Selectman, please stop calling those who question your decisions “obstructionists.”
In a letter published in the EASTON COURIER (see bottom of this post), I ask the Democratic Selectman and their allies to stop smearing concerned citizens who disagree with them as “obstructionists.”
We are not “obstructionists.” We are community leaders representing other citizens. In Easton, the citizens are the legislature, and the Selectmen are the Executive branch. The Selectmen have a role in town government, as do the groups who represent citizens too busy with family and jobs to participate.
“Unnecessary Delays Could Jeopardize the Easton EMS Project” screamed the headline of Selectman D’Addario’s April 24 Op-Ed article in the Easton Courier. “There are obstructionist forces in town working to unnecessarily delay this project.” He opined. “This vocal minority states they are not opposed to the project but are opposed to the process.”
https://patch.com/connecticut/weston-ct/easton-ems-construction-project-nodx
In the case of the EMS Building project, we demanded the town do its own test on the land we were buying rather than relying on the seller’s data, which said it was “clean.” The second test found groundwater and soil contamination.
Paying your own professional to test land that borders a contaminated site (the former Easton Village Store) was common sense, not “obstruction.”
D’Addario’s “vocal minority” included elected Republican Selectman Kristy Sogofsky, representing around 1200 registered Republicans in town.
Sogofsky asked questions about the abnormal way the Selectmen were proceeding and pled for a more transparent process. As she said at a recent Selectmen meeting, all the delays on this project are coming from the Selectman’s office and the current administration, not from a few community leaders asking questions.
Here are links to Sogofsky’s three to five-minute comments at Selectmen meetings. Does she sound like an obstructionist to you?
4/11/24 Selectman Meeting
https://vimeo.com/sotsos/sogofsky
5/11/24 Selectman Meeting
https://vimeo.com/948110108/e97b3e949d
Soil issues, funding questions, a lack of an architectural plan, the two-year process of selecting a site, and not following the normal procedures the town uses on construction projects are what are delaying the project. The rush to get this project contracted by year-end so we can apply our federal COVID money to help fund it is why the normal procedures we follow when building things have not been followed.
D’Addario’s “vocal minority” had to have included the six or ten residents who spoke about the project at meetings. To be a “vocal minority”, one has to have spoken or written something. Only this small group questioned what the Selectmen and their Building Committee were doing.
Despite D’Addario stating at a Selectman meeting that he had not “named” anyone as being an “obstructionist” in his article, the truth is that he had.
These six or ten residents were leaders and members of local groups, including Citizens for Republican Government, Citizens for Easton, and Save Our Towns/Save Our Schools. They were the ones who spoke up. This “vocal minority” spoke for many others who prefer not to be “active.”
Democrat Selectmen and your allies, please consider our facts and arguments and correct us when we are wrong, argue with us. In the future, please don’t dismiss us as “obstructionists.” We are not “obstructionists.”
Dana Benson’s Letter to the Editor in the Easton Courier:
https://eastoncourier.news/2024/06/15/letter-please-stop-calling-us-obstructionists/
