I had turned off the television to get away from the constant fighting in Washington and decided to take my time with the digital edition of The Southampton Press.
And guess what I got? Hot warfare on the Southampton Village Board of Trustees, all over page one, and going over to more incendiary news on later pages. At least we don’t have George Santos, I comforted myself. But what a mess in Village Hall.
I decided to look for the cause, the “but for” cause for all the strife and hostility, with an implausible lineup of trustees glaring at our Mayor Jesse. The proximate cause was the police chief. It wasn’t hard to discover the “but for” cause — whom I had pegged many, many months ago as trouble, because of his obvious ambitions to become the next mayor of our village. Heavens save us.
I’m talking about the newest member of our Board of Trustees, who apparently imported a talent for divisiveness from his brief stay in Washington, D.C. Apparently, he held on to his regulatory agency assignment in Washington throughout the Trumpian purge by a show of “loyalty” to then-President Donald Trump.
Be that as it may, the spirit of infighting, blind ambition, and stirring-up of trouble appears to have come into Village Hall on the heels of this Washington-bred member of the board.
Mercifully, I also read Mayor Jesse’s Letter to the Editor in the same issue of The Southampton Press [“Community Backbone,” Letters, January 19], with his generous praise of the volunteer firefighters, who certainly earned his words, his gracious mention of all names, and his welcome to the new village fire chief.
It was a relief to hear well-earned words of appreciation from Mayor Jesse for the village volunteer firefighters, who have also earned the gratitude of the residents of the lovely, peaceful Village of Southampton.
Please, guys, leave the infighting, blind ambition and personal attacks to our new Congress, and take to heart the lesson implicit in Mayor Jesse’s letter of appreciation to those who give so much and shy away from political infighting.
Evelyn Konrad
Manhattan
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