Bill Gouveia: Political agenda? No, just the facts
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It is always somewhat ironic when politicians complain about newspapers and other media pointing out what they the political leaders have actually done. But it also displays a disappointing lack of accountability by those elected officials.
And is there a more meaningless and misused phrase these days than advancing a political agenda? It has become a catch-all for one side or another to use when they dont have actual facts to prove their own point but cant bring themselves to admit it.
Attleboro Mayor Cathleen DeSimone was sworn in at her inauguration over a week ago. Contrary to statements by some officials and authors of letters to the editor, the inauguration was not planned for only friends and family. It was a public event held in a public building and open to the public.
In addition to friends and family, many city and local officials attended. They included state Sen. Paul Feeney, state Rep. Jim Hawkins, state Rep. Adam Scanlon, Sheriff Paul Heroux, four sitting city councilors, and former councilor and recent mayoral candidate John Davis.
Davis said he was there out of respect.
Conspicuous by their absence were Council President Jay Dilisio who finished second to DeSimone, and Council Vice President Todd Kobus, who is a staunch DiLisio supporter.
The Sun Chronicle ran an editorial strongly criticizing the two council leaders for not attending the inauguration. They attempted to contact the two prior to doing so. DiLisio never returned messages left for him by The Sun Chronicle, and Kobus responded that he was otherwise occupied that morning with family activities.
After the editorial there was outrage.
DiLisio wrote that her day deserved to be about her while noting he worked with DeSimone on transition. Kobus wrote on Facebook My lack of attendance did not indicate anything nefarious. Honestly, I hadnt even given it a second thought.
Look, the fact the two council leaders ignored the new mayors inauguration is in the end a petty and small thing. It will soon be forgotten by many when the busy job of running the city rightfully becomes the main focus of attention.
But The Sun Chronicle did nothing wrong by commenting.
It was disrespectful on the part of DiLisio and Kobus to skip the event the way they did. When Kobus writes I hadnt even given it a second thought, that is pretty telling.
They should have gone not out of respect for DeSimone, but rather as a sign of respect for the city, the voters, and the process. To help bring the city together, a phrase DiLisio often used in his campaign.
And the complaints accusing The Sun Chronicle of advancing a political agenda border on the laughable. What agenda? How was the paper advancing anything by stating the two leaders of the city council should have been there to set the tone following a nonpartisan election?
Are they saying the paper is somehow helping former mayor Paul Heroux, as some have claimed? Because anyone who has read regularly knows those two entities were often at odds.
DiLisio and Kobus made a mistake by not attending. They got called out on it. Now as the new mayor correctly noted it is time to move on.
Bill Gouveia is a Sun Chronicle columnist. Reach him at
Monday, March 20, 2023 at 4:30 am