Kudos to John Regan and St. Augusitne City Commission; Business As Usual for Incurious St. Augutine WRecKord

Kudos to St. Augustine's new City Manager, John Regan, and the City Commission for agreeing last night to advertise the position of City Clerk in the T-U and St. Augustine Record.

This may mark the first time that the City of St. Augustine has ever advertised a job vacacy for any of its top three positions (City Manager, Attorney and Clerk), which were traditionally filled in-house, only by white people, in a City government that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once called "the most lawless" City in America.

Advertising the job opens up the City Clerk's job to African-Americans and other minorities. Advertising the job is a sign of reawakened creativity and energy in the City Administration, which was in the grip of fear and mediocrity during the twelve-year reign of error of City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS.

So enamored was the St. Augustine WRecKord and its Chain Gang Journalists with the prior City Manager (WILLIAM B. HARRISS a/k/a "WILL HARASS") that it ran an embarasingly one-sided front-page article in the form of a mash note on his retirement party.

So clueless and lacking in analytical capabilities is the WRecKord's reporter, Peter Guinta, that he walked out of the City Commission meeting during the discussion and never reported the story (although the WRecKord earlier reported there was a vacancy that was going to be filled internally).

When I pointed out to the WRecKord that Guinta left the meeting at the time of the discussion on the City Clerk's job, Guinta squealed like a hog caught under a gate:


> From: Ed Slavin
> Date: July 12, 2010 8:25:54 PM EDT
> To: peter.ellis@staugustine.com, margo.pope@staugustine.com, ron.davidson@staugustine.com, anne.schindler@folioweekly.com, themail@folioweekly.com
> Subject: Fwd: Peter Guinta just left City Commission meeting at 6:28 pm
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Ed Slavin
>> Date: July 12, 2010 8:23:09 PM EDT
>> To: "Guinta, Peter"
>> Subject: Re: Peter Guinta just left City Commission meeting at 6:28 pm
>>
>>
>> What?
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Jul 12, 2010, at 7:52 PM, "Guinta, Peter" wrote:
>>
>>> What is your problem?
>>> Remember what I told you about harassing me.
>>> PG
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Ed Slavin [mailto:easlavin@aol.com]
>>> Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 7:43 PM
>>> To: Ed Slavin
>>> Cc: Ellis, Peter; Pope, Margo; Davidson, Ron; themail@folioweekly.com;
>>> anne.schindler@folioweekly.com; Guinta, Peter
>>> Subject: Re: Peter Guinta just left City Commission meeting at 6:28 pm
>>>
>>> Now he is gone for good -- missed a lot!
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> On Jul 12, 2010, at 6:38 PM, Ed Slavin wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> He just returned. He missed a lot.
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>> On Jul 12, 2010, at 6:32 PM, Ed Slavin wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Meeting still in progress -- talking about hiring new City Clerk!
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone




ST. AUGUSTINE WRecKord -- the eyes of the people are upon you


PETER GUINTA, St. Augustine WRecKord reporter

As Bill Clinton said in his Second Inaugural, Peter, "nothing great was ever accomplished by being small." Quality journalism that covers the news -- is that too much to ask?

What do you reckon?