Letter To The Editor: 'Fairfielders For Good Government' Says No

To the Editor:

In case you were not already worried about how our Town is being governed, you really should read the stunning “essay” recently published by our supposedly impartial, non-partisan, Town Attorney, Jim Baldwin. In it he complains that the Democrats did not honor the backroom deal he thought he had negotiated in return for their support – presumably with the full knowledge of his boss, the First Selectwoman – regarding what changes the Charter Revision Commission (CRC) would and would not recommend to the public.

And for this reason, he accuses them of not doing “what is best for the Town.”

Atty Baldwin’s idea of “what is best for our Town” is obviously not a transparent, thoughtful,
rigorous review of our Town Charter – the document which lays out the rules by which we all
agree to govern our Town – by a non-partisan group of knowledgeable, impartial citizens who
provide clear explanations to the public of all the costs, benefits, tradeoffs and risks associated
with any recommended changes, which are then submitted to the public for us to debate and
either approve or reject.

Instead, he thinks changes in how we agree to govern ourselves are no different than any other
political issue, and that it is therefore in the Town’s best interests for him to manipulate what
he ironically describes as “the most open and collaborative charter revision process in the
town’s history” by brokering “bi-partisan” backroom deals and then instructing the CRC what
changes they are allowed to recommend. All of which, by the way, may also help to explain
why some members of the Commission reversed their positions on certain major issues from
one meeting to the next without any coherent explanation.

And, if you doubted before why we should be concerned about having a Chief Administrative
Officer – the person who may soon be running all of the Town’s day-to-day operations – who,
like the Town Attorney, is selected only by and reports only to the First Selectperson, this
blatant admission of manipulative partisanship and subversion of the public interest should
convince you otherwise.

For this and many other reasons explained on our website (fairfielders4goodgovt) under the
headings, Bad Process, Bad Changes, Bad Question and Missed Opportunities, Fairfielders for
Good Government urges you to “Vote NO in NOvember” on Charter Revision.

Bud Morten
Chairman, Fairfielders for Good Government