I have been thinking about how the Felkner/Chariho Budget issues are going to be addressed and I have some predictions. Mind you, I don’t have a lot more insight into the decision making processes of the people involved than anyone else, but there are some options which are strategically more sound than others.
Felkner: Felkner won’t be able to accomplish much or make much noise on the Town Council. They don’t really do much. The Town Manager runs the Town and he is a status-quo-type guy. The Town Council is a giant rubber stamp. So Felkner will probably resign the Town Council and be appointed to the School Board. The Town Council will get along just fine without Felkner (they can usually muster at least a 3 vote majority anyway) and they want someone on the School Board who will make some noise: that’s Felkner. Until his ego got the better of him and Felkner decided to take two elected positions, I had some respect for him. I have a lot less now but he can still fight windmills effectively, or as effectively as anyone can fight a windmill.
Chariho: I’m not sure if they will sue until the next budget gets busted. I suspect that Ricci will make some token cuts, maybe $200K worth, and send the budget back to the voters. And it will probably pass the next time around. I don’t think Ricci expected it to fail and I don’t think he and the School Board “got out the vote”, so to speak. They will the next time around. The budget failed by 1 vote. People who voted “no” last time are satisfied but those who voted “yes” are pissed. Anger can work miracles. Look at the 2006 and 2008 elections, the Dems won on the basis of angry people. I may be wrong but I think all the “no” votes have been cast, we’ve seen all those angry people. Now it is time for the rest.
