Last May, arguably the dopiest (or at least most unnecessary) gaffe in local political memory was committed by Don Moore, the president of Hudson’s Common Council.
To a packed room of some 80 concerned citizens, Moore announced that he would suppress the public release of a much-anticipated and highly-controversal document—the City’s latest update to its draft Waterfront plan—for two weeks.
His ostensible reason? Moore stated that he did not want Aldermen’s initial opinion of the document to be influenced by comments from their constituents, a/k/a the voters. Treating his colleagues more like wards of the state, he apparently deemed Hudson’s elected officials to be so frail that they needed to consider the document “free from public scrutiny” (according to then-Register-Star reporter Jamie Larson’s paraphrase of Moore’s sentiments).
After a firestorm of protest and a raft of bad press, not to mention key excerpts of the new draft appearing anyway at The Gossips of Rivertown, Moore finally relented—belatedly releasing the already-leaked document and admitting that his initial decision was “wrong.”
As head-scratchingly clueless as that unforced error struck many people at the time, one might have assumed that Moore had learned a lesson... Learned, for example, that keeping the public out of the loop is always a political mistake, not least when a controversial, long-running decision is in the balance.
Yet tonight, Moore repeated essentially the same boneheaded blunder.
On Monday, word leaked out that attendees of a special meeting to discuss the Waterfront plan would not be allowed to speak until after the Council voted on a crucial portion of it.
Attempting to pre-empt criticism of this latest move against public participation, Moore claimed in a comment on Gossips that citizens would indeed be given a chance to participate, along with a 10-day opportunity to submit written comments—after the vote was already taken. Since there would be no opportunity for such after-the-fact comments to change the vote, the offer appeared to be meaningless.
And so it proved to be: utterly pointless.
At the meeting tonight, Moore initially indicated that there’d be an opportunity for questions and comments from the floor before a vote. But as the meeting wore on, he forced the issue to a vote without any chance for public input. He then quickly dismissed the State and City attorneys, quite obviously eager to hustle them out before anyone spoke up. Aldermen began to leave even as Moore lamely suggested that comments could now be heard. By then, the crowd was dispersing. Even those inclined to stay and comment knew that this would be an empty exercise.
Waterfront plans, even more than most legislation, are supposed to be based upon a detailed and responsive public process. By State mandate, they are meant to result in public understanding, acceptance, and enthusiasm for the final plan. The current version fails on all three counts.
In this case, Moore appears hell-bent upon ingratiating himself to a few political players—most particularly, outgoing Mayor Rick Scalera—at the expense of public trust of an empty process.
It’s often said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Those who do not learn from their own mistakes are doomed to be remembered by cheap (yet apt) puns about their last name.
