584,313 @ 4:58 pm
584,308 @ 4:51 pm
Nell Escobar Coakley
584,308 @ 4:51 pm
Nell Escobar Coakley
Medford Transcript
75 Sylvan St., C-105
Danvers, MA 01923
Dear Ms. Coakley:
Your reporter, Alex Ruppenthal, should investigate the conflict of interest
allegation brought to the attention of the city council last night by the longest-serving
councilor, Robert M. Penta, who showed up as a citizen and was treated with disrespect
by the City Solicitor and by the Council President, Frederick N. Dello Russo, Jr.
The censorship tactics and the conflict of interest spoke loudly to the residents of
Medford. At a coffee shop after the meeting four or five concerned citizens
were appalled by Dello Russo's wrongful conduct.
1)Conflict of Interest
How can a city solicitor say that Anne Baker, the city auditor/finance director can
hold an additional position that is supposed to watch over the auditor?
Another typical Mark Rumley nonsensical rant.
2)Censorship
Council President Dello Russo hit the Censorship trifecta last night. December 22, 2015, January 5, 2016 and January 12, 2016.
Councilors Adam Knight and Fred Dello Russo, Jr. both jump on squelching free speech. They denied Bob Penta the opportunity to speak on an issue important to
the city just as Dello Russo, on the Transition team, refused to let me speak about the transition team (conflict of interest again) on Dec. 22, 2015 and January 5, 2016.
Every week they deny citizens the right to express themselves at "the people's forum?"
The oath of office that Knight and Dello Russo took was to "uphold the constitution."
Last I checked, the First Amendment is part of that constitution, yet the big free speech advocate, Solicitor Rumley, ran like a coward from the opportunity to make his actions
as loud as his words.
This was in violation of the aforementioned Rumley's other rant from 8 years ago to retired
judge Marie O. Jackson-Thompson:
“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.”
City Solicitor Mark E. Rumley / Medford Daily Mercury on or about Nov. 16, 2008 (quoted from the 2nd Judge Jackson-Thompson hearing) saying:
I bring you the information about repression from the ACLU:
CLEVELAND--The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio today filed a
lawsuit in United States District Court challenging on First Amendment
grounds the rules of the of North Ridgeville City Council, which forbid
individuals from making statements critical of their elected officials
during city council meetings. https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-sues-ohio-town-council-over-censorship-rules-aimed-critics-elected-officials
ACLU of Utah Challenges Censorship and Fees for ...
www.acluutah.org/.../305-aclu-of-utah-challenges-censorshi...
ACLU of Utah
Nov 6, 2002 - The ACLU of Utah challenges censorship of content and fees for speaking at Virgin town council meetings. Read the Letters Below >>.
ACLU of Utah Challenges Censorship and Fees for Speaking at Virgin Town Council Meetings
ACLU calls Hobbs' act a violation Rights group decries ...
articles.baltimoresun.com/1992.../1992208130_1_beck-town-council-kl...
Jul 26, 1992 - ... The American Civil Liberties Union has told the Town Council that it ... calls Hobbs' act a violation Rights group decries council's censorship.
ACLU calls Hobbs' act a violation Rights group decries council's censorship http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1992-07-26/news/1992208130_1_beck-town-council-klan
July 26, 1992|By Kerry O'Rourke | Kerry O'Rourke,Staff Writer
MOUNT AIRY -- The American Civil Liberties Union has told the Town Council that it violated a resident's right to free
speech by not allowing him to say "Ku Klux Klan" at a council meeting last month.
speech by not allowing him to say "Ku Klux Klan" at a council meeting last month.
The council violated Charles Beck's First Amendment rights by prohibiting him from reading a statement
about a new citizens group formed to oppose the Klan, ACLU Executive
Director Stuart Comstock-Gay said in a letter dated Wednesday.
about a new citizens group formed to oppose the Klan, ACLU Executive
Director Stuart Comstock-Gay said in a letter dated Wednesday.
"We hope this is an isolated incident and not an indication of what to expect at future Mount Airy town meetings," he wrote.
," he wrote.
PETERSBURG,
Va. (WRIC) — The City of Petersburg and its mayor have agreed to a
settlement in the case of a resident who was denied the right to speak
at a city council meeting because he had not paid an unrelated fine to
the city.
Terms
of the agreement, reached Nov. 23, require the city to pay $3,000 in
attorneys’ fees to the ACLU of Virginia for its representation of
Linwood Christian in the case. In addition, the city agreed to issue the
following statement which has been posted to its website:
Freedom of speech is protected under the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights and
is guaranteed to everyone living in the United States. Since 1920, the
ACLU has been committed to the defense and preservation of this
fundamental right.
Recently, ACLU-NM represented clients whose right to speak was
suppressed in open city commission meetings, filed suit against
sheriff’s deputies who coerced false confessions from witnesses and
represented anti-war demonstrators who felt that the police suppressed
their right to protest government actions.
City of Albuquerque Settles with ACLU Plaintiffs for Police Oversight Commission’s Free Speech Violation
ALBUQUERQUE,
NM—Yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico
and the City of Albuquerque settled a lawsuit claiming that the Police
Oversight Commission unconstitutionally suppressed the speech of several
citizens during a meeting last December. The plaintiffs in…
City of Albuquerque Settles with ACLU Plaintiffs for Police Oversight Commission’s Free Speech Violation
ALBUQUERQUE, NM—Yesterday, the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico and the City of
Albuquerque settled a lawsuit claiming that the Police Oversight
Commission unconstitutionally suppressed the speech of several citizens
during a meeting last December. The plaintiffs in this case, Charles
Arasim, Kenneth Ellis, Silvio Dell’Angela and Eli Chavez, are all
community advocates against police use of excessive force. The
settlement raises several procedural reforms to the Commission’s rules
designed to promote the right to free speech and citizen involvement
and a sum of $14,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees.
In December 2007 Mark Rumley wanted to charge citizens to vote for a new board of the TV station.
Then Rumley failed to have an adequate number of board members available to uphold the
election scheduled for January 2008.
Rumley then allowed citizens to get bashed by the racism and homophobia at TV3 that I
told him about in 2003. In 2013, ten years later, city hall shuts down the station, and we have
no station at all for Election 2015.
Mark Rumley fosters, enables and nurtures censorship. Last night at the City Council he
engaged in forcing his self-crafted fiction, to use his own term, on a city that needs a
competent solicitor.
Since the Medford Transcript is a willing accomplice in this bad behavior, I just thought I would drop you a line to let you know how the citizens of this city feel.
Sincerely,