"...not without the full board...we'd end up with a 2-to-2 vote and it wouldn't be a fair vote."
Ch. Ivey, selectmen's meeting, 11-23-09.
Fairness, is it? The game is to have fairness in it? [snaps fingers] Missed that.
The above quote came during a discussion about setting the date for an election; the election in question being one of recall for the chairman and his vice chairman. The audience, quiet tonight, on the whole, tittered un-magnanimously after the comment.
Little generosity for the duplicity of attaching the word fair to a chairman who has just bellowed at a citizen "You're done, [citizen]. We're not having those comments." Comments [hers] referring to a defaming and degrading series of statements made by a supporter of the current town administration about a number of citizens, several of whom are in the room.
Fair, applying to the two who set up a surprise special selectmen's meeting to exquisitely coincide with a day when one of the 2 selectmen of the split vote minority was out of town; not only reducing the minority to an even more minor state, but insuring that the remaining selectman in the minority could be set up to look as wrong as possible. [10-08-09, A Calculated Distraction]
Fair, as in what it is not, when a person runs [literally, on foot] into someone on purpose out in the parking lot and then pretends the bumped-into person is at fault....
Instead of the word "fair," consider the quote in its fuller context, using words that might better reflect the speaker's intent:
"We're not going to take action on that tonight, not without the full board....we'd end up with a 2-to-2 vote, and [my agenda and that of my supporters would not be well served]."
Fairness is a highly desireable quality. It goes with telling the truth and making responsible decisions. It is about recognizing that, as a public official, the people you serve matter; the private agenda that serves you, does not.
