Mayor Dave Cieslewicz has sent a barbed thank-you note to Mark Bugher, who resigned Monday from the city's Economic Development Commission with an unexpected blast at the mayor.
Bugher, once a key Cieslewicz ally in the business community, left in protest of the mayor's choice of Bill Clingan to fill a top economic-development position in city government.
Cieslewicz praised Bugher for their work together in addressing various issues, but said as mayor his job was "not to rubber stamp the [hiring] preferences of the selection committee."
That committee, by a 4-1 vote, had ranked an economic development official from southeastern Wisconsin as the best candidate for the city job.
In his letter, Cieslewicz said he hoped that Bugher as director of the University Research Park and as board chair of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce would give Clingan "a chance" to prove himself.
"There is no question in my mind that I made the right choice in this case," Cieslewicz told Bugher.
The complete text of the letter is available as a PDF at right.
