Letters

Friends don’t turn their backs on you because of a disagreement. Friends work together and find ways to fix problems.

I thought many of the people I worked with politically in Southampton were my friends, but I learned I was just a pawn to accomplish their agenda. Leave it to politics to show you who your true friends are.

Originally, I supported the Village First Coalition, because I trusted many of the individuals associated with the independent party. My views quickly changed after I saw how having an independent mind led to abandonment.

Trustee Joe McLoughlin is a prime example. Because of his independence on how he wanted to address the police chief’s contract, Trustee McLoughlin is being treated with malice and disrespect. He walked me through his decision, and it showed me he did his homework and demonstrated that he is acting in the best interest of the Village of Southampton.

Even after all the negativity, I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt to this group and was working on ways to bring everyone together. During this process, an email went out that attacked me directly. The individuals who sent this email cc’d me on it and didn’t even have the courage to discuss it with me directly. Guess what they say is true: Money can’t buy class.

Moving toward the spirit of unity, I do believe that not all people on one side or the other are bad and should be typecast. I would even go so far as to say that some of Jesse Warren’s ideas have merit. However, his management style will not move legislative items forward.

If you want to sum up current leadership, on one of Mayor Warren’s live Instagram videos, he was asked, “What is the most frustrating part of being a mayor?” Jesse replied: having two votes from trustees to move agenda items forward. Being a mayor is about engaging your officials through reflection and inspiration, not dictation. If you are unable to do that, maybe being mayor isn’t the appropriate position.

I would like to see this “us vs. them” mentality stop, but I believe that will only be possible when we have different management. Our village has become controlled by political agenda and the almighty dollar. This must stop. Southampton Village needs leaders who will follow through with promises and work together as a unified community.

For these listed reasons and many others, I am supporting Michael Irving, and believe you should, too.

Joseph Chabot

Southampton