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Today's Poll: Should the background material given to council members be released publicly prior to the council meeting?

By Howard B. Owens
Timothy Paine

As a former candidate (2 years ago). I would have loved to have had that information available to me in a package. It was public information anyways so what's the big deal? I would always get it eventually, but not in a package. It would take a little bit of time to compile it, as it was given to the Council members. They're acting like "it's my ball and I don't want to share it!". I understand the whole ploy about protecting what's yours, and why would I give someone running against me any help at all. But really, what's the big deal? I would be more afraid of being accused of trying to keep things a secret then just giving out the package. All a candidate would have to do is write a few articles about "with-holding" information (even though it really isn't) and getting some press, positive for them and negative for the incumbent. Albany and Washington are no different. The longer someone is in power the more they want to play keep-away. Last night three of the four votes against sharing came from our three longest sitting members, they don't want to share. Are they really that far above us or that elite? We're not talking about sending one out to every household, just making three more copies. There are so many more important things to discuss and they wasted time on whether Hiedi should make three more copies of public information. It was sad that the three candidates weren't in attendance as Rose so appropriately pointed out against her own party's candidates. They were probably at home reading the "secret" material so they can get caught up. Better to be reading it at home than watching the circus decide about getting the information packet or not.

Aug 11, 2009, 9:01am Permalink

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