I was working on my laptop the other night when the message below came in. It appears as though Ward Four Councilor David Narkewicz, Ward Six Councilor Marianne LaBarge, and Ward Three Councilor Elect Bob Reckman have been communicating with other City Councilors outside of public meetings and may have been conspiring to derail aspects of the Best Practices initiative. It appears the City Council vote taken the night of December 6, 2007 was fixed and that some of the councilors were merely acting as if on stage.
Tune into Cable Access Channel 15 to watch the meeting or you can hear the Best Practices portion of the meeting in a new context from the Community Radio Hour with Paolo Mastrangelo and Mary Serreze here: (Firefox seems to work best.)
Clearly inappropriate gestures have been made, and possibly open meeting laws have been broken by our elected officials, or at least the spirit of the laws. The next time you ask yourself why people are losing faith in our government, you’ll know the answer.The perception this gives off is about corruption, not transparency.
It appears that Ward Seven Councilor Ray LaBarge was the only Councilor Reckman did not contact. I think the email speaks for itself:
From: BobReckman@aol.com
To:Suppressed
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 3:31 PM
Subject: Re: tonight
Dear All:
I am sorry to hear that Mary has the flu. I have heard from 5 members of the Council that they support eliminating the requirement that people who serve on the best practices committee not currently serve on any City Board or Commissions. I did not hear from Marilyn or Jim Dostal and did not contact Ray Labarge. I believe that David Narkewicz has arranged for Marianne Labarge to propose the change we would like to see. I am not worried about its approval and plan to watch the meeting on TV from the comfort of my home.
Thanks;
Bob ReckmanConstruction and Design
I am sorry to hear that Mary has the flu. I have heard from 5 members of the Council that they support eliminating the requirement that people who serve on the best practices committee not currently serve on any City Board or Commissions. I did not hear from Marilyn or Jim Dostal and did not contact Ray Labarge. I believe that David Narkewicz has arranged for Marianne Labarge to propose the change we would like to see. I am not worried about its approval and plan to watch the meeting on TV from the comfort of my home.
Thanks;
Bob ReckmanConstruction and Design
Planning and Consulting
Home and Work 413-584-8905
Cell 413-695-0281
