The Doug Show

Last night at the Board of Selectman’s meeting, Doug Bennett went on a mini-rant. He took the spotlight, raised his voice and took a stand on a specific issue. I call this kind of behavior “The Doug Show.” “The Doug Show” always features a lot of light, but very little heat. A great deal of spark, but no flame. Lots of ketchup and relish and mustard, but the meat is AWOL.

It’s governtainment at its finest.

The subject of last night’s Doug Show: meetings. It seems Mr. Bennett is upset that so many meetings are being conducted during the day when many people, including him, are working.

His argument is that it is hard for members of the public to attend such meetings because working class people have to work. He has a point. He said that the Selectmen should give the Town Administrator more responsibility which would help to reduce the number of meeting for the Board of Selectmen. That’s a good point, too.

What Mr. Bennett is painfully ignorant of is just how much work it takes to be an effective selectman — even after nearly three years on the job! From talking to people involved in selectman’s business, Doug does the least amount of work of the five members. He routinely gets his packet on his way into the Wednesday night meetings, and as a result he is unprepared to do anything but shoot from the hip. He sits on no other committees (Mr. Kopko, in contrast, has been appointed to the NP&EDC, the audit committee, the budget work group, the Sewer Advisory committee, and several others). And it is important to remember that in addition to being a sitting selectman, Mr. Bennett also ran a state senate race this year during which he was frequently off-island and absent from more than a few meetings.

Mr. Bennett has said in the past he feels that the Board of Selectmen are like judges. That their job is to listen and vote yes or no. I would argue that a Selectman’s job is more than that. A lot more.

The town of Nantucket spends over $80 million a year. The business of running a town is complex and time consuming. Some former selectmen have told me that they spent an average of 20 to 30 hours a week doing the town’s work. And, yes, they do get paid, but it’s only $265 a month. These are just the facts. This is a major reason why many people, me included, do not run for the office. Is there any way around this? Not unless we radically change the way we run the town. And those changes are not on the horizon any time soon.

Yes, we need to get more citizens involved in the business of the town. I feel that we can make some simple changes to how meetings are delivered and do just that. But technology is not going to make being a selectman any easier. Or less time consuming. The selectmen must, I’m afraid, slog through the people’s business like GI’s crawling through the mud under barbed wire and enemy fire. It’s just the way it is. Messy. Onerous. Sometimes painful.

God help us if we go back to an era not too long ago when the chair “ran a good meeting” that was short and free of discordance (or discourse for that matter) but nothing got done. I have a feeling Doug wishes for those days. A return to the Glowacki era and “process” trumping “progress.”

I like Doug. I get a kick out of talking to him. I feel he’s got a good attitude and a lot of chutzpah. But, I have to say, as a selectman, Doug has turned out to be an empty suit. And in some cases he has acted in a manner that is unbecoming the office. To say the least.

Last Fall, Doug announced that he would not run for re-election, but recently, he has stepped up “the Doug Show” in a way which suggests he will run again. I don’t see how he can win. The voters are not about to re-elect a selectman who has acted erratically, who does not want to do the job before him and who cannot be relied upon to vote in an consistent manner.

I’ll miss the Doug Show. Perhaps PlumTV can put together a “Best of The Doug Show” reel and re-run it from time to time. Other than that, I don’t see much future for Doug on the Board. His show is all but cancelled, I’m afraid. Perhaps he can use his free time to work on “Doug, the Movie” Hmmm….

Nantucket First.