Neighbors from: Need your Help Please

[LaurieS]

Politics will forever be nothing more then politics.. always  someone pushing their own agenda with no regard to the general population.

I'd tell them why you were leaving if that is your final answer.

[Pen]

How about a letter exposing all the nefarious doings dropped into the in box at the local newspaper on your way out of town? Or to 60 Minutes?

Kathleen, all we want is for you to be safe and happy. You gave it a good try and you can be proud of yourself. Not many people step up like that. Take care.

[seasage]

I would do my best to get the man who organized against the gravel pit named as chairman in my stead.  Can you, as the real chairman, appoint him as interim or acting chairman?  I really love to see how fast your two usurpers fall down on their knees to a man.

I have never heard of a town with so few people and so many committees.  Seems the smaller the town, the more drama over power. 

[luise.volta]

What a rough road, Kathleen! Sending love...

[seasage]

Kathleen,

It doesn't matter what your two ladies submit, nor does it matter what they call it, it can't be the true agenda, because the agenda comes from the chairman.  As chairman, I would submit an agenda and then wait to see what happens.  Is the board serious about you as chairman of this committee or not?  If not, there is your reason to resign.

Of course, you aren't going to win this one, but if you knew me better, you would know that I would be spending my shower time plotting ways to embarrass your two ladies.  Even if it were nothing more than an invitation to coffee at a public cafe.  Someplace where they might not want to discuss their underhanded actions.

[luise.volta]

I am putting them on my much-used, imaginary raft and pushing them out into shark-infested waters. 

[seasage]

I don't understand the insistence of your two ladies in taking over your committee.  Are they actually that power-hungry?  Or?  Are they being supported by someone, some corporate interests?  I would be really curious to know whom they talk to.  Who comes to their homes to discuss this gravel pit?  Was one of them at that meeting between the gravel pit representatives and the town secretary?

Not that it all matters.  But it doesn't make sense to me.  Two women, both determined to rule this committee.  I have never known a case where two women would be so quick to undermine you.  Are they worried that you might prevail?  Are they acting on behalf of others?

[Faithlooksup]

I am putting them on my much-used, imaginary raft and pushing them out into shark-infested waters. 

I agree with Luise!!!

Kathleen, you have given it your all, now give yourself a pat on the back...You did ROOAARR there are just two many games being played as usual..... and who needs that??

I will have to side with what your DH said~~put that for sale sign up and get out of Dodge before the whole town turns into a gravel pit and then whom is going to buy any property in that town???

Kathleen, do what you think is RIGHT to do..what you will be happy with......I know you will make the right decision...and what ever that may be I am behind you 101%....

Sending good thoughts and Hugs your way...Faith

[Pooh]

I think you are a great person for taking the high road, but I'm with Laurie, I would have to write out my true reasons for resigning.  They don't want a chairperson, they want a scapegoat to blame everything on.

And I am truly sorry, as I know you just wanted to stand up for what was right.  I had as many reasons to hate the small town I lived in for 20 years, as I did to love it.

[kathleen]

Sea & all,

The situation is so complicated as to be almost impossible to describe.

There were two women who wanted to take over the writing of the statement against the pit; one serves as assistant town secretary, and she is the same person who sent me that original email back about a month ago stating she wanted the gravel pit over a housing development.  She is the one busy undermining me at every turn, the big problem.

The Commission itself is under fire for having done absolutely nothing over the past six years, when it had many tools at hand to stop this kind of
activity from coming into our town.  The members are known as do-nothings who simply enjoy sitting back and acting important. 

The woman in question, I believe, truly resents me because my family didn't come over on the Mayflower.  I forgot to mention to her that my husband went to Harvard; that would have solved a lot, but it's too late. 

Each act of this woman is designed to secretly undermine any effort the Commission made to stop the pit.  The statement she drafted is much weaker than it could have been.  By taking over the agenda, she completely eliminated any demands I made to focus that meeting on a plan regarding the pit.  She wants that pit in, and she is willing to do anything underhanded toward that goal.  The male problem is married to a woman who is on the Zoning board.  I think she's going to vote for issuing the permit to open the pit.  So you see, this is yet another group with a round, rosy mission statement, busy behind the scenes doing the opposite.

She may also be a classic sociopath who enjoys passive-aggressively manipulating people just for the sake of doing it.  My best friend has been involved in commissions as a necessary part of her work and says this type of personality never stops insulting/deceiving/manipulating. 

So in the end, at least the way the members are acting, indeed they simply want a schill to put out up front.  They make it absolutely impossible for me to function, but I will certainly get the blame if things go wrong.  This is the classic responsibility-with-no-authority nightmare situation.  I gave it one last ditch attempt yesterday to force the excavation pit onto the agenda for the regular Commission meeting next week.  Denied.  I'm not showing up at that meeting with two agendas being passed out; that's what happened with the written statement, they producing theirs, and I, thinking mine was the final draft, producing mine.  Eyes were raised at me.

However, it is all a moot point by now because I am resigning firmly tomorrow, not just from the chairmanship but from the Commission.  I would do it today except there's a Citizens meeting tonight and I don't want it dominated by a discussion of why I'm leaving.  I also think the fix is in; all this effort is for nothing; the permit will be issued, and the excavation company will probably move in by spring.  I'll still be active in the Citizens group; I can do much more there anyway, and the guy who runs it thinks I walk on water (or did, maybe won't after I resign.)

I will really be glad when the whole thing is over.  This is very much a no-win.  What will probably happen is the problem woman will become chairman.  She can then work openly, long and hard, to keep children out of this town.

Kathleen

[luise.volta]

I've got a good line for you, Kathleen. My family came over on the Mayflower and when I married the son of a Belgian immigrant, he said...are you ready...."The Immigration Laws are a lot stricter now!" 

[kathleen]

I'm putting your line on a pillow, Luise, so as never to forget it.  As far as the snob schools go, did you hear the one about the Unabomber, that Yale graduate?  They say they would have caught him sooner if he'd gone to Harvard.

By the way, I just looked him up and his land is for sale in Montana for $69,500 without the cabin.  "Very secluded."  Perfect for a woman who wants to get away from all the children in the world.  Do you think I should send her the listing?

Very funny, Luise, and gave me a lift!

Kathleen

[luise.volta]

Oh, definitely pass that listing on! 

[Pen]

LOL..

When people show you who they are, believe them.

                                                                       —Maya Angelou

[kathleen]

Great line, Pen, and here's one from "Dodsworth" that is very similar:  Do you ever notice how transparent people are when you really look at them?

Kathleen