Shortly after Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger had declared a half-dozen times Monday night that the city is “moving in the right direction,” the city council showed it was at an impasse over choosing a leader.
Councilors voted three times on whether Democrat Joan Shannon (right) or independent Karen Paul (left) should be president of the 14-member body. Each time, the seven Democrats, four Progressives, two independents and one Republican deadlocked 7-7. The Dems all voted for Shannon; everyone else voted for Paul.
A 15-minute recess ensued, during which councilors huddled in shifting groups. But when Chief Administrative Officer Paul Sisson, presiding as a temporary — and uncertain — chair called the meeting back to order, independent Councilor Sharon Bushor proposed that she and her colleagues take a week to confer and perhaps emerge with a consensus choice as president. The council agreed to reconvene on Monday, April 8, at 5:30 p.m. in city hall to vote again.
In interviews following tonight’s meeting, councilors said no third candidate had been identified in private discussions as a possible compromise choice. But unless at least one member defects to the other side on the Paul-Shannon standoff, the council will have to come up with an alternate choice if it is to avoid displaying symptoms of Potomac Disease: a stubborn refusal to compromise.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
They both were complicit stooges in theBurlington Telecom theft and disenfranchisement of voters who were led to believe there were legal protections in place to prevent exactly what happened, and neither should still be there.
“I’ve searched all the parks in all the cities — and found no statues of Committees. “
GK Chesterton