When The Sun Knew The Score

Back in the day, 2006, when The Sun (Link) still mostly looked like a group of journalists, they could get caught speaking truth to power. Even if from the most unlikely of sources.

So much for a nationwide search for city manager
The Sun (6/21/06)

Christopher Clark, Edward R. Clifford, Thaddeus J. Jankowski Jr., Odis Jones, Daniel Keyes, Monica Lamboy, Ronald Massey, Thomas Moses, David Owen, Scott Randall, Vincent Servello, Frederick Welch.
Ever heard of those people before? Didn't think so. They're all people who applied for the job of Lowell city manager and were passed over.

At first blush, they all appear to have the credentials and qualifications to at least merit an interview. A phone call? A Google, for God's sake?

It appears Lowell city councilors don't think so.

So much for nationwide searches, huh? Bet you didn't know Lowell is its own nation.

Councilors, searching for a new city manager to replace the departing John Cox, said they would search wide and high, and they received applications from places as wide and high as Washington, D.C. (the aforementioned Monica Lamboy), Auburn Hills, Mich. (Scott Randall), Corpus Christi, Texas (Ronald Massey).

What's missing from the resumes of the three applicants ? Apparently, a connection to Lowell.

Of the 37 resumes received, councilors picked five finalists, and here's what we learned: Boston is about as wide and high as councilors are willing to search. And then only if that person used to work in Lowell.

Heck, even Worcester, where applicant Thaddeus Jankowski is the assistant city manager , is too far away.

Here are the finalists and their connections to the city: Paul Cohen (grew up in Lowell), Frank Keefe (lives in Boston but is a former consultant on the Tsongas Arena project), Edward Kennedy (former Lowell city councilor), Bernie Lynch (current Chelmsford town manager, went to ULowell, gets his hair cut in Lowell) and Diana Prideaux-Brune (current vice chancellor at UMass Lowell, former chief planner in Lowell, former project manager for the Lowell Arena and Civic Stadium Commission).

There is something to be said for hiring a candidate who has a working knowledge of the city. That's always a good thing. 

But so is having a working knowledge of our nation's capital, or of such cities as Auburn Hills and Corpus Christi. Former upper-level administrators from those three cities applied and were passed over. For Edward Kennedy.

One would think that those councilors with whom Cox fell out of favor -- Kevin Broderick, Eileen Donoghue, Rodney Elliott, Mayor Bill Martin, James Milinazzo and George Ramirez -- would want to stay away from the perception of their "nationwide search" ending in a quick gander through the good-ol'-boy (and good-ol'-girl) files.

But how else do you explain Kennedy and Keefe being finalists?

Next time you bump into a city councilor, ask them if they really think Kennedy or Keefe is more highly qualified for this job than Lamboy or some of the applicants who were passed over with nary a phone call.

Heck, if they're looking for a career administrator in small-town Massachusetts, they could just as easily have chosen David Owen (with experience in Needham, Burlington, Maynard and Salem, N.H.), Richard Agnew (Scituate, Needham, Marshfield), Thomas Moses (Gloucester), Andrew Vanni (Middleton, Bolton) and Frederick Welch (Seabrook, Pittsfield and Belmont, N.H.) as Lynch (Chelmsford) and Cohen (Harvard, Natick).

But none of those guys has buddies on the Lowell City Council.

Next time, they should just put that on the list of qualifications.

Dan Phelps' e-mail address is dphelps@lowellsun.com.

I'm not sure a modern day equivalent of the missive above is forthcoming. We know that Jim Campanini has his lips firmly attached to John Cox's tookus. This slant, stifles any real challenge to the power play that Shady Lowell has orchestrated. Why the hell Mark O'Neil doesn't react to the degradation of his paper's journalistic integrity is a question for the ages, I guess.
What will be intriguing to watch, as it plays out, is The Sun underhandedly backstabbing the departing Lynch; while concurrently stroking his supporters to buy full page ads for one of Kendall's 'Special Inserts.'

I'd laugh, if it wasn't so pathetic.

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By the way,
SPECIAL MEETING NOTICE

Notice is hereby given, as required by Rule 6 of the City of Lowell City Council Rules, that the Lowell City Council will hold a Special Meeting of the Lowell City Council in the Council Chambers on Monday, March 3, 2014 at 5:00 PM.

The purpose of the meeting is (1) Discussion of selection/hiring process for City Manager and City Auditor, (2) Appointment of Acting City Auditor.

Our current mayor is very palsy with Kevin Murphy.

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