Was Senator Parry's single term on Waseca City Council predictive of today's budget flouncing?

Early today, the Star Tribune reported that Mike Parry's drama-queen behavior ended state government budget talks when he flounced out of the room.

A comment on the Hot Dish item notes how this sort of behavior isn't new for Parry. Indeed, it goes back to his first starring role in elected office, as a member of Waseca's City Council:

MarshallNJul 15, 115:30 pm

Parry has been one of the most vocal critics of Gov. Mark Dayton and his administration, even calling for the governor's resignation......... Mike Parry is a hot-headed drama queen who wants his share of the attention. This meeting is not much different than what he had done in the past to get himself booted out of the City Council.[emphasis added]

At the time of the special election, Bluestem Prairie readers in the Waseca area alerted me to Parry tumultous career in the single term he enjyed on the council until voters "booted" him out of office.

One issue for voters was his spotty attendance record as a council member. On December 21, 2009, BSP looked those issues in Looking at Republican contenders in SD26: Waseca's Mike Parry.

A far more troublesome issue during Perry's one-term tenure was his combative style. Bluestem looked at the impact of Parry's behavior on the City of Waseca's council, staff and voters in a series of special-election related posts.

One source of friction was generated by Parry's proposed resolution to sell Waseca's historic and beloved Maplewood Park, first noted in From Waseca's back pages: Mike Parry and Maplewood Park and Update on Maplewood Park story: more Mike Parry backtracking.

In a nutshell the Maplewood Park story is this: Parry talked to developers, offered a resolution to request proposals for the sale and development of the park, then spun his actions as intended only to call attention to the park's future when hundreds of Waseca residents raised their voices against the "plan."

And then there is Waseca confidential part 1: Mike Parry's deleted emails as metaphor, BSP wrote:

Did Mike Parry's treatment of a former Waseca City employee trigger fears of a lawsuit? Did those fears prompt a large severance package-and was the episode yet another reason voters ended Parry's career on the city council after one term?

Did Parry's deletion of emails in which city business was conducted skirt state laws? . . .

This post was followed up by Waseca confidential, part 2: Mike Parry's role on the path to paying a city employee "$51,000 to leave quietly" Bluestem looked at evidence of Parry's role in the departure of Waseca's development director, Mark Leiferman. Go read the post.

Two days before the election, Parry's combative style came up again via the Independence Party candidate in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly in the OPP:Mayor Roy] Srp called out Parry for Maplewood Park "lie".

Parry's behavior--now beloved of Senate Majority Leader Brodkorb and certain members of the working press--is nothing new. After this afternoon's tantrum, will a new set of voters see the wisdom of what Waseca citizens did after one term in the city council?

After all, Parry will be running in a new district in 2012, and the sabotage of the agreement between GOP leadership and Governor Dayton just might not look like a job recommendation to voters next year.

Image: Waseca Confidential by Tild.

 

Comments

[Christopher Collins]

I knew I heard this guys name before. He wanted to develop a historical landmark in my home town. He's a one term rep too.