http://medford.patch.com/groups/joe-vigliones-blog/p/can-and-should-a-city-council-president-be-impeached
Higher standards is what the residents of Medford should seek from their elected officials. If the bar is set low by the elected officials, and the majority of 37,515 registered voters fail to show up on election day, concerned citizens need to look at remedies to hold those who get elected to their obligations to the taxpayers - be they citizens or businesses - to the civics groups, to the non-profits, to the boards and commissions created (ostensibly) to guide the legislators.
According to the Patch post on 2013 election results, Paul Camuso received a paltry 4,563 pats on the back - and that was the most of any elected official running for city council. NONE of them have a "mandate" and the 32,952 who didn't do the research on the city council and vote for city council have themselves to blame.
http://medford.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/2013-medford-election-results
Despite the incorrigible "media blackout" instituted by the Administration (try numbering all the times Mayor McGlynn's photo was in the Transcript, Mercury, Inside Medford and Patch and compare it to his opponent - Mr. D'Antonio - and the other officials up for office in this city) - despite the intentional shut down of access television (I offered to - and could have - put channel 3 back on the air immediately and wouldn't even have needed the closet at city hall to do it! What a fiasco!, to quote Adam Knight) - this writer utilized the People's Forum and the Patch to enlighten Medford residents.
One resident noted to me "did you see how they used Reverse 911 to solicit expired pharmaceuticals but didn't issue a Reverse 911 or two for an election!" It's true. This week Sgt. Barry Clemente has issued Reverse 911s for the Jingle Bell Festival or whatever it is called. 4:32 pm on 11/29 and 4:04 PM on 11/27. Has anyone written a public records request to find out the cost to taxpayers of these absurd and not helpful Reverse 911 calls? The money is probably astronomical.
Mayor McGlynn allegedly received 5,775 votes, meaning that 31,740
registered voters and over 52,000 residents did not vote for the man who would be King of Medford.
* * * * * So much for the higher standards brought up at the beginning of this essay. With no access television there was no opportunity to discuss the issues. The Mayor had his pal Jack Dempsey give all the candidates bad audio ("Speak into the digital! Speak into the microphone on the camera! was the alleged order!) Tucked away on the high school channel with most residents not even aware of which channel it is on Comcast or Verizon, and with no use of Video on Demand on Comcast, the message was stifled.
Let me quote the City Solicitor from November 15, 2008, five years and fifteen days ago. A speech that will live in Medford infamy:
“The one sentiment that I have heard that I take great exception to is that the city is trying to limit speech,” said Rumley. “The notion the city would censor or squelch free speech is baseless and as city solicitor I would find any such effort repugnant.”
OK, Mr. Rumley, you've had five years and fifteen days since you threw the gauntlet down and over ten years and 8 months since you and Diane McLeod and I met over the issue of the green card employee at TV3, allegedly called the "f#%#$g immigrant" and made to jump through hoops while suffering abuse at the hands of a now or soon-to-be-dissolved non-profit.
If a city lawyer is powerless to talk some sense into a 26 year incumbent, after logging complaint after complaint after complaint - complaints from Dr. Wood and the disabled community, from Allison Goldsberry, from Matt Haberstroh, from Chris Donovan, from CACHE, from people from all walks of life including a current allegation of racism lingering over the heads of the former board members (and isn't attacking a green card employee from Brazil also racism?), if a city solicitor can't talk sense to the lead official in Medford, you understand why the citizens would rather draft Willie Lantigua, disgraced soon-to-be-former Mayor of Lawrence, as their new leader. Sheesh!
SO, when a Council President forces his way in (see Ron Swanson's piece, linked below) and then threatens to hit a citizen with a big, dirty metal pipe, only to have that citizen find out that the council "president" was hit with a 1.8 million dollar complaint (one of three) and had to settle that one for $402,000.00 (about 85K in legal fees, about 317,000.00 in the settlement) well, heck, isn't that more money than Stanley and Steven Komins are accused of embezzling from West Medford Hillside Little League?
Why was it up to one citizen to uncover the situation at Wells Fargo which involved Council "President" Robert A. Maiocco? And why don't we have mechanisms in place to trigger IMPEACHMENT when a city official, overseeing our bloated budget, has such an absurd history as a "financial advisor." Because of the hackerama, nepotism and the blind leading the blind.
What is "impeachment" ???
Impeach means to charge someone with doing something wrong, specifically a high government official, such as the US president, a senator, or a Federal judge. Fortunately, very few presidents have had the dishonor of being impeached.
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/impeach
Here's some good news for Uncle Bob Maiocco and, possibly, for his nephew if the vote in January 2014 goes as expected:
Historic Background on the Impeachment and Trial of President Andrew Johnson
The Significance of President Johnson's Impeachment and Trial
Johnson's impeachment trial is considered to be important because it checked the attempt among certain Members of Congress to establish congressional control of federal policy and relegate the President's role in governance to that of a chief minister's. The acquittal of Johnson also prevented later Congresses from using the threat of impeachment as a means of settling policy differences with the executive. Finally, the acquittal meant that in future impeachment trials the defendant would have to have committed an actual crime in order to be convicted.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/Impeachment-Guide.html
For a city councilor like Paul A. Camuso who currently sits on a subcommittee which allows him to look into the background of taxi drivers to have a potential position a LOT MORE worthy of scrutiny than that of someone driving a taxi (and as evidence of that, does Council Vice President "elect" Rick Caraviello have to do a background check on limousine drivers? Probably not), it means that, given Bob Maiocco's lack of transparency and failure to be forthright even with his fellow councilors about his troubles as a financial advisor at Wells Fargo, is there anything in Paul Camuso's background that citizens should be concerned about?
A public records request put in to the office of Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, where Mr. Camuso is employed, came back rather fuzzy. They couldn't tell us this, they couldn't tell us that, and what they didn't say was that Paul Camuso was squeaky clean. So that public records request is now a big red flag when someone wants to be the president of the city council of Medford. Uncle Bob Maiocco didn't tell us about his background when he wanted to handle the city budget, it is absolutely essential that Mr. Camuso come clean on how he has conducted himself if he wants to be council president.
If taxi drivers are scrutinized more than an alleged sex offender allegedly working previously at the Medford Housing Authority - if a security guard has to have a more thorough examination than a city council president, then who is watching the taxpayer funds, especially with a new rate hike in the wind, then the citizens are sitting ducks for another round of Frank Pilleri's TV3, Stanley and Steven Komins' West Medford Hillside Little League, Steve Cloutier's Pop Warner, whether or not any wrongdoing was discovered or not, you - dear citizen - get a sense of being intentionally kept in the dark and not knowing how YOUR money is spent. In Cloutier's case it was the athlete's equipment at a storage locker not paid for; in Frank Pilleri's case it is a failed audit, getting thrown out of city hall with a police escort, and a former board member up on a charge of a false bomb threat. In Komins' case, January 31, 2014 he is scheduled to be back in Somerville District Court. Is this really the repeating pattern the citizens of Medforrd want?
A previous essay from someone on this Patch discussed "voter's remorse." Having a council president who was cagey about his life as a financial adviser, but handling your finances, is like giving Bernie Madoff the keys to the Medford Depositor's Trust. The Medford checkbook possibly in the hands of a Bernie Madoff type if the citizens don't scrutinize who is handling the city funds and where every nickel is going.
* * * * *
Ron Swanson's piece on the Rule of Necessity is worthwhile when discussing impeachment
http://medford.patch.com/groups/notes-from-the-pyramid-of-greatness/p/examining-the-rule-of-necessit...
What would be easier for Medford? Charter change or impeachment? Will we continue to have low standards for elected officials, a paltry handful of votes to become Mayor or sit on the council, and enormous power that goes totally unchecked?
