Tell Me Again - Who Is Divisive, Angry and Uncooperative on the Salisbury Board of Selectmen?

I could not resist posting this lovely email exchange here on Brickyard Farm Blog. Every time I read it, the memory of how warm and fuzzy it made Selectman Lauretano feel when he first was elected and looking forward to working with Curtis Rand and Jim Dresser, comes flooding back to mind. There are many aspects of it that stand out and are particularly worthy of note – happy reading!

Perhaps there are those in Salisbury who believe the email remarks by Selectman Dresser in the above email exchange are appropriate, but so far I have not run into anyone who would agree. The astounding thing is that anyone would consider this a good way to begin a cooperative, bipartisan relationship with the minority member of the Board of Selectmen. I cannot think of anything else that could be more angry and divisive than Mr. Dresser’s email performance in November 2011 – unless it might be his dreadful and vitriolic behavior at the subsequent BOS meetings over the past year. A ruder, more hypercritical, belligerent bore than he turned out to be is extremely difficult to imagine. And shame on Curtis Rand, our so-called town executive officer, for his complete failure to put a stop to it.

Perhaps we should upload the available videos of the BOS meetings (you know, the ones CATV6 was allowed by Curtis Rand to tape) from the past sixteen months onto YouTube for the voters to study between now and the November 2013 Election. Judging by the rising political pandimonium around town and the antics of the Lakeville Journal – which apparently has adopted Selectman Lauretano as their permanent weekly whipping boy in the Editorial column, while encouraging the public to vote him out of office – the election campaign is on. Isn’t that a violation of the Journal’s campaign policy in which they do not cover or comment on campaigns, candidates and elections until the autumn season? At any rate, by watching the BOS meeting videos, townspeople would be able to observe Selectman Lauretano calmly sitting back in his chair, unrattled by the abuse from Mr. Dresser and the audience, calmly speaking his piece while resigned to the ever so predictable opposition of his colleagues to any and every suggestion he offers or issue he has raised. All of this while Mr. Lauretano has almost invariably voted cooperatively with the divisive, angry Democrat selectmen so as to keep town business moving smoothly along.

And then there is the clever ploy by Rand and Dresser to more often than not cut Selectman Lauretano out of email communication chains started by others who wanted the whole BOS involved from the beginning. All of which also goes along with the consistent refusal by Curtis Rand to ever put any issue of Mr. Lauretano’s on the BOS Agenda, and the persistent habit of deliberately not notifying Selectman Lauretano about meetings he should be made aware of so as to be able to attend.

The machinations of First Selectman Rand and his henchmen on the SDTC trying to provoke Selectman Lauretano over the COE Workshops, while also doing everything possible to derail the COE and Commission process, would be amusing if it were not so pathetically obvious and damaging to the community. Had any of them ever sat down and tried to cooperatively and constructively work on the project with Mr. Lauretano – as he has repeatedly invited the public to do – they might have accomplished something worthwhile and avoided being conduits of confusion, anger and divisiveness.

Through it all Mr. Lauretano maintains his calm demeanor and is invariably smiling, polite, cooperative and helpful. He has repeatedly and cooperatively revised the draft COE as employees, officials and citizens have made their suggestions and criticisms known, and he will continue to do so because the COE is still in the process of being developed with the open input of the whole town. It is not something that he is imposing on anyone. Ultimately the town will vote on whether or not they want to adopt this version, some other version or no COE at all.

So forgive me if I am puzzled. Would someone please provide me a list of all the angry things Selectman Lauretano has said and done since taking office. It would be helpful if citations of video clips documenting his angry, divisive demeanor, remarks and actions were also provided. And if all his efforts to obstruct and stop town business from getting done could also be listed, that would be very helpful indeed. At the same time I would be interested to hear someone explain how Mr. Dresser’s vile emails and abominable behavior towards Selectman Lauretano during BOS meetings, along with the puerile games played by Curtis Rand, facilitate BOS unity and bipartisan cooperation. That will be a truly amazing song-and-dance-routine to see and hear.

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