When word began to spread around town last month that Mayor Art Ward could be in line to serve as the state’s next veterans affairs commissioner, city Councilor Ken Cockayne was among the politicians who began taking a serious look at a possible run at the city’s top job.
Cockayne, a second-term Republican, had pretty much decided that if Ward moved on to serve in the administration of Gov.-elect Dan Malloy, he would leap into the fray should a special election be called for mayor.
Unfortunately, though, Cockayne didn’t have to wait long to find out what the job entails.
Since choking on a piece of steak Saturday night, Ward has been laid up at Bristol Hospital, in critical but stable condition. A statement released by the city Wednesday said the mayor is in “a sedated state.”
It appears that nobody, not even the medical professionals involved in the case, knows yet when or if Ward can return to his $99,000-a-year job at City Hall.
That leaves Cockayne, the city’s acting mayor, in charge — maybe.
It turns out there is yet another twist: Ward last week prepared a list of new appointments for Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Included among them was his choice for the next acting mayor, city Councilor Kate Matthews, a first-term Democrat. See the whole story here.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
5 comments:
The mayor's wishes should be adhered to and the agenda that states who should be the next acting mayor should be honored.
I wonder if Mr. Cockayne would take the same view if it was Ms. Matthews who had been picked as the acting mayor in November and Mr. Cockayne was the one scheduled to take over in December. I doubt he would and he would make no bones about it to as many people as he could about what an injustice it is that they weren't going to follow the agenda.
As much as Mr. Cockayne says not to make it a political issue, it can't help but be political. After all, we are talking about running the city. Hopefully our mayor will be back on his feet in short order and none of the foreseen disagreement will have to take place.
I agree 100% 8:46.
Bristol cant stay without leadership . We need help. Not from the midget brigade PETOSA AND NELSON the union flunkies.
The truth is being hidden from us. In that case we need to move forward and get the city back on its feet.
8:39 AM, The truth is that the mayor and his family deserve privacy. The city has been on its "feet" and will continue to stay on them with the plan that the mayor had previously put in place for just such an emergency. Both his privacy and his plan need to be respected.
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