October 2, 2011 MUS Commissioners Nominate Three, Including Their Own George McGuffin, for a 5-year Term on the MUS Board

The MUS Board of Commissioners (George McGuffin, Harold Nichols, Gene Jolley, Lynn Elkins, Max Biery) met on September 29, 2011. The Board wasted no time in nominating three individuals for the seat currently held by longtime MUS Board member George McGuffin.

The three persons nominated by the MUS Board are: George McGuffin, Mike Davidson, and John Allen.

Max Biery made the motion, and in less than two minutes the three were selected by acclamation. Click on the video. [MUS  has rescinded its previous "no-taping" edict, unofficially allowing its 9/20/11 meeting to be taped and voting "officially" at its 9/29/11 meeting to allow taping of its meetings with a few restrictions.] 

At City Council's October 4 meeting, Mayor Danny Thomas will submit one of the three names to City Council for Council's approval or disapproval--just as Thomas has done on FOUR previous occasions. 

Thus far, the LeBel/McGuffin group has rejected all FOUR of the Mayor's previous selections.

With several councilmembers in his pocket or in the pocket of his friends, McGuffin has successfully blocked the appointment thus far of mayoral nominees Mike Minnich, Glenn Thompson, Carroll Fowler, and Wally Long.

Based on the track record of the LeBel Five (Paul LeBel, Claude Jinks, Bob Garrett, Kay Senter, and Chris Bivens), the Mayor's nomination of anyone except George McGuffin at the October 4 meeting of the City Council will be shot down quickly with the LeBel Five insisting that no one within the city limits can take George's place on the MUS Board.

Paul LeBel, who is also a county commissioner, supported  George McGuffin's son Frank in Frank's race against Mayor Danny Thomas in May 2011.  LeBel has never gotten over Danny Thomas's  convincing victory over Frank McGuffin, dislikes Mayor Thomas, and has voted FOUR times to reject all FOUR of Mayor Thomas's previous nominees. 

LeBel is determined to oppose almost any idea, suggestion, or innovation by the man (Danny Thomas) who defeated LeBel's personal choice for mayor (Frank McGuffin).  

LeBel has even resorted to sending out letters to councilmembers --outside of a public meeting--to get councilmembers to sign on to Paul's two-prong plan (1) to take away the City Mayor's cell phone and (2) to "timeshare" the City Mayor's office, purportedly so Paul and buddies can talk with their "constituents" in the Mayor's office at the City Center instead of in the nearby conference room or in council chambers.  

NOTE: LeBel managed a 24-vote victory over Charles Cook in the May 2011 four-man race for the at-large city council seat. LeBel is also a county commissioner, having been first elected to the county commission in a close race in 2006. During the past 5 years on county commission, LeBel has NEVER tried to "timeshare" any county office, has NEVER asked to use any space at the courthouse to meet with constituents, and has NEVER attempted to take away the County Mayor's cell phone.

Claude Jinks, whose daughter-in-law Jackie Jinks works at MUS, has voted three times to reject the mayor's nomination of anyone "other than George."

Bob Garrett, who worked at MUS for over 40 years and supported George's son Frank in Frank's unsuccessful May 2011 mayoral race against Danny Thomas, has voted four times to reject each of  Mayor Thomas's four previous nominees.  Garrett is in his first term on council with a term that expires in May 2013.

Kay Senter is another who has voted four times to reject Mayor Thomas's nominee.  Senter, who has been on council for years and years, will be up for re-election in May 2013 if she chooses to run again.

Chris Bivens, who rode the anti-incumbent tide to a victory over longtime councilmember William "Doc" Rooney, abstained once and then joined the LeBel Five, voting three times to reject the Mayor's nominee.

These are the five councilmembers who have banded together to let everyone in Morristown and across the state know that there is no one in the city limits of Morristown who can serve the next five-year term on the MUS Board of Commissioners except George McGuffin.

The LeBel Five are being encouraged to hold firm and keep rejecting anyone other than George until January 2012 at which time the LeBel Five/George McGuffin intend to ask State Senator Steve Southerland and State Representative Don Miller to change the law so that the LeBel Five can officially put George McGuffin back on the MUS Board instead of simply blocking the Mayor's nomination of CPAs, business owners, and plant managers.

MUS is just another board where one appointment turns into another and another--until for all practical purposes it is a lifetime appointment with no one else getting a chance to serve until the appointed/anointed one steps aside or passes on.