2/28/08 – Something
happened at the February 26, 2008Longmont City Council meeting
that so far has gone unreported, and is very troubling.
Below is the video:
Let me set
the stage, as the video alone may not explain it all.Late into the meeting around 10:30pm,
the council was voting for members of various boards in the city.First, there was some discussion on the nominees, a motion, and a
vote by a show of hands.When
it was time for the Cable Trust
Board, the eligibility of one of the nominees,
Charlie Fellenbaum, was
discussed followed by a motion by
Councilmember Santos that
Stephanie Baum be appointed to this board, followed by a second, then a
call for a vote.Here’s where
it got interesting.
Councilmembers
Blue,
Santos,
Hansen, and
Mayor Lange raised their hands,
signaling a majority of council.Turn the volume up and you then hear
Councilmember Benker saying “NO”.As the camera changes angles, she’s clearly saying that towards Mr.
Hansen, hand still in the air.
Mayor Lange looks exasperated as he says “Hey
Karen?!” as she’s clearly out of order.Yet she just takes over the discussion, clearly angry over what just
happened.She goes on to
comment about Mr. Fellenbaum, who wasn’t the subject of the vote, and even
claims he has “more
interest than the other candidate”!She ends her tantrum by throwing herself back towards her chair in
disgust.Mayor Lange rightly
points out that there was a motion, and a vote.
Hopefully
most of you see what’s wrong here, but since I know some of you will defend
some of these councilmembers no matter what, I guess I have to explain it.I don’t have my Roberts Rules
of Order handy, but this was so blatantly out of line it’s not even
funny.How often do you see
councilmembers, during a vote,
telling other councilmembers how to vote?Never for me.TheMayor is the
chair of this committee, Karen
Benker wasn’t recognized by the chair, the chair was making it clear with
his words and body language that he was not thrilled with her behavior.Didn’t stop her though, did it?
So, was
Brian Hansen expected to vote a certain way?It’s not inconceivable that he misheard
Fellenbaum for
Stephanie Baum.But what if he really meant to vote the way he did, who is Karen
Benker to tell him “NO”?I thought each member was independent?I haven’t harped on this “Benker
4” or “bloc of 4” since the
election, figuring I’d evaluate each one separately.And some members of council have been making noise about the general
public tearing into the new members.Do you want to know why?THIS is why.The point was just proven.
In a
private letter to Brian Hansen, who is my ward’s councilmember, this is what
I said about this so-called ‘bloc’: “The accusation and assumption (of a
bloc) is a lack of independence by individual members, and a
vote-by-committee agreement or arrangement.What transpired Tuesday night only reinforces that mindset.”
So what
was reinforced?The opinion
that, a) certain councilmembers
pre-coordinate votes as a group, b)
perhaps their nominee was a plant - who on council knows him? What were the
circumstances of his nomination?I’ll leave it to someone else to connect the dots, and there are
dots.c) Don’t cross the group or show
independence without pre-coordinating
that – or face the wrath,
television cameras or not, and, d)
parliamentary rules be damned, there’s an agenda to be pushed.
Personally,
I’m getting pretty tired of councilmembers like
Sean McCoy and his weekly
insults (that now include the Times-Call and its TC-Line) and
whining about citizens
perceptions of the new council.
Those perceptions now have some base in reality, as proven above.So please, tell me, with a straight face, that you don’t discuss as a
group upcoming votes.That you
think it’s alright to skirt the rules plenty of other councils have abided
by.That it’s okay to tell
other members how to vote during a meeting.This is a disgrace.
One thing
I try to keep in mind, especially with my kids, is that it’s easy to
remember the truth – there’s only
one version of it.But when
you are scheming behind the scenes, and there are a few people involved,
it’s not as easy to keep your ducks in a row,
now is it?
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