Settle a Score
Thank goodness for the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission. They guarantee us open access to meetings and information about government at all levels. Transparency is the best deterrent against corrupt and self-serving public servants.
It’s disgraceful when a commissioner uses the FOIA statutes to settle a score with fellow commissioners because they voted him out as their chairman and in the process attempts to sabotage a commission decision with what I believe are unfounded and false claims about ex parte communication. That is the essence of Gary Bousquet’s FOIA complaint about Clinton’s Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC).
The money that the FOI Commission and the Town of Clinton must spend on this vindictive complaint is disgusting. Frivolous complaints trivialize the important work the FOI Commission does.
If the PZC commissioners ever had second thoughts about removing Mr. Bousquet as their chairman, they can certainly set any reservations aside now. His belligerent and arrogant behavior toward members of the commission and to the public when he was chairman has now been escalated to an entirely new and potentially destructive level.
It is rare indeed to see an elected official who relies heavily on local business to behave with such disregard for his or her own reputation. I am baffled at what I believe is his attempt to use the FOI Commission as a means to undermine the commission’s very popular and unanimous decision about relocating CVS. He even voted his agreement with and was a party to that unanimous decision.
The FOI Commission is scheduled to hear this complaint next Monday, March 13. One can only hope that it lends no credence to this self-indulgent, infantile rant.
I encourage your readers to tell our other PZC commissioners that Clinton has their back.
Kirk Carr
Clinton