Released today after turning in the chief operating officer petitions:City Manager Petition Submission
We, the people of the City of Bristol, do hereby submit this day, July 29, 2008, our signatures attesting to our desire to place the question pertaining to the establishment of the position of Chief Operating Officer for the City of Bristol on the November ballot.
Whereas a Charter Revision Commission comprised of our fellow citizens convened, and
Whereas the Charter Revision Commission recommended that Bristol modify its form of government, and
Whereas the Bristol City Council voted 5 – 2 on June 16, 2008 against placing the question before the people, and
Whereas, the people have organized a bi-partisan effort to collect signatures of registered voters to overturn this grievous action against the people, and
Whereas duly registered voters serving as circulators have made a good faith effort to follow the prescribed Statues to enlist the support of their fellow citizens, and
Whereas, these circulators have collected and signed and duly notarized 260 petitions,
We therefore submit the signatures of 4363 citizens who have set their hand to this petition as an expression of their free will.
Let it be self-evident that this is an expression of the collective resolve of the people to “let the voters choose.”
We respectfully request that the City perform their due diligence to certify these signatures and provide us with a full accounting of the results under the law.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the petition circulators at 2:00pm this day, July 29, 2008, to the City Clerk of the City of Bristol,
Ken Johnson Ken Cockayne
Craig Yarde Craig Minor
*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
53 comments:
I can't believe that the tax payers are actually going to vote on this. This is awesome!
This is just an effort on the part of Minor, Johnson, et al to get Zoppo in there to run the city.
Heaven help us!
Just where do these people think they live ????
In a Free and Democratic Society where the will of the people is respected ???
It's a shame they don't realise that Bristol is a Communist / National Socialist regime with NO compassion or regard for the Taxpayers .
Power to the UNIONS !!!!!!!
Zoppo is against this because she'll never be a powerful mayor if it passes. But she's all done anyway. All the Dumb-o-crat hacks are against this.
Johnson has been for a city manager since he started campaigning in 2007. This has nothing to do with the election results in 2007.
July 30, 2008 7:29 PM
Shut up.
Ohhh, how incredibly exciting! The tay payers could actually lose their right to vote in or out the candidate of the choice!!! I can't wait to vote NO. This is awesome!
Don't get too excited, it's not going on the ballot.
I'm sure McCauley and the unions will have Pac make up some kind of new rule to get it all kicked out.
Looks like the Repbulican party's slate for the next mayoral election:
Minor for Mayor
Cockayne for Deputy, and
Johnson for C.O.O.
2:13
Johnson was for Town Manager, as were many other people: he is now going with the tide. What will be next?
Big difference between a Town Manager and the COO COO proposed.
Guess that the democrats finally have a shot to dump minor - that should definately brighten up their day/night/week/month/year/lifetime.
Cant wait to see all Republicans in office!
8:09
Gee, maybe Geladino will run for Council again.
Also Merrick
And Anderson for Treasurer.
Wow! Something to look forward to.
OOPS, I forgot the bombastic Ken Johnson. Sorry.
Minor is picking up votes with this. There are many of us who actually don't vote party lines. He is for the people, not the special interest groups. Minor for Mayor in 09!
8:09
In Bristol???
Won't happen because local Republicans are their own worst enemy.
Will the Republicans come up with a full slate this tim
Oh, Minor will stay a Democrat. He's still a big government liberal.
But what's apparent is that he's willing to buck his own local-yokel party's leadership when it comes to something he truely believes is best for Bristol.
For the aforementioned reason, he deserves our support and our respect.
There may be a Ward-hack that decides to primary him. But Minor will win, just as he did against his Republican opponent in 2007 who "raised" (from unions mostly) over twice as much money.
Don't count on the republicans to beat Minor: he was and is working to get Johnson in office.
This was in Zoppo's platform too - early on.
Minor knows the R's can't come up with anybody in his district, s he is doing what he can to help defeat Ward.
Wow, all the Union boy's and those beholden to the uninos are getting nervous.
I like how they are now saying this will never pass in Nov. They also said that enough signutures would't be gotten to put it on the ballot!!
Thanks for working for ALL the people, Minor, Cockayne, Johnson and Yarde.
Minor opposed Ward on the budget and a couple of major appointments. That's all. Why are Ward's supporters so pissed at him? Methinks they doth protest too much.
"Don't count on the republicans to beat Minor: he was and is working to get Johnson in office"
-Is this why Johnson did barely anything in the 3rd District? That doesn't really make any sense because by NOT campaigning against the Democrats, Johnson would only have been hurting himself. So I say the preceding statement by the August 3, 2008 8:03 PM poster is incorrect.
However I am a Republican that will (at least) not work against Minor and I am contemplating supporting him. The "city manager" issue only reinforces this fact. The 3rd District GOP candidates undoubtably will be a joke and they most likely won't even represent current GOP values. They are RINOs to the upmost extent.
Johnson did not campaign much in the 3rd: Minor et al did it for him.
Same in the 2nd: McCauley wasn't worried about Geladeeno, so he didn't help Ward.
Dirty business it is, even here in Bristol.
August 6, 2008 8:04 AM:
It doesn't work that way. People vote for the top of the ticket and they follow with the rest of the ticket per party.
In other words if Minor was pushing for Johnson, then he was putting himself in jeopardy. Although if he was, then it doesn't reflect well on the GOP candidate (who raised over $7000)does it?
August 6, 2008 8:04 AM:
Boy do you live on some other planet. Are you even a Democrat?
Ken Johnson would be an excellent chief executive for the city of Bristol.
All Ward cares about is his "vet" buddies (most of whom never saw any action) and appeasing his "base" (the greedy geezers, slow-peds and other feeders-from-the-public trough).
10:23
Do some research!
In 2005, Storts won EVERY district, but only ONE republican councilperson got elected. So your analysis has someweakness.
Look at the republicfan candidates in minors district and you;ll have to agree that minor had no competition.
Keep in mind that a republican cannot win without democreat votes.
If Johnson had won, he had minors support and vote, just as much, maybe more, than he would have had Bobs.
Think about it.
"Ken Johnson would be an excellent chief executive for the city of Bristol."
Ya, sure, just what Bristol needs ~ a hot-headed, temper tantrum throwing chief executive with questionable business ethics who's mentally challenged just filing a petition correctly, and who'd we'd have to hire a team of lawyers to get rid of ~ ya, great idea...
August 7, 2008 8:16 AM:
Wanna play that game?
Well he's better than an unqualified, slow-ped or a drunk who failed at everything except glad-handing local losers and union lackeys.
Anon at 12:35
Did we ever find out why Johnson was "laid off". the only one to be laid off.
Or is that a euphemism?
August 7, 2008 6:55 AM:
Candidates from opposite parties never help each other (as far as conveying votes to each other) on the day of the election. Candidates are connected strongly based on their party. Any candidate from an opposite party, whether they agree with their fellow party's candidates or not, are wise not to support the oppostion.
Whether "Bob" is a union lackey or not doesn't matter in regards to the fact that being on the same ticket, one would need to suport the other candidates on their ticket in order to be successful. Bob and his "group' apparently never absorbed that fact otherwise he might have done better.
Stortz victory in 2005 was unique because the Dums had such a lousy mayoral candidate. Most likely many Dems voted for him as well as Independents who are the majority in Bristol (albeit their turnout isn't as good as party-affiliated voters).
9:50
Why do some people seem so willing to settle for second best, or the lesser of two evils?
Just as we can do better than Ward, we certainly can do better than Johnson.
Exactly what are his credentials for running the city?
Why don't the republicans work to get a better candidate?
August 8, 2008 6:20 PM:
I think Johnson is a good candidate. During the campaign he had a little temper outburst that Steve Collins seemed to think was more important than Ward's DWI or Couture's termination from the Police Force.
Johnson is a University of Virgina grad. He help a real managerial postion at a large corporation for some time. Neithere Ward, Couture or Zoppo-Sassu has his professional background.
Um, excuse me, Mr. or Ms. Aug. 8 at 9:33pm but Councilwoman Zoppo-Sassu has a Masters degree in City management from UCONN. She could have pursued being a city manager but for some reason didn't. I think her background trumps Ken Johnson's.
But why was he let go?
Zoppo has a Bachelors and a Masters (in business), has years of civic experience (not in show business), and been involved in many non-political activities also.
Stortz has a bachelors, credits towards a Masters, managed in the private sector, been involved also.
There are others also such as Frank Johnson, Craig Minor.
Is Johnson on vacation??
Haven't seen any grandiose press releases in a few days.
Steve may have been reporting as to what was happening DURING the campaign.
Certainly that outburst got peoples attention.
We don't need the theatrics!
I think 9:33pm's slant may have been that the Dems should put up better candidates. I think that was partly why they chose Zoppo-Sassu as their candidate last summer over Ward who had more senority than she did. But even a good background is no match for a ground campaign like Ward did to discredit and smear people who didn't support him. Unfortunately, the side effects of that are that he can't get along with anyone today who didn't support him, and that's a pretty small group considering the slim margins he won by in the primary and general.
"Wanna play that game?
Well he's better than an unqualified, slow-ped or a drunk who failed at everything except glad-handing local losers and union lackeys."
Uh~oh, sounds like I touched a raw nerve there! Guess my comment had too much truth in it cuz here comes that typical temper tantrum response complete with name-calling and petty insults. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Looks like this is the best we can expect from this crew.
"During the campaign he had a little temper outburst that Steve Collins seemed to think was more important than Ward's DWI or Couture's termination from the Police Force."
One "little temper outburst" speaks volumes about how a person deals with pressure and frustration. If Mr. Johnson were to become mayor or COO, he would be dealing with both on a daily basis, and he's definitely proved he's NOT up to the challenge.
Zoppo has a MA degree in public administration (aka basket-weaving). She has virtually no work experience. She's qualified for an entry level clerical postion.
August 9, 2008 8:37 AM:
More like facts, albeit insulting ones.
Guess the biggest FACT is that he won and he's doing a great job.
"Wanna play that game?"
Sorry 9:50, although Kenny acts like a child ~ this isn't a game.
Just think if Kenny had to face what Storts did last time, including people like K. Johnsosn, Geladino and others..
Kenny has no clus as to what it is all about!
August 9, 2008 12:27 PM:
Right, that's why we need a professional manger not a stooge for the unions, daddy's little spoiled brat, a glad-handing slow-ped or a incompetant ignoramus leading the city.
Zoppo hasn't been "let go" from any job.
2:24
I agree with the idea of a professional manager.
However, what Furry and Cockayne have given us is a flunkie position that still reports to the political boss.
We need a City Manager, not a Chief operating officer!
August 9, 2008 3:15 PM:
Right, it's hard to be "let go" from a job, when you've never had one.
And stop making a big deal about Johnson (supposedly) being "let go" by NU. Management and executives get "let go" all the time.
Couture was "let go" by the BPD after numerous rule violations and unethical behavior...and I'll bet you voted for him in 2003.
No, I did not vote for Couture in 03.
Yes, people get let go, but there usually is a rationale: for a large company to "lay off" just 1 (one) person is quite unusual.
Or is laid off an euphemism?
An explanation would go a long way to quieting the story.
Or was one of his character quirks part of the reason?
this whole idea of a COO is a result of Furey either not being able to get support for the Town Manager plan or his attempt to pacify yarde - wonder if he does any legal stuff for yarde, minor, cockayne or others connected to this abortion of an idea? potential conflict of interest?
Furey was pressured because a few incumbents do not want to give up the power.
This is just a mollification effort and wil be a bad thing for Bristol.
August 10, 2008 3:08 PM:
"abortion of an idea"? What a crude disgusting comment coming from an obviously crude, disgusting and ignorant person. You should be ashamed of yourself.
If you must use the term, two more years of Ward as CEO is a good use.
6:38 ~ Sorry, but I think 3:08's terminology sums up the COO concept perfectly. Your suggestion to use the term you find so incredibly disgusting to describe the Mayor's next 2 years in office only proves that this is less about a COO and more about eliminating Mr. Ward. The fools pushing for the COO obviously have their own agenda and Bristol tax payers will end up picking up the tab for their foolishness. You should be ashamed of yourself.
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