Josh Resnek – Everett Leader Herald

Aruba vacation mattered more to mayor than governing city

Was in Caribbean as pandemic rages

By JOSH RESNEK

The mayor took about 70-90 days of vacation in 2019.

That’s nearly three months of vacation.

When questioned about it he was quoted as saying: “I deserve it for all that I do for the city.”

His other excuse is that he works 24/7 and has no vacation days allotted to him. He has said he can run the city from his cellphone either while vacationing in Italy, Aruba, Arizona, or Las Vegas.

One of the beaches on the island of Aruba.

He grabbed in 2019 an extra $12,500 for a car stipend but never used it for a car. He threatened the city council to appropriate the money for him or he’d make things bad for the city council.

“You’re fooling around with me over $12,500 after everything I do for this city!” He ended up giving back the car stipend this year.

He was riding high, money coming in at every turn of his shoulder.

The casino opened. The hotel was glamorous. The $30 million a year paid by Encore to the city was looking like a bottomless oil well-gushing gold for the city treasury.

That was 2019.

That was then. This is now.

— Eye on Everett —

The Blue Suit discusses the mayor’s Aruba trip

By JOSH RESNEK

I don’t know whether he was joking with me or not, but the Blue Suit told me he recently talked to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh about Carlo taking off to Aruba for a little holiday getaway only moments after the governor pleaded with Massachusetts residents and leaders to stay at home. That was done with a mass e-mail to nearly everyone carrying a cell phone in Massachusetts.

Here’s how the Blue Suit put it to me.

“Carlo probably read the e-mail from the governor on his cell as he made his way to Logan Airport. Carlo’s cell, as we all know, is not a jail cell, it is his office that he holds in his hand and carries in his pocket. I can assure you; Carlo didn’t care what people would think because he believes people are idiots. He thinks the superintendent of schools is an idiot. Fred Capone is a loser and an idiot. Mike Marchese and his brother are idiots. Of course, they weren’t idiots when they supported him or saved his life when he got in trouble. Gerly Adrien is not just an idiot. She is a Black, an aggressive woman who doesn’t know her place in this city and she’s an idiot who he will crush.”

“OK. OK. OK.,” I said to the Blue Suit. “Does the mayor think I’m an idiot?” I asked.

“Are you serious?” the Blue Suit replied. “You’re not just an idiot but you are a fool, a failure, a disease worse than the COVID-19.”

“Does he say that about me?” I asked, pretending to be bothered.

“He says much worse,” the Blue Suit added.

“Like what? I want to know. Tell me,” I pleaded.

The Blue Suit paused.

“He relates you to your religion in the most disgusting, offensive way. But that’s his style. I know you understand.”

Napolitano to be assistant city clerk, but hiring diversity missed

By JOSH RESNEK

Casual observers of the local political scene are being led to believe the mayor has nothing to do with the choice of the next assistant city clerk.

After all, everything about the city council is having to do with the city clerk’s office which services the city council.

According to the city charter, the assistant city clerk is the council’s choice, exclusively, end of discussion.

If you believe that, you can believe that Martians are occupying city employee chairs in their city hall offices.

The mayor has recently instructed Councilor at Large Gerly Adrien on a Facebook exchange that he, the mayor, has nothing to do with the appointment.

This is like the mayor trying to persuade taxpayers complaining about the imprudent city budget that he has nothing to do with the city budget.

“The city’s CFO Eric Demas is in charge of the city budget, not me,” the mayor might well say.

“Demas makes all the financial decisions,” the mayor has recently said.

We know better.

— Eye on Everett —

“How many friends do you think he has?”

By JOSH RESNEK

As we tend to do, the Blue Suit and I went over a few things after the Christmas Holiday. We spent some private time on our cell phones.

The Blue Suit hid out in the mayor’s closet in his Abbott Avenue mansion.

I was seated in the oversize leather chair with feet up on the leather Ottoman in my office at the Leader Herald on Church Street.

We both felt comfortable. Being alone helps. It is always made more difficult for us to express ourselves if people are lurking around.

“How many friends do you think he has?” I asked the Blue Suit about the mayor.

The Blue Suit thought about the question for a few moments before answering. He seemed a bit pre-occupied, like something heavy was on his mind. I let it pass for the moment.

“You know, that’s not an easy question to answer,” he finally blurted out.

“How many friends do any of us have?” the Blue Suit asked me.

I get a kick out of the Blue Suit when he’s precise and to the point.

“Not many,” I told him.

“There’s your answer,” the Blue Suit said.

Everett only in partial compliance to state’s open meeting laws

Only six sets of minutes out of 25 posted, some missing information

By JOSH RESNEK

Boston has been called “the Cradle of Liberty.” I think that label is a bit narrow.

The Battle of Lexington and Concord, during which “the shot heard ‘round the world” was actually fired, didn’t occur within the geographic confines of the City of Boston. Massachusetts is the actual Cradle of Liberty. From the Revolution of 1689 – which lead to the Governor of the New England Dominion, Sir Edmund Andros, being ousted from office to Shays’ Rebellion (whose leaders became President George Washington’s first use of the federal pardon) to being ground zero for the abolitionist movement to Romney Care – the progenitor of the Affordable Care Act – Massachusetts has always been at the forefront of political thought and good government practices.

In 2020, we can count on Everett under the DeMaria administration not doing the legal and right thing, but rather, the politically charged thing.

A pall, like a dark and brooding storm cloud, hangs over Everett.

Is there an effort made to keep people in the dark?

It appears that way.

In Massachusetts, we have something called the Open Meeting Law, which is designed “to ensure transparency in the deliberations on which public policy is based.”