The time is now for Joan Shannon’s comeback in Vermont’s largest city

By Ted Cohen

The tart-tongued ex-city councilor who turned otherwise-boring meetings into can’t-miss theater ought be poised for a comeback.

If Joan Shannon isn’t considering a political revival then all is lost in Vermont’s largest city.

Burlington already has burgeoning crime, homeless drug-addicted street bums and graffiti-plastered, vacant downtown storefronts.

But something is sorely missing – the Democrat who spent 20 years throwing verbal daggers at Progressives.

Shannon was already measuring the drapes in the mayor’s City Hall digs two years ago when suddenly out of nowhere came, yes, a so-called Progressive.

Emma Mulvaney-Stanak yanked the coveted mayorship from the self-appointed princess-in-waiting.

Mulvaney-Stanak not only defeated Shannon, she humiliated her.

The city’s socialists came out strong for the first-ever LGBTQ mayor in Vermont history to exploit her sexuality as an alleged benefit to governance.

At last blush, Shannon retired from city politics to focus on the job she claimed along was just a side hustle – selling real estate.

Unfortunately, gone were the council fireworks, last evidenced when she openly blasted her political nemesis for blocking her from inspecting city homeless shelters.

That was the last straw for the indignant Shannon who chose not to seek re-election to the council and instead effectively told the city – in Dick Nixon style – “you’re not going to have Joan to kick around anymore.”

But now that Mulvaney-Stanak has made a mess out of running the financially-strapped, crime-ridden city, it’s high time for Joan Shannon to bring back her saber-toothed shiv.

When she announces soon that she will be yet again running for the mayorship the first thing she should say is, “no I won’t be taking free meals as the mayor did in the ultimate stick-it-in-the-eye to the city taxpayers.”

After all, amid all the problems she has running the city, Mulvaney-Stanak’s biggest political faux pas was accepting offers of free meals for her and her spouse, who is also on the city payroll and who with the mayor draw down a combined $200,000 in salaries.

Amid outrage from city taxpayers of all stripes, the beleaguered mayor issued a statement portraying herself as a victimized female.

“Women, especially women with small children, are underrepresented in elected positions because of the lack of support that exists to help their families while they run for and serve in office,” the mayor said, defending accepting welfare. “I am grateful to my friends and community for helping to support my family with home-cooked meals while I am doing the important work of being mayor.”

In behalf of those who believe Joan Shannon made politics a fun-to-watch bloodsport, the plea goes out.

No one can argue with a straight face that it really matters who is sitting in the corner office, what with the welfare-driven liberal masses who are really in charge of Burlington, Vermont.

But at least the strapped taxpayers would get good entertainment for their hard-earned money.

Mulvaney-Stanak, who is now two-thirds into her three-year term, has refused to say whether she has the audacity to seek a second go at it.

The door is wide open for Joan Shannon.