A Palace Coup?

According to a very reliable Massillon Review source, there is plotting and intrigue within the Kingdom of Massillon. It is suspected that a palace coup is brewing to replace our beloved Mayor for Life with a different standard bearer for the 2011 elections.

It is rumored that some of the city insiders who have benefited under our Mayor for Life's quarter century of rule, as well as some former aides de camp, do not believe our mayor can be elected to a seventh term. They believe he is fairly unpopular, and point to his last election where he almost lost to former councilman Tim Bryan, who really did not campaign.

Apparently, these folks wish to keep their influence around city hall, and are concerned that Kathy Catazaro-Perry would mop the floor with the mayor in next year's Democratic primary.

They have allegedly turned their sights on current Safety-Service Director Mike Loudiana. They believe Loudiana is electable, having served a number of terms as councilman at large, and that Loudiana does not carry the baggage our Mayor for Life does.

We at the Massillon Review vehemently oppose this alleged treachery within the ranks. Mayor for Life means just that, mayor for life. We want to see the mayor run for an unprecedented seventh term. The entertainment value alone is priceless. Besides, he should have the opportunity to defend his record during a public campaign.

We want to see him defend the mess at the golf course, the deplorable condition of our parks, his string of unbalanced budgets, spending tax dollars on the mortgage at a private hotel, spending a million dollars on an arena that was never built, attempting to bail out the city by annexing the Tuslaw schools, and authorizing annual unvoted pay raises for himself.

After all this, we struggle to see why his pals wish to kick him out.

Stand strong mayor! Don't give up!

The Massillon Review stands with you!