The Madness of King Frank

Friday's "Emergency" 7:00 AM council session, called by our Extraordinary Mayor for Life, King Francis the Eternal, Lord Sovereign of the City was a nonsensical farce. It was never meant as a serious attempt to work on the budget.

It was something much more important.

It was one last opportunity for the City's Sovereign to affix blame for the ruinous condition of city finances on his "enemies," in this case the five members of city council who voted "no" on the exact same budget they voted "no" on three months earlier.

Even his 'meeting notice' was nothing more than a rambling missive blaming city council for the complete destruction of the Western Hemisphere by their refusal to rubber stamp his unbalanced budget.

And then the circus began.

We have been informed that our Eternal Mayor had notices circulated to the various city employees to show up at this meeting. The notices urged them to make their feelings known to the five members of council who wanted to "shut down city government."

So the employees came.

And cheered as if they were spectators at the Roman Coliseum during the days of Emperor Nero. When their emperor gave his thumbs-up, they cheered. When he gave his thumbs-down, they booed.

We wonder if they shouldn't be at their jobs instead of acting as props for King Francis the Eternal's Broadway theatrics?

The ultimate acting, and most absurd fear tactic came when the mayor's loyal Fire Chief, Tom Burgasser, claimed that if there was to be no budget passed, his men would not come to work, and he would need to call out the National Guard.

"With all due respect, I'd like to have one week's notice," Burgasser said. "I think that (Police) Chief (Robert) Williams would agree. We need to have time to call in the National Guard..." (The Independent, March 26, 2011).

The National Guard?

If Gary Anderson, Kathy Catazaro-Perry, Donnie Peters, Larry Slagle, or Tony Townsend didn't roll over and pass the mayor's unbalanced budget, we would need to call the National Guard to Massillon.

Isn't the Fire Chief just a little bit embarrassed by serving as the mayor's political pawn?

Doesn't he have a shred of self respect?

So let's get this straight. If city council doesn't pass the budget, exactly as the King submits it, we will need the National Guard to maintain order in Massillon.

Makes us look like Beirut, or Baghdad. Will there be a 'green zone' around city hall?

Doesn't the mayor realize that these scare tactics make him at best look desperate, and at worst look crazy?