Well, uh, at least the Pledge of Allegiance wasn't contentious...

Whoo-eee. Just got back from the first official meeting of the newly seated Town Council, and the agenda was thick with high-profile issues, the majority of which were kicked a bit further down the road into workshops (for which I have a suggestion up my sleeve).

In a delightful bit of seasonal fun, the Fire Department Santa, who drives around all the streets in town, ho-ho-hoing and giving out candy canes, paid a visit just as the meeting was kicking off. That was the last bipartisan moment of the night.

You know you're off to a rocky start when the Council can't agree on appointing new members to the Tree Commission. And that was just a table-setter.

Sewers
Bob Gilstein reminded the new Council that the question of a Wastewater Management District vs. a bond issue for sewering the (North End of) town had been studied to death, and with the DEM now breathing down the town's neck, it was time for a decision. Council President Canario thought the recent letter from DEM was an attempt to "strongarm the town into sewers."

Bob Drake, one of my neighbors here in Island Park, gave a forceful and articulate overview of missed opportunities over the past years, and urged the council to answer the right question: "How do we resolve the pollution, as opposed to how do we get the DEM to go away." The last thing you want, he said, is to implement a WMD, force IP residents to upgrade their septics (at a cost of >$15K) and then discover a couple of years down the road they need to pay again for sewering.

Canario rightly suggested that with two new members, there needed to be another workshop to bring everyone up to speed; that will be scheduled for January.

(In the meantime, why not start the discussion over at a new community site Mark Katzman and I have been noodling with -- a blog/forum site for Portsmouth. Not ready for prime time yet, but if you're reading this (and you know who you are), go take a peek: PortsmouthCommunityForum.com. Thoughts, suggestions, participation most welcome.)

Charter change
Following the Tent Meeting last August, there was widespread dissatisfaction with the Financial Town Meeting, and Councilor Len Katzman proposed asking the Town Solicitor to draft some language that would preserve direct democratic input on the budget, but take it out of the Tent and make it a real vote.

And then (if you can forgive the partisan spin) the efforts began to run out the clock. First, the "independent" on the Council, Karen Gleason, proposed amending the language to be "automatically invoke a vote any time the Town Council budget exceeds the state cap." (When I pointed out to her during recess that this would not address a systematic effort by a future Council to underfund the schools, she replied, "Well, they'd have Caruolo." "Uh...and you'd really want their only recourse to be Caruolo?" I asked.)

Larry Fitzmorris said he was "uncomfortable with the Council amending the Charter," until the Town Solicitor read him the authorizing passage (Section 8, Article 13) of the Constitution of the State of Rhode Island.

Huck Little suggested that we really ought to add the question of why the Town Council has a vice-president to the referendum.

Then Pete McIntyre had the bright idea of adding the sewer/WMD decision to any referendum.

(Get the picture? Add enough crap to push the thing past the '08 budget cycle.)

Salvatore Carcellar, a citizen who had proposed the Charter change in the first place, got up and did a great job at showing what was really at issue:

  1. Everyone did not get a vote at the Tent Meeting, including our people in the Armed Forces, for which "we should be ashamed."
  2. The voting process was not anonymous, dividing neighbor from neighbor
  3. The process wasn't informed -- there was no way of understanding what was at issue, or what impact the proposed cuts would have. "There was only one informed decision that could have been made -- to leave it alone."

Where it all came out was another workshop, to be held January 27th, at which former Charter Commission members and the public will have at the language of a revision. (Already started a forum topic to discuss this one too...)

Caruolo
Solicitor Kevin Gavin urged the Council, since they had not concluded their discussion, to pass it back into Executive Session. James Seveney made the modest proposal that, given the timeframe, it might be prudent to at least schedule a workshop with the School Committee to explore common ground, and man, you would have thought he was proposing that they microwave Mother Theresa.

Larry Fitzmorris reiterated his position that the Town Council lacks the authority to make any changes in the budget, so if they were planning on a meeting with the School Committee to think about any stipulated agreement, they better think again. Town Solicitor Gavin reminded him that state law saw things differently.

In an interesting aside that probably shouldn't have been aired in open session, Karen Gleason said that she didn't want to schedule a meeting "until they hire a legal team and get some legal advice." That leads one to think that the "independent" as well as the Republican/PCC bloc on the council is going to fight to have Gavin recuse himself because he has children in the schools, and run up the town legal bill by hiring lawyers, an additional fee they can lay at the feet of the School Committee.

Nonetheless, the idea of at least looking at a meeting with the School Committee seemed to have enough support, and they'll get back to them prior to tomorrow night's meeting.

Also, I can't resist, another installment in the continuing saga of Jamie Heaney. After the Economic Development Committee presented their report, of which one major victory was securing access to a low-interest 2.6m bond opportunity for wind turbines, potentially sited at the Middle and High schools, Heaney got up and said, "You should involve the school committee." The members of the EDC sort of looked at each other for a moment before saying something like, 'we've been talking to them for months.' As if they were going to have a major proposal for locating a giant freaking turbine on school property and not talk to the committee?

But I digress.

Warning: Severe geeekiness. No really...

sandwichOkay, I know I've really exceeded my geek quotient when Karen comes downstairs, looks at the thing I'm chuckling over, and shakes her head in total, blank disbelief. "And this is funny...why?" Shrug. "If you're a Linux admin..."

Via XKCD (Want it on a T-shirt?)

Linc sinks Bolton; pisses off Bush

The questionably qualified recess appointment to the UN finally gave up the ghost, unable to advance from committee, largely at the hands of our own Lincoln Chafee. Even following his loss in November, Linc stuck to his principles and resisted the Administration's last-minute effort to ram Bolton through. Listen:

"I have long believed that the go-it-alone philosophy that has driven this administration’s approach to international relations has damaged our leadership position in the world. Mr. Bolton did not demonstrate the kind of collaborative approach that I believe will be called for if we are to restore the United States’ position as the strongest country in a peaceful world," Chafee said.

"This would be an appropriate time to choose a nominee who has a proven ability to work with both sides of the political aisle, a history of building strong international relationships and a reputation of respect for the institution of the United Nations."

Bush issued a statement today condemning Republicans, like Chafee, who opposed Bolton.

"They chose to obstruct his confirmation, even though he enjoys majority support in the Senate, and even though their tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time," Bush said. "This stubborn obstructionism ill serves our country."
--Via Projo

Get that? You call for someone with "proven ability," "history," and "reputation," and the President calls you obstructionist.

I sincerely hope we get the chance to vote for Chafee again. He is not a "politician," but rather in the best tradition of "servant leader."

Portsmouth Caruolo suit filed

Just hit the ProJo newsblog. In a delicious synchronicity, the total of the B&E deficit plus the other expenses turned out to be $1.1 million. That made me laugh out loud. I bet Fitzmorris will pop an artery. They're going to get it all back, Larry. Prepare to cough up $180 in taxes. Have a nice day.

The requested funds include an estimated deficit in ordinary expenses of $770,167, as well as $125,000 to pay for an efficiency audit of the school system and a little more than $200,000 for legal fees connected with the lawsuit.
-- Via ProJo

Gore's smart, gutsy GQ interview

The whole interview is well worth reading, but there is a wonderful gem that captures the fire that Gore has shown in his stump speeches since his "defeat" in 2000. Responding to a question about the Bush administration [read: Bush, personally] ignoring the series of warnings about Usama bin Laden in the summer of 2001:

"And you know, I’m even reluctant to talk about it in these terms because it’s so easy for people to hear this or read this as sort of cheap political game-playing. I understand how it could sound that way. [Practically screaming now] But dammit, whatever happened to the concept of accountability for catastrophic failure? This administration has been by far the most incompetent, inept, and with more moral cowardice, and obsequiousness to their wealthy contributors, and obliviousness to the public interest of any administration in modern history, and probably in the entire history of the country!"
—From GQ Magazine

Sigh. RFK in 68, Gore in 2000. There are a couple of much happier alternate universes out there, somewhere...

PCC leader admits budget cuts too deep

"Top Chef" was a re-run last night, so Karen indulged my preoccupation with cable access and watched Monday's School Committee meeting again. And she caught something I missed: In Larry Fitzmorris's summary speech right before the Caruolo vote, where he's warning the SC not to usurp the electors, he talks about the deficit of "770K, which I think is more like half a million."

"Did he just say that?" Asked Karen. "He just admitted that they cut too much."

Yes, in the way that off-hand comments can inadvertently reveal the truth, Fitzmorris, by apparently agreeing that there was a 500K deficit was tacitly admitting that the PCC cuts at the Tent Meeting went too far.

Now I'm sure that Fitzmorris will deny that's what he meant, but here's the guy who said "The Tent Meeting was not the place to compromise" admitting that his proposed cuts are directly responsible for a 500K budget deficit.

If the PCC wants to talk about accountability, I can tell them where to start.

Portsmouth goes Caruolo

There is a wonderful, chilling scene in the movie "Dead Zone," where precognitive schoolteacher Johnny Smith touches a Presidential candidate and has a vision of a grim future nuclear holocaust. "The missiles are flying. Alleluia," says the gleefully insane Martin Sheen.

Despite my obvious elation at the party-line 4-3 vote taken by the School Committee tonight to engage attorney Steven M. Robinson and pursue a "Caruolo" action in Superior Court, I couldn't shake the feeling that the PCC has been waiting for just this moment, whipping its adherents into a fine frenzy, and that there are missiles aplenty just over the horizon.

They certainly had the PCC camp out in force at the meeting, well rehearsed in all their arguments:
-"If this was a business/I've run businesses for 40 years and let me tell you..."
-"This town is already divided too much."
-"Town Charter blah blah blah." [paraphrased]
-"How did you get us into this position without accountability?"
-"You need an audit of the entire process and the value to the community"
-"You threaten to sue the town because you lack the courage to comply with the voter-approved budget."

PCC leader Larry Fitzmorris summed it up nicely: "The decision to sue the people of Portsmouth is an attempt to subvert the decision of the people at the Town Meeting. The Charter reserved [the right to change the budget] to the meeting in August. Your vote is a statement that you don't accept that authority and that you are replacing the electors of Portsmouth."

Against all that rhetoric, let me cite the strongest evidence for the other side, advanced inadvertently by Jamie Heaney. In explaining his vote against going Caruolo, he said, "I ran on a platform of opposing Caruolo, and that's the way I'll vote."

What was probably not immediately obvious to Heaney is that the converse is also true -- the 4-3 majority of the School Committee is patently the will of Portsmouth, res ipso loquitur support for Caruolo, as Rob Schulte pointedly noted: "Or Carpender wouldn't be here."

And, lest we focus too much on just the laws the PCC happens to like, Mark Katzman reminded everyone, seeking a "Caruolo action is following the law just as much as the Tent Meeting."

The PCC can't have it both ways: you can't claim that the people spoke on August 19th, but not on November 7th. And you can't claim to defend the Town Charter and just ignore Rhode Island General Law.

Oh, but they will. They've threatened to sue the town, and now their bluff has been called. The missiles are flying. Alea iacta est.

Army Stoned! Another day, another recruiter sting...

Earlier this month, ABC7 NY did an undercover piece you can read here where they sent folks with hidden cameras into recruiting offices, and discovered the most marvelous things: the war is over, nobody is being sent over to Iraq anymore, and you have a higher chance of being killed ordering lunch at Subway.

As if that wasn't surreal enough, CBS4 Denver duplicated the scam, but pushed on the "moral waivers" that have been more generously granted to spur enlistment. And guess what? Criminal records for possession are no longer a problem. In fact, people get high in the Army, according to one recruiter: "I have smoked, but you can't smoke all the time or you will get busted."

How about being a gang member? "That, in and of itself, does not disqualify you." You'll be in good company:

"From 2004 to 2005, the number of recruits brought into the Army with serious criminal misconduct waiver jumped 54 percent, drug and alcohol waivers increased 13 percent and misdemeanor waivers increased 25 percent."

Of course, past performance is no guarantee of future behavior. In America, even a drunk driver can grow up to be President.

PHS Drama Club show roasts the "tax dictator"

PHS Drama ClubIt is said that satire is a mirror in which we see every face reflected but our own, but I don't see how anyone in the PCC could have missed the point of the Portsmouth HS Drama Club's production, "Oh no! Not my ___!" This was a highly enjoyable evening of theatre with passion, dark wit, and some really fine performances.

Lights up on the fictional town of Salisbury, which has decided to solve its financial problems by appointing a dictator. Played in delightful over-the-top style by Tyler Goodman, his first official act is to abolish all taxes, substituting usage fees for everyday activities like eating, peeing, thinking, and talking.

Naturally, those townspeople most prone to excess wind up getting nailed by the dictator's henchmen, who wander through scenes slapping Post-It tax bills on the unlucky. They congregate around Alyssa (Sara Fiore) -- who is getting taxed for repeated rationality -- hoping for an answer, but to no avail. "My bladder is the size of a cantaloupe," whines Brooke (Christie Perkins). "Guess I'll go home and eat a chair," mutters Blaine (Ken Hawes).

But not until Brooke is hauled off to jail for not paying her urination taxes do the townspeople rebel. By that time the town optimist (Charlotte Kinder) is sighing heavily, the talker (Kathryn Boland) has resorted to Charades, and foodie Blaine is literally out in the audience, chewing on seats.

The townspeople manage to confuse the tax collectors with beautifully executed nonsensical activities ("I don't know why you had me do it with a stick...but it's done.") and force their way into the dictator's lair to free the trapped Brooke.

Along the way there are delightful sharp-elbowed jabs at the tax rebels in general ("They are soulless creatures who don't care who they walk over as long as they're on top.") and the dictator in particular. Caught by his henchman in the downward dog, he hides behind his desk yelling, "I don't do yoga!" All this is accompanied by clever dialog and deft staging (in one delicious bit of business, the captured Brooke is made to pose, arms outstretched on a box in an evocation of Abu Ghraib).

And just in case you might have missed the authors' message, Alyssa confronts the dictator: "As a member of the community, you're responsible to support it."

Kudos to all the cast for both planning and execution of this collaboratively-written reductio ad absurdum, director Andrew Katzman's crisp direction, and choreographer Johanna Josefsson's nicely staged finale, an appropriately upbeat number called "Save Our Schools." Bravo, all.

Fearless in Ohio

Jennifer Brunner, the first woman ever to be elected Ohio Secretary of State, has a wonderful essay in HuffPo about how important that role is, how she dealt with the attack machine, and how she dealt with her fears:

I've faced and examined my fears and used them to better understand how I must live my life. I believe that as humans, we must love and care for one another and serve each other, and that this is our highest calling. When this is the focus, it becomes easier to examine fears and understand how they can deter us from our calling. It also becomes easier to examine our fears with objectivity and learn from them.

Like many others, I've overcome obstacles great and small, and have tried to use my experiences to encourage and help others to reach their full potential. I became a candidate for Secretary of State of Ohio, because I saw as a judge how public service allows a person to do much to help others, serving the best interests of family, faith and community. I learned early on that by speaking the truth and not being afraid to do the right thing or make the tough call--and working hard for what you believe in--you can achieve what you seek, in this particular case, preserving democracy in Ohio and for this country.
-- via the Huffington Post

Secretaries of State do matter. Especially in Ohio.

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