UPDATE: The Council backed down on its decision to ban the CDTC spokesperson from speaking, the CDTC spokesman spoke and Tom Gentz attempted to deny the council ever voted to block him from speaking.
By a 3-1 vote, the Town Council will not allow rep of the Democratic Town Committee to speak
By a 3-1 vote, the Town Council will not allow rep of the Democratic Town Committee to speak
By Will Collette
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| Slattery - SHOCKED that a political group would speak before the Council |
In an action reminiscent of the bad old days of Jim Mageau, a Council majority, led by CCA’s candidates Dan Slattery and Tom Gentz with support from Marge Frank, voted to deny the request of the Democratic Town Committee to have member Tim Quillen speak on behalf of the committee at the September 12 Council meeting. Councilor Gregg Avedisian argued against the motion and voted no. Councilor DiBello was absent.
If you watch the Clerkbase video of the Council’s meeting on Wednesday, September 7, you will see Councilor Dan Slattery denounce the very idea of a person coming before the Council to represent a political group. Slattery served as President of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA).
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| Council President Tom Gentz: "We're trying to stay apolitical as a Council" Gentz and Slattery ran at the top of CCA's 2010 endorsed slate. |
Slattery was supported by fellow CCA Councilor Tom Gentz who said he “didn’t want a bunch of political things” and that they “were trying to stay apolitical as a Council.” Gentz is the serving Secretary of the CCA.
The Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) is, among other things, a state-recognized Political Action Committee or PAC. See its most recent campaign finance report by clicking here.
There is no basis in law nor support for this position in the Council’s procedural rules. According to the current Council rules:
5.8 Public Hearing (re: ordinances and/or amendments): The public hearing portion of the agenda shall be conducted as follows: The Town Council President will invite the applicant or his/her representative to give a brief explanation of the item for the benefit of the Council and the public. Members of the public shall then be permitted to speak on the item until all who wish to speak have had an opportunity to do so. Members of the Council shall reserve their questions and comments until after the public has spoken. The Council President in his/her discretion may allow brief, clarifying questions by the Council or brief discussion when such will be likely to expedite the business of the Council. After the public discussion is finished and the Council has had discussion, the Council President will close the public hearing. At this point, a motion is made for a decision to approve, deny or table the item.
As President of the CCA, Mr. Slattery himself frequently took the floor during Jim Mageau’s 2007-2008 term of office to lambaste Mageau and his colleagues on behalf of the CCA. And if you look through the old Council minutes, you’ll see lots of examples of group spokespersons who have stood and spoken before the Council for their organizations on a wide range of controversial topics. Without objection.
But that was then – when Slattery was not in power – and this is now – when he is.
Seems to be that there is a case for some sort of action here, but don't know if the cost would be worth it. As you note, though, if the CCA--definitely a political group--was able to speak, then turnabout is fair play. However, this is the CCA-dominated Town Council we're talking about and I'm sure the term "fair play" was eliminated from its dictionary except when it refers to them.
ReplyDeleteNice to hear that the Dems are now political thugs. Count me in--I always wanted to be one.
lin
Actually the CCA website no longer lists a secretary at all, but Tom Gentz is still shown to be on the Steering Committee.
ReplyDeletehttp://progressive-charlestown.blogspot.com/2011/07/csi-charlestown-cca-decoder-ring.html
I guess they no longer record minutes for their meetings.
How can anyone be surprised by the CCA's actions here? Mr Gentz has unfairly acted in a variety of ways regarding the public's comments since he was sworn in....CCA are the biggest hypocrites in the entire town...
ReplyDeleteWell, color me surprised. I had this wacky idea I was living in a democracy. How foolish of me.
ReplyDeleteMr. Collette- On it's face, this seems very unfair. Is it possible for you to present as a private citizen, and announce at the end that these are the views of the Democratic Town Committee?
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I don't think that your blog should publish "anonymous" blogs. It is wrong when CCA does it and just as wrong when you do
Will,
ReplyDeleteYou're kidding, right?
davespop
This is not a satire piece, Dave. They really did take the vote. Listen to it on Clerkbase.
ReplyDeleteAnd Irwin, we could do that, but there is no basis in law or the council's own rules that should allow this Council to create a discriminatory ban on the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee from having its representative speak before the Council.
And amen to your comment about anonymous comments - as you've probably noticed we've been struggling with this issue.
We now routinely block anonymous comments that add nothing to the discussion and are still debating whether to block all anonymous comments.
I'd been asked by several people, inside and outside of the town hall if this situation ever happened. Not during my tenure it didn't. Monday night should be interesting. I hope ClerkBase is up and running so I can watch.
ReplyDeleteRay says he will be there, running Ray-TV, in his wheelchair!
ReplyDelete