New Comments as of 6/10
Why did this man quit?
Rumor has it that Ken stepped down as a selectmen because he covets the Administrative Assistants job. Under Mendon town by-law an elected official cannot become an employee of the town for 1 year from the date of leaving office. The word on the street is that our current AA, Michael McCue will put in a year or two here and move on to a more lucrative and probably saner environment.
What do you think? Would Ken make a good AA? He spent 3 years as a selectman and a year on the Finance Committee.
43 comments:
HG you have to be kidding. This is not even credible.
Ken would make a great AA....
in Waveland.
The interview may not go as well as originally planned now that Dennis was not elected.
The atmosphere at the Town Hall can't be that insane. After reading the responses to the Rocky and Bullwinkle posts I am thinking of applying for the next opening myself.
I will have to take a zero on the Ken for AA thing. In my eyes he didn't get things done as our Selectmen.I do thank him for serving, as it is a pretty thankless job.
I think the idea that he would want to take a pay cut to take a pain in the butt job is ridiculous.
He could not even support his family in this town with what the AA makes. You are listening to the wrong street.
It is not always about money.
Sometimes it is about the future
True. It's about looking at that pension and guaranteed health benefits down the road, after retirement.
There's no future with Ken O'Brien as AA. He was utterly and completely ineffective in his 3 years on the BOS. I couldn't even remember his name until the very end......he made that much of an impression.
Exactly what is the job description for AA? Ken would make a great AA if any part of it is the ability to bring people together on divisive issues. That is something that is sorely needed to get things done. Did Waveland cost the town anything? I thought it was all volunteer.There was a lot of good publicity and what is wrong about helping others in a time of disaster?
You will never know how much Waveland cost this town because the finance committee has no accounting for it. According to KO and EH there was suppose to be some relief from FEMA but FEMA never initially approved the trip so those potential dollars will never materialize. I figure in gas alone it cost the town well over $1200.00. The trip was first taken when gas prices sored to $3.30 per galon, never mind the payroll and the overtime for coverage while those employees were out of town. EH first said it would cost between 2 and 3 thousand. Then he raised that to between 5 ans 7 thousand. My guess is it is much much more. We will never really know because the BOS and the finance committee never demanded more accountability.
That whole Waveland thing was a farse. Well over a hundred communities adopted Waveland. Do a adopt Waveland search on Goggle. The BOS would have you believe we were the only ones behind the drive. The Mayor of Waveland didn't even come through town to thank us like he did with some bigger communities here in MA.
The only reason KO got behind it was to push his boy scout ties to impress his bosses. Check out what the regional boy scouts were pushing for waveland and then you will find real motive behind KO. There is a web site out there that explains it all and what the boys scouts in MA were promoting for Waveland. Waveland for KO was all about self promotion and not what it should have been about, helping the victims of Waveland!!
Any more public service for KO is a dead issue, he is useless! We have your number KO!
Oh, bye the way, KO got out of the selectman race because he saw the writing on the wall and knew he had no chance. Not because of some possible openning.
Could he be Whitey Buldger?
How exactly did Ken bring together people on a divisive issue?
KO knows he has an ethics problem not to mention his endless grandstanding. He was using his elected position to further his own interests. If this isn't true then why the visit to a Mendon business on "town business" that he will not explain or now identify the person who accompanied him to the Mendon business? What was he up to?
I did not write that but would like to know the answer to that myself. Also, isn't the job of an AA to follow the directives of the BOS? That is, if the BOS were strong enough and knowledgeable enough to lead. What is this "bring people together" crap? Certainly it is not in KO's bag of tricks.
I like the Waveland idea - I always felt that something didn't smell right about that whole deal.
I could never understand his seemingly overzealous interest in Waveland - I thought that his efforts would have been better served in Mendon, doing his job.
The question of the day. We would all like to know the answer.
Anonymous said...
"If this isn't true then why the visit to a Mendon business on "town business" that he will not explain or now identify the person who accompanied him..."
We would all like to know more about that. Please fill in some details.
HG
I would like to know the business the previous post mentions and who was with him. Was it Don Hackenson?
Personally I don't think KO is AA material. But then again, who is? We have not had one of any sigificance to serve as a model. However, I do not believe it is wrong to use ones service to a municipality as part of ones resume'. I didn't like the Waveland distraction from town business but no charitable act shoud be disparaged even if some personal recognition was achieved. I find it is people that never served or donated time and energy to ANY cause that are always looking for some ulterior motive.
i serve and still serve on several charities in a very significant ways by either through donations and/or volunteering personal time. in fact i make it a family thing and get my wife and kids involved.
on that note, when it comes to KO, i am always looking or an ulterior motive. Now let's talk!
Ken O'brien was not shy about telling various people that he wanted the AA job in the future. As for the money; he certainly was instrumental in boosting that salary up on his way out the door. A few more pay increases and you never know. Never say never.
It was mutual aid probably that will never be reimbursed. Great for people to help on their dime.
Let's face it, with KO, no altruism here. Always a personal agenda. Let us not forget where he came from and the fact that he was closely tied to real estate development in his past.
What business did he visit? Or are you just full of crap?
And so what if he did? I'm betting on the crap.
Ken has told many people, myself included, that he wouldn't mind having the AA job when he retires in a few years.
I wouldn't mind it either, except that I wasn't qualified under the job description that was used to hire the current AA.
So, ut's nice to want, but quite a different thing to get.
- Kevin Rudden
Kevin you left a post on another thread but we are holding it. Please clean it up. We don't publish a few of those words.
HG
What I've heard is the situation with the business has been submitted to the Ethics Commission and the business owner doesn't want to publicize it until they have looked into it. It is not crap. Stay tuned.
There goes Kevin, making it all about him. Have you ever counted the times he uses the word "I" i anythin he writes or in conversation? This time it was only twice!
ko as the aa. hahahahaha. over my dead body.
Who is Don Hackenson?
You have never heard of the "Don" who runs this town?
maybe he can teach the town how to paint the crosswalks in the center of town without closing the road for an ENTIRE day. nah, too difficult.
Ken has never brought anyone together on anything. Unless,you count the collective groans of the folks watching the BOS at home when he was chair. Or the collective cheers when he decided not to run. What does he do with his mornings now that he no longer gets to be all self-important on WMRC? I hope he is finished in this town.
My guess is Ken is far from finished here. Where else would he find the wealth of opportunity that he has found here? He was elected to the BOS unopposed, promoted pet projects, helped to push through the Fino land purchase, and as Chair, got to step onto the soapbox to pontificate every second Wednesday. What's not to like? The fact that he feels that he's acquired some influence in town only supports suppositions that he is looking to garner some future benefit from the town, other than the enjoyment of living and raising his family here. Someone to definitely keep an eye on. Especially as land is developed in town.
"The fact that he feels that he's acquired some influence in town only supports suppositions that he is looking to garner some future benefit from the town, other than the enjoyment of living and raising his family here."? That does not support diddly. Many people have influence in this town which garners them nothing. That in itself is supposition with no basis in fact. And by the way where are those facts to support an ethics charge? More supposition or a complete fabrication? An anonymous businessman? A mysterious town official? You complain about people getting into office unopposed. Why on earth would anyone want to subject themselves to the kind of personal abuse you see constantly on this blog. It is not a surprise to me that most people want nothing to do with elective office. Do not worry about KO wanting to be the AA when he retires, he is a good 15 years from retirement. It is not exactly a pressing issue.
My post never mentioned ethics violations, anonymous businessmen, or mysterious town officials (though I do think many town officials are odd). I agree that running for public office has always been a thankless position, from the beginning of time, well before blogs. Elected officials are open to public scrutiny and criticism. But no elected office should go unchallenged. In a larger forum, most political hopefuls are looking for other personal benefit from elective office, but generally in small towns, while some hope to advance or promote their own businesses, most offer themselves for public office in order to serve the town and its best interests. I will put it more bluntly for you. Ken is simply a "glad-hander" with an agenda of self-aggrandizement that characterized his tenure as selectman. And the point is not that he will seek the position as AA when he approaches retirement, but that he views it as a desirable and lucrative "stopgap" before retirement.
I don't mean to change the subject, but thank you HG for the "New comments as of...." headers on each thread. It certainly expedites the process and beats having to scroll down each thread to see if there is anything new!
HG, time for a new thread, I think.
I second the motion. If Ken still wants to vie for the position after this roasting he has my respect. Not my support, but my respect.
The only support he would need would be from the BOS.
just looking for the town govt merit badge...
Didn't he earn that when he worked as Shaheen's puppet? Shaheen was still pulling his strings even after he left the BOS. You don't believe KO thought of anything on his own.
Scary thought that Shaheen was the brains behind the operation!!
Yes it is!
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