Letter: Republicans Won't Do A Thing To Get Jastzerbzski Off The Council, But They Should

To the editor:

A great deal of shock and awe has been generated from the release of the video of Republican 1st Ward Councilman Richard Jastzerbzski's ungentlemanly tirade against a women GOP volunteer over the placement of campaign signs in the party's office window. So much so the all Republican council voted no confidence at their next meeting and requested his resignation after he refused to resign.

Except for the the abstentions by the only women on the council the vote was unanimous. Leading me to wonder if the two sitting women councilpersons fear the offending councilman so much already that they just can't bring themselves to take a very public and symbolic vote against him, or if they are so truly dyed in the wool Republicans that they just can't bring themselves to align with any degree of the women's rights movement even now?

At the council meeting we all heard the remarks from the council members condemning Jastzerbzski's verbal assault. I for one thought that Council President Lonni Miller Ryan might better have allowed public comment to lead off the evening's meeting but no, the council was afforded the opportunity to provide itself political cover. That did not happen, however.

Since then no affirmative public action has been taken to remove Jastzerbzski because there is no remedy or law to correct the situation except a recall petition by the voters of the 1st Ward. This isn't very likely because he is a Republican and Wayne GOP voters are not exactly known to be outraged by the actions of local members of their party, no matter what the issues are, since it seems the party line and doctrine are what matters most.

A recall petition from 1st Ward Democrats also isn't very likely because, even if a successful petition is achieved, the all Republican council members will do what they did to begin with and have consistently and predictably done when they appointed this councilman to begin with and can be counted on to do that again.

And so it is up to the Republicans here about in my mind to do the deed because after all they are not exactly known to work in a bipartisan manner on anything, ever and are not likely to change their historical course now. And besides, Jastzerbzski is a Frankenstein creation of the local Republican Party machine to begin with, lock, stock and barrel.

So why should democrats take any petition door to door when after all Republican voters here have slammed the door in the faces of past Democratic council candidates for council for years? Are those same voters now ready to agree with any Democrats in this situation? Not likely. Why I can hear the hue and cry now of Republican voters calling Democrats liars and accusing them of spreading fake news for political gain.

No, what will and most likely is already going on in Republican circles is that the GOP insiders have already calculated the least perilous path to a resolution, because the Republican base is not outraged over the incident any way. So Jastzerbzski will stay right where he is despite the strenuous and meaningless council resolution that carries no force of law or consequences, proving the GOP status quo will prevail.

Stewart Resmer,
Wayne

Graphic used with permission via Flickr Creative Commons license