Look closely...the real issue is often harder to see.
Longmont Mayor Bryan Baum is under attack by members of a local partisan group who are collectively claiming he wants to silence the free speech of speakers during the “Public Invited to be Heard” (PITBH) portion of city council meetings.
Not true.
Longmont Mayor Baum only made a suggestion at a recent city council retreat that he would like to see the PITBH portion of the council meeting shortened so that the council can get to already scheduled items on the agenda. It is also during agenda items that people are given the additional option of speaking about items on the agenda, so there is not for lack of opportunity to have your voice heard.
In a follow-up statement to the suggestion Mayor Baum made at the council retreat, he stated, "There has been some, I think some, misunderstandings with regard to some of our activities that we had in our council retreat. I would like to let everybody know ‘Public Invited To Be Heard’ is a very very important and vital tool for our decision making in this community. And that we've been looking to try to be as effective and efficient in the way that we do the business of Longmont. And so, with that in mind, any changes with regard to that are going to be very carefully looked at, and it was brought up with the idea of provoking good thought and good discussion which we had. And I just want the public to know though, that there's no way that we'll ever try and mute the words of the citizens of Longmont."
Whether you agree or not with changing the overall time limits to the PITBH portion of scheduled council meetings, this isn't unique to Mayor Baum and isn't the first time a sitting mayor has made the suggestion or enacted such changes. Results of an article by the Times Call (at the suggestion of Councilmember Alex Sammoury) also showed that Longmont is one of the few cities that doesn't have an overall time limit to this portion of council meetings.
PITBH isn’t the only way to communicate with the mayor or council as they all have the option of being contacted via email, at informal Coffee with Council meetings, at Town Meetings, during breaks and before/after council meetings, in their capacity as liaisons at public boards and commission meetings, and many of them are frequently at community functions meeting and speaking with members of the Longmont community.
Unproductive repeated attacks being made on the mayor or members of the council by members of a local partisan group who are still sour over recent election results are most likely what warranted the suggestion by Mayor Baum. When he was elected, he swore to be a steward of good government.
But, what has been occurring recently has created an unhealthy and hostile environment in what is supposed to be a forum for ALL members of the Longmont community to be heard. The Mayor of Longmont is also in the position to request order during council meetings.
Additionally, what is unproductive is how members of this partisan group are attempting to intimidate and harass supporters of the new mayor and his council. A recent quote by a former candidate for Longmont City Council and critic of the mayor stated in an article that "One thing most of us do have in common is the value we place on free speech. Unfortunately, some of Mayor Baum’s strongest cheerleaders have a demonstrated tepid value of same. That, too, has not gone unnoticed. More on that in other venues."
Is that a threat of further hostility from this former council candidate towards members who support the Mayor? Who’s trying to “Silence the Critics” or muzzle free speech again?
One who herself not long ago also was part of an email exchange with former Councilwoman Karen Benker in which the place of employment of one of the plaintiffs in the now resolved First Amendment lawsuit against the city's Campaign Finance Reform was mentioned in an attempt to slander said individual? The same place of employment that mysteriously receives an email stating that said person is using work computers for non-work use?
Another vocal partisan opponent of the new mayor, is attempting to harass and intimidate supporters of the new mayor and members of his council by showing up in council chambers to snap pictures of them. Pictures that have also included their spouses and children. He then posts links to them to his blog, websites, and Flickr page with titles underneath of "The Longmont Lunatic Fringe and their kids".
Interesting, given that the Lunatic Fringe title and multiple variations of it were in fact assigned by Councilmember McCoy, who was upset at members of the Longmont community who previously had held him accountable in his role as an elected official. It was also during a previous council meeting that Councilmember McCoy went on a tirade against members of the Longmont Association of Realtors. Most recently, at the Jan 12th Open Forum, Councilmember McCoy himself chided a public speaker, saying that what the speaker said was right out of the ‘Republican playbook’. This is just one of many examples of behavior unbecoming a public official, and is hardly new to informed followers of Longmont City Council.
This also isn't the first time that a mayor has silenced a public speaker. Former Mayor Lange silenced a speaker who had calculatedly prepared a power point presentation to personally attack Councilmember Santos during a council meeting. Also, at the first meeting of the newest council, Mayor Baum asked that a speaker not be overly critical in her personal attacks of other councilmembers. Councilmember Santos also asked a public speaker last week to refrain from personal attacks she was making on the mayor.
Ironically the Boulder City Council, at their own retreat just this past week, expressed their own concerns about “personal attacks” at their own council meetings.
Stephanie Baum (wife of the mayor, in her new role as First Lady of Longmont) has also reached out to members of the partisan community, only to have them accuse her of "stalking them". Emails from Mayor Baum's wife have been reposted, distorted and ridiculed. It was a nice try on her behalf, but their spiteful reaction is not productive for Longmont and cuts off an opportunity for a healthy debate of differences.
It’s apparent that the political climate in Longmont has grown tenser, as it is reflective of the national political climate. But here in Longmont, it’s time to move on to city business that impacts all of Longmont. Mayor Baum’s suggestion of limiting PITBH and wanting to proceed more quickly to the agenda is understandable given that people in the Longmont community have been complaining for a long time about things not getting done. That can now be done if more time is spent focusing on the issues and not on particular members of the council during PITBH.
Partisans who are collectively showing up as a group at council meetings wanting to nit-pick the newest council members with spite, emotion, and vengeful attitudes toward those with political differences and then re-broadcast it to an uninformed general public are not being helpful in moving Longmont forward.
To quote a local partisan leader, “…my Community comes before Party affiliation. I hope that folks from across the spectrum will participate.”
Let’s hope that message starts being the one more effectively communicated.
For more background news stories and related video:
- Longmont Advocate Blog
- Longmont Advocate YouTube Channel
- Longmont Examiner
- Wrongmont
- D80501 - YouTube Channel
© Brigette Rodriguez/Longmont Examiner
Comments
Maybe if Fissinger aka the Queen Bloviator shut her trap? What a grandstander. Isn't she the same one who said she wanted to flip off mayor baum when they had a meeting with high school kids?
I agree 110% with everything you said Brigette, and I really can't add any more to it. However, I want to say that Mayor Baum has GOT to stop giving these crazies fodder with which to work. He needs to just hold his tongue and learn the basics of politics. He is a good man with the right intentions, but his naievity in the world of politics has given these people this ammunition. Please Mr. Mayor. Think carefully before you speak. Every word you say in every venue will be magnified and misconstrued and exaggerated and all of it. That's the nature of the beast. If you can learn that, perhaps this latest nastiness by the new and improved "Lunatic Fringe" will just die from not receiving any sustenance. Thanks for what you do.
Isn't this the same close minded lock step partisan group that says they want to hear from each and every citizen that is willing to speak, yet refuse to talk to those with differing opinions?
Two months after the election, local Dems are looking to get the mayor recalled and get their Dem leader Deb Gardner elected in his place. Guess what Jonathan Singer said about working for community over party affiliation is NOT true also. Who brought these hateful people to town? If they were so concerned about dialogue with the mayor, then why didn't any of them show up for this mornings coffee with council with him? Or was it because they didn't get a notice posted on the Longmont Area Democrats website for them to show up? Plenty of notice was given elsewhere. Where were any of the local partisans who have been writing into the paper or posting misleading cra* on the internet? They weren't there because they don't want to have dialogue, they just want him gone.
Contrary to what critics of Mayor Baum say, he does not want to silence free speech. There is a lot on the agenda to accomplish, so let him! I've heard him say he's got big shoulders and if this is the best they can come up with to criticize him and talk about recalling him, then he's doing a great job. Katie Witt also said that if people aren't criticizing you then you aren't doing a good job. I like both of them! Now let them get back to work. Maybe that's the problem? People trying to distract them to prevent them from doing that?
Former council candidate Kaye Fissinger called people names after they talked at council. At the podium she called them the politics of personal destructors. Then she goes and does the same thing. Hypocrite. I'm very glad she didn't get elected as she wouldn't likely give people with different party views a chance to speak if she was on council. Can you imagine her and Gabe Santos on council together? At least he seems to get along with Sean Mccoy. The attitude on council seems so much better since Nov.
I can see it now. Lefties show up at local markets petition in hand. Asking hurried shoppers "Do you believe in free speech?" Our mayor doesn't. We want to recall him. Sign here.
It didn't do much for the 'historic to knowhere' anti-Lifebridge petition. People aren't that stupid to sign anything these days. Good luck wit that! Make sure you tell them it's going to cost taxpayers $$$ to mount a recall too. Just let the mayor do his damn job.
Wow, why are the democrats in this town so threatened by Mayor Baum? I wonder if party liner Karen Benker is prompting this, seeing that she got voted out by such a large margin of votes.
Stop towing the line and let him work for Longmont. He has democrat supporters too. Not everyone who voted for him is a republican. This is ridiculous!!!! This town needs an enema. Well, some of them...
People should definitely take a look at the links that are in this article and see that there are people in Longmont who want to insert themselves and suppress free speech here.
Well maybe if Kaye and her version of the lunatic fringe would shut it up for a while, Brian wouldn't have to act rudely to keep them quiet. Brian isn't the only one who needs to chill out.
Mayor Baum did say that you would always know where he was coming from. Guess they want to send him back there?
How stupid that they went after his wife too. I know she used to blog, but now that she's the wife of a mayor and is trying to be nice to them they attack her? Thats shameful. Yes, Mayor Baum has a big personality, but show some respect. Better a strong leader, than a lackluster one.
It's not just Longmont. Look what is happening in Greensboro with their mayor:
guarino.typepad.com/guarino/2010/01/speakers-from-the-floor-greensboro-city-council.html
To the lovely person who complains about my taking photos at City Council meetings:
Get used to it.
They're called 'public meetings.' That's why they're videotaped from at least two angles - so my photographing or taping from another angle is actually helping document the event, which is my intent and my right. I see others with cameras, so, as usual, this is more idiocy on your part. Please, get an enema... the pressure is obviously already at extreme levels and you might just burst... think of the kids.
As for taking pictures of kids, hey, YOU BROUGHT EM. Your choice. Funny, the Taliban likes to hide behind kids and innocent people too.
What kind of parent subjects their kids to that degree of boredom?
A parent that uses their kids for props.
Sad.
Bodie...
maybe we should stick to why people on the left are trying to discredit the Longmont mayor. It's because he's not a Dem and Mr Wray does not like the mayor's wife either. Neither does Ms Fissinger. Which is why the both of them have started a lefty new website in which they are trying to say the mayor wants to limit free speech. It's Fissinger that was at the meeting where the mayor suggested the change in public invited to be heard and she was all over that.
The left is scared shi*less that the new mayor and the newest councilpeople are going to enact policies that they are adamantly against, which is why they are after him, publicizing anything they can to try to make him look bad and they are counting on peopple who don't pay attention to think the mayor is a tyrant. But he's not. He's a strong leader with a big personality and he needs to stop worrying about these flies on the windshield.
It is understandable that the mayor would want to put reasonable limits on the public discussion part of the meetings. Longmont should look at other cities to see how they handle it.
Thornton for instance... The public comments part at the start of the meeting is for anyone to come speak on an issue that is NOT on the agenda. Five minute time limit - sometimes extra is granted if deemed appropriate. If someone wishes to speak on an agenda item, they are given time when that item is up for discussion. Everyone who comes can speak, it is just a bit more organized.
Did you catch the stalkerazzi with his camera at tonight's council meeting. Has anyone told him that he's not a member of the media? Cracks me up! Who needs Council McCoy's antics, when we are thoroughly entertained by this one.
Tony, there is a link in my article that goes to a study done to see what other cities have in terms of time limits at PITBH: www.timescall.com/news_story.asp?ID=20461
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