“Carlo should be leading the fight against racism and sexism. Instead, he remains quiet.”
– The Mayor’s Blue Suit in a conversation with Josh Resnek
By JOSH RESNEK
I’ve been worn by Carlo for a long, long time. I’ve known him when he was bad. I’ve seen him change. But there’s something that remains the same, always. It is something that says, “I need more. I am not happy inside,” the Blue Suit said to me earlier this week.
“No matter what it is, he needs more. It is a restlessness born, I think, out of boredom. Let’s face it, he doesn’t read books. He isn’t the best-informed mayor in the nation. He doesn’t have much interest in art or culture. His insights about history are ridiculous. Mainly, Carlo resists change. He hangs on to the old Everett out of fear he will not fit in a new Everett,” the Blue Suit said to me.
“Go on with that. What do you mean that he needs more, that he is not happy?” I asked.
“Let me reiterate. I know him like a servant knows his master. Early on I idolized him. He wore me everywhere back then. I was proud to be worn by him. As I came to know him, as he changed during the early years of being mayor, I came to wonder about Carlo. The time came to pass when I didn’t want him wearing me as much, or eating while he wore me, or falling asleep while I was on him. Then came the up and down weight thing he goes through from time to time. That was the hardest,” the Blue Suit recalled.
“What was the hardest?” I repeated to the Blue Suit.
“You don’t know what it’s like to be sat on, crushed, the breath squeezed out of me, the twisting and turning tearing at me. I mean, I’m a tailored piece of blue wool material. Carlo’s weight was one thing. His changing behavior was another,” the Blue Suit said.
“Carlo changed.”
“How?” I asked.
“He was a nasty guy, to begin with, with some weird ideas about loyalty. When he won the first time as mayor he seemed happy – for about two weeks. Since then the Carlo I have come to know is mean-spirited, bigoted, racist, and treats women like garbage and sexual objects. The public guy is very different from the private Carlo. Look how he treats Gerly Adrien. He can’t control himself that’s how much he hates her. She doesn’t know yet or maybe hasn’t figured out yet how to fight such a guy like Carlo. You can be sure if she runs for mayor she’ll figure it out. Those who come into town to support her like Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley will show her the way. Pressley would bring with her organizers and money raisers, media experts, and political operatives. Carlo may be able to bully everyone around this city, businessmen, property owners, city employees, the new superintendent of schools but he can’t bully the outsiders if they come inside. The seemingly respectful, thoughtful, mild-mannered Carlo we are seeing now is not the man I know,” the Blue Suit said to me. But who knows if Adrien is going to run, and when you get right down to it, Josh, who cares? How will my life change if Gerly Adrien runs for mayor?”
“I’ll tell you this,” the Blue Suit added. “I don’t want to be around if Carlo loses. Wow. That would be wicked bad for me,” he said.
What do you think he’ll do if he loses to someone like Fred Capone?” I asked the Blue Suit.
A loss for Carlo is the end of his identity here. It would
be a serious mental stumbling block for him. His entire identity is built around being mayor, acting like a big boss or small city dictator, controlling employees, making them contribute to his campaigns, or forcing them out of their jobs, ordering nearly everyone to shut their mouths unless he says it’s OK to talk. What happens to a guy like that if he loses? I’m not sure,” the Blue Suit said.
“He’d probably move out of the city pronto. He’d most likely go out of town if he can afford it. He loses, he’s done with Everett. He loses, he will think to himself that everyone voted against him and rejected him. He’ll brood and fume that he was tossed under the bus by everyone he had given a job. He’d think to himself that the city showed its true colors in tossing him out, that therefore the city’s people showed themselves to be disloyal and worthless and that he wants nothing to do with them or Everett ever again.”
“Wow!” I said to the Blue Suit. “You think Carlo would be almost deranged with anger after 12 years if he gets tossed from city hall?”
“Oh, yes, indeed,” said the Blue Suit.
“You must understand, Josh. He isn’t qualified to do much else. He doesn’t fit in. He’d be an oddball in Lynn- field but then, he’d be an oddball in Chelsea for that matter. Let’s face it, he has no work ethic. He has no ideas about business that make sense because he’s so enamored with spending other peoples’ money. He is basically unemployable because basically, he doesn’t want to work. He showed that with his donut shops. Do you know he couldn’t figure out how to inject the jelly donuts with jelly without exploding them!”
The Blue Suit continued.
“Then there were the rather embarrassing and costly difficulties with female employees – not just at the donut shop but at city hall. You think New York Governor Cuomo is bad. Carlo is worse. Cuomo is a creampuff compared to Carlo. Somehow, Carlo gets away with all of that while the governor of New York is probably going to have to resign.”
“Let me ask you again. What will he do if he isn’t the mayor of Everett,” I said to the Blue Suit.
The Blue Suit remained quiet for a few moments.
“I don’t know, Josh. He’d be lost. He’d be at his wit’s end. I’m not sure who’d reach out to him to help him out during such a period if it comes to pass. He’s pissed off too many people who formerly supported him and who contributed to him. He’s tossed too many people under the bus during the past twelve years to expect anything in return.
I mean, who would give him a job? What can he do? He couldn’t even be a city clerk. The city clerk has to show up every day. Did you notice that he missed Monday night’s school committee meeting?”
Of course, I noticed. Everyone noticed. What happened? Why didn’t he attend?”
“It’s really simple, Josh. He didn’t want to attend, so he didn’t.”
“That’s Carlo for you.”
“Do you think his presence at the school committee meeting was missed?” I asked the Blue Suit.
He laughed.
“Are you serious?” he answered.