More on Moak

Ari Herzog has an interesting post today about our mayor and his potential departure (or not) for Winthrop.

I'll let the post stand on its own because I think the mayor has to do what the mayor has to do and he has to have a job, come November, I assume. And remember - Lisa Mead left and then was elected as mayor again.

I have no doubt that John Moak loves Newburyport - why else would he have served it for so long, as head librarian, city clerk and now mayor - but it must really be hard to be mayor and also live here.

The man probably can't take his dog out for a dump without being accosted by someone.

As a person, I really like the mayor. As a mayor, I sort of like the mayor. He's a little too fiscally conservative for me, but that's what is needed in these economic times, I guess.

The personality stuff I can relate to, although I see the similarities in our characters as being more or less flaws in both of us. I do believe I've written about this before.

I'm impatient to get things done; he's impatient to get things done.

I ask a bunch of people for their opinion on what I should do and then do exactly what I wanted to in the first place.

But my instincts are usually right on, you know? So given all the things I know about myself, I sort of trust that his instincts may prove to be spot-on as well. Maybe (sometimes I think I barely make $6,500/yr. much less $65,000).

Although I also don't feel that criticism is out of line in that regard ...

By the way, there's an account of his public interview with the Winthrop Town Council here, on the DN website.

I don't know what will happen, but maybe if he gets the job, he'll hire me as his grant writer. I hear there's this book called "Grant Writing for Dummies."