Close ties
Special Commentary by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Should a tangential relationship to a sitting city-council member disqualify a candidate for appointment to a high city post?
That issue is being bandied about behind the scenes in City Hall with the candidacy of one of the 12 applicants for the open city-attorney position.
Eric Laurenzo, by all accounts, seems to have a solid, if short, resume to offer Waynesboro. An attorney with Poindexter, Schorsch, Jones and Hill in Waynesboro, Laurenzo is a 2001 graduate of Baylor and a 2005 grad of the law school at Michigan State with a term as a clerk with the Miami County Prosecutor’s Office.
Laurenzo is also the son of Steve and Patricia Laurenzo, who I’m told are close friends of Vice Mayor Frank Lucente, who of course is helping lead the search for a new city attorney that currently has city council reviewing the applications of several interested parties.
I can’t independently verify the word that the Laurenzos are close friends of Lucente, though I can say that I saw Lucente and Steve Laurenzo together at Stone Soup Books and Cafe a couple of Fridays ago picking up to-go meals together, so maybe there is at least some truth to that story that I’ve been told.
The issue that I’ve heard raised regarding the talk of the close ties between Lucente and the Laurenzos involves appearances more than anything else – at least that’s what I’m surmising. The city-attorney position is what is known as a charter position, in that it is spelled out in the city charter and is filled directly by the city council. This would mean that in the case of Eric Laurenzo, he would be faced with reporting directly to a city council led by Lucente, a person who is said to be a close friend of his parents.
The potential for abuse could be quite ripe there, the critics are saying, and I can see their point on that. On the other hand, I don’t anticipate that the new city-council majority is going to hire a new city attorney who is going to be too far out of line with their thinking on the issues of the day whether it’s the son of a member of the inner circle or not. Maybe having someone like Eric Laurenzo in the job makes it a little easier to control things to that end, but I think we have to concede that they’re not going to be looking to hire anything akin to a muckraker type to serve in this position given their own proclivities.
That said, I can also concede myself that the appearance of something untoward being done, some sort of fast one being pulled to get a friend’s son a plum assignment, can be as powerful as if to render what is actually going on or not going on a moot point.
I hope for the sake of young Mr. Laurenzo that he gets a fair shake when it comes time for city council to decide on the next city attorney. I hope as well that the other 11 applicants get their own fair shakes.
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Re: Close Ties, Commentary by Chris Graham
Mr. Graham, who admits he has no independent verification of any “close ties” between Mr.and Mrs. Laurenzo and Vice Mayor Lucente seems never the less inclined to construct a juicy (maybe soupy) local conspiracy out of whole cloth, citing what he describes as a friendship “quite ripe” potential for abuse, the appearance of something “untoward” being done, something fast and loose being pulled in an attempt to get a friend’s son a plum assignment- all from the insubstantial gossamer of his own “surmising” about “appearances”…..Oh yes, and we can’t ignore that Pulitzer worthy piece of investigative reporting by Mr. Graham himself, that uncovered Steve Laurenzo and V.Mayor Lucente picking up takeout at the same time no less from Stone Soup Books and Cafe a couple of Fridays ago. Shocking. Enough so for this reporter to conclude that there is “at least some truth to the story” of their close friendship that he’d been told. Who would have guessed that Stone Soup was such a hotbed of political intrigue!? I’m laughing out loud at his conjecture, but perhaps I should wonder now if Graham was also there, peering in the window from the terrace or perhaps hiding behind a shelf of books, observing Stone Soup patrons when I had lunch there with both Laurenzos last month, following Eric Laurenzo’s wedding. Several friends stopped by the table to wish Patti and Steve well as I recall…., but for the record, Vice mayor Lucente was not among them. Perhaps Mr. Graham was wearing his secret reporter disguise that day so that he could observe the cafe’s comings and goings without being recognized! Kidding aside, can’t we agree that the willingness of young professionals to become involved in the growth and prosperity of their communities is entirely laudable? Eric Laurenzo and all of the other well qualified candidates for city attorney should really be congratulated for their willingness to serve their community in this way, all foregoing more lucrative opportunities available to them no doubt, in partnerships and private practices in larger cities. In addition, it shouldn’t be news to Mr. Graham that small communities everywhere are made up of generations of families who live, work and worship along side each other. Friendships are the natural ,necessary products of this willingness to become active participants in the fabric of a community. Most residents are thrilled and proud when the next generation steps up to assume positions of leadership and responsibility in local government. Unless there is something more concrete to offer than Mr. Graham’s suspicious musings about friendships and covert operations over lunch, I see no real cause for alarm here. Unproven allegations of political favoritism are never taken lightly and to offer them without any more proof than Mr. Graham has to offer risks damaging the public’s trust in their local government without cause. I’m certain too that if this matter is under discussion at all it’s discussed quite openly and very seriously as are all matters of this kind, and are most certainly NOT “bandied about behind the scenes” at City Hall as Chris Graham writes. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and a fairer shake than he has given the Vice Mayor, the Laurenzo family, the candidates for city attorney and local government officials at City Hall and say Graham must have had a very slow news day and a lapse in journalistic judgment to submit this poorly constructed fabrication for our consideration.
Thanks for your contribution, Ann. If I may ask, you’re suggesting that this is being discussed as openly and seriously. So why is it that you and everybody else in Waynesboro outside of the inner sanctum that is City Hall is hearing about it here first? Perhaps things aren’t being done as much in the open as you’re trying to say here. Which makes me wonder about your ulterior motive.
And since we’re on that topic, please do share more information about yourself. You seem to glee in taking shots at me, and yet at least I’m open and up front about who I am. I think it’s only fair that our readers know more about Ann Peirce. You know the Laurenzos well. We gather that. Please do share more – about your relationship to the Laurenzos, political leanings, employment, anything else relevant.
I have made my life an open book so that people can judge fairly the information that I provide knowing full well where I’m coming from. I ask that the critics who take the kinds of personal shots at me that you have here do the same so that we can make informed opinions about where you’re coming from.