Papadopoulos - the coffee boy is right out of the good ole boy playbook.
He was a necessary conduit and didn't need credentials for the task he was supposed to perform. In fact, credentials would have been too much of a lighting rod for questions and criticism.
They do this in city government all the time. If there is a private development matter that the city might have some desire to push through, they will make sure that there are no city professionals available at the meetings. For example, at a Planning and Zoning board meeting where a complicated retention pond was planned for a small community, the city did not provide a licensed city engineer to answer questions from the panel or for the residents. Instead, the Land development coordinator, who had no engineering license to risk, was there playing the role of Papadopoulos, using his ignorance to the city's advantage to push the meeting over the bumps and obstacles that would have slowed down the process.
In fact, the only reference to the city engineer was when the Land development coordinator stated that the engineer had approved the plans. This wasn't entirely true. Through a public records request it was found that there were quite a few letters exchanged between the city engineer, his boss and the developer's engineer. Nothing was set and changes were being made to the retention pond even after the last Commission meeting had taken place. It was a mess because the city commissioners and mayor had co-opted this private development for their own purposes and they had more than a few ordinary Papadopoulos types in the city government, as well as in our community to help them.
Same thing when the City went through a major beautification project. The board was manned with a lot of the good buddies who used the city platform to bully neighbors who got in the way. The strong words that were picked up on tape were incredible to hear. The city, instead of involving their own people to contact residents who would be impacted by their decisions, they instead handed it to civilians to make those contacts. They didn't even provide a lawyer to ensure that the board meetings were held with a civil understanding of private property rights.
Don't be fulled by the coffee boy label. You would be surprised at how willing an ordinary person would be to cross the line if it would make the people at the top happy. They need to be held accountable in the same manner.
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Wanted to post a Tom Tomorrow cartoon, but the archive is broken. 
