Monday, August 20, 2012

MORE censorship by our town leaders

In the past, members of boards and committees could contact the LGC ( Local Government Center .. http://www.nhlgc.org/ ) to seek advice regarding procedures, revised statutes, state regulations and any other questions that come up during hearing processes. Our Town Administrator and Board of Selectmen now want to stop this from continuing and censor legal advice and information from the LGC to board members who have questions. Our tax dollars pay for this service and it should not be up to those questionable people in power to determine who has the right to seek out information. Once again they show exactly what their agenda is and along with Tedford's attempt to do away with due process, the public's right to be heard at their meetings, it's quite obvious what they seek is COMPLETE CONTROL !





15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not sure where you are coming up with censorship and control. As i read the minutes i see they just want to make sure everything goes through the chairman of each board and everything is in writing so everyone is on the same page and everything is documented. I like this idea because there will be documents and we don't have to believe 1 persons "interpretation" of what they think they heard during a phone call
To me this is the clarity we all want>

Don't Tread on Me said...

If it's tax payer money being spend for anything, from a single cent to what ever, it should & has to be totally open and transparent, PERIOD... There are no national security issues here, it's Winchester NH, Not NYC...

Anonymous said...

I agree with the first post, at least now there will be documentation and a record of the conversation instead of a phone call etc. Every board member will see in black and white the question and answer from the LGC.
I wish this happened years ago im often curious if what we are told is what was actually said by the LGC.
This is a step in the right direction.

FED UP ! said...

Oh sure great idea and who the hell is this "we all want" crap? I don't want this, I want people to be able to get the answers they seek without someone else knowing their business or being tipped off that they are under scrutiny for their shenanigans. Do you really think that this is about everyone getting on the same page, or just that those who are breaking the laws getting a heads up that people are wise to them? C'mon, this reeks of BS. After all these years why are we suddenly having all of these policy and regulation changes? I'll tell you why, because they are all guilty of breaking the law and doing whatever they can think up to cover their behinds. This has nothing to do with clarity, it is true censorship just as the Informers have reported. Change is good, but not the ones happening in this town. Secrecy, misinformation and now outright censoring of information, how much worse can it get?

this is soooo wrong said...

And you think Dean Beaman and Margaret Sharra and members of the BOS are going to submit questions about their conduct? You don't think they'll "misplace" those requests or change the wording to get a favorable reply from the LGC? Whose to know? if the person requesting the information can't have a one on one phone conversation and then request that information be forwarded to them in an email, how are they or we the public going to know if the answer is actually for the original questions submitted and not something else? Yes, I'm suspicious of a group of people who do everything behind closed doors and want to stop the public from participating in town government.

Anonymous said...

FED UP ! said...&this is soooo wrong said...
In your anger and hostility your not thinking about this clearly.
If some board member and we will use PB for a example called or emailed a question to the LGC the rest of the board and "us" never heard the question or LGC"s answer.
so who knows what really became of that.
Now the question will be reflected in the boards minutes and so wont the answer from LGC. If the Selectman as "you say" change the question or the answer then their asses will be in a sling and it will all be documented for the board members to see and eventually us VIA minutes.
If you drop the hostility and think about it this way you will understand how good this could be for us.
this is how I see it working.
the planning board will discuss a question they have for the LGC they will vote to have the Chairman contact the LGC. the town administrator will forward that to the LGC and the answer will come back in reverse. All this will be out in the open and reflected in the minutes. If censorship happens or question and answers are changed it will be plain as day and undeniable.
I love this idea and I hope the selectmen go through with it .

Anonymous said...

Its censorship! Not cencorship. For God sakes learn how to spell or use spell check. It looks ridiculous!

Anonymous said...

The information will be posted in the minutes, right. You are a jerk if you think that. Look at what gets put in the minutes now; nothing much and who does them? Why Ms. Sharra of course. 'nough said.

the Winchester Informer said...

We were just checking to see how many people would be observant to our "deliberate" spelling error .. and not the subject at hand. After over 100 views, you win, we will now correct it

Anonymous said...

Let me get this straight - Joan made it so that no one on any of the boards could contact the town's attorney unless it went through her. Now the other source of legal counsel (which is a flat fee) is now being directed through her.

Does anyone else get the impression that she wants to be in complete control?

It would be interesting to see if the LGC was told that no one has access to the town's legal counsel. But does anyone believe we will get that answer now?

It would also be interesting to hear if any of them consider this legal.

Anonymous said...

It's never a good idea to put the foxes in charge of the hen house. Why do you think Joan Morell no longer works in Hinsdale? As for Sherm and the rest of the crew, if they would spend less time trying to hide everything they do we'd have a better running town.

Anonymous said...

This isn't a way of hiding - this is there way of controlling ALL of the boards!

Don't Tread on Me said...

I also feel, they don't want the people to know they where told it was a bad idea and possibly illegal when they do something anyways...

Anonymous said...

Selectmen have NO authority over any other elected official, chairman or otherwise, and have NO authority to stop them from contacting the LGC for advise. The LGC is there for ALL elected officials and any of them are entitled to seek any advice they choose.

On the other hand, Bart Mayer represents the selectmen, and they can filter information from both directions. Sad but true.

The easiest thing is to not accept anything anyone says the LGC said without demanding it in writing. Way too much business has been conducted, based on what some official said they were told by attorneys. Frankly, some of that information filtered through officials with nothing in writing has been misrepresented or even fabricated.

Don't believe anything someone says somone else said. Demand evidence.

Elected officials -- stand up to the selectmen and the town administrator and exercise the authorities of your offices. You don't report to them, you report to the people who elected you.

Sue Newell

???????? said...

Is that Leaders or Bleeders?