A Lap Dog Barks (Sock Puppet Redux)

Let me just say, up front, I'm convinced, if I handed John MacDonald a fist full of fifties; he'd spend a month on his various infomercial platforms telling Greater Lowell that the moon was made of cheese. Assuming, that's the narrative I wanted. #forsale

Having read yesterday's LTE (Link) in the Blog of Record, penned by JMac, and then referenced by Dave Daly when Daly superseded mayor Elliott in last night's City Council spectacle; it is evident we have a new sock puppet arrangement (Link). Having been sloughed off by pizza mogul Sal Lupoli, JMac has found a new hero to grovel to.

Like this:


The crooked narrative that JMac is puking up on paper is clearly aimed at tarnishing various positive elements of Bernie Lynch's legacy. Let's examine a few indicative chunks and splashes.

Let's start with the LTE's title:"Lowell's citizens deserve a thorough financial review"

Mostly, yes. I'd say Lowell's residents do deserve specific answers, oversight of the City's finances. A have to note the selective use of the noun "citizens." I've heard enough subtle bigotry in Lowell to know that there is a tendency to parse our City into 'Us' and 'Them.' As a Gateway City, Lowell is challenged with a smorgasbord of humanity, in every discernible flavor. Most Lowellians will publicly state, this makes Lowell richer. But, there is a seething undercurrent that the word "citizen" taps into. There is a cadre of disgruntled folks that see themselves as overburdened contributors to our civic life. They give time and money (taxes & donations) to a degree, they sour at those that do NOT. Lowell includes all of us, but some can't help but elevate themselves to 'citizen status.' A technical distinction that has shallow overtones. Likely, JMac is pandering to that mindset. Later, he obviously touches several other shallow overtones.

On the 'deserve' front, it should be noted that Lowellians will get a "financial review," sooner than usual. This passed the muster of the City Council on January 14,2014.

The City Council wants the independent auditor to start the annual audit of the city's books earlier this year due to the upcoming retirement of Auditor Sheryl Wright.

The vote to request an earlier start was a compromise the council reached while debating a motion, filed by Councilors Corey Belanger and Rita Mercier, calling for that type of audit to be completed before the hiring of a new or interim auditor (Link ).

I've heard some criticism of Lowell's independent auditing firm, Powers & Sullivan. It goes something, like this:

Lowell's current Auditor, Sheryl Wright, stated that when she first came to Lowell the books were a mess. Wasn't Powers & Sullivan looking over the books, back then? Why should we trust a report from them now, when there is fairly recent history of the books being a mess, while they were conducting independent audits?

I have to admit, I am not new to politics, but I am relatively new to the Lowell brand of politics. So, when I saw this concern, stated immediately above, about the validity of Powers & Sullivan's function at catching messes, I asked a pal of mine that knows this stuff, as well as anyone.

The answer I got was,

"The City had always had an annual audit performed. Powers & Sullivan had been there for years. It is generally not the function of the annual audit to opine on the performance of the government, rather they produce financial statements that accurately reflect the City’s financial position, without comment on it. That said, in conjunction with the audit a document called the management letter is produced. The management letter is not technically a public document, but Lowell has a long history of disclosing the contents. The management letter contains comments about the effectiveness of practices, controls, and the city’s ability to produce accurate information so that the outside auditors can issue an “unqualified opinion.”

The management letters under Cox needed a multi-page table of contents. That is when the first “material weakness” in cash reconciliation appeared. The Lynch administration worked very hard (and a lot of credit goes to Sheryl Wright) to reduce the number of comments. Sheryl put together an excellent summary of the progress on these issues. You should get it from her. Only a handful of relatively minor ones remain. In a city the size of Lowell, there will always be some comments."

I think this insight should put to rest the concern over Lowell relying on our current audit capabilities. The City Council has confidence in the details provided by the "management letter." We elected them. Let's not second guess them, on this.

###

With that behind us, I'd like to look closer at the language in JMac's LTE. Here is a guy that prides himself on wagging the dog (Link). I'm going to project what I THINK the subtext of JMac's dog whistle is. Your mileage may vary.

... shedding some light on various areas of city government that may have come into question during a particular era. In this case it's the Bernie Lynch era.

"We" (Shady Lowell) won the election! So, now "we" are gonna do to Bernie what was done to Coxsie. Payback is a bitch!

...

As an example, Bernie Lynch's cheerleaders and attack dogs managed to gain a couple of city appointments. Another example is last-minute city contract signings. That's life in the real world, but if the goal was to strive toward equity and fairness, the Lynch era deserves a major failing grade in this regard.

Other than a jab at Gerry Nutter, and maybe Salmira Mitchell, it's not clear what JMac is saying, re: "cheerleaders and attack dogs." On the "city contract signings" front, he for sure means the developing ambulance contract and the recently awarded solid waste contract. It's common knowledge in the bubble that the towing contract and the solid waste contract were coveted prizes. The largess associated to these services was on the auction block, back in the day. Meaning, whoever left the most money in a sealed envelope with a trusted bartender. By "real world," JMac admits the shady practice, but only so he can create a false equivalence. JMac's giving Lynch a "failing grade" is effectively saying, "Don't believe all this crap about "so called" p-r-o-f-e-s-s-i-o-n-a-l city government. In "real life" Lynch is no better than Cox. So, let's go back to what we know.  What's the parochial adage? 'Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.'

...

If we have nothing to hide, then why would anyone resist a comprehensive audit?

That is text book 'concern trolling.'(Link) It is so basic, to the point of amateur, you are not left to wonder why JMac was demoted to playing footsie with George Zaharoolis, pitching infomercials on AM radio and carrying Dave Daly's undisciplined water.

I'll close by saying, it is not nice to whack someone for sharing their opinion. When John MacDonald stops renting out his name and opinion, I'll stop whacking his.


Update: If you prefer, please join the conversation on this diary at Lowell Live Feed Forum (Link).