Little Pink House_ A True Story of Defiance and Courage - Jeff Benedict [156]
Goebel’s best asset was his military background, but it was also his biggest liability, Greene had come to observe. The military couldn’t survive without a rigid, top-down approach of giving orders and getting results. But democracy only worked when power flowed from the bottom up—from the people to elected leaders. Goebel never seemed to appreciate the public-relations implications of trying to run the politically empowered NLDC like a military unit. There might have been legal grounds to issue eviction notices, for example, but it was a lot like spanking a child in public: the law might permit it, but it always looks brutal when a big person strikes a little one.
Under Goebel’s leadership, the NLDC had gone too far this time. The city council was looking for a reason to can him, and the eviction notices fit the bill. Greene knew the city would not back down—Goebel had to go. And so did Joplin.
To save the agency, Greene felt obligated to speak his mind. “I have a lot of respect for you,” Greene told Goebel. “You’ve taken a lot of hits. But I think you should resign.”
Goebel disagreed.
Greene tried again. “You can stay on as a consultant,” he said. “But you can’t be the lead guy. We gotta move forward.”
Steve Percy jumped to Goebel’s defense, lecturing Greene and declaring adamantly that Goebel would not step aside. Ignoring Percy, Greene told Goebel that he had met face-to-face with members of the city council and learned that the council was considering a lawsuit against the agency.
“Mat, you don’t know everything,” Goebel said.
Greene didn’t like the sound of that. “Well, I’m your legal counsel. I should know everything.”
The implication was that the NLDC was also contemplating legal action against the city council.
Greene reminded the board that the NLDC had been created to do a specific job. “We weren’t created to become a political body,” he said. “Let’s do it and get it done.” The board was not persuaded. It decided to back Goebel and Joplin. Steve Percy publicly dismissed the city council’s demand to remove Goebel and Joplin. “The loss of their leadership would significantly undermine the ability of the NLDC or anyone to carry out the goals of the MDP [municipal-development plan],” he told the press.
Greene resigned and washed his hands of the agency he had represented for nearly eight years. Three days later, the city council formally voted 6–0 to cut ties with the NLDC within two weeks.
The state knew it had a serious problem on its hands. If New London dissolved the NLDC, state law required the city to appoint a successor, a new agency to implement the municipal-development plan. Additionally, the NLDC had its name on scores of contracts with vendors, developers, and lending agencies. Every contract would have to be revised to reflect the change in agencies. All of this was going to take lots of time, money, and lawyers to sort out. Clearly the city council hadn’t considered any of this. Rather than looking ahead at the long-term implications, the city council had reflexively decided to teach Goebel and Joplin a lesson.
Despite the state’s dissatisfaction with the NLDC, the prospect of seeing the development plan fall into the hands of an inept city council was pretty scary. The state had $70 million on the line. It didn’t want to see a dysfunctional political body of ever-changing personnel and unpredictable personalities end up in charge.
Governor Rell turned to her deputy commissioner of economic development, forty-one-year-old Ron Angelo, a fast-rising star in the administration who had the kind of skill set a governor needed in times of political crisis. Angelo had an instinct for seeing the finish