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Commentary

Down the Road - Andrea Smith

Town meeting "democracy" in Wareham

In last week’s edition of Wareham Week, Larry McDonald’s guest column was, shall we say, provocative.

I don’t know if McDonald wrote the headline or it was done by someone on staff at Wareham Week, but I have to tell you I found it ironic at best and maybe just a little bit funny.

“In voters we (don’t) trust.” That’s the headline (the hook if you will) someone chose for a piece of writing that criticizes selectmen for wanting (are you ready for this?) every single voter in Wareham to have an opportunity to be free of intimidation, insult, and physical discomfort. That’s the headline that addresses a non-binding referendum that would allow a wide array of residents to express their opinion regarding the possibility of 200 units of affordable senior housing on the town-owned Westfield property.

McDonald suggests that Bruce Sauvageau’s support of a Westfield referendum indicates the selectman has no regard for the legislative branch of government.

“There is nothing more insulting than an elected official telling the citizens he has no regard for the legislative branch of our government. To hell with democracy!” McDonald wrote.

McDonald has it all wrong. “To hell with democracy” doesn’t describe Sauvageau. It describes the very loud and obviously orchestrated faction of voters that disrupted and distorted the democratic process during last fall’s Town Meeting.

I know this because I was seated right next to them. It was the darkest side of small town politics that I have ever seen.

Be assured, experience allows me to make comparisons. I’ve attended town meetings in Needham, Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester, as well as in Wareham, where I have lived for quite some time. Not once in any of those towns have I seen anything like what I witnessed during debate of the Westfield issue last fall.

First there was the gathering of the troops in a room at Wareham High School shortly before Town Meeting began. Then the impossible-to-miss mass of people filed into the upper left-hand side of the high school auditorium. One group sat in the first aisle while the rest filled in each subsequent row behind that. The group extended all the way to the top of the auditorium, where many of them chose to stand. I saw with my own eyes how those standing at the top left-hand side of the auditorium shifted over to stand behind the rows in the middle in order to have their vote counted twice.

I saw them wink at other members of the group. I saw them pat each other on the back. I had never seen anything like it before.

Prior to that I sat and listened to distortion after distortion made by members of this group. Someone falsely stated a deed restriction prevented affordable housing from being built on Westfield. Someone claimed Westfield was too far from town for seniors but failed to mention that five well-populated senior-only mobile home parks lie within similar or greater distance from the town (and that GATRA had agreed to provide service to the property). A person attacked an RFP received for Westfield but failed to mention four more advantageous proposals that were also received by the town. They said the town should focus on improving Agawam Village, knowing full well that Agawam Village is owned by the state and that the town has little say in how it operates.

And then when those who wished to support Westfield rose to take a microphone, I heard intimidation, insults and booing. Most of those boos came from those standing at the back.

How do you suppose it feels to try to speak during a public meeting and be treated that way? How would you feel if your wife or mother or grandmother rose to speak during a town meeting and someone screamed “Shut up!” and someone else shouted “Sit down!”

That’s what happened to me when I stepped up to a microphone. Yes, I write for the Wareham Observer. But I did not attend town meeting as a reporter or columnist. I came because I am a resident of Wareham and I believe my rights as a citizen are every bit as important as anyone else’s.

How many Westfield proponents stayed away from town meeting because (knowing the reputation of Wareham’s town meetings and the fervor of Westfield’s opponents) they didn’t want to subject themselves to that kind of behavior? In a comment under his own story on Wareham Week’s web site, McDonald actually wrote there was no intimidation at town meeting. How does McDonald know what anyone else felt at the meeting? I know how I felt. Please don’t speak for me, Mr. McDonald. You are not qualified to do so.

How many seniors, unsure of their steps after dark, unable because of the aches of age to sit through three hours of town meeting, chose not to attend? How many parents exhausted from work and long commutes came home to find children needing help with homework? How many people in the midst of busy lives may have had a scheduling conflict with town meeting that night?

I think selectmen should be congratulated for their decision to bring the question of Westfield in the form of a non-binding referendum before voters on April’s ballot. I think every single issue that can be placed on a ballot should be. It’s time to acknowledge that orchestrated disruptions, backroom politics, marathon town meetings, and the reality of overscheduled lives often prevent voters from having an opportunity to express their opinions. I think it’s time to applaud and celebrate to the fullest extent possible the democratic privilege of voting in the privacy of a voting booth.

Maybe McDonald’s real concern is that the results of the referendum will not only support Westfield but also suggest that ballot questions are the wave of the future. That would prevent special interest groups from being able to bully people and getting their way at town meeting.

Which path sounds more democratic to you?

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Down the Road - Andrea Smith - 18 opinions posted