This is from Democratic mayoral candidate Ellen Zoppo's website:
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Recently a close friend and political ally of my opponent in the Democratic Primary filed a complaint with the state FOI Commission concerning the January 2007 Ordinance Committee meetings that were held to adopt the ordinance for the downtown corporation. At issue is my use of a detailed agenda that outlined the points that needed to be covered and the order of business, starting with input from the public, comments from elected officials, as well as the introduction of technical amendments.
I do not believe the FOI complaint has any merit and I am disappointed that this has resulted in the city being placed in a position of having to expend resources to defend what was in fact meeting preparation by me, the chair of the Ordinance Committee, as it relates to the ordinance meetings and public hearings on the downtown corporation. I have stated earlier that the word I used, which was script, was an extremely poor word choice and does not reflect that the document used was, in fact, merely my detailed agenda and order of how the meeting was to be handled. The document clearly indicate that I was tracking concerns of both the public and the members of the council as the public hearings progressed so that nothing would fall through the cracks. There were also variety of technical amendments and a continuance of the public hearing.
I will not apologize for meeting preparation and I do believe that if the City of Bristol has to go forward with defending this claim at the FOI Commission in Hartford, that we will prevail. As I have stated publicly, my opponent did not receive a copy of this document at the meeting because he had decided a year earlier that he was not going to cooperate with the new mayor, and was angry that the rest of us were working with him. He cut himself off from the rest of the Democratic members of the Council and sent us an e-mail that he was going to go it alone. We respected his wishes.
I have often used detailed agendas and talking points for meetings that have many moving parts. As chair of the Ordinance Committee, which makes laws, I work with staff to ensure that all parts of the law are met in posting meetings, conducting public hearings, and the eventual adoption of a new ordinance by committee.
What disappoints me is the fact that this issue keeps re-surfacing as if it is a major campaign issue. There are many major issues facing Bristol but this is being blown out of proportion as a screen for my opponent to hide behind instead of discussing and debating how he would attend to downtown, budget issues and other needs.
As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely, Ellen Zoppo-Sassu
Zoppo's website also contains the "script" itself, which is already on here.
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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
23 comments:
What you did Ellen was wrong. It's too bad the other shmucks on the council let you get away with it (my guess is that they let you do it to humor you). You stepped way out of bounds. Don't try to tell us you're the only one competent enough to understand this bureaucratic BS that is the city government. Fess up, you were wrong. And now I'm afraid you're all done (as an elected official).
ellen needs to get her nose out of the air and realize that the voters in this community aren't schmucks - explain the reasons for eliminating an elected member of the city council from the process - you cheated the constituents of art's district and abused whatever authority that you, mistakenly, thought that you possessed.
Secondly, you have never answered the "leaks" aspect of the issue - why not?
Actually Ellen is giving the people of this community a lot more credit for being intelligent enough to look beyond the bluster and realize that what they did was just practical meeting preparation. It's Art Ward who is appealing to the lowest common denominator with these simplistic complaints.
The fact of the matter is that Art Ward stopped doing his job as councilman the day Stortz got elected. Instead, Ward turned into an obstructionist. He did not want to be part of a team that would try to work together and compromise to get things done.
I see she is still choosing not to address the issues of prevention of leaks and discretion around Art.
Art NEVER asked to be eliminated from process or meetings. The information they had should have been shared and Art could have chosen if it was relevant to him or not.
Interesting point. She is only defending 1/5th of the complaint. It is the word "leaks" or the phrase "make sure it doesn't leak out to Art" that troubles me the most. Was this also a poor choice of words? Mrs. Zoppo seems to choose her words quite carefully. As a matter of fact, she showcases the higher level English language whenever she speaks to any reporter or at any meeting. I don't think too many people are going to believe that she didn't research this word or phrase before she said it. Let'snot be in denial here. The very word "scripted" is a researched, well thought out, carefully chosen word to make her appear more educated than everyone else.
Steve...
Does anyone know what the time line is for this FOI complaint to get heard and resolved at the State level? Will it be resolved before the primary?
ARt didn't stop being a councilman when Stortz was elected. He continued to represent his district very well - I know - he helped me when everyone else blew me off.
I thought our government was all about one person being able to stand up and disagree. I guess not in Ellen's government. If you don't agree with her, you get cut out of the loop...no script for you!
Quote from Ellen's letter ...he was not going to cooperate with the new mayor, and was angry that the rest of us were working with him.
How is it that Art's ability to hold the Mayor accountable for stagnant projects, questionable decisions, stahling, secret negotiations and lack of open government classified as "not working with the Mayor"?
I believe that Art did a great job over the past 2 years of doing what no other council member was doing - and that was holding the Mayor accountable for his actions or in many cases, his inaction.
Art didn't like the Downtown Corporation idea from the beginning and he openly said so, but voted with the council so he wouldn't appear to be an obstructionist. If that isn't compromise, and working with his other "team members", I don't know what is.
Look where it has put us. This corporation has been in effect for how long now and how much have they accomplished? Too long, and nothing.
Art wouldn't agree to play games with Ellen and those councilmen that choose to play with her. Art stuck with what was best for the community and as a result was eliminated from receiving vital information. It was simply his punishment for not wanting to play in Ellen's sandbox.
regardless of whether art likes ellen or anyone else on this council, ellen's self-annointed role as "den mother" is totally and absolutely WRONG and nothing that she tries to stuff down the public's throat should be seen as anything other than an attempt to cover her butt.
Also is a disgrace to think that she would use such an honorable title as "den mother" to justify her actions.
Ellen put the script on her website but she didn't put the email that went with the script on her website.
The email is the piece of the puzzle that pulls it together. It has the instructions on returning the scripts so there are no leaks and it has the discretion direction she gave to Mike Rimcoski. It also has the "practice in the mirror" orders she gave the Mayor.
Does she think that no one will notice that she isn't addressing those pieces of the problem?
She is "addressing" them: she's ignoring them, which is all the "addressing" they deserve. Ward was excluded because he had opted out of the team months before. They didn't want the notes to "leak" because they knew Ward would spin them...and that's exactly what happened. This is so obviously a hack job from a guy whose political career is over if he loses this primary. Everyone who isn't a Ward supporter sees that.
I don't want a city leader that ignores my questions or concerns.
You'd rather have a city leader who ignores the city's problems and issues?
People complain about Ellen's followers, but Ward is far worse, when it comes to him and his backslapping buddies, for them it's like a club.
Since when has Ward ignored the city's problems and issues? I'll take him and his "backslapping buddies" over Ellen's secret society anytime!
But the problem is, Backslappin' Artie hasn't done anything in 14 years. That's why he won't debate Ellen, because he knows she will rub his nose in that. You're gonna come back with some insult about Ellen's bossiness, but you aren't going to give any examples of Art's accomplishments, because there aren't any.
Would Zoppo like a little cheese with her whine? Why can't she answer the question about leaks & excluding Ward? Where is democracy when you have one calling the shots? The council members who went along with this Scripting should be ashamed of themsevles for allowing Zoppo to yank thier chains. None of them will be getting my votes.
Ward did not "work with" Stortz because Stortz was not working with the council and not appointing or addressing issues - Zoppo calls that working with the Mayor? So she gets to decide who gets a copy of the "Script?" She gets to dictate collecting them for leaks? She tells Rimcowski to be careful Art does not see it? WHY? Why would Zoppo care about any of this if she were honest from the beginning - because it was all underhanded and now she is trying to put the blame on Ward by stating he was not working with the Mayor? Gives us all break Ellen - we are not stupid. We know the games you play and what degree you will go to, to get your way!
No thanks - city govt. does not need your dishonesty.
I love the way Zoppo signs her letter - "Sincerely" like she could ever be sincere? Face it Ellen you have lost your credibility with the majority of people in this town.
When I had a problem with my sidewalks I called Kevin (McCauley) and he told me once he gets to meet with Ellen he would get back with me. Why would he have to check with her first? Doe she not have a voice and vote on the council?
He never got back with me, so I called Ellen Zoppo and she never got back with me either - but she did say I sounded like a "very divorced woman" Now what does that mean? I had a valid complaint and she calls me "very divorced"
Zoppo is something I cannot say on this blog, and well as for Kevin - find yourself some family jewels so you can stand up to Ellen instead of her calling the shots.
Fall Mountain Resident
Is it any wonder that Ellen can't understand why this issue is part of the campaign - because it is totally about her and her underhanded, self-centered, devious method of operation.
The only "wonder" is that people cry out for government to be run like a business, but when someone actually does that, she gets reamed. All Ellen did was prepare for an extremely important meeting, which set the stage for the redevelopment of the mall site. If Art had chaired that meeting he would have gone in empty-handed and kept looking at the clock on the wall waiting for it to be over. Fact.
Ellen's idea of running the government is more like Steven Spielberg...her kind of setting the stage should be left to the Hollywood directors. Bristol needs real leadership. Time to move FOR-Ward
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