Wednesday, May 14, 2008

DISCUSSION: MAYOR HEALY - CUTTING HIS LOSSES?

Now if a prospective employee for finance director has a background in "bankruptcy," would you want to hire him to build a budget that has to balance out?

The STARK POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) is just having a little fun at the expense of the Healy administration.

Actually, the mayor is showing a high degree of responsibility in owning up to a mistake in hiring Frederick J. Green as finance director.

Many public officials have huge egos that will not allow them to correct problems in their infancy because doing so is a public admission that the official failed in an exercise of judgment. While the official's ego may remain intact, the public function suffers.

So The Report applauds Mayor Healy's demonstration of political maturity in the firing of the finance director after only a few months on the job. Having to do so definitely brings Healy's judgment into question.

But the failure to do so could have been a huge impediment towards Healy's goal of turning around Canton.

In a general discussion that The Report had with Healy when Governor Strickland visited the Brewster Cheese Factory, Healy told us that his predecessor Creighton had left Canton's finances in a monumental mess.

Kudos to Healy for attacking this problem and for not burying his head in the sand when his own problem comes to the fore.

Agree or disagree?

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