Bullying Tactics
By Josh Resnek
I filed a news story on page 1 of this week’s Leader Herald detailing a meeting of a city council committee hearing.
The hearing was disastrous for the mayor and for Councilor Mike McLaughlin.
An outsider watching this meeting would have been shocked.
The mayor’s demeanor was so hostile and aggressive, so angry and desperate.
The mayor belittled McLaughlin. He was angry with McLaughlin, just a touch away from the appearance of violence…and it is hardly a coincidence the mayor made a lunge at McLaughlin’s desk while the councilor was trying to make a point.
McLaughlin ordered him away.
After a pause, the mayor retreated.
But the point was made, I think to nearly everyone watching.
He is a bully, a straight up bully who takes pleasure in making others feel uncomfortable or most of those working him to feel like they could be fired at any moment – by him, on a whim because he’s a bully.
That’s how a bully acts. That’s how he acts.
He persecuted McLaughlin. He tyrannized him. He tormented him. He browbeat him. He intimidated him.
He strong armed him.
The mayor spoke from a bully pulpit at the end of the long conference table inside the council chamber.
He eviscerated McLaughlin.
Was such an attack necessary?
Why couldn’t he leave Mike out of it and just bully me? Because I can’t be bullied by the likes of him. Besides, I am not informing the government. I am not the enemy.
McLaughlin wanted to ask questions about the Wellness Center. It wasn’t going to be allowed. The mayor planned to shout him down, to put him in his place.
He made his points never looking at McLaughlin, reading from a prepared text, sneering at him while his administration’s chief people watched the event unfolding and apparently taking some pleasure and pride in this as though saying, “Look at Mike. Good. He’s getting what he deserves (which is to be bullied in the public forum by their boss).”
The mayor’s bullying railroaded the hearing.
It dominated the hearing.
Those who watched his bad behavior said the mayor was shouting like a dictator, using edicts on McLaughlin as though the laws of what is right and wrong were made up by him, as though McLaughlin was a punching bag.
The mayor’s bullying made mincemeat out of McLaughlin, who attempted paying attention to parliamentary order.
The mayor would have none of it.
The feeling the mayor was trying to bring home went something like this: “He learned his lesson asking me questions about the Wellness Center. I showed him.”
The mayor didn’t show him anything but how a bully acts, how the bully fails to feel, how he fails himself by attacking others, especially when he, the bully, is on the wrong side of an issue.
Is this what leadership is about?
A bully like the mayor sets the bad example for everyone else at city hall.
His example was set at the Wellness Center where at least two employees were bullied and harassed by employees the mayor’s team has not removed.
The mayor jumped all over Councilor Mike McLaughlin. He did it without style or class. He was indifferent to his own image playing out on Everett Cable.
The mayor’s bullying doesn’t stop with McLaughlin. Bullying marks his leadership.
The mayor is always right. He let’s you know it.
He bullies you into thinking like him.
Bullying is not just a single action.
Bullying is very strong when it is implied or if you think it might happen if you don’t stay in line.
Accept the bullying or lose your job.
Accept the bullying or lose your debate at city hall or before the city council.
Everything fails a bully when he or she is called on it. If you don’t let the mayor bully you, guess what? You can’t be bullied and he’ll back down.
Bullies always back down.
For now, the mayor rules like a bully powered by hate and jealousy.
Witnessing McLaughlin being bullied by the mayor Monday night made nearly everyone who witnessed it feel uneasy.
No one felt more uneasy about it than Mike McLaughlin.
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Check us out : @everettleader.com.
March: The New January
The snow storm late Sunday and Monday reminds us of climate change more than anything else.
No heavy snow storm in December, January and February – and now the heaviest of the season comes in March.
March is now like a winter month while at the same time some lunatics are talking about spring being around the corner.
It is around the corner but that corner is about 80 days away before there will be more light, more warmth and we come out of the yearly miasma called winter.
Your heat will be on during the entire month of March, and well into April.
There will be more snow. There will be frigid cold.
There will be no lessening of winter during March.
The next time someone tells you about spring coming please give them a bit of mouth
And then tell them to go back to sleep.
First to Run for Council
Renne Solano (below) has announced her intention to run for a councilor at large seat in the upcoming municipal election. She formed a political committee at the end of February and is gearing up for a political fight.
She is having a kick-off at LaPerle Restaurant.
“Come say hello, have a few light bites while they last, sign up to volunteer and or make a donation. We are informal so please feel free to come and go at anytime during the event,” she commented on her campaign website on Facebook (Rennee Solano for Everett).
We wish her the best.
This could be a sign of more candidates to come!