Tag Archives: Frederick Rushton

Joff Smith, “Rick” Rushton and Gary Rosen! Gak!!!

By Rosalie Tirella

Yup! That was my first, true, gut – “visceral,” if you want to get fancy – reaction when I heard that these three guys are most likely going to run for State Rep. Bob Spellane’s seat when he vacates it next year to become a grown up.

While I have always liked City Counilor at Large Gary Rosen, at 64 years old, he’s simply too old to run for this seat. It’s like he’s embarking on a political career when he should be … gardening. It’s strange: Gary dropped out of the Worcester mayoral race last month because he said he wasn’t up to campaigning. Too energy-sapping. Too much work. But he would have done pretty well (won reelection to his city councilor at large seat) if he had just kept his name on the ballot and spent the rest of the fall sorting his sock drawer. But yeesh, Gary, a run for state rep slot? How many people in Paxton know you? How are you gonna reach all these voters? Think of all the Gary-Rosen-for-State-Rep combs you’ll have to pass out!

It just goes to show you: some people are 9 parts ego and 1 part human being. Continue reading Joff Smith, “Rick” Rushton and Gary Rosen! Gak!!!

How dumb can they get?

By Rosalie Tirella

Why is it that we have a plethora of yahoos on the Worcester City Council? First there is City Councilor at Large Frederick “Ric” Rushton, whose trials and tribulations I chronicle in “Dope-o-rama” – ’cause he’s so dopey. Whether Rushton’s talking about the “vortex” in his brain or browbeating his council mates with a half-baked version of some historical event, Rushton never seems to get anything right.

Then there’s City Councilor Joff Smith, who, when recently complaining about the Asian Long-Horned Beetle in sentences cobbled together with thumb tacks and dangling participles galore, took his moron-ness to an even higher level: During a recent city council meeting Smith said that some of his conversations with officials reminded him of “episodes of Scooby Doo.” Scooby Doo?!

For the uninitiated, Scooby Doo was a 1960s Saturday morning cartoon – the star of which was a goofy Great Dane named Scooby Doo. Scooby had all these silly adventures with four 20-something kids (they’re Joff’s age) – one of whom always yelled: “Scooby Doo, where are YOU?!” Continue reading How dumb can they get?