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Thursday, January 16, 2020
Monday's Common Council Meetings
Gossips has already reported on what transpired at the Common Council organizational meeting and informal meeting on Monday night--in three parts, which can be read here, here, and here. Dan Udell's video of the meetings became available on YouTube this morning. It can be viewed by clicking here.
Udell appears to have turned off the camera when the meeting was recessed, because the video does not include the departure of six aldermen to caucus in the hall with the "minority party" or what transpired in the Council chamber during their absence. It moves almost seamlessly from Council president Tom DePietro rapping the gavel to declare the recess (14:00) to his stating, "We will adjourn that issue" (14:07), and going on to make his statement about the objectives for the coming year.
COPYRIGHT 2020 CAROLE OSTERINK
COPYRIGHT 2020 CAROLE OSTERINK
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Whether it was done deliberately or unconsciously, the new process of choosing the minority leader amounts to a power grab.
ReplyDeleteA more astute political culture would be sensitive to Hudson's de facto political minorities outside the Common Council's echo chamber.
Ms. Wolff primaried as a Democrat, then picked up the Working Families ticket for the general election.
Mr. Merante, who had no need to run in the Primary, ran as a Republican, a Conservative, an Independence candidate, and a Democrat in the general election.
Wouldn't voters among the city's minimally represented center-Right parties prefer to be defended by someone who's more aligned with their interests and outlook?
Watching the video, I noticed that nobody questioned the assumption that a minority leader must represent a minority party with more than one member. That sounds like a made-up rule.
ReplyDeleteSo if there are no rules established, then what prohibits Mr. Merante from being a minority of one? Indeed, why didn’t the position go to him automatically?
(Does it complicate matters that Hudson apparently has no Republican organization whatsoever? Several years ago I spoke about this with the County Clerk and other County-level Republicans. They concurred, but suggested that I go in search of the last Committee's erstwhile Chairman. I inquired at two of his listed addresses but he'd disappeared without a trace.)
It's hard to credit the attorney's claim that the Council holds itself aloof from the "internal workings" of parties and caucuses when by its very recognition of a proffered minority leader the Council will tacitly approve of the means by which the leader was chosen.
ReplyDeleteAttorney Baker: "How [the] respective parties or various political decisions are made, that's all separate, that's not a part of the Council's business."
I grant that the attorney was thinking on his feet, but given the instant example the position is indefensible. When it ultimately agrees on the minority leader, the Council will implicitly approve of the way in which the leader was determined. By way of its approval, or even its disapproval, the Council becomes inseparable from the machinations of whatever hastily assembled caucus had maneuvered for power.
Notice that when Alderman Halloran asked what had transpired for the so-called caucus to have excluded last year's minority leader, the "caucus" participants sat there stony-faced. Hadn't the lawyer just said that their actions weren't any the Council's business?
But it is the Council's business, or it should be. And I suppose that's why President DePietro recommended an immediate re-do even though that meant making up new rules on the spot. But how was this immediacy going to be fair to Alderman Merante who, as a minority of one, would be defending his candidacy to those who'd already demonstrated their willingness to exclude him?
As a city taxpayer who feels grossly underrepresented in the new Council (look no further than the partisan "Ward meetings"), the fact that the Charter is silent on the matter of the minority leader - a paid position no less! - is patently foolish.
Hudson Democrats seem to be of the opinion that cheating is perfectly acceptable because they think that they are “the good guys”. It’s shameful to see the good name of the Working Families Party being used as a tool to cheat, these people should be ashamed. Make Merante minority leader and quit trying to cheat.
ReplyDelete