TRENTON – In a comical and almost childish throwback to the elementary days of follow-the-leader, council members suddenly contracted a vicious case of the skip-sies during Thursday night’s meeting.
Jerell “Skip-to-my-Lou” Blakeley inspired the skip parade that was in full swing, confusing city clerk Dwayne Harris as he tried to referee over the council docket.
What started out as an undecided Blakeley asking for the clerk to come back to him so he had more time to figure out his vote quickly turned into another point of contention between the youngest member of the legislative body and the grizzly veteran, council president Kathy McBride.
Apparently growing tired of Blakeley’s skip-scotching, the leader of the legislative body ordered it to stop.
She told Blakeley that if he skipped his vote again he would be giving up his right to vote on that docket item.
McBride quickly hushed him like a oversized kid when he tried to fire back.
But when there was a break in the action, Blakeley made it “point of clarification” to ask the clerk whether he was allowed, per council rules, to skip his vote and have the clerk come back to him prior to McBride delivering her ballot.
The clerk agreed with Blakeley that he was entitled to do so, bringing an end to McBride’s power trip.
And so, practically skipping with joy, Blakeley proceeded to skip darn near every subsequent vote. He even showed off his language skills, professing to “skip” in Welsh, Swedish and other dialects.
Pretty soon, councilmen Joe Harrison and George Muschal joined in on the skipping fun, which caused McBride further annoyance.
Blakeley even tossed in a “yes” vote – oui – in French, apparently one step too far for the clerk who reminded him he only spoke English and all his votes had to cast in such.
Finally, Blakeley relented from skipping his turn feeling he had “made my point.”
