Now that we are assured there will be a Democratic majority in the Susquehanna County Commissioners’ offices, who will be the next chief clerk? Once again, enquiring minds want to know and maybe would like to have a little fun speculating about this very important office.
If history is any gauge of what could happen, Chief Clerk Sylvia Beamer probably should already have her resume updated. This leads to the speculation of who is owed a political favor, who is best qualified and who could do the most good/harm in this potentially powerful, but tenuous office.
First, the assumption is that the next Chief Clerk will be a Democrat. This almost goes without saying, but stranger things have happened.
Second, will the next Clerk be male or female? In the now distant past, the office was run like a Swiss watch by Evan Price. He held the position for many years. Although not everyone appreciated Evan, under his tutalage the office was run efficently.
The other end of the scale was Joan Kamansky. While not casting aspersions toward her directly, it was on her watch that the rank and file county employees unionized. This probably wouldn’t have happened if the office had been run a little differently at that time.
Somewhere in the middle, leaning toward the upper end of the scale was Phil O’Malley. Unfortunately, the untimely demise of Phil left a void which was difficult to fill.
Then we had Suzanne Brainard. Although it appeared she did everything she reasonably could to conduct her office properly, things just didn’t work out. Of course Suzanne has landed on her feet, being the District Magisterial Judge Elect (replacing the retiring Gene Franklin) in the Southern District of our fair county.
So, as you can see, we have had the run of the scale in the Chief Clerk’s office. The next chief clerk will almost certainly be a Democrat, have some managerial experience, probably have an “in” with at least one Majority Commissioner Elect and more. Who could that person be?
Of course we won’t know until January, 2008, but if the next Chief Clerk happens to be from the New Milford area, possibly has prior (and maybe current) experience of being an “advisor” to a commissioner in addition to the qualifications above, don’t be surprised.
Well, for those of you who are NOT “inside the beltway” of Courthouse politics, it’s obvious the above references are to a Democrat partisan of middling abilities - but obvious flair for bravado, bullying, and bullheadedness. Yes, he’ll go far in cleaning out that nest of Republicans in the courthouse. Whatever level of civil service expertise which exists in the courthouse can likely be eliminated under his tutelage. I’m sure he’ll do his best to remove any vestiges of honor and non-partisanship - all under the guise of “reform”. May God have pity on the lowly courthouse employees, because this S.O.B. certainly won’t!
“Second, will the next Clerk be male or female”: Spare Me! An unnecessary question that serves only to cloud the issue. We need clarity, not divisiveness. Talk about the Chief Clerk is good, let’s don’t get off track.
A bit touchy aren’t we? Nobody really cares if the next Clerk is male or female.
Actually, it may be more of an unspoken statement by the incoming Commissioners as to whom they choose and why they choose. Politics being what they are, the next Clerk may be chosen by several criteria, which have nothing to do with qualifications. The most obvious and obnoxious one is Party affiliation. In the past 20 or so years, we have had good and not so good Clerks, gender notwithstanding, however probably all with the same Party affiliation.
Of course gender should never be a criterion to choose any employee, qualifications should be.
That being said, as we all know, any department head working for Susquehanna County and especially the Chief Clerk, works at the will and pleasure of the Commissioners.
In the real world, whether gender, political affiliation or other inappropriate issues become factors in the employment OR termination process is something none of the rest of us will probably ever know.
Anyway, the original comment regarding gender was meant to generate discussion. It did. Let’s keep it going!
How about something new and different? Sylvia Beamer has done a remarkable job and is an independent. She sould retain her position.