Where's The Transparancy At This Open Meeting Of The RTM?
RTM Moderator Tom Byrne Needs To Realize That In A RTM Controversy, The Instant He Feels Anger At His Fellow Members, Then That Is The Instant That He Has Ceased Striving For Truth And Has Begun Striving For Himself.
The Truth Is That Mr. Byrne's Harangue Was Because Several RTM Members Tried To Amend The Legislative Body's Minutes From The January Meeting.
All The RTM Members Wanted To Do Was To Reflect The Fact That Mr. Byrne Had Cast A Vote After The Vote Denying Paul Curtis A Second RTM Vote Against Joan Caldwell.
The Angry Moderator Did Not Want His Unorthodox Actions To Be Reflected In The Town's Historical Record For All To See.
The Fact Is, That Mr. Byrne Should Have Recused Himself As Moderator During The Debate And Discussion Of His Controversial Voting Maneuver.
Greenwich Resident Tom Byrne Is Domed By
The RTM Members Who Angered Him
RTM Moderator Tom Byrne Eventually Will Learn That Anyone Who Angers You Conquers You.
Anger Is Only One Letter Short Of Danger.
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Greenwich Gossip: Curtis Beats Caldwell 99-99
Just as Harvard "beat" Yale in the famous 29-29 come-from-behind-with-only-42-seconds-remaining-on-the-clock accrual of 16 points to tie The Game, and thus the Ivy League championship, so underdog Paul Curtis "beat" odds-on favorite Joan Caldwell by accruing an amazing 99 votes in his quest to become Moderator Pro Tempore at the January 18th RTM meeting. Equally amazing, Joan herself pulled 99 votes as well.
At the time, this little bit of "Ripley's Believe It or Not" Greenwich history was known to only four people: the three officals from the Town Clerk's office who tallied the votes, and the Moderator of the RTM, Tom Byrne. Tom, himself a duly-elected RTM delegate, then did something he had done, by his own account, only three times before in his 14-year tenure as Moderator: he voted.
But--and it's a big but--he didn't tell this to the body. He merely announced the vote total as Paul Curtis 99, Joan Caldwell 100.
There was an audible reaction throughout the auditorium. No one, including Paul Curtis, had expected the vote to be so close. No doubt many members had second thoughts about the way they'd cast their ballots. But the vote was the vote, or so we all believed at the time.
When it later came out that the Moderator had intervened to break the tie, quite a furor began to erupt. Traditionally, Tom Byrne, like his predecessors, had merely voted "present" so as not to affect the outcome of the RTM's voting procedures. But now he had broken with tradition, in order to do exactly that.
Does Tom have the right to vote? Well, as an elected member of the RTM, he presumably does. Does he have the right to vote in a manner different from the rest of us, which is to say not with his district, like everyone else, but only after all the other votes have been cast, and the district cards have been signed and certified by the district chairmen? That, dear reader, is the question.
Tom himself now acknowledges that if he could do things over, he would have been more open with the RTM about what he had done. Presumably, he would have said something like, "We have a tie vote of 99 for Mr. Curtis and 99 for Ms. Caldwell. As an elected member of this body, I have the right to vote on this issue. I therefore cast my vote for my colleague of fourteen years' standing, Ms. Caldwell."
There would have probably been some catcalls and boos, and no doubt even some applause at this point. But at least the voting process would have been transparent and open. Which it was not.
One of our local rags, the Greenwich (Dumb as a) Post, has written an editorial today calling for a do-over. While it is not your scribe's favorite journalistic outlet, perhaps it has a point. Right now there is a bad taste in many people's mouths. Let's have a second vote, as perhaps we should have done on the 18th, to break the tie. The thirty members absent on the 18th would thus have a chance to have their say. And Tom Byrne should certainly be allowed to vote as well, perhaps asking Town Clerk Carmella Budkins to act as Moderator Pro Tem while he joins his district for the voting process.
This is, it would seem, the best and fairest way to clear the air. Even Popes and Presiding Bishops of the Episcopal Church are not usually elected on the first ballot. Surely we can manage to take a few minutes at the next RTM meeting to take a second vote that will lay to rest this controversy......
“Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame."
- Benjamin Franklin A Real American Statesman
What Are The Current Top 10 Google Results For
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When Greenwich Residents Want To Know The Truth About Tom Byrne They Go To Google And Google Sends Them To Greenwich Roundup
Not To The Greenwich Citizen, The Greenwich Post, The Greenwich Time, WGCH OR Any Other Blogger In Town.
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