Democracy in Hampton, New Hampshire: The 3 Minute Rule

 Last week,  the Hampton School Board meeting opened with a time allotted to "public comment." This is, apparently required "by law."  Mad Dog knows this because that law was referred to by Lois Costa (Superintendent of SAU 90), later in the proceedings. Apparently, by some law 30 full minutes of the meeting have to  be open and devoted to public comment. This is so important that even after the article on which people had come to comment upon had been voted on, and put to bed, Ms. Costa insisted the required time allotment of 30 minutes at the end of the meeting be fulfilled, albeit in a most peculiar way.

But when a member of the public rose to comment, he was told the "3 minute rule" was still in effect. 

During his first period to comment, that same member of the public had been cut off by the chairperson of the School Board, Ginny Bridle Russell, mid sentence, with a "You have exceeded your 3 minutes. Wrap it up!"

There were only 3 members of the public present so during the first required period of public comment, only 9 minutes were used, owing to the speakers being cut off after 3 minutes. During the second required 30 minute comment session only one member of the public remained but he was restricted, once again to 3 minutes. 

The 30 minutes thing is apparently law.

The 3 minute thing is apparently not--more a whim thing.

During his next 3 minutes, that member of the public (MOP) was asked a question by one of the school board members, and he answered, but when he responded to a comment by Ms. Russel, the MOP tried to respond which really brought the house down.

Another member of the board, Les Shepard, nearly leapt out of his seat, objecting that a mere member of the public addressing the chairperson is not allowed at School Board meetings.

"We don't do back and forth here" one of the other members tried to explain. Members ask the questions; members of the Board do not answer questions from the public.

We have all heard of "the bully pulpit," but in Hampton, this concept has been transmogrified into "the bully from the pulpit." 

Apparently, the 3 minute rule is not state law for town meetings--it is not applied to Budget Committee meetings. Until he hears otherwise, Mad Dog will assume this is a rule by custom, designed to prevent one person from droning on too long and hogging the podium enforced only at the School Board meetings.

But what really transpired at the School Board meeting was the chairperson cutting off a member of the public because his comments had drawn blood--he had replied to the chairperson's argument that her desire to use public funds to support a religious school was "all about the children" and because she "cared for every Hampton child, no matter where they choose to go to school." The member of the public has said he also shared the concern for every child of Hampton, but that didn't mean he wanted to pay for their first communion dresses, or for their Bar Mitzvah's. 

Ms. Russell, the chairperson, had enough and cut him off, finding he had exceeded his 3 minutes.

The School Board meeting went on for 2 hours and 37 minutes, most of which was devoted to topics like the color of the paint on school walls, scheduling, and Ms. Russell took some time to tell everyone about her career in Hampton, since moving here in 1973, and all about the offices she had held and the great things she had done, all of which took more than 3 minutes.

The fact is, the purpose of the 3 minute rule may be sold as a way to be sure everyone has time to speak, but it is actually a way for public officials to suppress real debate, to prevent reasoning and reasoned arguments from being presented. Many reasoned arguments, especially about weighty topics like the separation of church and state, require some context, background and development, and cannot be adequately summarized in 280 characters or 3 minutes. 

The fact is, the School Board is not interested in reasoned arguments or real debate. Members of the School Board are either frankly bored by reasoned arguments or they know they cannot do that kind of thing, so they withdraw. Just look at them on that video and you can see something that goes beyond being uninterested to actual contempt--Mr. Shepard did not put his head on his desk and go to sleep during public comment, but he did look as if he might nod off. 

A republic depends on representatives representing the people, the citizens. What we have in Hampton is not that. The elected representatives are arrogant; they believe they have the power and they are the only ones whose opinions count, and certainly they should never be questioned and required to respond to questions.