Two Ousted Mayors Aren’t Going Quietly
Seat Pleasant, Maryland, Mayor Eugene W. Grant State of Maryland
One has rebranded himself as the “mobile mayor” while the other files a lawsuit.
Two U.S. mayors have been kicked out of their respective city hall offices for very different reasons—and they aren’t happy about it.
One has pitched a tent on his city hall’s front lawn while another is asking his state’s Supreme Court to order him be allowed back in.
In Seat Pleasant, Maryland , a small suburb just outside Washington, D.C., Mayor Eugene W. Grant has been conducting business in a tent outside city hall after the city council voted earlier this month to evict him from his office space after numerous complaints of verbally abusive behavior toward city employees.
As The Washington Post reported :
Grant said he coined Seat Pleasant’s motto, “A city of excellence,” to usher in a culture of high expectations and felt justified in calling out staff members who didn’t meet them.
“I don’t have a quick temper just for the sake of having a quick temper,” Grant said. “I’ve had people that, for whatever reason will not comply with. . . directives the way they are expected to be done.”
Grant held a ribbon cutting for his “mobile office” on Friday.
Other Seat Pleasant officials have said that Grant isn’t actually barred from conducting city business at city hall, according to the Post . It’s just that he can’t be in his actual office space.
In response, Grant has rebranded himself as the “mobile mayor.”
According to his new website :
If the people can’t come to City Hall to meet with the Mayor then the Mayor will go to the people whom ultimately he serves. Therefore, the idea was that the Mayor would be Mobile and I have become the #MobileMayor.
However, being mobile has its challenges too. Where would we meet the people? Another idea came to mind and that was a tent. Yes, a simple popup tent that could go anywhere. To that end, I will travel throughout the city setting up my tent and table to meet directly with the people. Equipped with my laptop, iPad, cell phone these tools will help me to stay connected and deliver services better.
Meanwhile in Florida, Michael Pizzi, the former mayor of Miami Lakes , is suing to get his old job back after a federal jury found him not guilty on seven counts of bribery and extortion earlier this month.
Governor Rick Scott suspended Pizzi after his August 2013 arrest .
With the not-guilty verdict, Pizzi and his legal team argue that the governor is obligated to revoke the suspension.
Scott’s office has said that Pizzi would not be reinstated as mayor because Miami Lakes voters filled the position in a special election two months after the mayor’s arrest, according to WVSN-TV .
“They have a mayor now,” Scott said, according to The Miami Herald . “They had an election.”
The current mayor, Wayne Slaton, has pledged to stay in office through 2016 .
Pizzi and his attorneys are not pleased and are asking the Florida Supreme Court to order the governor to reinstate Pizzi.
“I should have been reinstated as mayor two seconds after the verdict finding me not guilty and exonerating me,” Pizzi said during a news conference on Thursday . “His conduct is unexplainable and inexplicable,” Pizzi said of the governor.
WATCH: Michael Pizzi’s press conference
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