A conspiracy in town hall put Bob Smith’s legacy out on the curb with the garbage...Will the folks involved retrieve it, wipe it off, caress it, and return it to its rightful place?

BEFORE YOU READ THIS POST, YOU SHOULD CLICK ON THE IMAGE OF A PAGE IN A PAMPHLET HANDED OUT BY TOWN HALL AT TUESDAY'S OPEN MEETING OF THE VOTERS.

THE APPLICABLE SECTION FROM THE TOWN CHARTER IS INDENTED, AND IN TWO PARTS; PART III SEC. 3.1 AND 3.2.

WITHOUT READING IT YOU MAY NOT UNDERSTAND THE POST.

YOU ARE WELCOME TO COMMENT IF YOU CAN DISCOVER THE QUESTION RAISED IN THE POST.

The hour-long debate at Tuesday's meeting of the voters regarding the Greg Milne/Linda Hutchenrider Charter Commission debacle, now in court with a hearing a month from now, is really about a town hall scheme in which Bob Smith was "used" during the last three and a half months of his life.

At Tuesday's meeting of the voters I asked the panel, made up of eleven councilors, Linda Hutchenrider, John Klimm, and Attorney Weil, to put a finger on anything in the Town Charter that specifically characterized the

Charter Commission as an

“elective town office.”

A female speaker from Cotuit, said the Charter was “silent” on the Charter Commission.

The Town Charter is a social contract between all the voters in Barnstable, and literally doesn't come remotely close to characterizing charter commission as an "elective office".

We all can read, some better than others, so to rely on a man, who is now deceased, to tell us there's wording in the charter that's invisible to the rest of us, constitutes a material and unilateral change in the people's contract with themselves

by spineless town officials, both elected and appointed.

At the end of the meeting on Tuesday councilor’s Councilors Crocker and Joakim alluded to a non-public town hall agreement to deter council members from running for the charter commission.

Joakim said that she and as many as six councilors wanted to run for charter commission.

Crocker said that Milne knew he was violating an agreement when he decided to run, therefore has to face the consequences of his own making today.

Joe Pino, who commented both on the split tax and Greg Milne issues, was seen in an animated and heated argument with John Klimm outside Knight’s Auditorium. 

CLICK ON IMAGE OF JOE AND KLIMM ARGUING

Joe’s only seeming indiscretion that night was testifying to an official request in 1989 official from Bob Smith as to whether could serve both as a councilor and charter commissioner.

Pino said Bob’s answer nine years ago was 180 degrees from the one he gave Linda Hutchenrider last June as to whether Jim Munafo and Lou Gonzaga could serve on both the council and charter commission.

In an email that is now town hall's sole evidence to support its case to keep Greg Milne from his duly elected seat on the charter commission, Smith wrote;

“I interpret section 3-2 of the charter, which prohibits any person from simultaneously holding more than one elective town office, as mandating a "No" answer to councilor Munafo's question.

That also answer’s Lou Gonzaga's question. 

We all can read so we all in agreement that "any voter can hold any elective town office provided that no person shall simultaneously hold more than one elective town office," means, one person, one office, but we don't know the questions Munafo and Gonzaga raised.

In an email dated June 6, 2007 Town Clerk, Linda Hutchenrider sent Bob an email that said;

Tonight the candidates for the November election met for the first time.

Councilor Munafo wanted to know if you could be an elected Councilor AND elected Charter Commission member.  Normally you can not hold two elected offices - I told him I would prefer that you give the final answer.

What is your final answer....?

We also have Lou Gonzaga running for Councilor and Charter Commission
Member - if you can't hold two seats and say Gonzaga gets elected to both seats - I think we had this scenario before but I truly can't remember - I think he has to decide which seat he is going to hold?  Is this true?

What is your final answer...?

On Tuesday Joe Pino threw a monkey wrench into to town hall's scheme to amend both the Massachusetts Constitution and Barnstable Town Charter

by determining who COULDN’T serve as charter commissioners.

The Constitution postulates that any registered voter who receives a plurality of votes shall be deemed “duly elected” to a charter commission.

The Town Charter mandates that only sitting councilors, school committee members, town clerk, town tax collector, elected housing authority officials, county commissioners, and elected district officials  can't serve on their current seats and the charter commission at the same time.

Facing a virtual mutiny of the council Klimm and some on the council unilaterally decided to literally amend the charter to include the position of charter commissioner as an “elective town office."

The evidence for the deal was to be an email from Bob Smith to Linda Hutchenrider in which he would say that in his mind charter commission was an elective office. 

Ironically since Bob Smith never signed the email,  and was in the last 15 weeks of his life, Hutchenrider can't prove that Smith even sent the email.

Smith  was terminally ill at the time, and not available to answer questions how he came to the conclusion that charter commission was an "elective town office."

Pino’s statement that in 1999 when he was a councilor he officially asked Smith if he could serve on the charter commission as well, and was told there were many precedents in other communities of selectmen and city councilors that served as charter commissioners simultaneously raises the question of Smith’s mental capacity during the last few months of his life, especially after he allegedly wrote;

”I can't think of any instance in the past when it has come up as a real question.”

Pino is very meticulous about details, so it’s difficult to imagine him just tossing his hat into the 1989 charter commission race without asking if winning the job would jeopardize his position on the council.

Joe Pino offered even more evidence to support his story, when he told of a meeting with Bob Smith to force the 1999 charter commission to comply with his own co-sponsored ordinance requiring all town boards, committees, and commissions to televise meetings.

Joe wanted to watch charter commission meetings from his living room.

Pino said Smith told him the charter commission wasn’t a town office, ergo exempt from the ordinance.

We can't ask Bob about his divergent views on the same issue, and we can't cross examine his email.

We can't even ask him if he sent the email.

Greg Milne, who also spoke at the meeting, said in reference to the televising of the 1999 charter commission that sic “The constitution provided a special road for charter commission to retain charter commissions as a property of the people to enable them ti change town government.”

Hutchenrider's email to Smith in June validates Pino when she wrote; "

I think we had this scenario before but I truly can't remember -"

Joe Pino told me that a few months ago he ran into Linda at the CVS store in Hyannis, and he told her that the question of serving on both the council and charter commission had been raised by him to Bob Smith in 1999.

My conclusion to all this is that during the first week of June, 2007, John Klimm, not wanting to see half of the town council abandon the ship to which they had a sworn to uphold, by joining the crew of the submarine that was assigned to torpedo it, formed a pact with a plurality on the council agreeing they would have to give up their town council seat if they wanted to serve on the charter commission.

Greg Milne, who is typically left off most town council “cc lists,” wasn’t in on the deal,

and couldn’t see the legitimacy of characterizing charter commission as an elective town office,

so he ran and won both charter commission and town council races.

After no one from town hall on state at Knight's Auditorium offered a cogent answer how, why, and where in the charter is the charter commission classified as an elective office, I became certain a deal was made by Jimmy Crocker and Janet Joakim's oblique answers referencing "the  behind the scenes deal."

The cryptic email allegedly written by Smith is now the lone affidavit to support the town's position (remember last year when Smith couldn't remember signing the two Silvia airport hangar leases, and his statement that he has two different signatures that he never uses at one signing?)

Police Chief Finnegan said even though Smith didn't remember signing the leases, and he wasn't even there.

Since Smith's affidavit is essentially one word, "No", his mental capacity questioned, and the fact he is no longer with us to tell the court why he came to his conclusion,

why didn’t Dave Houghton, Ruth Weil, or some paid attorney offer a second opinion supporting Smith, enabling them be cross examined  to elicit an explanation.

Forget the court.

7,000 voters signed the charter commission petition,

6,000 people voted for it,

1,920 of them for Greg Milne.

All of us can read, and we'd like to learn why our choice was overturned.

John Klimm, Linda Hutchenrider, Janet Joakim, or Ruth Weil tell us why Bob Smith said that charter commission is a town elective office.

Barnstable voters are owed an explanation.

Crocker said on Tuesday, “Milne sued the town.”

Yes Milne, acting for 1,920 voters, filed papers to get his rightful seat on the charter commission, a position to which he was duly elected.

Milne isn’t asking for damages, he's asking the court to overturn the Kangaroo Court that snatched the job away from him after he was elected.

The loser in this mess will be Bob Smith's good name.

Weil is still alive and earning a good living to make the same decision.  Why doesn't she step up to the plate and offer her interpretation as to why the charter silently characterizes charter commission as an elective office, and let Bob rest in peace.

If Milne goes on with this case (he’s using his own money to regain his rightful place on the non-paying charter commission), he’ll win slam dunk.

The entity that's really on trial here is Bob Smith's legacy. 

What will it be; barrister or buffoon?

Whoops!  Will someone please tell Janet Joakim to cut back on her lies.  Her proboscis is getting to be the size of Pinocchio's.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Comments

[John Julius]

Linda was dumbfounded the other night when Gary asked her to explain WHY she did what she did....... and she never DID produce an answer! Gee, I wonder WHY! Mainly because Linda has NO BUSINESS being one to 'interpret' ANY law or procedure as it relates to law...........

I also witnessed former councilor Joe Pino say that he had a conversation with Bob Smith and Joe basically said that Bob told HIM that running for both was 'no problem', unless someone might make an 'issue' of this............

You see, Bob Smith basically was THE MASTER of bending and twisting the rules and laws any way he desired as long as it was FOR and in the right DIRECTION of who it might benefit.

The problem here is that Greg Milne stands FOR the people in Barnstable and therefore Bob Smith and John Klimm were going to do EVERYTHING to STOP him from being on the council AND being on the charter commission! See folks, that is called POWER, pure power.

I also saw both Jim Crocker and Janet the mouth say on Tuesday night that they both wanted to run for the charter commission and I DO NOT BELIEVE EITHER ONE that they ever asked Bob Smith for his opinion. I believe the truth is that NEITHER ever considered running until AFTER it was too late since Greg never really revealed that he was going to run till the end when it was late in pulling the papers. So........ in other words, he outsmarted them. So Janet, come on now. Be HONEST. YOU naver had any intention of running UNTIL AFTER you knew Greg took out his papers. The same went for Jim Crocker.

And speaking of Jim Crocker, HE ALREADY HOLDS TWO ELECTED Town positions. One on COMM which is ELECTED, and one on the council, which is elected. But JIm does not see it this way........... The way Jim Crocker gets around these TWO ELECTED Town positions is that he waives his pay for his council seat. Well for anyone who does not know, the charter commission is a VOLUNTARY UNPAID Position and is only temporary with no set term. The ELECTION of the council seat involves an actual TERM WITH PAY. SO DOES Mr. Crocker's seat on COMM, but like I said, Jim's loophole is that he waives his council pay.........

Maybe the NEW CHARTER can correct these defects so this will not happen again.

In the meantime, this town is all about POWER and control. That was evident on Tuesday night at the Meeting of the Voters....

[Missed It]

I was not able to make the meeting, even though I had planned to attend... Will there be a video posted on the town website?

[Burchell]

So corrupt.

[Prissy]

Ask yourself this question, folks...if Roy Richardson was a councilor and ran for the charter commission, would this be happening? Bob Smith did what he was told and can anyone really believe that had Janet run for commission, she'd have been elected?

[John Julius]

I hope that people are tuning in to watch the "bag job" with the charter commission........ if people have the chance, watch what happened last night. I had the opportunity to sit before six of the eight commissioners and it was comical as far as I am concerned............

I give Richard Clark some credit as he at least tried to have a civil conversation with me and he allowed me to talk...... he also asked me some good pointed and important questions, which I answered.

On the other hand, Bob Jones and Roy Richardson were both ARROGANT and displayed just HOW MUCH of a bag job this commission really is. NEITHER has any clue as just HOW MUCH is wrong with the present charter, which is full of filth and corruption and run by the GOOD ole boy network. Just like the arrogant BIGMOUTH BILL ELKINS displayed on Tuesday night when he mouthed off that "NOTHING IS WRONG with the charter....... Bill, as the Aflack duck says, "HUHHHHHHHH? Bill Elkins has NO CLUE and neither do Bob Jones or Roy Richardson........... Bob Jones tried hard to make me look bad, but Bob, know what? YOU MADE A HUGE ASS of yourself and so did glory boy Roy Richardson. THEY BOTH exemplify WHAT is wrong in this town--- THEY BOTH are former councilors STILL HEAVILY entrenched in the good old boy network. And maybe one daythe voters here will figure it out.... STOP ELECTING MORONS who are the network itself IF YOU EVER WANT CHANGE!

So here is my prediction: SOON Greg Milne will be ruled by the court as being UNABLE to have his seat on the commission and in will go Mike Daly, who wrote the CURRENT GARBAGE CHARTER back in 1989. Mike is like the rest of the good ole boy network----- he too, thinks the charter is fine. Sure, it's fine alright, if you are PART of the network.

In the meantime, the thousands of bsrnstable residents will get it stuck you know where, as USUAL! And don't forget: The JUDGE in charge of the Greg Milne fiasco is Richard Connon. Mr. Connon's wife has BEEN A SCHOOLTEACHER in Barnstable school system now since the mid 90's, and YET the grand judge sees nothing wrong and NO CONFLICT in hearing this case, just the same way he saw nothing wrong with hearing the 10 taxpayer lawsuit. And so far, there has not been ONE lawyer with the simple GUTS and ####'s to ask Mr. Connon to RECUSE himself because his WIFE works for the town. Even the local media is too scared to print this!

Talk about the bag job of the century!

So like I said, the charter commission is dead as far as I am concerned. It is run by the good ole boy network and last night Bob Jones and Roy Richardson PROVED it, as was also evidenced by the Meeting (Joke) of the Voters on Tuesday night. The voters in this town just do not seem to care so keep your checkbooks and wallets open for these theives to continue, because it is going to.

Good day.

[Turning to a Life of Crime]

Look, if they are forcing you to allow convicted felons into your home for inspections before you can live in it, allowing the council president to trash local citizens their families and businesses on her town sponsored hate blog, having pedophiles serve as assessors and charter members, what chance does a decent middle class person have surviving honestly in this town? Answer: Slim to none, and Slim just left. I am going to start robbing them back, every chance I get. Toilet paper from the town rest rooms, gravel from parking lots, plants from that perfumed sewer at the end of Main Street, anything and everything from every village or town sponsored event - condiments, napkins, you name it, I am taking it. I may also see what I can get from those big businesses who make so much noise about the split tax. What is my share of that $250,0000 that the mall saved this year? Do they have paper towels in the mall bathrooms?

[J J]

Gary, the only way Greg will win this case on a slam dunk as you say, is to get this case up to Boston or into a Federal Court. The ACLU SHOULD be HELPING the over ONE THOUSAND VOTERS here who have had our voting rights violated but as long as a local Judge whose wife WORKS FOR the town is allowed to continue to hear this case, the onlyslam dunk is that Greg will be out and Michael Daly will be sitting, and soon. I heard that the court hearing is coming up on June 4th and I predict that Judge Connon will say see you to Greg........... Wait and watch.

As far as I am concerned SOMEONE has an in bigtime with the ACLU lawyers because they SHOULD be here DEFENDING the rights of almost 2,000 Barnstable voters, and they are nowhere in sight! To me this is sickening. Gee, MIGHT it be that the lawyers from the ACLU are also afraid of local Superior Court Judge Richard Connon? Why else would the ACLU allow anyone to violate the rights of ANY voter, let alone almost 2000??!!

So like I said, come June 4th, unless this case is either moved OUT OF BARNSTABLE OR Mr. Connon does the RIGHT and ETHICAL thing and recuse himself, come that day, this is ALL over, and done. Gerg will be OUT. Michael Daly will be IN and forget about ANY chance of a damn thing changing on the charter. This is one big joke and laughable as far as I am concerned...........

[cog crybabies]

Dont you guys ever get sick of being wrong all the time, and wasting your time. You waste town resources with your silly requests and waste of time meetings. You guys are liers and conspiracy theorists. Grow up whiney little kids. Coggers are Nuts!

Let's guess who called us whiners and liars.

Let's guess who attacks us with ad hominem attacks like pre-adolescent children.

She spells forty as fourty, and she spells liar as lier.

She went to college in 1980 and 1981 and had grade point averages of 4.0 and has spent the next 27 years trying to get her B.S. degree.

Before you get you bachelors, I suggest you take English 101 or buy a write program with a spell check.

Idiot

[John Julius]

Yes, the nitwit who logged in at 11:05 is likely Janet Joakim........ Janet, if anyone needs to 'grow up', that is you. And as someone suggested, it is very sad that our own council president CAN'T even spell FORTY correctly, and LIAR! you spell LIAR as L I A R Janet and not as you did by writing lier.....

As for us wasting town resources as you say, you have NO CLUE! Did I hear it right this a. m. that Manasger Klimm is about to hire a former NEWS DIRECTOR to do some 'publibity' for HIS agenda? So Janet, how stupid do you really think we are? If YOU or any of the other 11 idiots on the council had any clue, you would KNOW AND SEE that all John Klimm is doing with this biggest WASTE is to begin NOW to publicize MORE B.S and propaganda on HOW GREAT things in town are. yeah, RIGHT!

John Klimm is merely being way ahead of the curve. John is just PRE-planning, JUST IN CASE this town does go to an elected Mayor, his new twist here will have MONTHS of real good wonderful grand things ALL televised on the town CH 18 showing HOW GREAT of a leader he is!

And just HOW MUCH will be WASTED on this grand new position, Janet? Go ask. I bet YOU have no clue and you and the rest of the idiots on the council are way too STUPID to even see what this is all about. I bet the grand new employee's salary will be 75 ot 80 GRAND a year, all just to make John Klimm shine..........

And YOU call what WE do a 'waste' of town resources????!!!! Whoever said this woman is nuts ir right on!

Good day Janet. Now go explain to the KIDS who pay bus fees how this new grand employee's job might cost even higher fees. TALK ABOUT WASTE!

"Milne will win slam dunk."Actually, the Barnstable ship of state will sail over Milne with nary a bump or a ripple. Milne will never serve a second as charter commissioner. The only decision left to him is whether or not to block Daley from assuming the ninth seat. The first step in not being beaten senseless is learning to recognize when you are being beaten senseless. God knows, COG has been run over enough times to at least begin recognizing the telltale signs. Get new leadership.

Since when did you ever care about Smith's legacy you cheap hypocrite?

[I know you are but what am I???]

Easy does it, Janet. The only person in town who justifiably receives regular BEATINGS, is you! Quit blaming bloggers for your endless list of problems. You actually created enemies who are like sci-fi creatures who learn from your attacks. I have been watching these blogs for about a year. At first I thought Lopez was the devil, but it has gradually become painfully obvious that the reigning evil in the Barnstable blogosphere generates from your bony little fingertips. I have seen you at various bars around town, and suggest that you drink more, and talk less. Try it and you might actually make it to the end of your term!

Greg Milne, a person with a police record for assulting his own mother. Lets remember this since mothers day is this weekend. He is the type of person who should be serving in goverment, don't you think?
Gary, why do you support someone like this?

[I know you are but what am I???]

Janet, I thought you said you were going to ignore the blogs. How long did that pledge last? Oh, yeah, about as long as your campaign promises....

[Pot calling Kettle]

J-bird, please put up or shut up on this alleged police record. Is it similar to the one your husband has for assaulting a woman and her kid in a grocery store? At least these COG people produce documents. Have you forgotten about that bounced check already, or is this your way of trying to say that Greg is just as dirty as you are?

Allegations remain assertions without proof, until they are proved, ergo publishing such is libelous.

In any case the allegations against Milne by Janet are ad hominem.

I've had lots of people tell me that Janet Joakim is a witch.

Despite the fact she's a poster girl for a witch, a never posted the fact, primarily because it's irrelevant to the issues.

[John Julius]

The biggest problem Janet Joakim has is that all she can do is attack people and she can never take on ANY real issue. TRUE LIBERAL. Ask Janet or most any Barnstable councilor about ANY issue regarding something REAL----- like the split tax, or the major waste or Land bank money on LOSING golf courses, or how MUCH money we all LOST on the sickening purchases of the MMA Airfield, now known as the Danforth RECREATION Area. See how Janet answers THOSE issues. The MAJOR WASTE of about 20 MIL on that Danforth "recreation area is putrid. These asswipe morons have the nerve to call that a RECREATION Area and yet NOT ONE Barnstable residen can USE or even walk on it, and not ONE Barnstable taxpayer has even questioned this!

So you see, it is the average taxpayer here who is guilty of NOT ever holding thes idiots accountable, EVER!

Over the past three years Gary, myself and others have posted volumes of proof of CORRUPTION, WASTE, MISMANAGEMENT and major league INCOMPETENCE and never once has Janet Joakim, John Klimm or anyone else been able to defend a bit of it. Nor has any town councilor. ALL ANY of them have ever done is call Gary, myself and others every name in the book. But WHO is the real clown? John Klimm, Janet and all the clown councilors along with morons like the big mouth Bill Elkins, who showed his true cloors on Tuesday noght. Bill screamed at the top of his lungs that there IS NOTHING WRONG with our charter!

Bill, no offense but you showed anyone with a half brain what a major league ASS you are! There is EVERYTHING WRONG with this garbage charter but as long as crony PHONIES like YOU, Janet Joakim and John Klimm are around and no taxpayers to fight any of it, then nothing will change!

HOWEVER.......... when it comes to Gary, myself and others, we plan to fight all this filth and corruption all the way, and the town official who messed up this week? JUST THE TIP of the iceberg in this filthy rotten corrupt town, TRUST ME!

And these bastards will ALL have their day, just wait and watch, and SEE!

Like I said, NOT ONE of these morons can defend any of their incompetence, but they sure as hell are GREAT at stacking any room FULL of a bunch of crony PHONY idiots, like they did on Tuesday night at the Meeting of the Voters........

So Janet, keep it up. Every time you open your big mouth, people see just what we have been saying all along..........and anyone who saw Janet wrap up the meeting the other night could just LAUGH at how she painted the rosy picture of HOW MUCH RESPECT they all have for one another. Janet, PLEEEEEEEEASE!

People here are not that stupid, believe me!

Good night to all!

[John Julius]

Oh, and Janet, let's NOT also forget also the infamous purchase of the Hyannis Water CO! THAT was the most grand purchase of the century. The council KNEW SO much and got FOOLED by a bunch of incompetent MORONS who said they were consultants and told us that only 13 MIL would be needed for capital improvements....... Oh, REALLY?!

Try maybe like 50-75 MIL was MY prediction, and this will happen in time, believe me! In the meantime Janet, now HOW MANY times has the water in Hyannis been CONTAMINATED and had to be shut down? HOW MANY Janet? And John Klimm is SUCH the GREAT MANAGER. John is ON RECORD as stating that any water rate increases would only be about 5% or less a year. John, REALLY? Then Mr. GREAT Manager, do you mind telling us all HOW and WHY so far our water RATES have gone up BY OVER 45% in less than THREE years and SO FAR not a dime has been spent in capital improvements???!

As my friend the AFLACK Duck says, HUHHHHHHHHHHH?! John Klimm hasd some real FUZZY math and Janet and the rest of the incompetent idiots on the town council have NOT a clue about anything! But they get away with it because the taxpayers are too busy trying to work three and four jobs so no one has time to fight all this WASTE and incompetence.

So Janet, come on and log and take your shots at me for TELLING the REAL truth about what a bunch of INCOMPETENT IDIOTS run our town. Please come take your shots.......... in the meantime, Gary, muself and others will keep exposing all this filth and waste and sooner or later things WILL change. It, like most other things in life, simply takes TIME.

[cog crybabies]

Poor little JJ and his sad delusional world!

[John Julius]

Janet:

Thanks for making my point. That is ALL you can say? How typical, but nit surprising...........

[cog crybabies]

Great spelling JJ, The correct spelling is NOT. Where did you go to school, or maybe you can get a word program to check your spelling.

John Julius made $200,000 last year. What's in your wallet?

John writes his comments in the comment box, not on a write program.