Here's reporter Jackie Majerus' account of the state Freedom of Information Commission hearing today on the complaint filed by resident Jay Meisinger:
HARTFORD – Upset that city Councilor Ellen Zoppo's distribution of a script to fellow councilors before a public hearing early this year undermined the integrity of the open meeting process, a Bristol man presented his complaint to state officials Tuesday.
"There was something terribly wrong," Jay Meisinger told hearing officer Colleen Murphy, who is executive director and general counsel of the state Freedom of Information Commission, and commission counsel Lisa Siegel.
Meisinger said he was concerned about a "closed government," "manipulation of legislation" and other violations.
"It looked like it was predetermined results," said Meisinger of the scripted public hearing that ended with the council's approval of the creation of the Bristol Downtown Development Corp. to oversee the city-owned mall property.
Before the hearing that day, Zoppo handed out what she described in an email to Mayor William Stortz that same day as a "script" for councilors to follow that night. She gave one to Stortz and every member of the council except for Art Ward.
Zoppo said she left Ward out because he had "become extremely antagonistic" and wasn't participating with the rest of the council.
"We just don't include him when we do these types of things," said Zoppo.
Now, Zoppo says the script was "simply an organizing document" to be used by councilors to "keep us on message for that evening."
"The script word really gives a connotation that people were told what to say," Zoppo said.
She said the instructions in the email to gather up the scripts so none were left lying around afterward stemmed from her sensitivity that the other councilors might not want anyone to know that she'd provided them a script.
"It's a reflection of preparation," said Zoppo, adding that it might hurt the "pride" of the others on the council if it was obvious they didn't do their own preparation, but relied on hers.
That January day, Zoppo said, she and Councilor Craig Minor met with Stortz in his office and talked for an hour about the upcoming hearing. She had the city's computer department take the script as an email attachment and print it out for her, Zoppo said. Then she went to the mayor's office and made copies.
"I gave one to the mayor and four of my colleagues," said Zoppo.
A month earlier, Zoppo said, five of the six Democrats on the council met privately to talk over the contentious issues related to downtown. She called that session a "caucus."
Attorney John King, representing the city, peppered Meisinger with questions. He demanded to know whether Meisinger had first-hand knowledge of secret meetings or agreements among members of the city council before the hearing.
A frustrated Meisinger, who said he became upset when he learned of the scripted meeting from reading a news story in The Bristol Press, said he wasn't privy to secret sessions among city councilors. He had no evidence to produce, said Meisinger, who was there alone, without any attorney.
"How could I possibly have it?" Meisinger asked. "If I was present, I would know all this."
Meisinger said Zoppo's script and her email to Stortz, which he provided to the FOI Commission, was what he had to offer.
Meisinger said he is friends with Ward and wasn't going to deny it. He said he did speak with Ward before filing his complaint – in part because he'd never filed an FOI complaint before, he said – and Ward didn't have any problem with it.
But Meisinger said the fact that he filed a complaint had nothing to do with the individuals involved.
"If it was somebody else," said Meisinger, "I would have done the same."
After the FOI hearing, Meisinger said he didn't like the way it went, but seemed glad to have brought the issue to the attention of the Commission.
"Win or lose, I don't want this to happen again in City Council chambers," said Meisinger. "I think it was totally wrong."
For more information on the issue, including copies of the scripts, emails, and Meisinger's FOI complaint, check out the Bristol Blog at http://bristolnews.blogspot.com.
For background, check out these earlier Bristol Blog posts:
Is Ward behind the FOI complaint? (Aug. 10, 2007)
Mocabee speaks out on FOI complaint (Aug. 10, 2007)
FOI complaint lodged against Zoppo, Stortz, city (Aug. 10, 2007, includes text of FOI complaint)
Council hopeful Rich Kilby weighs in on script controversy (June 10, 2007)
McCauley defends Zoppo (June 8, 2007)
Zoppo stands by scripted meetings (June 6, 2007)
What do you think about scripting city meetings? (June 5, 2007)
Scripting city meetings (June 5, 2007, includes the script used for the January meeting)
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
21 comments:
Perhaps Jay Meisinger should file another complaint against the scripted meeting that Ward took part in.
The language Ellen used and to keep Ward, or anyone out of the LOOP, was secretive - its was wrong and the voters knew it - that is why Zoppo was voted out. Now who cares, what she is doing, where she wants to go, etc...lets move on and move Bristol in the right direction.
I still trust and believe in Ward, voting for Ward still!!
I'm sorry Steve, but I think I'll wait to hear the outcome or hear from someone else that was there how it went. I'm not very comfortable with your wifes interpretation of how things happen when she turns them into a story.
Why didn't she mention any questions that the commission asked the City (John King)? Or didn't they ask any questions of the City?
It sounds like the entire hearing was John King raking over Jay Meisinger and I'm certain that isn't all that happened in the hearing.
That whole part of the article quoting Ellen - it appears as if she was saying those things at the FOI Commission Hearing yesterday.
Did I misunderstand? Was Ellen there defending her work? Or is the Ellen section in the article just a recap of past information?
Yes, Zoppo was there at the hearing, testifying about her role.
oh, that makes it more believable? doubt it.
There is something inherently unfair -- no, wrong -- about the taxpayers shelling out money for the city to hire a lawyer to rake a resident over the coals for daring to raise an FOI question. Why does the law allow such a clear imbalance? I'd rather have my town pay for the resident's lawyer than to fork over the cash to hire someone to defend officials who may have done something wrong.
Better yet, why make this adversarial at all? Why not just have the commission and anyone interested jointly seek out the truth of what occurred without any lawyers involved at all? The commission would rule on whether laws were broken and it would specify a remedy.
I don't see a reason for taxpayers to cover the tab for attorneys in a case like this.
because steve,
its all a matter of interpretation.
and that's what lawyers do the best..or at least argue for their points.
Steve: This was a "fishing expedition" style complaint by a political partisan to help his pal win the primary. He sorta kinda assumed, based on zero knowledge of CT's sunshine laws and what he read in your newspaper, that his friend's political opponent did something wrong (not sure what, but since it was Ellen, it had to be bad!). Why shouldn't the burden be on him to at least provide some shred of evidence (he didn't)? Why should the taxpayers pay for a lawyer to help him do that?
The fact that the FOI Commission held a hearing means there was a shred of evidence. They don't hesitate to throw out cases that lack any merit at all.
I could not agree more in relation to there being no real need for counsel in these type of cases.You are quite correct that the Commission SHOULD be able to arrive at a decision on its' own,WITHOUT the exhorbitant expense of attorneys!
I am not aware if this might already be the case, but I wonder if the Commission had an attorney as a sitting member to provide legal advice/consul, wouldn't that possibly eliminate the need for paying for counsel by EITHER party? Just an idea.
To the 12:05 poster: Pretty easy for you to shoot your mouth off while safely hiding behind your anonomity. Mr. Meisinger may not have known about CT Sunshine Laws (I'm pretty sure most people don't), but to insinuate that he only put his good name on the line because his "friend's political opponent did something wrong (not sure what, but since it was Ellen, it had to be wrong)" is WAY out of line. He may not have had a "shred of evidence" other than Ms. Zoppo's script, but at least he had the guts to stand up and say what Ms. Zoppo did was wrong. Filing the FOI complaint and facing a room full of hungry lawyers takes some serious fortitude...something you appear to be seriously lacking.
In terms of the attorneys being present, this sounds like an Administrative Law type of hearing with the Hearing Officer/Referee/Commissioner serving as a quasi-judge. This is the same approach that the state uses in unemployment hearings. In those hearings the company contesting the award of unemployment payments almost always sends counsel to the hearing, while the ex-employee is left squirming in his chair, shuffeling papers and trying to remember a crafty line from the Law & Order episode that he watched the night before.
That said, the reason these employers typically send attorneys is because the system (again, as it relates to unemployment) is quite biased toward the petitioners. Obviously the city would want to isolate itself from any liability that it may have been exposed to by the actions of Ms. Zoppo, Mr. Stortz and Mr. Minor.
I think it's interesting that Minor appears to be involved in the pre-meeting for the scripted meeting. Let's hope that my fellow voters notice this.
Hard to find anyone in this town that is not a friend of Art's because that is the kind of guy he is. He gets along with everyone. The fact remains - Zoppo lied, was deceptive and got caught!! Its not over either, her puppets will be next - Minor & McCauley.
You people are nuts. Ellen is accused of "secret meetings". Who did she meet with? It would have to be at least four councilmembers for it to be an illegal meeting. Ellen is further accused of actually preparing to chair one of the most important meetings of her career where they would write the rules for the BDDC. The nerve of that woman! Doesn't she know councilmen are supposed to show up for these meetings clueless? Oh...councilMEN. Sorry, never mind.
Stop picking on Meisinger and Ward, they are veterans.
So are Minor, McCauley, and Nicastro.
I'm sick of hearing about people being veterans and immune from criticism.
I'm rather fed up with this "puppets" comment. It's a poor argument for attempting to get rid of Minor and McCauley. You have nothing on them so that's your only argument. How stupid!
Did Ellen script that for you?
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