Did Salem Council Embarrass Itself?

If you were one of the Salem residents that tuned in to the SATV-feed of Thursday night's City Council meeting, you may have thought it was stuck on a continual loop.

It wasn't.

The 10-member council met until 2:30 a.m. and voted 300 times trying to appoint a successor to now state Sen. Joan Lovely, who until recently was president of the council. She resigned to move to the Senate, leaving a fractured council seemingly incapable of choosing her replacement.

The council was deadlocked, five to five, between two candidates Steven Pinto and Lucy Corchado throughout the night. At 2:30 a.m., they voted seven to three to recess until Tuesday at 7 p.m. to try again to select the 11th member of the council.

So, we have to ask: did city Salem city council members embarrass themselves Thursday night? Did you expect that the councilors would have found a way to reach some kind of compromise?

Or is the real problem with the procedure for picking a replacement? Maybe the councilors made the best of an absurd situation by remaining loyal to their candidates?

How would you settle the deadlock? Rock, paper, scissors? A coin flip?

Share your opinion with your neighbors in the comments section below.