Sarno stand up to The Republican

I have been meaning to post this before but believe me that I have been having a heck of a week. I won't bore you with the details but I will tell you that I locked myself out of the house and locked myself out of the car both in the same day !!! Oh sure, like you have not locked yourself out before !!! Any ways, lets get to business.

Mayor Sarno has shown that he can not be easily intimidated. The Republican recently ran an Editorial piece asking Mayor Sarno to exclude himself from the selection process for a new Police Commissioner in the city. Sarno made no secret of his support for now Acting Commissioner Fitchet during his Mayoral Campaign. The people elected Sarno and by inference approved his vision and leadership for the City. So, this begs the question, Why is The Republican running this story? I can speculate all I want but the reality is that only The Republican knows its true motives. The media is a powerful and necessary tool in maintaining a stable democracy and helps to air improper and questionable activities in government, in fact I refer to the media as the "fourth branch of government". Make no mistake about it ,the media has a powerful effect. but they do not get to set the agenda nor decide who gets elected. I applaud Mayor Sarno's courage in stating his displease with the editorial ran by The Republican.


Who ever gets chosen as the New Police Commissioner needs to be keenly aware of the idiosyncrasy of the city. In particular needs to properly establish a working relationship with the "minority" communities: (God do I hate that word "minority" this implies that I am less than, I am equal to any other person)


Read Sarno's letter below:

I am compelled to respond to The Republican's Jan. 18 editorial, "Commissioner search not over yet, is it?" calling on me to recuse myself from the selection process for the next police commissioner because I stated my support for Acting Commissioner William J. Fitchet before the process even began. The editorial also put into question my integrity and ethics in participating in this process. What is clear to me is that the newspaper is either out of touch with the needs of our community or is unaware that the mayoral campaign ended in November. I have stated in my announcement for mayor and in my inaugural address that a Sarno administration will serve the city and its citizens with the highest level of integrity and ethics. That is a commitment I made to our citizens and will be maintained by my actions. In my opinion, crime is the number one problem facing our city. The campaign debate and political rhetoric must end. The time for leadership and governing must begin. I believe it was a mistake in the first place to select Edward A. Flynn, an outsider to Springfield, over Acting Commissioner Fitchet, who is a Springfield native. After 19 months since selecting the last commissioner, it made no sense to me to undertake a new prolonged selection process. The Republican editorial accurately points out Fitchet's 34 years of dedicated service; experience in police work; and his knowledge of our community. We need stable leadership in place to win this war on crime. Even former Mayor Charles V. Ryan voted against undertaking a new selection process because he knew the right man for the job was Fitchet. Unfortunately, the Finance Control Board, on a 3-2 vote, decided to undertake a new selection process. I would also like to point out that in other cities, the history of control boards is such that their responsibility is limited to the management and oversight of municipal finances. It is unprecedented that a control board, like the one in place in Springfield, be empowered with control of the hiring of personnel. Even the Springfield Finance Control Board's own ordinance of August 2005 provided that "the mayor alone has the authority to appoint the police commissioner." Fitchet was the right man before Flynn and is still the right man to lead the Springfield Police Department. That is not a question of my integrity or ethics. It is simply a fact based on experience and leadership ability.





Mayor DOMENIC J. SARNO, Springfield