We see a picture emerging of a tragic Nixonian figure, a brilliant man who cannot handle a meeting or understand that he is the main contributor to his own problems.
He sees everyone going off in all directions under his watch, yet is powerless to stop it.
He portrays himself as a brilliant strategist and planner, yet botches the execution of those plans, holding them close to the chest, letting no one else in.
Leadership is partly being in front. It also means that there are followers. Yes, yes, we all know about the board of chosen accomplices. Every dictator through time has had a band of trusted servants. "Followers" refers to more than just the people predisposed to follow you. It means you can rally a diverse group to you.
He hears only one voice. His own.
From: bill hellmann [mailto:bill_hellmannXXXXX@yahoo.com}
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 10:38 AM
To: Heater, Gloria
Cc: bill hellmann
Subject: RE: The truth is
how am i to control the meeting when reithmeyer constantly interrupts and
yonson constantly interrupts and the pro-schoolers speak out of line?
the problem, gloria, is we have to make decisions that are unpopular to a
certain segment that attends the meetings. there is no way out of it. it is
either that or the town goes financially in trouble. yonson, kemp,
reithrneyer and the pro-schoolers have no talent in the area of planning or
financial projections. they do not know what the ramifications of their
voting is. yonson wants to spend unlimited to get scores up. kemp wants a
private school for his kid. reithrneyer wants to be a popular politician and
do nothing except raise taxes extremely high. the pro-schoolers want a
private school for their kids.
NONE OF THEM REALIZE THE FINANCIAL SUFFERING TO COME THE NEXT THREE YEARS.
the old board meetings were chaotic also, even more so, because of the
CONTROVERSY. there is no way out of these raucous meetings. if you can't
take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
6 comments:
I'm no Nixon fan. In fact, I think he did incredible damage to this country, and deeply shook our faith in our elected leaders and their credibility. I see many parallels between Nixon and Hellmann. But I've gotta give Nixon the edge by a wide margin.
At least Nixon had some foreign policy/diplomatic skills, and saw some value in engaging "the enemy" to achieve greater long-term objectives.
Even though Nixon gained national fame as a Mr. Red Menace Commie-Pinko Smasher in the late-1940's and 1950's, as President he saw the bigger picture of engaging Commie-Pinko China, and went to see Chairman Mao in Feb. 1972.
Then again, for all his intelligence, Nixon was such a paranoid knucklehead that even though he was well-positioned to win re-election in 1972, he had his cronies orchestrate (poorly) the Watergate break-in of Democratic National Committee headquarters in June 1972 in an attempt to help his re-election chances, and the rest is tragic history.
If only that meddling Forrest Gump hadn't been awakened by them pesky flashlights, he might have gotten away with it all too....
"yonson, kemp, reithmeyer and the pro-schoolers have no talent in the area of planning or financial projections."I suppose it is through short-term budgeting and band-aids that Hellmann is showing us how to do long-term planning and financial projections? I beg to differ; I believe this is called penny wise and pound foolish.
I guess I qualify as a "pro-schooler", from the Latin "pro-schooler", meaning "for the schools". What an awful thing for a person to be, huh? What does that make Mr. Hellmann and his cohorts, "anti-schoolers"?
Anyway, let me make one thing perfectly clear - I DO NOT want a private school for my child. That's an incredibly tone-deaf and off-base assertion by Mr. Hellmann.
Cue John Phillips Sousa music.....
I want a "quality safe responsible education" for ALL of the children who attend the Morrisville PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT. Public education isn't a luxury - it's REQUIRED BY THE CONSTITUTION. If I (actually "we", I do have a wife!) wanted a private school for our child, we'd be scraping our money together and sending her to a private school. We're NOT.
I want a school board that listens to EVERYBODY, and treats EVERYBODY with respect. I want a school board of reasonable free-thinking individuals that SHARE INFORMATION, and make well thought-out decisions that are EXPLAINED to the public BEFORE they are made.
I want a school board that makes wise decisions about spending taxpayer money - I DO NOT want my taxes to go up needlessly, or to throw money at problems. I want a school board that DOES NOT make penny-wise pound-foolish decisions.
I want a school board President that DOES NOT have a gigantic chip on his or her shoulder, who thinks he/she knows better than anyone else.
I want our public schools to be strong and highly regarded, so fine young people and families will want to move here and stay, and those that are already here will be able to stay too, and see their property values rise.
I want a school board with BALANCE. When things are out of balance, bad things happen to communities.
Worob, Stout, and Buckman might be well-known in the community, but being well-known does not make you capable.
How little surprise we find in these e-mails. How un-shocked I am by his derision at anyone who disagrees with him. His lack of finesse, his poor grammer, his lack of punctuation just point to a man who needs to bully everyone because he's got no intelligence to persuade. Yonson's got an agenda, Kemp's got an agenda, the "pro-schoolers" have an agenda but he's the only one who has no agenda? Please!
"if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen"Of course, here, he is referring to the fact that some people have a dissenting opinion, and wish to express it. The attitude that someone should not express opinions that are different is called totalitarian dictatorship ("a totalitarian regime attempts to mold the private life, soul, and morals of citizens to a dominant ideology. The officially proclaimed ideology penetrates into every nook and cranny of society; its ambition is total."). Some examples: Stalin, Kim Jong-Il, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Fidel Castro.
In this country we enjoy forms of Democracy, where-in everyone has a right to express his/her opinion, be it agreeable or dissenting.
Therefore I would like to strongly say to Mr. Hellmann, IF YOU CAN'T STAND THE HEAT, GET OUT OF THE COUNTRY.
Ah, it takes all kinds. Borows, I understand the frustration towards a dictator, but I don't want him to leave the country or even Morrisville. I just don't want him as School Board President.
Usually dictators take their toys and go home if they can't totally run the show, so if the board majority changes this year (and the all-important May 19 primary election is coming up), and some more free-thinking folks are elected, and he's unseated as Board President, perhaps he'll pack it in. Maybe that's just wishful thinking ...
But that wouldn't happen until early December, so there's at least 7 more months of Hellmann on tap.
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