City Council President FAIL

While watching the 9/2/08 Fall River City Council meeting, I was struck by the sarcastic comment interjected during business by Council President Joe Camara.



So this article in the Herald News did not surprise me.

I am very interested to see how Joe's new rule is going to work out.

Fall River Fail

I love fail blog . If you haven't been to the site you should take a look (they update it several times daily).

This Fall River 'fail' picture was taken at Oliver's last week. The owner of Oliver's, Paul Viveros, has been trying to get permission from the city to open a strip club for years but, according to the dress code on the door, he hates bare shoulders.

DONATE DONATE DONATE!!!

Please donate to a great cause (see post below) Adopt-A-Classroom.

Adopt-A-Classroom

Each year teachers spend an average of $1,200 of their own money for classroom supplies. Given the current state of the school department and funding, teachers in Fall River may actually spend more than this national average.

The Adopt-A-Classroom program is a non-profit organization that connects classrooms in need with generous people willing to donate. The program offers a great website where you can donate money or items to specific classrooms in need. 100% of your donation goes directly to the classroom of your choice.

There are currently 13 classrooms in Fall River looking to be adopted. The site offers information on the school and includes statements from the teachers detailing what their classrooms need. Some common needs include books, puzzles, research materials, and art supplies. You can read the needs of each classroom and choose the one to which you would like to donate. Donations are tax deductible.

From the Adopt-A-Classroom website:

Does adopting a classroom "make a difference"?You bet! By adopting a classroom, you are providing the teacher with additional funds to purchase hands-on learning materials. In addition, by serving as a community partner, you are positively impacting teacher morale. Empirical data supports that these two factors increase opportunity for classroom success.

I am sure anything you are able to give would be greatly appreciated by the students and the teachers.

Fall River Mom takes on school district

Fall River Mom Takes on School District to Get Her Sick 7-Year Old to Class
Click here for ABC6 video


by John Egan ABC6
School is back in session, but a 7-year old Fall River boy isn't going. His mother says it's because he has no safe way to get there. Kadin Gonzales' mom says the boy's respiratory problems are so bad that he has to take medicine every 4 hours using a nebulizer. His family moved from Rhode Island to Fall River last year. At that time, his mom says he easily transitioned into his new school, which was only 2 blocks away from their new home.
But this year, that school closed and he was reassigned farther away. And it's that distance that's got his mom taking on the school district.
ABC 6 reporter Kimberly Bookman has more... CLICK LINK ABOVE FOR VIDEO

Congratulations Representative Sullivan

As happens so rarely in Fall River, the best candidate won!!

Can't meet deadlines or is Linda hiding something?

Having heard rumors all along that Correia was backing Linda Pereira's campaign for 6th District State Representative, I have been anxiously awaiting her campaign contributions/finance report. This report was due on 9/8/08 (7 days ago). Dave Sullivan filed his on time and it was listed on the state's campaign finance database but Linda Pereira's is not.

I just called the MA office of campaign finance in Boston and they confirmed that Linda has not filed her mandatory report yet. Unfortunately, the penalty is a mere $10 per day every day it is not filed up to $2,500.

So my question is, was this just an oversight? Did Linda just forget to file mandatory paperwork (not a good sign)? OR Are there contributors that she doesn't want the voters to know about until after the election? For example did Correia campaign contributor Jay Cashman (of Weavers Cove fame) also contribute to Linda's campaign?

These are things I want to know but clearly she is willing to pay the $10 a day fine to keep the secret.

Linda Pereira - A brief history

November 1995 - Linda is voted off of the Fall River City Council

February 5, 1996 - Linda attends a party for outgoing City Councilors where she made a grossly racist and insulting comment that she characterized as a "joke" ("Why do black people have sex on their minds? Because they have pubic hair on their heads.") This statement was subsequently reported in the Fall River Herald News

February 1996 - Department of Social Services terminated Linda for her racial comment because of her "joke." An excerpt from the Commissioner of the Dept. of Social Services letter of termination to Linda:

"the joke was insulting, it expresses views which are contrary to one of the fundamental principles under which the Department of Social Services operates: that all people who come into contact with the Department will be treated with respect, dignity and fairness. To have such sentiments expressed by an employee of the department damages the ability of the agency to perform its mission, and to maintain public confidence that investigations of allegations of child abuse and neglect will be handled fairly and impartially. Your racist comment, adversely affected the ability of your fellow DSS employees . . . to perform their duties, and its impact is so serious that it is no longer possible for you to continue to perform your duties as a Social Worker III for the Area Office."

September 1996 - Linda sues the Department of Social Services seeking her job back and claiming that her civil rights/freedom of speech were violated.

August 2000 - Counsel for Pereira characterizes her statement as "stupid," "racist," and "unthinking" - the Supreme Judicial Court of MA ruled that Linda's civil rights were NOT violated. For some reason DSS eventually gave Linda her job back which proved to be a mistake (see Pereira under DSS scrutiny 1/28/06).

January 2006 - Linda divulges information to the Herald News about a DSS case she was investigating involving the rape claim of a minor in foster care. Linda said, "I didn’t feel the kid was credible. The whole story was out of whack. She was all over the place and it was obvious to me that the child was making this stuff up." ...So much for confidentiality.

January 2008 to present - Linda has voted in step with the Sycophant 6 on the city council to pass the majority of Mayor Correia's proposals. Most notably she ignored the voices of thousands of city voters by supporting a contract fire chief per Mayor Correia's instruction.

Campaign for State Rep 2008

• Linda claims she is pro casino in the city but voted in the past against having a mere bingo hall located here
• According to Linda's campaign site "Linda is a full time investigator in the Abuse Prosecution Unit. Linda gives 150% to her duties. Due to her seeking the office of State Representative Linda has taken a leave of absence." Isn't that contradictory? Or is it 150% until a better opportunity comes along
• As an employee of the Bristol County DA her job may be partially funded with federal funds. If this is the case she would be violating the Hatch Act by running for partisan office. Perhaps this is the real reason behind her leave of absence.
• If Linda is the superior candidate, why did Linda donate to Dave Sullivan's campaign for state rep this year? 2/9/2008 Pereira, Linda99 No. Odgen St. Fall River, MA 02723 Sullivan, David B. $80.00

Pay more, expect less - Attorney Arthur Frank

The debate over Mayor Correia's request to increase part-time city attorney Arthur D. Frank Jr.'s salary 75% from $48,500 to $85,000 for the 21 hour a week position that includes full time city benefits is not a new issue. This being said, I was quite surprised that the majority of the city council didn't rubber stamp Correia's request at the last city council meeting. This extension allowed me more time to think about the issue and I am not only annoyed by it, but now I am outraged at the thought of giving Frank a 75% pay increase.

In addition to the prior reasons for my opposition, which are:

• Attorney Frank publicly censured in MA and RI for lying to a client over the course of 4-5 years in a workers compensation claim. Attorney Frank told the client he filed a lawsuit in the case in 1991 (he had not), strung the client along for years telling him that he was waiting for the case to be heard by the court. In 1995 Frank finally came clean and admitted to the client that he had not filed suit against the former employer.
• Correia included the raise in the budget before getting permission from the city council for the raise.
• At the proposed rate, Attorney Frank would make $33,000 more a year than the MA Attorney General Martha Coakley if this was a full time position. Attorney Frank would also make $20,000 more than the Governor Patrick at that rate in a full time capacity.

I have some new concerns:

• Fall River lost a court case recently because no one from our overpaid law department could be bothered to show up to court! According to the Herald News, the law department denied a claim for $1,150.15 in damages to a car as a result of a pothole. The complainant appealed their decision and won in court when no city attorney showed up. In the real world when a client's attorney doesn't show up to court and the client loses as a result, we call that malpractice.
• Perhaps Frank was busy that day representing one of his other clients, the town of Swansea, in a $100 parking ticket case that ended up costing Swansea $2,200 in legal expenses.

With proposals like the one to give Attorney Frank a gigantic raise for not showing up to court, it is really hard to take Mayor Correia seriously or to believe he has the best interest of the city in mind.

More from the Naughty and the Nice

Clearly the majority of Fall River City Councilors (aka the Sycophant Six) are having no problems contacting department heads while the three with backbones (Leo Pelletier, Steve Camara, and Ray Hague) are at the whim of Mayor Correia when trying to do good for the citizens of Fall River.

Mayor Correia's Naughty and Nice List

From the Sept 2, 2008 City Council Meeting:

In case you missed the cocktail party reference read the Herald News article "Not All Councilors Invited to Correia Fundraiser"

Manny the Portuguese Fireman

If you need a laugh you should definitely click here for music and more by Manny the Portuguese Fireman.