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Aren't mayor and council the district's spokespeople?

Editor, The Record:

Re: New position to address 'communications deficit,' June 23 edition.

The situation demands it, says Mayor James Atebe. A spinmeister to oversee every jot and tittle emanating from municipal hall. My word! I thought the mayor and council were the spokespeople for the district.

It can't be working out so well, as now we need a wordsmith to tell us how blooming marvelous things are here in Mission? An expert communication mouthpiece with a tall order: Make the bad news go away.

Ten district departments "will contribute financially" to the $88,000 cost. Will the mayor and council dig deep to come up with the coin to cover the benefits package? (The new hire will, no doubt, thank each one of them personally.)

But hey, listen up all you nattering nabobs of negativism (to borrow a phrase from William Safire), just read the lyrics to Frank Sinatra's Too Marvelous for Words.

This could be Mission's mantra, and could raise self-esteem. Or then again, it might possibly backfire with all the VIPs at municipal hall thinking of us as groupies and thinking themselves as celebrities, each one demanding their very own publicist like Hollywood stars.

That won't do.

E. Hanlon

Mission