Milardo: Loffredo's Absence Forced Scheduling of Council Meeting

On Friday May 21, the Common Council met to vote on a mayoral veto of a Democratically-proposed amendment to the city budget which would have give the city control of payroll for non-certified Board of Education employees.  Democrats on the Council held the meeting despite the fact that all Republican members, and the mayor, who is Council Chair, reported that they would be absent, most attending the state Republican convention.

The Council needed eight votes to reject the veto, and the eight Democratic Council members in attendance voted the veto down.

In the latest chapter of a feud over the amendment, the veto, and the meeting, MMPA president John Milardo has criticized the timing of the vote in the latest MMPA newsletter.  He claims the vote was held on the Friday it was because on suceeding days leading up to the budget vote deadline, Democrats would not have had the needed votes:

When Councilman Daley comments about how he and his Democratic Council members made choices, “to do the City’s businesses.” Or, Councilman Loffredo comments, “We are the 8...” something else looms in the darkness.

The Democrats would not have had “the 8 votes” if the meeting was postponed! Councilman Loffredo was leaving the State for two (2) weeks; the motion to overturn the veto would have failed. That was the motive behind the Democrats big push for a Special meeting. They didn’t care that the Minority Council members or public didn’t have sufficient notice of the meeting. It was about getting their way. It was about having that “power” to do what they want.

When asked whether Loffredo's absence had anything to do with the decision to hold the meeting on that Friday, Majority leader and Council member Tom Serra repeated what he has already said about the meeting.

"Look, the bottom line is that the Republicans could have come to the meeting on that Friday," Serra said.  "We had a convention too, and we thought that city business was the priority."

Serra indicated that Democrats on the Council had convention commitments, and that the mayor, and the other Republicans could have used proxies to fill their spaces at the convention.

"We actually tried to get a special meeting of the Council on the previous Tuesday to discuss the situation where the police had taken over the Board of Education building," Serra said.  "But the mayor was at a ball game.  Other days were not available because of commitments in Council chambers, or conflicts with Council members."

When asked directly about Loffredo's planned absence, Serra said "it was not at the forefront of our thinking."

"The diversion of attention from real matters is a strategy that the accuser seems to be trying to do," Serra said.  "Communication has been sparse from the leadership on down.  Our party simply believes that city business is more important than political conventions."