Saturday, December 01, 2007

Getting stuck with a loser

Poor Poteet. They have a sex offender for a mayor, and they can't get rid of him. And Ken Rodriguez, columnist for the Express-News, minces no words.

Poteet stumbles into December, red-faced and hung over with shame.

The city not only has a registered sex offender as mayor, residents must admit they re-elected Lino Donato when he was under indictment for child indecency.

What was that vote again?

Oh yeah, 62 percent for Donato, 29 percent for the nearest challenger.

...

The DA could have made resignation part of the deal. He didn't. So Donato stayed, and turned Poteet into Strawberry Hell.

As it stands, the mayor can hardly walk through town without violating terms of his probation. City Hall is off-limits. So are schools, bars, playgrounds, swimming pools and the town youth center. Donato can't even attend the annual Strawberry Festival.

As a sex offender, he can't go near gathering places for children. He's barred from establishments that sell alcohol. But by golly, he gets to call himself "mayor."

Again, poor Poteet.

Seriously, though, can't the residents of that town force a recall of this guy before the next election in 2009? That's a long time to have a loser who doesn't know when to call it quits as the leader of your city.

2 comments:

Dave said...

This guy is scum and he is even scummier for not stepping down and living in shame privately.

Having said that, you'd think that some fancy lawyer could advise the remaining council (who I understand can have a quorum without the mayor present) on how to pass a town ordinance that excludes child molesters from serving.

Never mind... I think I hear the ACLU coming...

Albatross said...

Yes, the town charter may be due for a rewrite.