Strange Alliances

As we have discussed here previously, the Board of Aldermen has requested an audit of the School Building Commission. As part of this request, the Aldermen voted to form an Ad-Hoc Committee, to be comprised of members of the Board and members of the School Committee, to develop paramaters for the audit. The vote passed the Board of Aldermen but hit a snag when the Common Council referred the matter to the Finance Committee, where it has yet to make an appearance on a meeting agenda.

Some new developments have come to light which might explain the Board's failure to address the piece in Committee. It appears that at their February 22 meeting, the School Committee voted to form their own Ad Hoc Committee with David Ela, Robert Alconada and Robert Carreiro as members from the School Committee. Members of the Board of Aldermen who were appointed to serve on this Ad Hoc Committee are Michael Marchese, Robert Van Campen and Jason Marcus. What these three Aldermen have done, in accepting this appointment to this Ad Hoc Committee, is to have essentially circumvented their own rules and made themselves part of a committee that has absolutely no jurisdiction over the activities of the School Building Commission.

What explains this strange alliance between the School Committee and certain members of the Board of Aldermen? It is no secret that the School Committee and the Superintendent have felt stung by criticisms leveled at them by the Ragucci administration and the ongoing audit of the School Department that came about as the result of the indictments pending against the Superintendent and the maintenance director.

It is also no secret that Michael Marchese is planning to run for Mayor. This could explain his desire to participate in what amounts to an archeological dig designed to unearth whatever information they can to make the Administration look bad.

What may be a little less well known is that Robert Van Campen may have at least one -- and possibly more -- opponents to his bid for re-election to the Board. Van Campen's new "cause celebre" seems to be stumping for the School Department at the Board of Aldermen meetings, latching on to what he claimed to be the misuse of the stabilization fund in a spectacularly failed attempt to embarrass the Mayor at the 2/28 Board of Aldermen meeting (see the 3/4 edition of The Advocate for a colorful recap of their exchange). Van Campen's showing in his two runs at the Board, in 2001 and 2003, resulted in less than a mandate victory, so any formidable candidate coming along could pose a serious threat to his tenure as Alderman. Given his new found alliance with the Superintendent, perhaps he should consider running for School Committee.

Alderman Jason Marcus's participation is no less transparent than that of his brother Board members. Marcus has made no secret of his contempt for the Administration, blaming the Mayor for every criticism that appears about him in the press. In addition, Marcus (like many members of city government and the School Committee) has a loved one who is employed by the School Department. Marcus's alliance with the School Department was made all the more public recently when the Superintendent made a rare appearance at Marcus's February fundraiser.

Alliances in politics are not unusual . . . nor are they necessarily to be thought suspect. However, given the circumstances of the participation of the Board in this Ad Hoc Committee -- a committee that has absolutely no authority to do what it purports to do -- one has to wonder about the validity of their stated quest. To our knowledge, none of the members of this Ad Hoc Committee attend School Building Commission meetings with any regularity. In fact, although Jason Marcus has been appointed to replace Joe McGonagle as the Board of Aldermen liaison on the SBC, he has yet to attend a meeting. As a Committee formed at the behest of the School Committee, this Ad Hoc group has no legitimate authority over the workings of the SBC, any more than city government has authority over the day to day workings of the School Department. The operation of the schools and the operation of the city are completely separate entities.

In the end . . . this is just another case of politicians looking out for their own best interests and ignoring the rules to do it.