The Abuse Of Power By Lisbon's Public Officials

THE ABUSE OF POWER

As far back as February 17, 2009, when Chief Brooks verbally attacked Councilor Roger Cote has the abuse of power by Councilors been going on.  Then Chairman Michael Bowie allowed Chief Brooks to violate paragraph 7 (Decorum) of the Council Working Rules during a Town Council meeting.  It was apparently preplanned because Chief Brooks had his entire posse in attendance. 

Editor's note: Click here for a refresher: Part 1

                                                                            Part 2

 Chairman Bowie did absolutely nothing to neither enforce the Council Working Rules nor protect a fellow Councilor from being attacked by a Department Head and his posse.

This outrageous behavior by Public Officials to belittle residents by name has become a normal occurrence by Councilors.  Councilor Pomelow did the exact same thing in her farewell speech without Chairman LaRochelle making any attempt to enforce the Council Working Rules.  Councilor Pomelow cannot say she was unaware of the Council Working Rules because she was instrumental in writing these rules. 

 It is clear that the Town Charter and the Council Working Rules mean absolutely nothing to Councilors because they violate them on continual bases.

Last night at the Town Council meeting the trend continued.  Chairman LaRochelle, during his farewell speech, attached three citizens by name.  Chairman LaRochelle had the audacity to challenge our values after he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and refused to acknowledge the problem.  Because Dot Fitzgerald, Joe Hill and I would not let it go, Chairman LaRochelle finally acknowledged the problem and paid the back taxes but not the Interest and Penalty.

My parents raised me to accept my mistakes and accept the punishment but Chairman LaRochelle tried to ignore the problem and then used his position to get out of paying the Interest and Penalty on back taxes owed.   

So tell me Chairman LaRochelle, who has values and who does not?

(Editor's note:  Brooks how is your Credibility these days?)

Councilors have tried everything in their power to keep the Public from knowing what is really going on in this community.  The three of us who write for The Lisbon Reporter and the LisbonMaine.net blog sites do this to bring the truth to the community.    Councilor Pomelow accused me of printing false information so I started posting documents I receive from the town through Freedom of Access Act (FOAA).  It has become necessary to utilize the Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) program because the council refuses to answer questions by the Public.   

 Can you imagine what life would be like if when a citizen had a question and asked the council; the council would provide a truthful response?  It is common knowledge that if you ask the Town Manager for any information he will provide either false information or half-truths.

There is absolutely no transparency of local government in Lisbon.  This town council has restricted free speech from its citizens.  Requiring the citizens to confine their comments to agenda items and ONLY during Audience Participation, is a clear violation of our 1^st Amendment rights to free speech.  Also, these restrictions are clear violations of the Mission Statement of the town.  The town council continues to ignore fair practice law and the established policies of the community.

Dot, Joe and I are only trying to make this community better.  We spend the time to attend meetings and ask questions which the council refuses to answer with the truth.  It is easy to double talk some of the people but it is hard to double talk all the people.   

 It has been said on numerous occasions that we are hurting the community by pointing out the behind the door dealings of the town but the truth is we are trying to clear up the deceitful actions of the town council. 

Why is it, if the town council is doing everything right, the town council refuses to answer questionable actions by the council?  Let’s start with a simple question.  What is the “Unfavorable Expenditure” identified in the annual Audit and how much did it cost the town?

Larry Fillmore