"I have since written to the CCA anddisaffiliated myself from them," she said. "[Theyare] propelled by ambition andself-aggrandizement, and not dedication toprinciple."
After the voting, Galluccio and Duehay stoppedto talk to reporters in the council chamber.
Responding to questions about his cross-partyvote, Alliance member Galluccio pointed out that"It's important to remember that two years agoRussell was elected when Duehay broke party ranksto elect Russell. This year we did [the same thingfor him]."
Vice-Mayor Galluccio explained that he "wasconcerned about the voting process dragging on. Iwanted a compromise mayor that I could work with."He added that, "my job is to elect the best mayorthat is electable, I'm comfortable with what we'vedone."
In good spirits, Duehay rebuttedTriantafillou's comments, and declared that hewasn't acting for "personal gain" and pointed outthat he didn't lie to Triantafillou.
"I did vote for her, then I changed. When thevotes came to me, I decided to take them. When Italk to her, I'll say I did what was best for thecity," the new mayor told reporters.
When asked by angry spectators why he voted forGalluccio as vice-mayor instead of using Reevesand the other four CCA votes to electTriantafillou as vice-mayor, Duehay said that"he's not going to denigrate anyone," and thenconcluded with a remark that enraged spectators,"I voted for him because he voted for me."
With this, one angry woman shouted that thecouncil had "no integrity," and was just "a bunchawhite straight men," perhaps a reference toTriantafillou's openly lesbian lifestyle.
Another spectator, Maura Pensak, called thevoting "pretty pathetic," saying that she was"disturbed that there was obviously an agreementmade by Duehay to vote for another party becausehe voted for him."
Changes To The System
In an interview yesterday, Triantafillou spokeof her distaste with the present voting mechanism,by which a councillor needs a clear majority of atleast five votes to win.
"What it essentially means is that we've beenthrough a two-month process of haggling amongstourselves, and it's basically not a publicprocess," she said. "It's a lot of negotiatingbehind closed doors about who's going to vote forwho, and it's very destructive."
Triantafillou suggested either adopting apopular mayoral election, a debate betweencandidates followed by a council vote or a systemwhereby if no majority is reached by Jan. 1, themayoral candidate with the greatest support withinthe council would become mayor.
"I think it should be done differently. Theprocess needs to be open to some sort of publicscrutiny," she said. "This way it's an uglycontest of personalities.