Lantigua Attorney likens firing
of city workers with invasion of
Normandy, (huh?)
Calls
fired wokers who campaigned for Abdoo
"casualties of war"
February
4th, 2010
 According to the Lawrence
city charter, city attorneys work
directly for the Lawrence City Council,
not the mayor.
When these lawyers are asked to appear
before the council, city councilors
expect that, under the law City Attorneys
Charlie Boddy, Ann Randazzo and Rick D’Agostino
will be giving them legal advice about
the legalities of the decisions they are
making. Since the inauguration of Willie
Lantigua (da chief), however, Lawrence’s
city attorneys have been violating the
city charter and instead of acting as
legal representatives for the city
council have been public advocates for
the mayor.
Below is a speech given before the
Lawrence City Council last month by City
Attorney Richard D’Agostino.
(Audio of D'Agostino's
speech)
“That (the city charter) allows the
Mayor or Chief Executive to come in and
make wholesale changes without having to
give any reason, without seeking a 2/3
majority [of the council]. This language
is weak for defense of the employee, I’m
sorry to say. It upholds the Mayor’s
executive authority. That is also your
responsibility under the language, is to
follow the charter and vote to uphold the
executive’s authority in this
regard.
“You know, this whole situation has
now boiled down to leadership. There is
nothing pleasant about these experiences.
There is always a personal and emotional
side to all of this, but this is the dark
side of the leadership. This is the tough
side of the leadership. This is not about
cutting ribbons and taking photo
opportunities, this is about making the
tough decisions to get the city back on
it’s feet.
The chief executive wants his own team
and he submitted that to you for your
support. You have to give him that right.
You know, on June 5, 1944, the night
before operation overlord, the supreme
allied commander, Dwight Eisenhower,
wrote two letters that he held in his
pocket, one letter was regarding the
failure of the operation on June 6th in
the invasion of Normandy. The second
letter, was regarding the success of the
operation of the invasion of Normandy.
However, those letters spoke of the dark
hours that General Eisenhower wrestled
with, when he had to make the decision
that he knew, either success or failure,
would bring casualties. The success or
failure of the city of Lawrence and the
state breathing down our necks will,
also, require casualties and that is
where your leadership role, as well as
that of the Mayor’s, must come
forward. Thank you.”
RELATED STORY>>
Chaos in Lawrence: How did Lawrence's
finances get THIS BAD?
Sweeney pens
open letter to Massachusetts Ethics
Commission
 Tom Duggan is the president
of Valley Patriot, Inc., a former
Lawrence School Committeeman, and hosts
the Paying Attention! Radio Program on
WCAP, 980AM, every Saturday from
10am-1pm. You can email your comments to Tdugjr@aol.com
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