After the recent little swipe against the town’s political conservatives taken by Town Councilor Tim Sweeney regarding the severance package of retiring Town Clerk Louis Cirillo, it came as no surprise to me when the conservatives took a swipe back, in the form of a letter to the editor by three former Democratic Town Committee chairmen questioning the employment and ethics of the current Democratic Town Committee chairman.

And while Mr. Sweeney’s little swipe was barely a love tap against the conservatives, the attack on the current chairman’s employment by the conservatives was nothing more than a joke. To try and besmirch his name and infer some kind of nefarious activity due to his employment as a political consultant was a desperate cheap shot that reeked of sour grapes.

Prior to my retirement, I was employed by a municipality where politics was (and continues to be) a blood sport, and where city council meetings were loud, raucous, and routinely required a police presence to keep order. During the course of my employment, I attended dozens of city council meetings due to numerous issues being debated and voted on that directly affected my compensation and working conditions, and the mayhem I witnessed at those council meetings made the recent little spat between the liberals and conservatives in Bristol look like toddlers fighting over toys in a sandbox.

While I continue to believe Mr. Sweeney’s jab was a bit unnecessary, the response by the conservatives was much more spiteful and irrelevant than Mr. Sweeney’s little love tap. The conservative faction of the Democratic Town Committee needs to come to grips with the fact that the committee election is over, their side lost, and it’s time for them to accept it and move on.

And while I’m not advocating for the liberals and conservatives to have bare knuckle brawls in a boxing ring, both sides need to up their games a bit, and find issues of more substance and importance to debate. And in case you’re keeping score, a measly severance package given to a town employee and the employment of the Democratic Town Committee chairman do not qualify as issues of substance and importance.

Mike Proto
Bristol