Hampton Select Board: Gods on Mt. Olympus

 

Select Board meetings have been hearing every week from citizens who are somewhere between concerned and outraged about the prospect of Hampton police operating in tandem with ICE agents to kidnap people around town. 

There are also those speaking out in favor of ICE deployment in Hampton, those who assert Hampton is threatened by dangerous immigrants who will steal from Hampton homes and citizens, may rape, murder or (though it hasn't yet been mentioned--you know its coming) pose a lethal threat to Hampton's pet cats and dogs.

This happens during the "Public Comment" time which begins each Select Board meeting. Members of the public are allowed to comment, are cut off at 3 minutes and under no circumstances are they allowed to ask questions of the members of the Select Board or attempt to exchange in a "back and forth" with the Board members.

Through all this, the Select Board sits silently, like carvings on Mt. Rushmore, or gods on Mt. Olympus, listening but not interacting--beyond Mr. Rusty Bridle, who has interrupted speakers who look as if they will speak for more than the 3 minutes the Board allows for each individual to comment.

The Select Board is not alone in forbidding "back and forth" between citizens who have come to speak at meetings and members of the Board. The School Board does this. The School Board also cleaves to the 3 minute rule.

The reasons for limiting speakers to 3 minutes have been variously stated as, "Well, we could be there all night. We have to place some limits," to, "Well, we don't want one guy hogging the podium so nobody else gets a chance to voice an opinion."

But, of course, at the Deliberative Sessions which are held in February for discussion of proposed warrant articles, there is no time limit per speaker and there is a Moderator, who can intervene if someone gets off topic or obstreperous enough to derail civil discussion, but somehow that does not seem to work for either Board.

And, of course, you could solve the logistics problem by simply asking for a show of hands about who wants to speak that night, and if you've allowed 60 minutes for public discussion, and 12 people raise their hands, then everyone gets 5 minutes or if there are only 6 people, then each gets 10 minutes. There are simple solutions, if you really want to address the problem.

If you really wanted to allow people to express their opinions you could change the rules and put in safeguards, like a moderator. But more important even than hearing what citizens are thinking, we need a mechanism to hear what the elected representatives of Hampton citizens are thinking. 

We elect candidate in every election from Select Board to the Presidency, without knowing much about them. The one way we get a real insight into who these people are, what they are thinking, is at press conferences, where they have to answer (or more often evade) questions. Nothing like that happens in this small town in New Hampshire. There are no press conferences for either the Select Board or the School Board. Of course, there really is no local press in the Seacoast worthy of the name "free press."

State Rep Chris Muns

 Allowing citizens to question their government raises the prospect of anger. We've all seen raucous town meetings on TV where audiences shout down their representatives and shout at each other, so the strict limits on time and the wall between the speakers and those to whom they speak is said to be justified as a way to keep things under control.

But isn't there always the tension between free expression and order? We can have a very civil town and town government if we simply have no meetings at all, or meetings where only the Board members are present and they may or may not choose to speak about town issues. For that matter, if we had a king, things could be very civil. Supplicants before the king, kneel and beg for indulgence. Citizens of a Republic can demand a redress of grievances.

We have seen on TV those meetings of the Chinese and North Korean governments, where "representatives" of the people simply sit silently and applaud their leaders at the podium. There is no anger and no disorder and everything is very much in control.

Hampton is more like that than it is like any raucous town hall in Ohio.

There are instances of Hampton representatives speaking out publicly at the Select Board meetings--but these are not members of the Select Board. Three members of the state House of Representatives have spoken as citizens during the Public Comment session: Chris Muns, who asked the Select Board to vote a resolution of defiance against ICE cooperation; Erica DeVries who decried the violation of habeas corpus and the imposition of unfunded mandates to spend town taxpayer dollars on funding required for the protection of Hampton police should they join ICE; and Linda McGrath who Mad Dog found difficult to follow until she summarized by warning of impending invasion by tattooed gangs of illegal aliens from their home bases in Maine. 

State Rep McGrath

Here in Hampton, Mad Dog would like to see a meeting where a citizen stands up and addresses the Select Board Directly, beginning with the Chairman, Rusty Bridle: 

 "Mr. Bridle: Do you think immigrants are enough of a threat to Hampton to involve Hampton police in their arrests? What do you think of immigrants here in Hampton and beyond, Mr. Bridle? Do you think immigrants are a risk or a benefit to Hampton?"

State Representative Erica Rachel DeVries

And then, to Amy Hansen:

"Ms. Hansen: We have heard from folks who say the law is the law and the new state law says we here in Hampton have to pay for our police to cooperate with ICE.  Do you believe it's as simple as 'The law is the law?'  Are we bound to obey every law, even if we think its unconstitutional or immoral?"

And then, to Chuck Rage:

"Mr. Rage: Would you approve of Hampton police and ICE agents breaking down doors in Hampton? How about raids on work sites where landscapers, tree trimmers or construction workers are removed without arrest warrants?"

Not A Representative Government

And then, to Carleigh Beriont:

"Ms. Beriont: Do you believe Ms. McGrath, when she says there are row houses across the Piscataqua filled with murderous illegal immigrant gang members poised to invade the New Hampshire seacoast? Do you think this fear justifies masked ICE agents throwing human beings into unmarked vans at Hampton Beach and disappearing them?"

Immigrant: Can I come in? Uncle Sam: I guess you can--there's no law to keep you out

And, to Jeff Grip:

"Mr. Grip: Do you believe that Governor Ayotte and the state legislature can legally force Hampton to participate in extra judicial violation of habeas corpus and if you do not, would you be willing to have Hampton join a coalition of New Hampshire towns in resisting this law and fighting it in court and at the local town level?"

Now, if we had that sort of exchange, we may not change anything, but at least people watching on Channel 22 would have some idea of what their representatives are doing or not doing to represent them.

But until we can actually hear what our representatives think on this issue and related issues, we can do nothing to really affect the behavior of the board, or its composition.

Until then, they reside behind a veil of silence, imperious, silent, hearing prayers and admonitions but never deigning to reply.