In the name of democracy and freedom, let’s keep council meetings open
A lot of us saw this coming.
In a meeting that lasted barely 15 minutes, less time than an average coffee break, our brand new city council voted 8-2 to approve the Peter Nevin buyout June 5.
Only councillor Mike McCoombs and Deputy Mayor Nancy Lordon voted against the motion made by Coun. Rupert Bernard and seconded by Coun. Brian King, the last two remnants of our former council.
This micro-meeting followed in the wake the first “real” council meeting where the first bit of business was to herd the press and the public out of the room so a behind-closed-doors in-camera session could be held to hack-out the fine points of approving the Peter Nevin buyout. The only thing missing was the cliched cloud of cigar and cigarette smoke made famous by countless similar backroom deals of days-gone-by.
I can’t say I’m the least surprised. Well, there goes a couple hundred grand our cash-starved city could have put to better use. I don’t know about you, but when I think about the thousands of Miramichiers forced migrate across the continent to make a buck, while this guy gets handed a huge chunk of cash for nothing, well it kind of turns my stomach.
But, that’s the way she goes, so lets put that little tidbit behind us and focus on something a lot more disturbing.
Our new council for whatever reason seems to think they can operate behind a veil of secrecy, away from what they seem to percieve as the prying eyes of the public and the press.
No doubt the previous council was a bit of a circus, with screeching, hollering, finger-pointing and snide comments the order of most days, but at least they mostly did their thing out in the open.
But not this brand new, right-out-of-the-box council, who wouldn’t want to look like their not all friends patting each other on the back and singing coombiyah.
And you better get used to the secret meetings councillor Jason Harris told reporters for this newspaper following the council meeting.
Expect more private information sessions before public votes, Harris said, adding it’s necessary for council to present a united front when in the public eye.
Hmmm. Seems they’re wise to the ways of the world. Public discussions draw public attention which draws public criticism. Better to hide behind locked doors, scream and yell and raise hell there, and then make nice and smile pretty out where the reporters and photographers and taxpayers can see.
But it’s It’s all baloney and dangerous to boot.
Lord Acton said, “Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.”
The Roman statesmen Cicero gave this speech on the floor of the Roman Senate in 42 B.C. More than 2,050 years later, it still rings true.
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear.”
And last but not least, physicist Neils Bohr, a man who won the Nobel Prize and was a whole lot smarter than anyone sitting around this council table said, “The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.”
So, in the name of democracy and freedom, let’s keep council meetings open from now on.
In a meeting that lasted barely 15 minutes, less time than an average coffee break, our brand new city council voted 8-2 to approve the Peter Nevin buyout June 5.
Only councillor Mike McCoombs and Deputy Mayor Nancy Lordon voted against the motion made by Coun. Rupert Bernard and seconded by Coun. Brian King, the last two remnants of our former council.
This micro-meeting followed in the wake the first “real” council meeting where the first bit of business was to herd the press and the public out of the room so a behind-closed-doors in-camera session could be held to hack-out the fine points of approving the Peter Nevin buyout. The only thing missing was the cliched cloud of cigar and cigarette smoke made famous by countless similar backroom deals of days-gone-by.
I can’t say I’m the least surprised. Well, there goes a couple hundred grand our cash-starved city could have put to better use. I don’t know about you, but when I think about the thousands of Miramichiers forced migrate across the continent to make a buck, while this guy gets handed a huge chunk of cash for nothing, well it kind of turns my stomach.
But, that’s the way she goes, so lets put that little tidbit behind us and focus on something a lot more disturbing.
Our new council for whatever reason seems to think they can operate behind a veil of secrecy, away from what they seem to percieve as the prying eyes of the public and the press.
No doubt the previous council was a bit of a circus, with screeching, hollering, finger-pointing and snide comments the order of most days, but at least they mostly did their thing out in the open.
But not this brand new, right-out-of-the-box council, who wouldn’t want to look like their not all friends patting each other on the back and singing coombiyah.
And you better get used to the secret meetings councillor Jason Harris told reporters for this newspaper following the council meeting.
Expect more private information sessions before public votes, Harris said, adding it’s necessary for council to present a united front when in the public eye.
Hmmm. Seems they’re wise to the ways of the world. Public discussions draw public attention which draws public criticism. Better to hide behind locked doors, scream and yell and raise hell there, and then make nice and smile pretty out where the reporters and photographers and taxpayers can see.
But it’s It’s all baloney and dangerous to boot.
Lord Acton said, “Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.”
The Roman statesmen Cicero gave this speech on the floor of the Roman Senate in 42 B.C. More than 2,050 years later, it still rings true.
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear.”
And last but not least, physicist Neils Bohr, a man who won the Nobel Prize and was a whole lot smarter than anyone sitting around this council table said, “The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.”
So, in the name of democracy and freedom, let’s keep council meetings open from now on.
posted by Street Wise Guy | 5:12 AM
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