ill-defined concept), but he is clearly NOT against the people having the right to vote on the issue. This does not make him a hypocrite, a joke, a clown, or mean that he's playing both sides. It's pretty obvious that the anti-Ward people are trying to confuse the issue and put their typical negative spin on it. Sorry guys, but the mayor is doing a great job (and from the palpable hostility of some of these posts, it seems that it's really ticking em' off!). LOL!
I agree with the poster at 8:29 a.m. There should also be a referendum on the mega schools issue.
I agree that there should be a referendum on the new schools also.
Good point (again)!
He won't follow through on that promise unless it benefits him, or more specifically - the unions.
Why wouldn't he want to give power to the voters by supporting things going to referendum? Why wouldn't he support a COO?
The answer is easy. By doing either of those things he would be limiting the influence of the unions. The unions would not have control over the COO and the unions can not control referendums. Neither of them are partisan and can not be influenced by the biggest special interest group in Bristol - UNIONS! They can't buy off a referendum and they won't be able to buy off a COO.
Arty is only protecting them, just like nerdy McCauley. We desparately need a COO to protect us from dirty politicians that are in unions, let alone in bed with them. What those two do is criminal and the taxpayers will be made to pay over and over and over.
"We desparately need a COO to protect us from dirty politicians"
At least we can vote the politicians out of office, who's gonna protect us from a dirty COO?
The "dirty politicians" will use the COO COO to do their dirty work, and hide behind him/her.
Just another level of subterfuge.
McCaulley...GONE IN 09!!
McCaulley...working hard for the sake of the unions!
2:31 pm,
Which dirty politicians would you be referring to? Would that be one of our <$10,000 per year part-time council people who attend about 20 hours worth of meetings a week and have to listen to people constantly complain no matter what is being discussed?
Rimcoski dirty? Minor dirty? Nicastro dirty? Cockcayne dirty? Block dirty? McCauley dirty? How so? Some too liberal and some too conservative maybe but dirty?
Or are you referring to our Mayor? Really now. Dirty? Because he has friends in the city? Because he knows a lot of people? Because he values the opinion of prominent citizens, groups, and businesses?
Get a life!
McCauley and Ward both are for the unions!
I think they should stop at 1 extra signature so they can say they didn't need Ward's!
McCauley is against the COO as is the unions.
McCauley is against GASB 45 as is the unions.
McCauley was for raising taxes with this budget as was the unions.
McCauley was endorsed by the unions.
McCauley is a Bristol Fireman and a union member.
How is it ethical that he is even a councilman?
Dirty?!?!
No way.
Unethical?
Yes.
Mr. 9:03 pm:
The people in his district know perfectly well that he is a fireman, and they voted for him THREE times (including a primary). I guess you think those people are pretty stupid.
McCauley keeping us up on what's on TV (fluff).
say NO to "TV Guide" McCauley in 2009!
To June 20, 8:30PM
To quote you "Because he (Ward) values the opinion of prominent citizens, groups, and businesses?"
You mention "prominent" citizens, groups & businesses but never mention that Ward values the opinion of the taxpayers who are, by the way, his EMPLOYER.
I'd like to know how the supporters of Ward, the council and the BOF that voted for the new budget feel about the tax increase? Did anyone bother to figure out how much more the taxpayers will be paying when you factor in the re-evaluation? I have and I will be paying $960. or 26% more per year for a 1300 square foot home. Do you think that's acceptable in any year, yet alone a year when foreclosures are up 58.8% over 2007 in Bristol (source=Hartford Courant 6/5/08)? Not to mention everything else that has gone up dramatically and we haven't had to fill up our home heating tanks yet. When times are tough the last thing a responsible govt. would do would be to increase taxes.
I'll give you just some ideas of how we can save money: shut off the numerous unnecessary street lights and you can start right on my street, do not send out a color brochure from the water department! The brochure should have been in black & white and only printed for those who requested one. Put an immediate freeze on all purchases (they did that at my job--you can't even buy a pencil right now and somehow we are all just fine). Also, when was the last time an independent auditor looked at how Bristol spends the taxpayers dollars? I could go on and on but you get the idea.
I think it's time for a Bristol Taxpayers Association.
Bristol Taxpayers Association - now there's a scary thought. A special interest group that will kill every new idea and project so they can save $50.00 a year on their taxes. Look at the wonders that the taxpayers group in watertown has done. They took a school system that was a rival to any Farmington Valley district and by voting down successively smaller budgets 2 and 3 times every year they made it the lowest in per pupil spending in the state. Their schools are falling apart, a problem they finally addressed with a renovation project for the high school and 2 others last year. However, this year its back to the same old thing, with the budget having been defeated twice so far. As a result there will not be needed textbooks ordered, teachers will have to copy assignements on green, pink or blue paper (if even that is available after 2 years of limited supply budgets) and class sizes will soar. But the senior citizens will pay about $30.00 less in taxes so its worth it!
June 21, 2008 12:18 PM:
"I think it's time for a Bristol Taxpayers Association"
Yes!! It's been a long time coming and it's long overdue!
The days when there were people on the Board of Finance who looked out for the taxpayers is unfortunately over.
haven't heard anything about minor/cockayne's petition rally that was scheduled for saturday afternoon- did they have it?
Haven't you heard??
12:32 - the board of education's budget is always maXED AS far as funding is concerned, how come you don't state that even they should be subject to budget cuts - are you a teacher or a very naive parent?
Didn't Ward say he was infavor of more referendums when he ran last year? Why are we not allowed to vote for items in this town? Does the council and mayor think the general population stupid or uninformed? Instead he votes no and then signs the petition to allow for the vote. When he could have been against it and voted yes to allow the vote to happen anyways. Imagine if a Republican had done that you all would be slamming him/ her! Who is this Guy?!
How dare you criticize Art Ward. He's a veteran.
not ward's fault because he did bring it to the charter revision commission but they wouldn't take up the referendum issue.
this past charter revision commission (I mean tim furey) had a pre-set plan of attack and it didn't make a difference what else was brought in front of them - it was dead upon arrival.
Thank you Frank Nicastro (he nominated furey)
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