Mary Kerwin seems like a lovely person. She used to serve on the Troy City Council and Troy’s Planning Commission as well as volunteering for PTA and PTO organizations at several Troy schools. She also volunteers at her church and several community organizations like the Troy Historical Society.
The world needs more Mary Kerwins! Hurrah for active, engaged citizenship!
For all those reasons and probably others, Leadership Troy named Kerwin their 2012 Troy Distinguished Citizen last month.
The Troy City Council followed suit, issuing a proclamation honoring the city’s “distinguished citizen.”
That’s nice.
What’s not so nice is what happened when Troy Mayor Janice Daniels presented the proclamation to Kerwin at Monday’s Council meeting.
For some reason (maybe voices in her head told her it would be a good idea) The Janice interrupted reading the proclamation to say Kerwin’s “Distinguished Citizen” honor was awarded by the “Troy Democrat Club.”
For starters, there are two kinds of people on the planet. The first kind of people understands the Democratic Party’s name is the Democratic Party. The second kind are the clinical morons who say Democrat Party.
More importantly, Kerwin’s award—as we’ve said before—did not come from the Troy Democratic Club. It came from Leadership Troy, which is made up of “representatives from various community organizations, businesses, and individuals that strive to promote Troy community improvement programs, the exchange of community information, and provide a venue to recognize volunteers and corporate citizens that positively impact the quality of life in Troy.”
A shocked Kerwin and the Council gallery attempt to make that fact clear to Daniels. After receiving the proclamation, Kerwin used the moment to thank volunteers who work to improve Troy and encouraged others to lend a hand. Nice.
Still, too bad that what was supposed to be a brief moment to honor an active community member became yet another embarrassing exercise in ignorance by Troy’s distinguished mayor.
Janice Daniels, don’t ever stop being you. -- JTW
