Janet McCarty's Selections columns from April 23 to June 4, 2007. These consider how to respond to the arrests of the Ierardis and Vincent Palmeri, the need for a separate, independent forensic audit, the argument for withholding the Ierardis' pensions, and the need for honest, zero-based budget to bring down costs without diminished services.
Janet McCarty's Selections columns from November 2005 to April 2007. These cover a wide range of topics, from development to senior tax relief to budgetary issues. Reading through these columns will quickly give you an overview of the most important issues facing North Haven government. These and Wechsler opinion pieces are in PDF format, viewed with Adobe Reader (clicking brings them up automatically as long as you have Adobe Reader on your computer; if you don't, go to the Links page by clicking the Links tab above).
Robert Wechsler's Opinion Pieces (from the North Haven Post, unless otherwise stated). Most of these opinion pieces ask the town's political leaders to arrange for public discussion of these issues. No such public discussion has been scheduled, nor has any official other than Janet McCarty discussed any of these issues with me.
For my and others' more recent opinions on what is happening and not happening in North Haven's government, see the new North Haven Info blog.
The responsibility of our town's political leaders for Joseph Ierardi's misconduct (published prior to his arrest)
Joseph Ierardi's conflicts of interest and how the town dealt with them (2006).
Competitive bidding and the lack thereof.
What a revised Charter could do for North Haven, and why no one is discussing this.
The serious need to bring independents into our government.
What North Haven residents can do for our climate.
Our new Assessor and how a town ordinance was violated to appoint him.
A critical look at our form of government and why our Town Charter needs to be updated (earlier pieces, but even more applicable now).
The role of the Town Meeting moderator: the speech I was not permitted to give when I ran (three times) for moderator in 2006.
A response to the attack on the former webmasters regarding alleged aiding of identity theft.
For more of my opinion pieces on municipal ethics, visit my municipal ethics blog at City Ethics.
Others' opinion pieces will be added here. Please feel free to send your own to me at rwechsler@cityethics.org.