By: Diane Benjamin
At Monday’s Council meeting Tari shut off public comment. Unless the rest of the Council refuses to tolerate it, citizens have a much smaller voice at City Hall now under Tari.
The rules say 15 minutes is allotted. 3 minutes for 5 speakers weren’t a problem before Tari’s agenda was revealed because 5 people didn’t show up to speak. Now there are frequently more than 5. Suspending the rules for public comment was Tari’s idea in the first place! He is responsible for the rules being suspended months ago.
Think back to January. Tari delayed the start of a Council meeting because he had an IWU student set to attack Judy Stearns. The student was late. Tari is ON VIDEO grabbing a comment card from the clerk so little Brexton could get it filled out. Then Tari asked the Council to vote to suspend the rules since more than 5 speakers had signed up. See this post: http://blnnews.com/2015/01/29/remember-the-iwu-kid-who-tried-to-vilify-stearns-last-Monday/
Tari changed the rules Monday because it fit HIS purpose. Since January the Council has voted to suspend the rules – at the Mayor’s request.
Monday night Tari choose to skip a vote because it fit HIS purpose. He doesn’t want to hear from citizens on video where the whole City can see it. Citizens in the future may head to City Hall to speak and not be allowed. He may have been trying to keep Hauman from making a fool of herself again if Fistbump had been allowed to speak. If she walked out, and took anybody else with her, she would have continued to show how little she respects the opinions of any Cities 92.9 listeners. At least one other speaker was also denied the right to speak.
Tari: You claimed the cards were shuffled. Nobody believed you.
The question now is: What will the rest of the Council do?
Sit back and allow Tari to trample on the rights of citizens to address their government?
Will they allow Tari to make Council rules without a vote? I’d love to see the Council vote to suspend the rules and see who says NO. Hauman? Hauman? Buragas?
Karen Schmidt: You have stated numerous times that citizens have a right to speak. Did you change your mind?
I look forward to the answers!
Council members aren’t leaders. They’re followers, just what Tari wanted. Even if they disagree w Tari, they’re too wimpy to challenge him!
By the rules: If an individual is not able to speak due to the time limitation, said individual shall be given priority to speak at the next meeting of the City Council or Board or Commission, as may be applicable. (Ordinance No. 2014-82).
“Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.” – Saul Alinsky, “Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals,” p. 126