Post by mocmoc on Sept 13, 2004 8:04:16 GMT -5
Imposed Silence Creates Confusion
September 13, 2004
By MARYELLEN FILLO, Courant Staff Writer
ROCKY HILL -- The mayor's decision to electronically silence a persistent opponent by switching off her microphone at a televised council meeting Aug. 16 is causing a lot of noise.
Todd Cusano's quick finger on the "mute" button has prompted Barbara Surwilo, a Democratic council member and former mayor, to accuse the man who defeated her last year of violating the First Amendment and tainting town meeting minutes.
Surwilo said the Republican mayor's actions not only violated her civil rights and those of the public, but also may have compromised the legality of the meeting.
She claims he also violated Federal Communication Commission regulations, the state Freedom of Information law and Robert's Rules of Order when he tampered with the meeting being broadcast on the local public access channel.
"We have our own Rocky Hill-gate," Surwilo, 63, said.
"This goes beyond partisan politics to the heart of the Democrat process and is an abuse of the public trust."
Cusano, 31, who has been tangling with Surwilo since his upset win, offered a different version.
"Her allegations are silly and border on the absurd," the lawyer said Friday. "The issue is that she was repeatedly gaveled out of order and wouldn't respect that."
Town Manager Barbara Gilbert said she has requested an opinion from the town attorney on whether the legality of the meeting or the minutes were jeopardized by the audio gap.
In the meantime, the council has tabled any action on the minutes from the August meeting.
According to Surwilo, she was trying to debate an agenda change regarding the public participation portion of the meeting when Cusano repeatedly ruled her out of order.
Without her knowledge, Cusano finally hit a switch that muted the audio portion of the meeting, silencing her comments from being broadcast and recorded for council records.
Surwilo learned that no one could hear her comments when viewers advised her immediately following the broadcast.
The irony in this is that I was fighting for public participation on agenda items," said Surwilo, who noted there are now no complete minutes of that meeting.
"Cutting the sound was a combination of immaturity and arrogance by the mayor."
Cusano said his action restored order to a meeting in an unintrusive way.
"I had the right to have her removed from the meeting but I didn't want to embarrass her," said Cusano, who maintains Surwilo's complaint is more about political differences than civil rights or legal concerns. "It is unfortunate that she is taking a bitter and nasty tone about this. I'd like to remind her that the campaign we waged against each other happened a year ago."
Surwilo said she's concerned that an elected official would so easily ignore people's rights.
"The strength of our democracy depends on our constitutional right to free speech, and on access to information that enables people to form their own opinions based on what they hear during the discussion of an issue," she said. "I believe the mayor's abuse of the `kill' switch is tampering with the public record."
TEXTThe irony in all of this for me is that I'm usually criticized for being too lenient at meetings."
September 13, 2004
By MARYELLEN FILLO, Courant Staff Writer
ROCKY HILL -- The mayor's decision to electronically silence a persistent opponent by switching off her microphone at a televised council meeting Aug. 16 is causing a lot of noise.
Todd Cusano's quick finger on the "mute" button has prompted Barbara Surwilo, a Democratic council member and former mayor, to accuse the man who defeated her last year of violating the First Amendment and tainting town meeting minutes.
Surwilo said the Republican mayor's actions not only violated her civil rights and those of the public, but also may have compromised the legality of the meeting.
She claims he also violated Federal Communication Commission regulations, the state Freedom of Information law and Robert's Rules of Order when he tampered with the meeting being broadcast on the local public access channel.
"We have our own Rocky Hill-gate," Surwilo, 63, said.
"This goes beyond partisan politics to the heart of the Democrat process and is an abuse of the public trust."
Cusano, 31, who has been tangling with Surwilo since his upset win, offered a different version.
"Her allegations are silly and border on the absurd," the lawyer said Friday. "The issue is that she was repeatedly gaveled out of order and wouldn't respect that."
Town Manager Barbara Gilbert said she has requested an opinion from the town attorney on whether the legality of the meeting or the minutes were jeopardized by the audio gap.
In the meantime, the council has tabled any action on the minutes from the August meeting.
According to Surwilo, she was trying to debate an agenda change regarding the public participation portion of the meeting when Cusano repeatedly ruled her out of order.
Without her knowledge, Cusano finally hit a switch that muted the audio portion of the meeting, silencing her comments from being broadcast and recorded for council records.
Surwilo learned that no one could hear her comments when viewers advised her immediately following the broadcast.
The irony in this is that I was fighting for public participation on agenda items," said Surwilo, who noted there are now no complete minutes of that meeting.
"Cutting the sound was a combination of immaturity and arrogance by the mayor."
Cusano said his action restored order to a meeting in an unintrusive way.
"I had the right to have her removed from the meeting but I didn't want to embarrass her," said Cusano, who maintains Surwilo's complaint is more about political differences than civil rights or legal concerns. "It is unfortunate that she is taking a bitter and nasty tone about this. I'd like to remind her that the campaign we waged against each other happened a year ago."
Surwilo said she's concerned that an elected official would so easily ignore people's rights.
"The strength of our democracy depends on our constitutional right to free speech, and on access to information that enables people to form their own opinions based on what they hear during the discussion of an issue," she said. "I believe the mayor's abuse of the `kill' switch is tampering with the public record."
TEXTThe irony in all of this for me is that I'm usually criticized for being too lenient at meetings."
