When I first heard about several committee resignations due to being upset with a decision of the Mayor, I thought they were talking about the EOC (Equal Opportunities Commission), but it was the EDC (Economic Development Commission). It seems Mark Bugher has resigned over the decision of the Mayor to hire Bill Clingan as the Economic and Community Development Director for the City of Madison. Rumor has it that Tom Still has resigned as well and others may be considering it.
I thought it was going to be 4 members of the Equal Opportunity Commission who were talking about resigning after the Mayor shoved the new version of the Chronic Nuisance Ordinance through the Common Council without the advice of the Commission, which his office asked to wait to consider until they could get a new draft. However, I think ultimately decided to stay on the EOC because of the impending race issues likely to explode over the assinine comments of the police department about “people from Chicago”.
All I can say is “duh”. This was a trainwreck anyone paying attention probably could have seen coming. Just like trying to hire a Clerk/Treasurer, its very difficult to find someone who has the skills in both areas. I even asked the question at the time and I was told “don’t worry.” And of course, the Mayor pretty much promised the business community an “Economic Development Czar” position, forgetting about the second half of the job which was the “Community Development Czar” part of the position.
I gotta say, this Mayor just doesn’t care who he alienates. Didn’t he learn anything from Sue Bauman?
p.s. You can read Marc Eisen’s (Isthmus) account of the public Bugher/Mayor Dave break-up here.
