Everyone buys gas and checks out at a counter, so you’ve all probably locked eyes with a smilin’ Frank Russo. The former Auditor had his beaming mug tacked up on every single gas pump and cash register in the county, and since his exit into jailbird stripes, the stickers have hung around, a cheery reminder of the days when Russo and company ran a direct pipeline from county coffers to their bank accounts.
Times are changing. County honcho Ed FitzGerald’s office recently sent out a press release alerting us media types that the Weights and Measures Department will be taking down Frank’s face and putting up new seals this week. So next time you’re filing up, get one last look for the road.
This article appears in Mar 9-15, 2011.
I’ll kind of miss the stickers. They always remind me of when I first moved to the area. Some of them are getting vandalized, and it makes me feel bad even though he sort of deserves it. I doubt there’s any legal reason why his mug has to be on the stickers, and it was probably just his politician’s ego that was behind their inclusion.
I will miss pulling into a gas station and seeing a blindfold drawn on his face or jail-cell bars adorning it.