“Where’s Fred Capone?”– The Mayor’s Blue Suit
By JOSH RESNEK
As most of our readers who pay attention have come to know, we follow the mayor closely here, placing a magnifying glass over his actions whether right or wrong.
I like to think this kind of scrutiny keeps him honest.
Sadly, keeping the mayor honest is a full time job for everyone around him.
He just isn’t a pillar of honesty.
He’s not really a great guy or a nice guy. His idea of charity is taking for himself something meant for others given to the city as a present.
He has proven this since taking for himself a fancy and expensive basketball net and stanchion and having it delivered to the driveway in front of his Abbott Avenue mansion instead of it having it placed somewhere, anywhere but in front of his private home, to hopefully be used by the children and youth of Everett as intended by Catholic Memorial High School officials.
“He said everything is legal,” the Blue Suit told me the mayor said earlier this week to an associate on the telephone.
“What else am I supposed to say?” the mayor asked the friend, the Blue Suit added.
“How do I get out of this? I never figured anyone would notice, much less care about,” he said. “He wished he never took the thing. He said it was all Jerry Navarro’s doing. He suggested that maybe he was going to lower Jerry’s salary to teach him a lesson and to show him who the boss is,” the Blue Suit said. “The mayor was uptight, really uptight. The Ethic’s Commission has already called, I heard him say,” the Blue said in a whisper.
“I don’t know who he was talking with, but it was someone very close who knows all his secrets,” the Blue Suit told me.
“What secrets?” I asked.
“You know what I’m talking about. He’s got secrets he doesn’t want anyone to know or to talk about. It wouldn’t be good for him with another election coming up.”
“You believe he’s thinking about re-election right now?” I asked.
The Blue Suit hesitated. He cleared his throat and shook his pant legs.
“That’s all he thinks about because there is nothing else, he can do and he knows it,” The Blue Suit said.
“He’s right now irritated by the specter of a Fred Capone run.”
“How do you know this?” I asked.
“Because he sweats profusely at the mention of Capone’s name. I get dampened by his sweat. It’s pretty disgusting for me.”
“Does he believe Capone has a chance of beating him?
I mean Fred hasn’t done much at all to position himself as a candidate ready and set to dethrone the mayor for life,” I wondered.
“Deep down, he knows anyone wanting to run against him is a threat. He shouldn’t take Capone for granted but I know he is.”
How do you know this?” I asked.
“I hear him talking with Jerry all the time. Jerry tells him over and over he can’t be beaten, that no one can beat him. That he will be the mayor forever.”
“Do you think Jerry will be saying that if the mayor dumps or slashes his salary? Will Jerry still insist he will be the mayor forever?”
“No,” the Blue Suit said resolutely.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean if the mayor cuts his salary or dumps him altogether – and I wouldn’t put it past him – Jerry becomes a formi- dable enemy. That’s why I don’t think the mayor will touch Jerry.”
“But the mayor has cut salaries and laid off others with close relations to him,” I reminded the Blue Suit.
“Yeah. I don’t know how he gets away with that. He’s kind of masterful at humiliating some of those who would have jumped off the roof at city hall if he asked them to do so,” said the Blue Suit.
“Back to Fred Capone,” I asked the Blue Suit.
“Does he think Capone can run a real campaign against him. Does he not know that Mike Marchese is going to run against him as well – and that Gerly Adrien might toss herself into the political frying pan?”
“Yeah. He understands all those possibilities,” the Blue Suit said.
“He completely overlooks the rising power of Adrien. He can’t stand her. She’s an assertive educated woman who wants nothing to do with his garbage and her mistreatment,” added the Blue Suit.
“He believes she is a one time winner who will never win again, who certainly has no chance against him if she should run.”
“Really?”
“Yes,”said the Blue Suit. His voice seemed to unnaturally trail off.
“Are you OK?” I asked.
“Yes. I’m fine. Just a bit of indigestion. I just ate a bowl of ice cream.”
“If you don’t mind me saying, Josh, I believe Capone and Adrien – and even Marchese – have a chance the next time around.”
“Are you serious?” I replied.
“I’m serious as a heart attack,” the Blue Suit answered.
“He hates Marchese – even though Mike and his brother Joe have helped him out all his life before he turned on them. You know he turns on everyone when you come right down to it,” the Blue Suit added.
“Capone is going to run. He has assured those who support him that this is his time coming up no matter what and that he will give it a 100% effort. I think the mayor would be smart to listen to Capone and to prepare for a battle. What do you think?” I asked the Blue Suit.
“The mayor lives in his own private dreamworld. After all these years, it is hard to know him or to believe what he says. I don’t trust him. He has no friends, only acquaintances or busi- nessmen who curry his favor. In the last analysis, no one truly cares about him in the new city changing before his eyes every day,” said the Blue Suit.
“He doesn’t like you, Josh. I can promise you that.”
“Oh really. Are you trying to be Jerry Seinfeld?” I asked the Blue Suit.
“Come on, Josh. Don’t be a wise guy. I’m trying to give you some insight.”
“Forgive me. I wasn’t trying to throw you off. Besides, I’m not running for anything. I am here and will own the paper long after he’s gone. That’s how it works in this business. The newspaper goes on and on and the politicians come and go,” I added.
“What do you think of the mayor endorsing the rep in July! It’s a bit early for desperation, don’t you think?”
“I was amazed, to tell you the truth. But the rep needs so much money and is so far behind Mike McLaughlin even at this early stage that the mayor felt he had to step up for him,” the Blue Suit responded.
“The rep race is all about the mayor’s next race,” I said to the Blue Suit.
“If McLaughlin topples the rep, the mayor is on deck to be toppled,” I added.
“You’ve got that right, Josh.”
“Hey, I’ve got to go,” the Blue Suit said.
“Make sure he takes you to the cleaners every now and then,”I added.
Very funny,” said the Blue Suit.