The prospect of political heat may have kept two longtime community leaders in Warren out of the kitchen, metaphorically speaking.

And The Insider loves to speak in metaphors.

Joan Flynn, who served on the county Board of Commissioners for 16 years, and Larry Kutella, a 40-year Fitzgerald Schools board member, recently attended their first meeting as members of the Warren Redistricting Commission.

Their March 8 appointment to the boundary board had been bottled up for several weeks by the Warren City Council. A few local activists took Flynn and Kutella to task for not attending previous meetings, instead watching silently from afar.

Why? "The council dragged its feet," said Flynn, insisting she did her homework after three previous boundary board sessions.

Kutella felt he and Flynn were in a no-win situation had they attended in an unofficial capacity.

“If we would have showed up, someone would say, ‘What are you guys trying to do?’” he said.

A potential argument scaring off seasoned officials -- in Warren, no less?  Did the Insider hear this correctly -- or are his ears still ringing from the latest Warren City Commission meeting?