Mayor Repellent
The citizens of Stratford won a victory yesterday with Judge Bellis’ decision to order the Town Clerk to accept the voter’s petition. While it is indeed a victory reaffirming that the right to vote exists even in Stratford, it is a sad victory. Our mayor, Town attorney and seven members of the Town Council believed that they, and only they, had the authority to decide everything for themselves without the participation of the residents and voters of Stratford.
They were wrong.
What is sad and unfortunate for us is that they really believed they could get away with it. Particularly Mayor John Harkins and Town Attorney Tim Bishop (neither of whom had the guts to show up in court, by the way). Harkins went so far as to threaten Town Clerk Susan Pawluk with immediate termination if she accepted the 6,000+ signature petition. Tim Bishop actually believed that a single unrelated sentence in a single paragraph in the entire collection of Connecticut State Statutes would eliminate our First Amendment rights. They really thought no one would care or have the energy to defend our right to vote.
They were wrong.
The seven members on the Council who blithely went along with whatever Harkins wanted no matter what it cost the taxpayer or how negatively it would impact the Town in the future thought they could just vote quietly and be done with it. Some of them even signed the petition so they could claim both positions if they were ever questioned. They truly thought no one would notice how they voted.
They were wrong.
Now it is up to us to make sure that this effort does not go wasted. Surely this mayor and these councilmen will have something else planned that will thwart the will of the people. We must continue to pay attention, act and most importantly, vote. We must do this because
We are right.
