Steve pinto was removed by the voters in the most recent election. This should weigh on the minds of the councilors. The voters have spoken. We need new blood.

corchado and pinto at this point should be taken off the ballot because of the deadlock. its time for new fces and ideas in the city council not rehashed polititians

Carr should have persisted with his voting for Bill Legault.

Not only was Steve Pinto rejected (soundly) by the voters and turned out of office-- this is an individual who is extremely divisive-- recall his move to block the mayor from addressing the city council in March 2011 during the discussions over whether or not to extend the city hall annex lease agreement. The 5 councilors who are insistent on returning him to office are doing all of us a disservice. If Mr. Pinto wants to fight with the current administration, let him run for the office (mayor or councilor) and let the voters decide. I am publicly calling on my Ward 2 Councilor, Mike Sosnowski, who is generally a thoughtful and balanced public servant, to recind whatever commitment he might have made to Mr. Pinto and reconsider his vote.

At least this deadlock is making my future votes for city council candidates easier in the next elections. I won't vote for anyone who backs Pinto in the end, ever. This is the guy who through either his own stupidity or stubbornness nearly gutted the Salem Public Library.

Also, how many of the Councilors that are baking Pinto refused to have the CPA on the ballot because it was shot down by voters five years ago?

Too much of a "buddy system" in our local government.

This procedure for selecting a replacement does not make sense and needs to be changed. Sitting there for 5+ hours when you know no one will budge is plain crazy. They talk about elections costing money/time, well what was this?? When Joe O'Keefe said that he went through this in 1973 and it went to 70+ rounds of voting, I knew it was not a good sign. As Sinead said, after so many votes with no agreement, some kind of compromise needs to be made. I really think it needs to be brought to the voters, somehow, because this seat belongs to the city (how they all got there) and not to the insiders who will not budge. This is deplorable and not very encouraging to those with new ideas and insights who may be considering to run for office some day. This old school system needs some changing; let the constituents speak!

we dont need the council let the mayor kim run the show

I agree with Councilor Turiel:
https://www.facebook.com/TurielForSalemCouncil/posts/364456666983986

dump both candidates and start with a new group... If Pinto wants to win again in a year, drop out now. I think that's the best course of action for him. Would show that he's willing to compromise. I'd be more inclined to vote for him.

also, what is the point of voting 250 times if it's deadlocked? what is done between each vote?

Transparency is good, but WAY too much blah-blah last night. It took up so much time....and for what? Nothing was accomplished. It's time for new faces and term limits.

Jes A lot was accomplished last night .
A clear message was sent to city hall
No more rubber stamping at council ,or the planning board .
It won't matter who gets the seat . Council will be divided
Ed Wolfe

The major problem last night was lack of leadership by O'Keefe, he kept saying that the voting should continue until a compromise is reached, but he didn't suggest a single idea on how they could compromise. In fact in the early rounds of voting he blocked any discussion.

The only person that tried to seek compromise was Carr, he voted for Bill Legault in an early round of voting, but only Furey followed his lead. Perhaps Turiel should also have followed Carr's lead instead of now suggesting that the other Councillors should have done it.

As for Corchado now being labelled the original compromise candidate, you can't label her the 'compromise' if both sides didn't agree on it ahead of time, unless Turiel is now saying that a Councillor previously said he'd vote for her and is now voting for Pinto. A correct label for Corchado would be the second choice of Barcikowski supporters.

Personally I wish Barcikowski had put his name forward, as the runner-up in the election he had a more 'legitimate' claim to the position, and he might have actually ended up with 6 votes at the end of the night.

Ridiciulous and embarassing! No way should a councilor who was rejected by voters be put in there, and do not think Salem residents are dumb, city councilors who support Pinto, we will remember next time we don't support you!

Anyone should be able to see that 10 white men on the council is not fair representation of the city. If the deadlock can't be overcome, it is only right that a new woman or minority member of the Salem community should be appointed to the city council. Someone please offer a compromise...

Gayle I agree 10000%, it's a disgrace that not one woman or minority is replacing the only woman on that council!!

Bill Legault was on the ballot and he's a very active member of the community, go back and watch prior Council meetings, you'll probably see him sat in the audience. Bill's only 'failing' is that he's an independent voice, but that makes him the perfect candidate to be on the current council that's so cleanly split 5-5.

There was a disturbing comment made by O'Keefe last night during the voting. Something to the effect "if you've given your word to someone you're not going to change..." I understood him to mean certain councilors had committed in advance to a particular candidate-- which I regard as exceedingly poor judgment and poor politics-- as evidenced by the deadlock. If our current culture produces councilors who cannot figure out how to compromise, then yes to Jes, the procedure has to be changed.

Bill Legault should have been voted in to fill the vacancy.

If the council can't agree, then bring it to the people. I'd rather vote than watch another painful meeting like the one last night. Let the city decide. Just like I've decided to change my vote next election for my ward councilor. Giving a vacant seat to someone who lost his last election is a bad idea.

I did have to laugh when Pinto was asked if he would run again in the next election if he was selected last night. Of course, he did not commit and said he did not have a chance to speak with his family about it yet. Somehow I do not believe that.

If the deadlock is not going to change then one of the two should withdraw for the sake of the city taxpayers.

Corchado has nothing to lose by backing out. Pinto may end up being voted out again if he forces his way back in

Ridiculous waste of time last night. Idiotic to go through the same motions 300 times. The council owes Ms. LaPointe an apology at the very least.
I like Lucy Corchado and I like Steve Pinto as well, but neither of these two is owed a seat for any reason, gender, race, or otherwise. Bill Legault would make a fine compromise candidate and councilor. That would have been the sensible and wise choice under the circumstances.
The only good thing to come out of the most ridiculous and embarassing city council meeting ever (which is saying a lot) is the opportunity to dub in some funny stuff over the actual verbal nonsense. Perhaps the clips can then be posted here.

Basically tried to sell me on the merits of Pinto and when I said that it was sad that there are no women or minorities on the council, he told me that he doesn't vote based on gender. No he votes based on who else hates the Mayor as much as he obviously does, and who he's friends with. Surely he doesn't vote based on constituent feedback.

He actually tried to tell me that he likes Lucy, but that she doesn't go to the council meetings as Mr. Pinto does. Does he think I am dumb enough to believe that the fact of meeting attendance by Mr. Pinto influenced his vote and it had nothing to do with votes promised way ahead of last night's meeting, or political alliances.

I wrote this to my councilor:
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
300 votes into the early morning?

Might be time to try a different approach. I would say it's in Steven's best interest to withdraw. I know I'd be more inclined to vote for him in the fall if he bowed out now before it goes to another night of deadlocked votes.

I don't think it's good for him to be the center of this controversy for a year in the councilor seat. I think it would be better to prepare for a proper run in the fall. I think if he did get the seat in all this, it would sour the voters come election time and could hurt him again.

Hi. I was at the meeting last night, and i realize that the so called "Sunshine-Committee" that I was on, dropped "the ball" we should have proposed an escape clause for this situation. 250 Votes without intervening discussions is improper City Council procedure. It must be changed, the Sunshine-Committee should reconvene and suggest a change to the Council Bylaws to prevent such a show of immaturity.

Hans J Weedon.

the qween and her ten stooges arent going to change anything to suit the citizens of salem only themselves.lets face it the city council has been corupted for years even decadesand we as citizens only have one choice and that is to vote these people out of office as soon as possible.its bad enough that we can barely get someone to run against some of these seated councilors because of the good ole boy mentality in salem but people bite the bullet and vote these cronies out and change the way salem works and we have to start at the to and get rid of the qween.

As I have stated ,the next highest vote getter should get the seat. People keep saying Pinto was voted out so he should not get consideration. The fact is he received many votes from Salem taxpayers and that is not really the same as having no support. Think of it as if a person becomes disqualified , such as in an olympic event, the rest move up.It's pretty simple if we allow it to be. It would easily be the fairest solution. We can't continue to live by an old city charter that causes gridlock.

I am going to send this guy to the Salem City Council meeting on Tuesday night as I know for a fact that Councilor O'Keefe is possessed. Councilor Furey I am not so sure about.

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=Aod7JZ71TX94FlbGk7trA3GbvZx4?p=you+tube+the+exorcist+muxic&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-701

Whomever supports qween disgraceful should be passed on by. She has no interest for the community, but only for her own power and ascension to the top.

I write in Robert Allen of Beckford Street.