Duck and cover Sept. 17, 2012

  

Turns out I was wrong about concern her story on health benefits and the mayor from the nearby town.

She had asked the right questions; he refused to answer. So, this warranted the harsh treatment he got.

But it wasn’t even her idea. The boss sent all the writers out to find out about politicians in their towns; she was the only one of us to come back with the information – or as it turned out, the road block from the mayor.

The tip had come from a private investigator who our boss has been closed to, and who had a personal grudge with the mayor – the mayor had passed him over for job as the police chief. Of course, the man wasn’t qualified, and wasn’t black, and the mayor was under pressure from the NAACP and others to appoint a black chief, and he did.

The private investigator had once been very close to the mayor, which is why – even though not qualified – had gotten the job as deputy chief. But because he didn’t have the necessary background, the mayor could not have named him chief anyway. But that really didn’t matter, the private investigator (paid handsomely by another powerful mayor and this mayor’s arch enemy) began a campaign to dry and bring down the mayor.

The private investigator knew where all the bones were in every closet and freely shared them with our Boss and other media.

While our boss had put her in untenable position, she didn’t like being snubbed by the mayor. When she asked a question, she expected an answer. She also may have other reasons to go after the mayor, prompted by her new boyfriend RR, who believed this mayor had betrayed the mayor to whom he was loyal. RR was also a private investigator and more than a little jealous of the former deputy chief, clearly wanting to prove himself equal if not better, and bringing down the mayor would do a lot for his ego as well as his pocket book. The mayor had made a number of enemies, all of whom were wealthy enough to pay RR handsomely if he successfully pushed the mayor out.

Even then, I think she is mistaken in believing the mayor was out to get her fired. The mayor knew better than anybody who it was that was pushing her buttons, RR and our boss, and his vengeance seemed aimed more at them than at her.

My mistake is believing I could play peace maker when her poem on time made it clear she hated me as much as she did the mayor – she still sees me as a threat.

And I’m still uncertain if she is behind the owner’s searching of my computer – which he has done twice to date, possibly more that I don’t know about.

Although the mayor trusts me, he doesn’t trust anybody else in our office, and that’s not enough for me to play any kind of peace-making role.

I need to duck and cover – using an old adage from the cold war days of my youth.


email to Al Sullivan

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