The Blue Suit

— Eye on Everett —

“Carlo is taking over the public schools. Everything is set in motion. He’s got 8 votes on the School Committee. This is his piece de resistance, the takeover, control and the manipulation of the school department. He’s smacking his lips, smoking a victory cigar and the fight hasn’t even begun.”

– The mayor’s Blue Suit Speaking with Josh Resnek

By JOSH RESNEK with THE BLUE SUIT

I picked up the Blue suit at the end of Elm Street Tuesday afternoon.

“Hey, let’s get out of town for an hour and talk,” the Blue Suit suggested.

“Where do you want to go?” I asked him.

“There’s a place over in Malden where Carlo goes for private meetings when he doesn’t want to be seen.”

“What is it called and where is it located?” I asked.

“It’s called the Bistro. It’s on Exchange Street,” the Blue Suit answered.

So we drove over to Malden in my red Honda.

We ended up at the Bistro. I parked. We got out of the car. We walked inside.

‘I’d like a table in the back room if it isn’t being used,” the Blue Suit asked the concierge. “We’re looking for some privacy,” her added.

“Of course. Right this way,” the concierge answered.

I thought I caught him looking at the Blue Suit strangely. “May I have your name, sir,”
he asked the Blue Suit.

“I am the Blue Suit,” he told the concierge.

The concierge looked a bit taken aback.

“Are you Carlo DerMaria’s Blue Suit?” the concierge asked. “Yes, I am.”

— Eye on Everett —

“I think I’ve been blocked from the mayor’s Facebook account. Can you imagine him taking that away from me?”

– Josh Resnek speaking with the mayor’s Blue Suit Tuesday

By JOSH RESNEK with THE BLUE SUIT

“Did he really do that to you, Josh. You know it takes a lot of guts to block someone from coming on to your Facebook site,” the Blue said. He couldn’t stop laughing at his own joke.

“Yeah. It’s a bit like landing at Normandy Beach on D-Day. Takes real guts,” I added.

“Why would the mayor do something like that?” I asked the Blue Suit.

“Maybe he doesn’t like you looking at his Facebook site. Did you ever think about that, Josh” the Blue Suit suggested. “He didn’t do it,” I said. “I suspect he doesn’t know how to block anyone from a Facebook site. You want to know, I don’t know how to do it either. Don’t forget, I’ve got about 3,000 friends on my Leader Herald Facebook site. We’ve never blocked anyone. Friends and foes alike are welcome on the Leader Herald Facebook site. You have something to say, you can write it on the Leader Herald site. You like Carlo, you can have your say. You don’t like Carlo, you can have your say. You support Carlo, go ahead, write your heart out. And on and on.”

“If Carlo didn’t block me, then who did?” I asked the Blue Suit.

“Probably his chief of staff or his media person did it. They are pretty good at strategizing that way.”

“I understand,” I answered. “But how do you think I feel not being able to access the mayor’s Facebook site? What a thing to do to a person. It just isn’t fair and it isn’t right. I used to go to his site every day to find all those valuable golden nuggets of information about all the good Carlo is doing for the people of the city.”

The Blue Suit yawned. He squashed nearly an entire piece of pizza in his mouth with a push of his fingers. What followed next is almost indescribable – the Blue Suit chewing that slice of pizza and devouring it the way a garbage disposal reduces whole food to bits and pieces before sloshing down the drain into oblivion.

— Eye on Everett —

“This year’s inauguration was definitely the lowest energy inauguration I’ve witnessed since Carlo got elected. What was that all about?”

– The mayor’s Blue Suit asking Josh Resnek a question

By JOSH RESNEK with THE BLUE SUIT

The inauguration was a giant anti-climax this year. With the COVID acting up again and sweeping through the city, the state, the nation and the world, well, it did not seem like a time to call for a big public party.

Not many attended the inauguration. Even fewer saw it as the ECTV broadcast was botched. But then, what is an inauguration anyway that is not open to the public which is botched by ECTV?

The Blue Suit did not attend the inauguration.

The mayor wore a tuxedo as did all the male members of the city council and the school committee.

“You know, several people asked me why the inauguration couldn’t have been held at the casino right on the gaming floor within earshot of the hum and clang of electronic slot ma- chines,” I said to the Blue Suit as we drove around in my red Honda Tuesday afternoon.

“The casino does a great job with keeping the casino area clean and free of COVID. Don’t you think it would have been good to have the inauguration there. Encore has a great air filtration system. The crowd could have played the slots while watching the new city government members being sworn in. Voila – a real Everett style time. That’s called killing two birds with one stone by some, a double header by others,” I added.

“Come on, Josh. Who are you kidding. The inauguration in the main slot machine room of the casino? You’ve got to be kidding. If you’re trying to be a comedian, I’d advise that you don’t give up your day job. You just aren’t funny. You may think you’re funny, but you aren’t,” the Blue Suit said to me.

“I happen to think I’m very funny,” I complained.

We looked at one another and laughed.

— Eye on Everett —

The Blue Suit

“I was shocked when I heard the mayor talking on his cell with someone who told him not to take the longevity payment in January because it would lead to trouble.”

– The mayor’s Blue Suit speaking with Josh Resnek

By JOSH RESNEK with THE BLUE SUIT

“I couldn’t believe it. The mayor was told he can’t take the $40,000 longevity payment. I couldn’t believe it again when I watched ECTV’s broadcast of the city council meeting Monday night when the mayor informed the council he would not be taking the $40,000 yearly payment in January. I had to wonder why? Why won’t he be taking the $40,000? But then, I know the mayor so well. I know him like a son or a brother. I can look into his eyes and know exactly how he’s feeling. This I know. If there was any possible way for him to take that payment and put it into his bank account he would have done it. That’s a guarantee. He is not one to give up $40,000 without a fight. Whomever he was speaking with on the cell must have told him that to take the money was to put himself in a jam. Anything other than that wouldn’t have stopped him from taking the payment,” the Blue Suit told me.

“So what happens now?” I asked the Blue Suit.

“By backing away from taking the payment, there are many who will believe that that there was something wrong or fake or hidden, unethical or even illegal about taking it. Let’s face it,” I emphasized to the Blue Suit. “He’s in jam taking it. I think he’s in jam not taking it. And what did you think about Eric Demas’ three page letter to the council” I asked the Blue Suit.

We were again driving around the city checking out Everett inside my beaten up Honda Fit. After several weeks of not running in my backyard, I took it to my favorite mechanic – an old Everett guy and a class act – and he took care of it for me. Now that its running again, I felt that my life inside an old junker had come back to life. Some of us feel very comfortable in beaten up old automobiles like my red Honda I drive. I’m not like the mayor, who needs to be seen in a late model Mercedes. But getting back to Monday night, I was stunned by the mayor’s announcement. I was also stunned by several hundred Capone supporters who packed the council chamber to bid their man a final goodbye. There was no way the mayor was going to get himself involved in that scene. He was nowhere to be seen in the hall that night. Just as well, for him. After all, it didn’t go well for him Monday night.

— Eye on Everett —

The Blue Suit

“Look Josh, its Christmas. You know what I mean? Let’s ditch the politics and rap a bit about our lives. Let’s use the holiday to hope things will change. How’s that?”

– The mayor’s Blue Suit talking with Josh Resnek

By JOSH RESNEK with THE BLUE SUIT

“Sounds like an idea,” I answered the Blue Suit.

“Are you down?” I asked the Blue Suit.

“I guess I’m not really good at hiding how I feel, am I?” the Blue Suit replied. He turned away from me. I thought he was crying.

We were sipping coffees in the North Everett Dunkin Donuts and scratching a few lottery tickets we bought at the smoke shop next door. We bought ten $5 dollar tickets. It wasn’t going well.

“What’s wrong?” I repeated. “Christmas got you down? Come on. Let it out. I’m your friend. We have no secrets (except for a few things about Carlo he won’t tell me about).

“I don’t like Christmas, Josh.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“In case you’ve not noticed – I have no one in my life. No brothers. No sisters. No mother or father. I lost my parents in a suit sale in Filene’s Basement shortly before it closed in 2007.

“Tell me what happened?” I asked.

“My father was a Polo suit – a three piece, charcoal gray masterpiece. It gave me chills as a younger man to slide my hand across my father’s sleeve. So smooth. So rich in texture. So brilliantly woven. My father was a $1,500 suit off the rack and that’s saying something. The royalty are the hand made suits. My grandfather was a hand made Hickey Freeman pin stripe suit. He was something to behold,” the Blue Suit said.

“I really come from a good pedigree of suits – but I am not my father or my grandfather. They were in a different league than I am.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.