Thomas MacMillan Photo
Alderman Jorge Perez won a Rubby for becoming president.
Alderman Doug Hausladen won for coining a phrase. Alderman Brian Wingate won for — allegedly — texting while driving. And Alderwomen Delphine Clyburn and Brenda Foskey-Cyrus won for swiping a podium.
Those lawmakers were among the honorees at this week’s annual “Rubbies,” the tongue-in-cheek end-of-the-year award ceremony honoring aldermen for notable achievements in 2012.
Aldermen convened in a City Hall conference room following the meeting of the full board Monday night. They munched on tacos and quesadillas from Oaxaca restaurant and hooted as legislative services chief Al Lucas read out the awards. He handed out the official Rubbies — rubber stamps, in honor of the occasional criticism of city lawmakers as a less-than-independent branch of city government.
The Rubbies are compiled each year by the Office of Legislative Services, the staff who help aldermen craft new legislation, record minutes, and keep records.
Officially, the awards come from “The Office of Legislative Services Academy of Arts and Sciences,” Lucas noted.
This year’s honorees:
West Rock’s Alderman Carlton Staggers took home the “Amazing Guidance” award for bringing in his son to play Amazing Grace for the board on his saxaphone.
Alderman Jorge Perez won the “I’m not a candidate, I’m the president” award for winning back his seat as the president of the Board of Aldermen
The “Vanilla Ice/Ice Ice Baby” award went to Fair Haven Alderwoman Migdalia Castro, for coming out strong against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program Secure Communities.
Downtown Alderman “Hop-Along” Doug Hausladen snagged the “Lyrical Linguist” Rubby for using the term “synergistic bliss” to describe a proposed relationship between cops and downtown ambassadors.
Democratic Party Town Chair Alderwoman Jackie James won the “Bill Clinton/Binders Full of Women” Rubby.
The award for “Sponsor Most Likely To Violate His Own Legislation” went to Aldermen Brian Wingate and Al Paolillo for putting forward an anti-texting-while-driving proposal that Wingate himself has allegedly struggled to comply with. It emerged that Wingate is especially prone to texting while driving during Giants games, allegedly.
Alderwoman Jeanette Morrison took home the “Etch-A-Sketch” Rubby for “undoing something the previous board did.” Morrison first proposed reducing a planned fee for parking at Lighthouse Point, then worked to eliminate it entirely.
The “Johnny On The Spot” Rubby went to Alderman Frank Douglass, who managed to show up at a crime scene in his ward before the police did.
The final award of the night was the “Candy Crowley/Any Podium Is Our Podium” Rubby, which went to Alderwomen Delphine Clyburn (pictured) and Brenda Foskey-Cyrus for stealing the show when a group of ministers showed up on Dixwell Avenue to protest against the alderwomen’s negotiations with Achievement First, the charter school organization that will buy the Martin Luther King school.