John Briggs at the Free Press has been blogging about how the Dems might not vote to reappoint Community and Economic Development Office (CEDO) directory Larry Kupferman at tonight's city council meeting, but he's failed to get any of them on the record about why. So I wrote to council Dem Ed Adrian and here's what he said-
"Haik -So there you have it. Some folks might not like Kupferman, but they are too shy to say why publicly. Based on that I'd have to guess he'll win re-appointment.I do not think that at this point the Ds are unanimous on this issue. Some will be voting to reappoint and some will not.
I cannot speak for anybody else, but I will be voting to reappoint. Two weeks ago the public was put on notice that there were concerns that have been raised privately about Mr. Kupferman's ability to do the job. So far, I am not aware of one person going public with their concerns. I was privately contacted by one person asking me to reappoint and one person asking not to reappoint.
I am not going to deny the Mayor an appointment based on private conversations/concerns. If people really are so concerned with the CEDO Director's abilities and they have concrete examples, then they should be willing to publically state what they are. I understand the counter-argument which is that it is the Council's responsibility and not the public's to vote on reappointment, but in this case I am erring on the side of caution since it concerns an individual, rather than a matter of policy.
Best,
Ed"
*****
What do you think about the new free press "City Hall" blog by John Briggs? Or Briggs's reporting in general for that matter? He's biased right? Doesn't he clearly seem to hate the mayor? I left a comment on his "Not Exactly" post chiding him a little for injecting his own opinions into the posts, and he still hasn't approved it. Funny how Steve Benen can write a national blog with thousands of comments and he doesn't feel the need to vet them first, but Briggs and the Free Press do. Weak.
If I can't get Paul Decelles on my "live at 5:25" show tomorrow, I'll definitely fill some time on it soliciting callers' opinions on John Briggs's city hall coverage.
Oh, please do a bit about Briggs. His reporting is atrocious! He's all about the he-said-she-said game rather than digging up solid facts. Worse yet, he thinks of himself as a "player" in politics which makes his writing so bad. He'll take one councilor's musings as gospel then "prove" it with quotes from others in government.
ReplyDeleteOn a positive note, he'd probably be a good gossip columnist.