First of two parts
With most members of the City Council agreeing that they were conned into unwise action by a bullying gadfly last Monday night, freshman Jeff Cooper remarked, wistfully: Just shows you how much we needed the fifth person.”
Andy Weisman, the elder statesman and often steadying influence on the Council, was home with the flu.
In his absence, the peripatetic gadfly Tony Pappas sought to toss around the other Councilmen like rag dolls. insulting them, swatting at them, rhetorically, as if they were insects. At the end of one of his several tirades, which closed with Council members joking amazingly jokng back with him, the smirking Mr. Pappas cheerfully was his demand for the first time within memory.
Several Councilmen agreed that they were henpecked by Mr. Pappas and they need to develop a uniform and effective reaction to his insults.
By now, Mr. Weisman has caught up with what some regarded as disgraceful actions by Mr. Pappas and inappropriate responses by the Council.
“I can tell you what I am going to do the next time Mr. Pappas stands before us,” Mr. Weisman said. “I will completely ignore him. I will politely suggest to my colleagues as well that since we can’t prevent him from speaking, we can certainly refuse to dignify his attacks with responses.
“We ought to let him be the gadfly he is going to be, allow him his three or five minutes, and get him off the stage as quickly as possible.
A Major Don’t
“Do not engage him in discussion. He doesn’t want to have a discussion. You are not going to have a dialogue with him because he doesn’t want to talk. He doesn’t listen.
“All you can do is ignore him. I am not going to do what a former Councilman did, spin my chair around and turn my back to him.
“I have thought of stepping away for a drink of water. But I probably would not do it. That would not be me.”
All of the Council members interviewed know that the gadfly cannot be banished, but, likely, it tantalized all of their minds.
With a sigh that surely suggested exasperation, Mr. Weisman said, “There is only so much you can do about this kind of situation.
A Risky Solution
“If you start with caveats, and you caution him by saying ‘If you are not respectful, we will shut off your microphone,’ you only will be accused of a whole host of things, including curbing free speech.”
Mr. Weisman quickly dismissed the idea as a panacea.
“If you do that, you only will call attention to him, giving him a dignity and respect he doesn’t deserve.
“Every time somebody responds, that person elevates him, at least in his own mind, because now he’s gotcha. He was able to bait you into a response, which is all he is interested in doing.
“Let him speak.
“As I said, we ought to ignore him. Staff ought to be not only prepared, but encouraged, told to correct him if he has made any factual mistakes. They correct the record, not the Council.”
There is a sunny side to the latest flap with the longtime tormenter of City Hall.
“Eventually,” said Mr. Weisman, “he is going to lose steam because he always does. He will move onto something else and not come to visit us on Monday nights.”
