Friday, September 7, 2007

Another One Bites the Dust

Geez, I leave the country for two days and another Penn Delco school board member bites the dust.

Margie DiVito had the honor of representing her community on this illustrious board for less than a month before deciding it was all too much for her.
That's two resignations in the last 30 days. (Jim Haley booted himself off the board a couple weeks ago.)

Her tenure involved a single controversial vote and that was not to fire district solicitor Mark Sereni.

Now she claims to friends that she regrets her vote. She says if she had to do it all over again she'd vote to rid the district of Sereni once and for all. Instead she voted to keep him and then decided to resign.

Who knows what to make of that. If she truly regretted her vote why didn't she just stay on the board and vote the other way when the issue comes up again this month? She could quit right after that.

Crazy stuff. In the meantime, Sereni is lobbying everyone he can think off to keep his job.

He invited several of his harshest civilian critics to dinner in an attempt to convince them he's exactly what the board needs right now. A brave truth-teller and corruption fighter.

Yeah, he just what Penn Delco needs right now. Just like Britt Reid needs another drink and his car keys.

Now that Sereni and board president Dave Seitz are on the outs, Sereni is looking to get Tony Ruggieri promoted to the president's seat. That the solicitor would involve himself in the political machinations of the board is weird to say the least. Not in Penn Delco,

Besides, you don't have to listen to Ruggieri for more than five minutes to know that he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He's perfect for Sereni.

He's completely bought into Sereni's persecution campaign against business manager John Steffy. He did come forward with knowledge that Keith Crego may have allegedly extorted a $1,000 "bribe."

This Sereni thinks is major corruption, while for four years, he sat in the district's solicitor seat, buddying up to Keith Crego while Crego behaved like a combination of Jack Nacrelli and Larry Flyntt.

What next? Well, Carol Cannon will presumably be at the next board meeting. Presuming Kim SanGorgio brings the motion back up, that's another probable vote to remove Sereni. That would make the vote 4 to 3 against him.

But who knows what will happen between now and then.

Stay tuned.

11 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gil, we all know you're a lawyer-hater, but we didn't know until now you're a cop-hater too. As any two-bit reporter knows, the Tony Ruggieri you just insulted is a highly-regarded veteran police officer, who comes from a well-respected family of dedicated police officers in Aston. Nothing personal, little man, but people care much more about what a trained and experienced law enforcement officer thinks about corruption, than a pro-criminal journalist like yourself. Hey, come to think of it, was that you puttering around on your cute scooter the other day, wearing a "Free Mumia" t-shirt ?

September 8, 2007 at 11:52 PM 
Blogger Spencerblog said...

Good cops aren't led around by the nose by lawyers. They think for themselves. That is, if they can think for themselves.

September 9, 2007 at 7:28 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't recall Gil commenting on Mr. Rugieri's accomplishments as a police officer. Nor did he make any remarks about Mr. Rugier's family of officers.
I believe the comment was about his poor performance on the school board.
While Mr. Rugieri may be a fine officer, that his not his job as a school board member.
Don't get your knickers all twisted over the truth.

September 9, 2007 at 2:15 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

uhhhh, do you not see that he just responded by clearly (and ridiculously) intimating Ruggieri is not a good COP because, as Gil says, he is led by the nose by a lawyer? His drift is usually pretty clear (if almost always wrong) except, apparently, to you.

September 9, 2007 at 8:39 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Isn't this the same guy who jumped out of his seat at a school board meeting trying to shut a taxpayer up because he didn't like the message coming from the taxpayer? It's a good thing someone grabbed him and sat him back down, this kind of stuff may work out on the field but it's not the type of behavior we need on the school board.

September 10, 2007 at 9:48 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I believe Ruggieri is a full time cop in Westtown or some other ChesCo town. My impression was that full time officers in Westtown were not allowed to hold political/elected office. Certainly something to look into, Gil.

September 10, 2007 at 10:34 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's a great idea Gil (except that the poster is wrong, of course). In fact, why don't you see what you can do to get him off the school board AND fired? You'd be totally justified. After all, mouthy local opinion columnists contribute so much more good to the planet than cops who risk their lives and who also give up their time to serve the public on a school board.

September 10, 2007 at 2:40 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

These comments about Gil being a lawyer-hater and a cop-hater are absolutely assinine. Believe it or not you can have an opinion about one person, it doesn't automatically include all lawyers and all cops.

Gee, I've seen articles about Brett Myers, that must mean Gil hates all baseball players. Wait a minute, baseball is the all-american sport, does that mean Gil hates Americans? Shame on you Gil, please don't write anything about dentists because I have NO tolerance for Anti-Dentites. lol

September 10, 2007 at 4:53 PM 
Blogger Spencerblog said...

Heh!

September 10, 2007 at 5:21 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Don't worry. I don't think any of these posters are making Gil look bad or generally hateful. He does that very well all by his little old self. Don't you read him?

September 10, 2007 at 9:41 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Biting lips and pounding on tabletops and being sat on in meetings and being restrained by board members signifies to mean an issue of temper control. The board is not a place for someone to lose control especially in a public meeting. Because that would mean their demise as a board member. Learning to control ones anger is important if you are going to be in the public eye and a public servant. A need to put the one hat that you wear aside and wear the one that calls on you to be the best you can be for the children and the people of your district. Try and keep this in mind before you look like a fool again.

September 13, 2007 at 11:15 PM 

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