Lower Merion Citizens for Responsible Budgeting
Regarding Clowns for Open Government 4/23/09 (Ken Davis letter)
September 12 , 2007
To the Editor, Mainline Times:
I write in response to Kenneth E. Davis’ slam of the Sunshine Movement and representative democracy.
How despicable to describe citizens who want to understand how their tax dollars are being spent as “clowns”. Ken seems oblivious to how important this is to most of us. I wonder how the five Commissioners who voted for open meetings feel about being called “naïfs”. Democracy sure can be inconvenient to those with agendas, especially lobbyists. It’s our money Ken; we have a right to know what you are doing with it.
Closed-door, secret meetings work great for people like Davis by enabling them to push their agenda items, most of which would certainly fail if done in the Sunshine. Wasn’t Ken one of the architects of eminent domain for private gain? Not a proud moment for Lower Merion. It makes me wonder, what other ways is he trying to pay his special interests with our tax dollars? Surely he does not want us to find out.
Ken is right about one thing, though, if the majority of Commissioners on the Board wants to do something, they have the votes to do it. The question is really why they won’t open the meetings when they have the votes to open them? Why is the majority insisting on secrecy? What are they hiding? Since they were elected to represent us, don’t we have the right to know?
Michele von Plato
Penn Valley