Ham,
I won't rant, but I will say the problem with the current form of government is that people running it. Now, just to coat tail on what you are saying, think about the possible candidates for the jobs? John Donahue, and the 5 Selectmen. Which of these people have paying jobs? Hmmm, does this start to make sense? Yes, they selected the people on the Charter review, so you can be assured they "guided" them. This has all be a well orchestrated and continues to be pushed along.

This is another reason why we need to get organized and get organized fast before the town meeting. They will push many issues that are either self serving or serving a few of their cronies.

Good show Ham!

MAYOR  DONAHUE  SALERY   100K   , BRUCE CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT  80K,     BRENDA   CITY COUNCIL PERSON 60K ,   WONT THEY ALL WANT SECETARYS   , WONT THE MAYOR WANT A PRESS SECTARY  75K    I JOB FOR BO BO AND THEY WILL STILL NEED A TOWN ADMINSTRATOR, I WILL VOTE AGAINST IT , WHAT DEPTS WILL BE ELIMATED TO PAY FOR ALL THIS  CRAP.

People, we need to get cracking! This is our town and let's not let a group of self serving Selectmen run it into the ground and end up getting paid to do it. I encourage everyone to start planning community meetings for September. I know we will have one in our community. Find an association hall, or contact me or LizdaGnome, we can set you up with a association hall. Gather friends, family, and neighbors. Let's get the word out about Take Back Wareham. Word of mouth travels a great deal faster when you involve more people. If you need contact information or help, please send private messages or any kind of message. There is a very large group working toward the same goal, but here are a few of the contacts: ( I apologize if I leave your name off)

BBrady, Larry McDonald, Dick Wheeler, PShooter, Steve Holmes (Searay), LizDaGnome, or anyone on here. Let's get moving on this!

Way to go Larry !

For three years we've been saying, "It can't get any worse than this." .....Yet it keeps getting "worser"!

Today's Charter Review Committee announcement tops them all.

The prime mover has been Jane Donahue.  She has been tireless in pushing for a mayoral form of government. She practically stops people in the street to give her spiel: "My name is Jane Donahue. All the problems this town has are traceable to our form of government. All of these problems will go away when we adopt a  mayoral system." She's done it hundreds of times, and  like water dripping on stone it has had an effect.

So I have to give her an "A" for doggedness, but I totally disagree with  her conclusion that  a mayor with an eighty dollar haircut is what Wareham needs.
The only "plus" is that they have given us a sure fire excuse to rally people to the cause of taking back our town."WAKE UP WAREHAM !" is  the bumper sticker of the day.

Mr. Wheeler,
Perhaps she is stumping for her husband? It came to me last year when they were talking about the system being broke. I didn't put all the pieces together, but I could almost look at the Selectmen and see Councilman. I'm sure that is what they had in mind. I wanted to believe they would back Bruce for the Mayor slot, but now I'm thinking it's about John "the race baiter" Donahue as mayor and the rest of them pulling in cash to sit and do what they do now.

The only thing broke is the people in the seats. Let's replace them and then see if it's broke?????  They have stacked the deck, so we have an uphill battle.

gogatemen wrote:

It has been obvious for many months that the BOS don't really care about next April-they plan to demolish the government now.

There are a number of websites with information about the ability of towns to change governments and the types of local governments allowed.  What I cannot find is the timeline and process.  If any part of the Charter Review Committee's recommendations are approved at Town Meeting is that final?  Do the changes go to a referendum so everyone could vote?  If not, could we insist that items go to referendum?

I'm sorry but I have full confidence in John Donahue's ability to stack town meeting anytime that he wishes.

here is most of the statement released to slager by the charter review committee it gives some timeline..

"Some of you just want to read what recommendation the Charter Review Committee is going to make, why we’re making it, and what it means for Wareham if it’s passed. Those questions will begin to be addressed next week.
    But there are those of you who first want to know how we got to this point, and want to understand what the rules were and be assured that we followed all the rules, and this article answers those concerns.
    Any Charter Review Committee has to work within the rules set by Massachusetts state law. Those rules state that we had to choose between two options:
    1) We could accept that the basic form of our town government (five selectmen and open Town Meeting) was serving the community well. Then we could go through the Charter, line by line, responsibility by responsibility, and recommend administrative or organizational changes, such as: establishing a new position in town; consolidating two functions (e.g. public works and finance into a single department); adding or subtracting duties and responsibilities of a particular department head; or allowing a specific committee to partake of negotiations previously not permitted.
    There were also some structural changes we could recommend, such as changing a particular position from an elected one to an appointed one; or consolidating two similar positions in different departments into one position.
    We would then make our recommendations to the Board of Selectmen, whose task would be to place them on the Warrant for Wareham voters, by majority vote, to approve or not. This process is called using bylaws and permissive legislation.
    2) We could decide that the current basic form of our town government was not serving us well. If we decided that our town government of five selectmen and an open Town Meeting was no longer working well to efficiently and fairly run our town, we could choose a new form of town government from among several options.
    But that meant dealing with two immediate changes. First, with most of the options open to us, we no longer had the right to make any recommendations about administrative or organizational adjustments. In most cases, it would be the right and responsibility of the newly formed town government to review and decide upon such changes.
    Secondly, we could no longer make our recommendations as simple Warrant articles (see above: "bylaws and permissive legislation"). We would have to either set in motion the election of a Charter Commission to write a new charter or else write it ourselves under what is known as the "Special Acts" Provision.
    Our first task, therefore, was to answer the question; is our present form of government working for us – fairly and efficiently?
    Each of us had read the current Charter carefully and after discussion concluded that we could not address the larger issues that besieged Wareham simply by making organizational and administrative changes. We were unanimous in our conclusion that a more basic change in our form of government was needed.
    So would we take the Charter Commission route or proceed under the Special Acts provision?
    We compared both options. The Charter Commission would require a town-wide petition to gather signatures of 15 percent of registered voters (more than 2,000 people) to allow for an election of Commisioners, then time for candidates to campaign for an election, and then either one or two years later the charter proposal prepared by the Commission, if approved by the State Attorney General, would be presented to voters at a municipal election. We saw that this route would likely require two or more years to completion.
    In the Special Acts procedure, the committee writes the new charter to be presented as a Warrant article at Town Meeting for majority approval. If approved, the petition is reviewed by the State Legislature and then returned to Wareham for a town-wide ballot vote. This process can be accomplished in little over one year. It is this route - Special Acts - the Charter Committee has decided on.
    Next week, we’ll communicate the thinking that led to opting for a new form of government.

Thanks Liz:
I just received my copy of the Courier with the same statement.  I am relieved that it is not "do or die " at Town Meeting- if it is approved, we can appeal to the voters.

Last edited by gogatemen (2009-08-20 15:44:07)

I have written and spoken with several of you over the past few weeks advising that this was coming. I have been reading the minutes of the Charter Review Committee on line at the Town of Wareham site.
The purest form of government in the whole United States of America is the Selectman-Town Meeting form of government.
I will break it down shortly, but, rest assured, when the Charter was changed in 1977 I was against it, as I was three years earlier when the changes began. Read the minority report of the Charter, and you will know how I felt and how many others felt.
We were outspent then.
You have the power now to stop this. It isn't a case of money any longer, it is a case of good old grassroots campaigning.
Have "coffee hours" at each others homes, even if 5 or 6 people show. Get organized. Start somewhere.
When you choose your Selectmen candidates, the same thing will apply.
This site is more powerful than anyone realizes, and the more you gather together to take back Wareham, the more powerful you become.
When I first moved to Florida and went on TV and radio to host talk shows, I would brag of the Selectman-Town Meeting form of government. Unique in New England, and again, the purist form of democracy anywhere.
In the 1600's when the citizens of Charlestown chose a few "select men" to run their day to day affairs to avoid everyone meeting every night and thereby allowing the farmers and merchants the opportunity of continuing to work. The "select men" would propose to them, at an "annual town meeting", what they considered to be the best way for the citizens to proceed with issues.
The Town Meeting is the FINAL say.
I have seen a school budget stopped because of a box of pencils.
Not only shouldn't the Town of Wareham change to a Mayor form of government, it should revert back to a strong Board of Selectmen form of government, and an even stronger Town Meeting form of government.
Forget Town Administrators, etc.
Give power back the elected officials that can be trusted, increase your own power at the same time, and save Wareham.
It's not going to be easy...but it must be done.

BREAKING NEWS: Exclusive footage of the BOS, Mr. Moderator, and their closest flunkies celebrating the Charter Review's rubber stamping of their three year quest to cash in at that city council trough:



Yeah, surprising, but they're so happy the cash is finally rolling into their pockets that they dressed up like the Beatles and broke out into song.

Yeah, I don't think this comes as a surpise to anyone, unless you've been living under a rock the past couple of years.  They've been quoted in the media about changing the government, they trash talk the current form of government at virtually every meeting, they've been screwing with the rules of our current government for years.  They hate town meeting and want it abolished because it provides a forum for dissent.  The charter review committee members practically had to pledge that they'd change town government before getting on the committee.

I didn't recognize all of the names on the committee, though the ones I did recognize are known BOS flunkies.

This was raised before, but to raise it again, why was the town clerk put on this committee?  So, it was decided from the outset the committee would not review any possible changes to that office?  Yes, our ruling regime is a bastion of ethics.

They're clinking their champagne glasses today.  Make no mistake about it people.  All of the bullshit they have put this town through for the past three years was all in the hopes of getting themselves a payday.

Don't let them get it.  City government will turn this town into a cesspool of corruption, and lining their pockets because they can't get jobs elsewhere isn't worth it.

Great picture, Ham.
Ironically,  it looks like many of the Town Meetings I have attended.
Change to a Mayor form of government, and the only pictures you will have will be of a room full of consultants, attorneys, architects and special interests representatives, all wearing 3 piece suits and Gucci shoes.
All eagerly awaiting the the arrival of " hizzoner".

Just a thought, the Courier is running a column from the Charter Review committee (supposedly seeking input for a decision that was made long before they were appointed).

Would the Courier be willing to also run a column on why the idea to change to a Mayoralty stinks big time?

Maybe some citizens could get together, approach the Courier, and if they ok it, go for it.

Yes PShooter, not to be confused with Bobo's hand puppet....

$$$$$$THE OFFICIAL MOTTO OF THE BOS NOW REVEALED:



TAXPAYERS, THE BOS WANTS YOU TO SHOW THEM THE MONEY! $$$$$$$$$

gatemen my personal issue isnt so much the money but the fact that NO TOWN MEETING, I HAVE NO SAY, NO BOS, NO BOS CITIZENS PARTICIPATION, with a mayor and ciry council we put blind faith and ALL eggs in 1 basket i am not comfortable with that....ta-mayor=$,city council paid bos not paid,  looks cheaper this way to me???

Liz:
I think you are right-the present system is cheaper (unless you count the money lost to the incompetence of the BOS).  My point is that having a mayor is not a system that will make anyone rich, unless the voters allow that to happen.  It might give one unemployed politician a job and, as always, it is about power.

The town meeting is a cherished New England tradition and it should be preserved.  However, there are thousands of small towns across the country that use a mayoral system, and there have been no reports that the sky has fallen.  The argument against the Charter Reform Proposal needs to be clear and consise -based on facts not emotion.

I didn't mean to make it sound like money is the only argument against it.  As I've stated, we've had town meeting and selectmen since colonial times, it has worked since colonial times because everyone up until these bozos followed the rules. (And it still does work) When you have town meeting, any person, no matter who they are, has the power to make a difference, to stand up and be a part of the legislative process.  That should not be taken away and people who try to take that right away should hang their heads in shame.  People should not throw that right away.

They want to throw away town meeting so they can consolidate control and have full power.  They lose sometimes at town meeting and it drives them insane.  They forget that sometimes they also win at town meeting too.  People are insane if they want to throw town meeting away - if they throw their right to be a part of the legislative process into the trash can.  That is exactly what they want people to do - to throw away their rights.  Town meeting participation is a great right that we have that most people in the world are not as lucky as we are to have.  We should not throw it away.

That being said, money is still a big factor.  People, forget about other towns you've heard of paying only stipends.  That's not what these fools are after.  They have said publicly too many times that the "problem" with our current government is that they are too overworked, underpaid, underappreciated, and the town needs full time governors so that we can benefit from their genius around the clock.

Translation - THEY WANT COLD, HARD CASH!  Pay us, they say, pay us for providing the town shitty leadership!  They won't be doing this for less than 50,000 a piece and a staff of flunkies for each of them.  The Mayor doesn't just replace the TA.  Mayors often come with their own staff of flunkies.

Guess what folks?  Who controls the money in a Mayoralty?  Not the people, that's for sure.  With town meeting gone, the citizens lose their right to look over the budget with a fine tooth comb.  In a Mayoralty, the Council controls the budget...and with that form of government (and especially with this crew of losers in charge) you better be afraid, very afraid, of them being in total control of town spending with no oversight from the citizens that comes with town meeting.  They'll find a hundred ways to funnel the money to their pockets and their friends' pockets when they don't have to explain the spending to the citizens the way they have to do now with town meeting.

When you follow the rules with our current system, it works.  The selectmen set policy.  The Town Administrator handles day to day operations.  The selectmen don't need to be micromanaging every last detail and poking their noses in around the clock.  But several in this group have no jobs, plenty of time on their hands, so they are trying to crush a system of government that has lasted hundreds of years, trying to take away OUR right to be a part of town meeting, trying to instill a city government that will foster corruption, and they're doing it all so they can line their pockets with COLD, HARD, CASH!

Last edited by Hamatron5000 (2009-08-21 07:35:55)

ham, you have stated it all PERFECTLY!!!!! the form of goverment isnt broke the people sitting in the seats are the ones broke..

So did Bobo take down the "Mayor announcement" from his website because we're all supposed to pretend like the Charter Review Committee wants our input on a decision that was made for them before they were even appointed?  This committee is a total joke, just a group of lackies that were picked because of their BOS loyalty and willingness to rubber stamp the Mayoralty system that the BOS craves so they can pig out and gourge themselves at the city council cash trough, all at the expense of our right to stand up and be a part of town meeting, a right that we have had for hundreds of years in this town and a right that we should not let them rip away from us.