New Year, New Faces, Same Old Sniping

Not everything has changed with Mayor Lisa Wong's taking office, which School Committee member James Connors proved this week by claiming Wong and other School Committee members violated the Open Meeting Law.

Connors claims four committee members, including Wong (who as mayor is chair of the committee), met privately -- and illegally -- to select a vice chair. It's probably worth noting that Connors was vice chair until Monday night's vote, when he was replaced by Jim Reynolds, one of the four Connors claims met on the sly.

First of all, Connors is taking his claim to the city solicitor. The same city solicitor who Wong just hired a week ago. Considering the shades of gray in most OML claims, and this one in particular, good luck, sir. Let's face facts here. The OML doesn't prohibit phone calls, semi-casual face-to-face meetings (members at an event, for example, discussing politics on the side), or other behind-the-scenes negotiating and arm-twisting -- as long as there's not a quorom present. It happens. A lot. You think Tom Conry was magically elected council president? Is it wrong? Nope. Does it sometimes push the limits of the spirit of the law? Yup. In this case, who knows.

Connors claims the meeting took place before or after Monday's swearing-in, an event he missed. He didn't need to be there, because he was already in office. I didn't get to the swearing-ing until just before it started, so I didn't see much of the pregame. I'll say this, though: It was a zoo, and unlikely four people could have gotten together to discuss much of anything without being interrupted. I was around for a good 15-20 minutes after the meeting, maybe even close to a half-hour. For much of that time, Wong was discussing something with School Committee member Tom Rousseau and one other person. I don't remember who it was, but it very likely was a School Committee member. I don't know what they were talking about, but from the looks of it, they weren't talking about the nice weather. In fact, I sort of made a mental note of, "what's that all about. They seem pretty into that discussion." I didn't see a fourth jump in at any point, but who knows what happened later.

If four committee members got together at some point, they did indeed break the law. Connors says in today's Sentinel that he was unaware he was being ousted at vice chair, and wishes he was part of the conversation. He notes that the Gang of Four are all new members, and that they're trying to take over the committee.

At worst, the Gang of Four violated the Open Meeting Law, which would not exactly be the best way for the Wong administration to start.

At best, we have a group of new School Committee members who are working behind the scenes to, in fact, take over the School Committee. In doing so, they're carving out "old-timers" like Connors as they plot strategy and bundle their political strength. They are playing cut-throat politics (so bold in their first week) while Connors is exhibiting some sour grapes publicly at being elbowed out.

In either case, not exactly a peaceful start, and not the headlines Wong wanted in her first week in office.

UPDATE, 1:39 p.m.: A faithful reader makes the following point: If the Gang of Four met before they were sworn in, technically, were they breaking the law? They weren't officially a board member at that point. I took a quick glance at the law, and this particular situation isn't really clearly discussed. Anyone want to play attorney and take a stab at this one?