Epping Town Government – Fair and Balanced?

UPDATE:  Big Oops.  Big Mea Culpa and apology in order. 

It turns out that the article below that was emailed to me was taken from another person’s blog (with whom I have conversed with over some other posts and blogging / NH in general).  The blog’s proprietor sent me an email asking why I had not linked it.  It took a couple of minutes, but then I put the connection together.  The actual Post is from a relatively new blog to me "a dog-eared town" run by Paul.  Varied posts on different topics – good place to land for something different. 

My apologies to Paul and I take full responsibility for this snafu for happening.

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Doug and I have been involved with some local politics in conjunction with the Moultonborough Citizens Alliance on open and transparency in local government (both in Moultonborough, NH and our home town of Gilford, NH).  Stories are over at our local blog, GilfordGrok.

I guess it won’t stop as I received email from my friend Tom over in Epping – it sounds like their Town Fathers are playing favorites and dabbling in censorship (if you list one political site, you’d better allow them all – and they are NOT!).  His group’s site is here.

So, a bit of a flashlight help from his friends at the ‘Grok!  And remember:  if it happens (in various guises) here in little ‘ole NH, it can happen in your town too!

See the writeup from the Manchester Leader after the jump…

 

SMALL TOWN NEW HAMPSHIRE POLITICS by Paul

It’s these sorts of games that selectmen play, that drives people nuts about small town NH politics.

A proposal by Epping Residents for Principled Government to have the town put a link to its Web site off the town’s official Web site got a cool reception last night.

So one town group wants to get on the towns website, which is horribly designed btw, because there’s another group already on the site. Ok. Regardless of the content of either website we have the following demands placed on the new group by a selectman.

Chairman Jeffrey Harris said before anything is approved, he would like to see a mission and a purpose statement for the group as well as a list of all of the members and how others can join the organization. A financial statement for the group would also be necessary, he said.

So I went to the “Speak up Epping” group listed on the towns website. Nothing on their website about a mission or purpose statement. Nothing about a financial statement. But they do list telephone numbers and ask people to join, which is nice.The website is quite bare, just a listing about something that happened in April and list of telephone numbers for people in this group.

There is a blip about the group and it is some how related to UNH, though it doesn’t say how. The who is records list a California company. I see the dns servers are yahoo so I’m guessing the domain was purchased via yahoo, though it doesn’t say and there is no real contact info. So there’s not much information about the group that is listed on the town’s website.

Now this other group has a bunch of hoops that the selectmen want them to jump thru. These sorts of things are the bane of small town NH politics. They make one un-favored group jump thru hoops and their favored group doesn’t. I’m sure it’s the same way in other states but it is not fair. It should not happen. If you allow one group on the towns website then you have to allow others. And there has to be uniform rules too. You just can’t make it up as you go along in order to make it tougher.

Whether or not either group deserves to be on the town’s website is irrelevant. The manner in which groups are allowed to be on the towns website is the issue. Uniform easy to understand rules is what should happen. Is that too much to ask?

 

Epping spars over Web sites

By JENNIFER DEPAUL
Union Leader Correspondent
Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007

EPPING – A proposal by Epping Residents for Principled Government to have the town put a link to its Web site off the town’s official Web site got a cool reception last night.

The request was eventually tabled, but not before Selectman Jerry Langdon pointed to attacks on individuals in town and the political nature of EppingNoSpinZone.com.

An item on the Web site makes reference to Municipal Budget Committee Vice Chairman Brenda McCartney as "Brenda the spender" and directs readers to its publication, Epping Taxing Times, "where you’ll get the other side of the story! The side Epping’s power brokers don’t want you to know."

A letter by the group was addressed to selectmen on July 30 seeking the approval for the link from the town’s site, www.ci.epping.nh.us.

The group noted that the organization Speak Up Epping has a forum and a link posted on the town’s taxpayer-funded Web site.

Langdon said the Speak Up Epping website was not political and carried a more positive message.

"I don’t know why I would want that link associated with the town with some of the things I saw in there when it is being compared to ‘Speak Up Epping,’ " Langdon said of EppingNoSpinZone.com. "I guess if it was something trying to teach people about government it would be fine, but not if it was politically motivated."

The Speak up Epping Web site is connected with the downtown revitalization project.

Epping Residents for Principled Government wants to have its link posted on the town’s Web site along with Speak up Epping to show a difference of opinion, said Selectman Diane Gilbert, who is also a member of Epping Residents for Principled Government,.

The organization wants to make sure the revitalization project is being led by the right people and that they aren’t taking residents down the wrong road, Gilbert said. Currently the Planning Board is in charge of the project; Gilbert has been reviewing receipts and other paperwork in regard to how the project efforts are being funded.

"What does the link cost to put it up? Nothing," Gilbert said.

Chairman Jeffrey Harris said before anything is approved, he would like to see a mission and a purpose statement for the group as well as a list of all of the members and how others can join the organization. A financial statement for the group would also be necessary, he said.