An Open Letter to the Epping School District Superintendent SAU #14
Monday, February 26, 2007 at 07:41AM by Tom Sutliffe
Dear Ms. Munsey:
Two weeks have elapsed since I presented your office with our letter of February 12th requesting a date by which to provide you with our opposing content to be included in the 2006 School District Annual Report. We requested to have our viewpoint included, only if the school board has planned to open a forum by only presenting selectively biased information concerning the school warrant articles. As publication of this report is rapidly approaching, if you chose to open such a forum, our viewpoint must be taken into consideration. As you know this publication is paid for with taxpayers’ dollars and as such, should include all consequences good and bad of the article coming before the electorate, not only the “benefits” of the school warrant articles.
We do recognize your right to inform the public with a fair presentation of the facts to aid them in reaching an informed decision on the school warrant articles, but there are constitutional constraints connected to your right to inform the public when using taxpayers’ monies and resources. P resently, in our federal c ase (06-CV-00474-SM) which illustrates very similar concerns, we are relying on our present Constitutional protections.
We presume, as you have chosen not to respond to our request that you have also chosen not to open a forum in the 2006 School District Annual Report, but might prefer to exercise your right to inform the public fairly, without advocating, when using taxpayers’ monies and resources, thus not necessitating our participation.
Please be forewarned however, if you choose to go forward and open a forum utilizing the 2006 School District Annual Report to advocate by promulgating selectively biased information, without our opposing view represented in the same forum, we shall earnestly pursue legal remedies.
Sincerely,Thomas A. Sutliffe, Chairman
On behalf of the Epping Residents for Principled Government, Inc.
Reader Comments (14)
That's a pretty fancy name for a few cranky seniors, a couple of no-tax free-staters, and a quartet of poltroons.
Ed, save the money you are planning to spend on a lawyer, go down to Kinko's, and print up your broadside for the townspeople. Just like all the other groups in the state that disagree with their school board do. Then pass them out at the town dump and at the school meeting. It really isn't that complicated.
Sorry for calling you Ed, TOM. I got confused when the entire entry was not in caps.
I have fought against the positions of my school board on at least two occassions, when I disagreed with the facts they were presenting. They weren't wrong, just incomplete, at least in my opinion.
I believe you are absolutely wrong, TOM, in thinking that every crank or yahoo has the constitutional right to have his opinion published at taxpayer expense in the School District Annual Report. Not even those who can correctly conjugate and use "promulgate" in a sentence. If you want to tell the good townspeople of Epping something that's on your mind, spend a few bucks and go to Kinko's to get it printed. If that's too rich for you, well, life isn't necessarily fair.
MIKE NOBODY HAS NO CLUE AS TO WHAT COMPELLED SPEECH IS.
DON'T GET TOO EXCITED ABOUT HIS COMMENTS NOT MAKING SENSE.
HOWARD DEAN FORGOT TO EDUCATE THESE GUYS ON ANYTHING MORE THAN ANTI-IRAQ CHANTS.
IT WILL TAKE A FEW YEARS BEFORE THEY UNDERSTAND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
ED NAILE
Be careful and don't spend too much time on this blog post, you appear to be getting Tom's "All Caps" disease! Once you have it, there is no cure, unless by chance you stumble on the All Caps key on the keyboard.
Tom is demanding that the Epping School board make room in their School District Annual Report for his- or rather the august "Epping Residents for Principled Government, Inc" organization's- views on the school budget. If this nobel and no doubt worthy organization can have what they want printed in the School District Annual Report, who would be next? Can the Epping lonely hearts get personals printed in the School Report, at taxpayer expense? Can enterprising Epping 6th graders print their offers to local moms that they are available as baby sitters? How about Aunt Minnie- can she print ads for her Tuesday night Bingo social at the local church?
The answer to these questions, Ed, is no, no, and no. The school board is elected by the town to do a job, and they must by law issue a report to the town about the job they are doing. The unelected, but I am sure very sincere if just a little batty Epping Residents for Principled Government, Inc. do not have that statuatory obligation to the people, and do not have the right to make the long-suffering Epping taxpayers foot the bill to publish their thoughts, however inciteful those thought may be. If TOM has something to add to the discussion about Eppings school budget, and it is clear that at least in his mind he does, he can write an editiorial or letter to the editor, and spring a few bucks to print his pamphlet and force it on his fellow Eppingites.
I hope this makes sense, and that you appreciate the good humor in which it is written.
As for "compelled speech", I am at a loss to see how that insignificant issue is relevant here. But at the same time, I really don't want to hear your tenuous connection, so save it it for another time, if you would.
YOU WILL BE PLEASED TO KNOW THAT I"LL BE WRITING A LOT ABOUT MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT THIS YEAR. WE"LL BE TAKING AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT HOW WELL YOU AND YOURS SERVE THE TAX PAYING PUBLIC.
STARTS TOMORROW
What part of the following Don't you understand?
"We do recognize your right to inform the public with a fair presentation of the facts to aid them in reaching an informed decision on the school warrant articles, but there are constitutional constraints connected to your right to inform the public when using taxpayers’ monies and resources. P resently, in our federal c ase (06-CV-00474-SM) which illustrates very similar concerns, we are relying on our present Constitutional protections.
By the way are you from Vermont?
Tom "proud to use my full name" Sutliffe
I understood everything in your quote. Thanks for asking. It is the way an elected body responds to a group of busy-bodies when they want to be polite but are not prepared to be dictated to.
No, I'm not from Vermont. Since you insist on getting personal, my wife wants to know if you are you a Libra.
No reason to apologize, as no offence was taken. But thanks anyway. Have a good evening.
http://www.eppingnospinzone.com/
These people have as much right to be political activists as anyone else.
Here's a nice page of links:
http://www.eppingnospinzone.com/ImportantLinks.htm
Mike -- it isn't that Tom is asking to have his opinions printed for free, or even at all, except that he is merely reminding the town that they have no right to print THEIR political opinions in the town report on the PEOPLE'S DIME without printing the opposing view...which they would be required to do.
Yes Mike McClueless, IT'S THE LAW...
What is his opinion? What is it that he would put in the town report "if" his bullying tactics actually worked and they let him put in his opinion? Let's hear it! What does he have to say that the people in his town just have to read? I'm thinking that he doesn't really have something to put into the town report! Because I think his real goal is just to prevent them from printing anything.