Now What?

Well, Mayor Moak didn't get the Winthrop job. I can't say I wasn't completely surprised. Not that he didn't deserve it, but I had some moles tell me that the Swampscott manager was a shoo-in.

Of course the moles were wrong, it went to the Gloucester guy. Stupid moles.

As a blogger, I'm of course disappointed because Moak's departure would have opened the door for a good ole fashioned throwdown for his successor. Now, most of the potential candidates are saying they'll put their campaigns on hold. Ah well.

As a citizen, I'm happy enough. I've had issues with many of the mayor's decision--solar panel bidding process and the landfill. But no mayor will be perfect, and he does bring a level of stability to City Hall. I'm not sure someone couldn't do a better job. But I am sure someone could do far worse.

But what are we--the mayor's bosses--supposed to think now? Just to be clear, I don't blame the mayor for pursuing the Winthrop gig. Sounds like a new challenge, and the salary bump would be huge and give an enormous boost to his pension (or so I suspect.)

So huge in fact that there really isn't anything stopping him from applying for another town manager position if one opens up.

Again, I wouldn't blame him for doing so, but I think--as one of 15,000 co-bosses--we need to know whether or not he'd throw his name in the ring for another gig if one became available. I think we've all be in a position that once we come close to landing a new job it becomes increasingly difficult to focus on the job we've already had.

It will be interesting to see if and when this issue comes up in the campaign. Will the mayor be asked to pledge not to pursue other work over the next two years? It's not an unreasonable request.

If he doesn't make the promise, I'd still consider voting for him, but I'd so knowing that he might not stick around for the entire term.