I am writing as a long-time resident of alder District 2, in response to your recent article about outgoing Ald. Bridget Maniaci. I appreciated the balance of your article in taking Fred Mohs’ critical viewpoint of Ms. Maniaci into account; of course, journalistic balance on your part and habitual decorum on Mr. Mohs’ part has limited how far each party might go in expressing criticism of Ms. Maniaci’s tenure. I have no such restraints and would like to fill out the picture with my own experience with this troubling and frustrating official.

I first met her when she was campaigning against Brenda Konkel in late 2008, and I expressed my concern about the invasive building project behind Acacia Fraternity. I recognized her evasive, oily manner as a too reliable sign of what was to come. I saw her at work in the recent neighborhood, committee and town council meetings relevant to the proposed redevelopments on Iota Court, as well as in a meeting my landlord called regarding an ongoing noise problem that a resident tavern has caused for the other occupants of our State Street building.

I watched her take total control of neighborhood committee meetings, turning them into question-and-answer only sessions, where they had for decades been forums for give-and-take discussion. I watched her attempt to simply disregard hands that had been raised in the air for a half-hour. I listened to her in after-meeting discussions with residents as she delivered veiled threats invoking actual boundary lines and rights of easements might cause the city to invoke imminent domain. I watched her do her level best to shut down my landlord, his property managers and the attending residents in trying to find a volume level for the tavern that did not literally rattle pictures hung on the wall.

I watched her slide away, on all occasions, from any kind of question for which she had no glibness ready.

In all cases, I watched her sing and dance to the tune called by her real paymasters, who were generally not residents of the district or even Madison proper.

Politics is about deal-cutting, and there is always slime and dirt in the system. Maniaci consistently lowered the bar even further. I can’t even call her cynical, as a true cynic has some notion of the ideals and values they offend – I do not think she has a sense of anything except expediency, which she pursues with a lithe reptilian flexibility you normally see nearer to the Oval Office. I am beyond relieved to see her go. Because I think her actual vision, talents and intellect are rather modest, I wish her to head to much larger political arenas, where she will be an anonymous drop in the bucket. On the level I have seen her operate, she was a toxic presence in the local pond. Good riddance, and godspeed to some far destination to you, (former) Ald. Maniaci.

Benjamin Pierce ([email protected]) is a resident of Alder District 2.