“His disingenuousness has no boundaries”
By JOSH RESNEK
“It was a tough week for me,” the mayor’s Blue Suit began during a discussion we shared Monday.
“You look terrible. What’s wrong?” I asked.
“He’s worn me over and over and over again. I’m hurting. I can’t stand it. He hurt me Sunday at his coffee hour when he slumped into his chair at city hall. He went down so hard into the chair I almost suffocated. The hurt wasn’t only physical. It was mental,” the Blue Suit added.
“Are you going to be OK?” I asked him.
“I don’t think so. The guy wearing me has no boundaries. I mean there are no boundaries to the mayor’s disingenuousness. I don’t mind the occasional outing but lately, he’s been on a tear. He is going to ruin me, like everything he touches. It isn’t just the wear and tear wearing me down. It is what he is about that gets me really down when I have to be around him all the time,” the Blue Suit added.
‘What exactly do you mean?” I replied.
“ I mean he’s a total fake. I don’t know how he can live with himself. His fakery has no boundaries.”
“Again, I am asking you. What do you mean?”
“Did you watch his state of the city address?”
“Yes. Of course,” I answered.
“Did you see the set-up?”
“Yes. Many people noticed the set-up. I assume you’re talking about the photograph of a Black man on the table behind him just over his right shoulder?” I answered the Blue Suit.
“Yup,” he said.
“That’s a new low, even for him. It got me really down to be working for someone like that and for someone like that to be wearing me.”
“Was that photograph of a Black man his?”
“Are you serious, Josh?” he shot back. “Come on man. Wake up, Josh.”
“Was it his idea to put that photograph of a Black man on the table behind him that could be seen by everyone watching his state of the city address,” I asked the Blue Suit?
“No,” he said.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yes. I’m sure. He doesn’t own a photograph of a Black person he cherishes. You know he doesn’t care for Black people in the first place. That photograph was a set-up. It was a blatantly fake prop for a fake bit of his state of the city address about diversity. He liked it. He approved of it. Sickening, really. So false. So outrageous a stunt, a bit of fakery that goes beyond the pale for stunts played by Everett mayors past. You can be sure David Ragucci wouldn’t have done a fake set-up like that. John Hanlon never would have stooped to that,” the Blue Suit lamented. “Those guys don’t think like him. They didn’t pay public relations experts to set the scene for their state of the city addresses.
“It is all made worse by the mayor removing the photograph of the Black man for his Sunday morning coffee with the mayor show on ECTV.
“If you look at the photographs on the table behind the mayor at both those events only days apart, the Black man photo is prominent on the table behind him during his state of the city address when he knew he was going to talk about diversity. Several days later, he removed the prop from the table behind his desk. He replaced it with a photograph of him and his wife where the photo of the Black man was displayed. What a farce. What a fraud. If I were Black or brown or if I was Councilor Gerly Adrien, I’d be outraged. The hypocrisy of such a thing speaks legions about the mayor and the crew around him and how they think,” added the Blue Suit.
“Did everyone on his public relations staff congratulate him after the state of the city address?” I asked the Blue Suit.
“Are you kidding? They fawned over him. You might have thought he had conducted a great symphony. Everyone around him congratulated him. Make no mistake. Do not underestimate his ability to create a fake narrative and to play it out. Mayoral candidates that don’t match his underhandedness don’t have a chance of competing with him on the same playing field. Believe me, I know,” said the Blue Suit.
“One of his aides pointed to the photograph of the Black man after the speech. He caught the mayor’s attention and gave him a thumbs up. Everyone in the room smiled – at least that’s what I believe happened. What a sight!” said the Blue Suit.
“Hey, Josh. Before I forget. I want to give you my take on what you printed in the column last week. You know, the stuff about the mayor receiving free goods and services in return for him being the mayor!”
“Did you like that?” I asked him.
“Yes, indeed. Boy, sometimes you are really on the mark with what you write. That story about the mayor getting a discount for his cleaning at one place and then demanding it for free is a classic Carlo move. I’ve witnessed it many, many times over the years. The owner throwing him out and Carlo yelling back at him ‘I don’t need you. I’ll get it for free from the ….’. You know what the next word was? the Blue Suit asked me.
“No. What was it?”
“A racial slur, that’s what it was.”
“How do you know this?”
“I was there, Josh.” The Blue Suit added.
The Blue Suit went on and on.
“The mayor gets free gasoline from a filling station in the city. That’s a quid pro quo. And then there’s the cost-cutting he did at Home Depot for lumber when he was building his mansion on Abbott Street a few years back. I will never forget the builder he used begging him to pay the bill he owed him.” Did you ever hear what he did at Home Depot when he was having his mansion built?
“You believe he stiffed the builder?”
“I couldn’t swear to it, but I think he did.”
The Blue Suit became serious.
“The mayor knows he can’t be taking goods and service for free, but he continues doing this.”
“If that’s the case, he sets himself up for an indictment. Big city mayors have been taken down for less,” I answered. Forget about it, Josh. He thinks the FBI is a joke. He thinks the US Attorneys’ office is a joke. He thinks his fancy high priced criminal attorney can get him out of anything.”
“You really think so?”
“Absolutely,” the Blue Suit answered.