Having learned a little bit about what I am now calling the “restoration mayors” or the “restoration generation” (has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it, better than “good old boys”) who according to Bill Plant’s articles in the Newburyport Daily News were the first of their generation to end the Bossy Gillis era, I realized I knew zip about Bossy Gillis himself, except that he was one of Newburyport most colorful characters.

I will admit I haven’t been to the archives at the Newburyport Public Library yet, and I haven’t gotten hold of what the library has told me is the book on Bossy Gillis. So all I know so far is what I’ve learned on the World Wide Web, which really isn’t that much.

I’ve learned, to quote Bill Plant, the Newburyport Daily News, November 24, 2003, that Bossy Gillis was “honest, tough, resilient and, when aroused, politically cruel.” That, “His fiscal policy was clear and consistent. Don’t spend any more than you have to for anything, and if that meant letting things go, they usually went.” I guess that means that Bossy Gillis was the ultimate “fiscal conservative” (see earlier post on “fiscal conservative”.) And that, “His political philosophy was simple and effective. Take care of your friends first, and never your enemies.”

I learned from other sources that he was “the people’s mayor.” That Bossy Gillis was a “outspoken, two-fisted, red-haired, Irish navy veteran.” This is from nationarchive.com. And on a forum somewhere on the World Wide Web I learned that Gillis was convicted of criminal libel, and campaigned from his cell at the Middleton jail.

What I’ve always liked about Newburyport politics is that yes, at its worse it’s about ego, and yes at its worse it’s about power and control, but from what I’ve seen that for our political leaders it’s never been about greed. And one of my questions has always been, was Bossy Gillis corrupt, like in money, greed, corrupt, because I had heard that stuff about the jail but didn’t know any of the details (and frankly I still don’t exactly know a whole lot of the details.) And the answer so far seems to be “no,” which continues to say a whole lot of good things about Newburyport, Massachusetts.

So, from what I can make out, the “Bossy Gillis years” and the “restoration years” have been about survival, not greed.

Now blog readers must be wondering where in the world the editor of the Newburyport Political Blog is going with this one. Well, the editor (me,) along with a whole lot of other people, has observed that within the last couple of years an amazing amount of money has come into Newburyport, Massachusetts. And yes, we have one very wealthy new landlord, Mr. Karp, who has not said a whole lot publicly about what he would like to do with all the property he now owns in Newburyport, Massachusetts (see earlier posts.)

This kind of money on this kind of scale always worries me. Obviously it worries a whole lot of other folks too. Obviously we are all going to have to wait to see how this one plays out over the years and decades. But I surely hope that this kind of money doesn’t stamp out Newburyport’s feisty spirit that is so manifest from all kinds of political points of view. And I also hope that as a city, politically we can keep the worse case scenario to “ego, power and control” and never go to “money, corruption and greed.” Pollyanna? Maybe.

What happens in a community after survival and rebirth? One would like to think it could be the celebration thing, but could it be the greed and entitlement thing? Scary thought.

Mary Eaton, Newburyport