Post by PallTimes on Oct 24, 2007 9:39:33 GMT -5
Choice In 3rd Ward Council Race Is Clear
To the editor:
“Even the shrewdest of ... (women) do not always know when their most dramatic moment is over and it is time to leave the stage; for the self-absorbed that is far more likely to be true (David Halberstam, Pulitzer Prize winning author).” So it is with Susan Sweet.
Having basked in her self-centered glow on the meaningless Zoning Board of Appeals, she now fails to recognize that her 15 minutes in the limelight have long since expired while pursuing a candidacy for the Common Council from the 3rd Ward.
There are those in City Hall — and they are many — who will swear that Mayor
Bateman was convinced that Mrs. Sweet was more of a liability than an asset to the city while on the zoning board, her dramatic moment(s) were more than over and, as a result, he was committed to not reappointing her.
A few months before the expiration of her term, in a further display of her unparalleled hubris, in a gesture that can only be described as high melodrama, she resigned from the board stating that her reason for doing so was that she had been asked to do things that were — in her words — “immoral.” Mrs. Sweet, to date, has yet to enumerate those “immoral” requests. She should be held to it.
Having observed Oswego politics for more than 60 years, the writer has seen no one less temperamentally suited for public service in a deliberative body than Mrs. Sweet. He appeared before the zoning board on four occasions and was shocked by the arbitrary truculence of someone whose sense of proportion was grandiose beyond her reality. At times her behavior swung from capricious to supercilious to contemptuous; only further highlighting her shortcomings, inadequacies for public service and a lack of ability for such a position.
To contrast my point, go to a planning board or zoning board meeting and observe the professional conduct.
There appears to be an inverse relationship between the pettiness of an individual and their use of power to punish or abuse. Mrs. Sweet is an example of such. Her monthly performances at the zoning board can best be described as
imperious, with a “kiss-the-hem-of-my-garment” mindset. To make matters worse — as one wag on the Common Council cryptically observed — “When Frank Barilla talked, Sue Sweet’s lips moved!”
In the past six years, the writer has twice sued the City of Oswego and, in both cases, was a winner. Both suits were precipitated by the malfeasance of appointees at City Hall. The first was against a former city assessor (the current holder of that office is eminently fair and reasonable); the second was brought against the Zoning Board when chaired by Mrs. Sweet. In the suit against the zoning board and Mrs. Sweet, the writer not only received a favorable decree in court from the judge but also received money in lieu of damages that were paid by the taxpayer’s of Oswego. According to yet another member of the Common Council that was the third such suit against the City provoked by Mrs. Sweet.
If any of the aforementioned has not convinced those readers who vote in the 3rd Ward as to Mrs. Sweet’s lack of temperament and questionable ability to represent the 3rd Ward on the Common Council and to vote for her opponent, consider the following: her most ardent supporter (after Mr. Sweet, one would assume) is Frank Barilla! Need one say more?
Donald A. Capron
Oswego
To the editor:
“Even the shrewdest of ... (women) do not always know when their most dramatic moment is over and it is time to leave the stage; for the self-absorbed that is far more likely to be true (David Halberstam, Pulitzer Prize winning author).” So it is with Susan Sweet.
Having basked in her self-centered glow on the meaningless Zoning Board of Appeals, she now fails to recognize that her 15 minutes in the limelight have long since expired while pursuing a candidacy for the Common Council from the 3rd Ward.
There are those in City Hall — and they are many — who will swear that Mayor
Bateman was convinced that Mrs. Sweet was more of a liability than an asset to the city while on the zoning board, her dramatic moment(s) were more than over and, as a result, he was committed to not reappointing her.
A few months before the expiration of her term, in a further display of her unparalleled hubris, in a gesture that can only be described as high melodrama, she resigned from the board stating that her reason for doing so was that she had been asked to do things that were — in her words — “immoral.” Mrs. Sweet, to date, has yet to enumerate those “immoral” requests. She should be held to it.
Having observed Oswego politics for more than 60 years, the writer has seen no one less temperamentally suited for public service in a deliberative body than Mrs. Sweet. He appeared before the zoning board on four occasions and was shocked by the arbitrary truculence of someone whose sense of proportion was grandiose beyond her reality. At times her behavior swung from capricious to supercilious to contemptuous; only further highlighting her shortcomings, inadequacies for public service and a lack of ability for such a position.
To contrast my point, go to a planning board or zoning board meeting and observe the professional conduct.
There appears to be an inverse relationship between the pettiness of an individual and their use of power to punish or abuse. Mrs. Sweet is an example of such. Her monthly performances at the zoning board can best be described as
imperious, with a “kiss-the-hem-of-my-garment” mindset. To make matters worse — as one wag on the Common Council cryptically observed — “When Frank Barilla talked, Sue Sweet’s lips moved!”
In the past six years, the writer has twice sued the City of Oswego and, in both cases, was a winner. Both suits were precipitated by the malfeasance of appointees at City Hall. The first was against a former city assessor (the current holder of that office is eminently fair and reasonable); the second was brought against the Zoning Board when chaired by Mrs. Sweet. In the suit against the zoning board and Mrs. Sweet, the writer not only received a favorable decree in court from the judge but also received money in lieu of damages that were paid by the taxpayer’s of Oswego. According to yet another member of the Common Council that was the third such suit against the City provoked by Mrs. Sweet.
If any of the aforementioned has not convinced those readers who vote in the 3rd Ward as to Mrs. Sweet’s lack of temperament and questionable ability to represent the 3rd Ward on the Common Council and to vote for her opponent, consider the following: her most ardent supporter (after Mr. Sweet, one would assume) is Frank Barilla! Need one say more?
Donald A. Capron
Oswego
DOES HE REALLY THINK HIS MISUSE OF THE "BIG WORDS" MAKE HIS EDITORIAL MORE CONVINCING? OMG, WHAT A JOKE. 