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City councilors develop sudden aversion to cameras

UPDATE: The city has a fulltime legal department, yet apparently nobody thought to check whether interviewing a former city councilor less than 30 days after she quit might violate state ethics laws, the Globe reports (Globe account required).

A roving UHub reporter files this report from this afternoon's interviews of the two candidates for the job of city clerk:

The Committee on Rules chaired by Steve Murphy interviewed the two candidates for the job. The first was Maureen Feeney, who fielded mostly softball questions from the councilors present for about half an hour.

However, Counselor Yancey asked her about the removal of councilor Turner - specifically the hearing at which the council voted 11-1 to remove him (one guess who that one vote was). Yancey asked if it was true that the rules don't allow for an item to be brought up and voted on in the same day unless voted on by a majority. Feeney agreed that is what the rules say. Yancey brought up the fact that he objected and so it was not unanimous and so Turner should not have been removed. Feeney agreed that rules should be followed. Yancey did not press the point.

The second candidate, Natalie Carithers, then also answered about the same questions from the councilors and also spoke for about half an hour. Yancey also asked her about Turner, but it was a brief discussion: She said she didn't know much about the hearing at which he was removed (even though she ran for his seat).

It appeared that the committee was going to have a discussion about the candidates but Murphy said something about the fact that there were cameras present and so that changed the complexion of the situation and so gavelled the meeting to a close.

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Comments

Was this Rules Committee public meeting webcast like other Boston City Council Committees webcasts?

It didn't appear at
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/cc_video_l...

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They held it in the Atkins Room, which I don't think is camera equipped, as opposed to the Ianella Chambers, which is.

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The Globe reports (Globe account required, sorry) Feeney's interview came less than 30 days after she quit her council seat, in violation of a state law that requires a 30-day period between the time somebody quits an elected municipal position and the time he or she is interviewed for a new one.

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Massachusetts Ethics Commission receives complaints and comment with respect to Boston City Council practices
at
http://www.mass.gov/ethics/

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Globe account not required if you're using the Chrome browser, right click, and open the link in an incognito window. I think it works the same way if you copy and paste the link into a private browsing window on Firefox.

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Clarification is needed between the job descriptions of Boston City Clerk and City Council Staff Director, especially with respect to their roles having blocked access to public records. Problematical FOI Freedom of Information practices are symptomatic of this City Council merely enunciating transparency but not actually putting FOI Freedom of Information public records principles into practices by deflecting enquires.

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With the council, that is? If so, what for, and what did they do wrong?

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By email please send the computer file of the full transcript of the last public meeting of Boston City Council. The file is stored on the Diamante Stenograph http://stenograph.com in the Council Chamber. The full transcript file is a) More accessible for folks with hearing loss, b) More complete than minutes, c) Searchable, d) Easier to read through than watching video, e) Budgeted for with public funds, f) Benefits the Councilors letting followers read the Councilors' words, quote and communicate with feedback, comment, suggestions, questions. Support open government ! Improve City Council communications. Read the full transcript of the last public meeting of Boston City Council and let Councilors know your ideas. No response to this enquiry yet violated Massachusetts public records principles. The computer file is removed from City Hall failing state guidelines http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcrmu/rmuidx.htm for preserving historical public records at City Hall.

Any scopists http://www.scopists.com/Scopistry out there?

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why do you bother?

Next time try the star trek logic loop.

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Thank you City Clerk Salerno! I appreciate your interest over the years. While the concern about access and the differences of opinion about access to public records through the City Clerks and City Council Offices remain of concern, it's clear that that the improvements with respect to open government have been great that folks can understand the work, the practices, the deliberations of Boston City Council better through the expanded materials available on the web.

Please confirm with Massachusetts Records Management Unit
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcrmu/rmuidx.htm
that the computer file with the full transcript stored on the Diamante Stenograph in the Council Chamber shouldn't be removed from City Hall. That whatever work done with the computer file should be done on a copy keeping an original computer file at City Hall given that downloading is a relatively trivial effort that would comply with Massachusetts Records Management practices.

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IMAGE(http://ihasahotdog.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/funny-dog-pictures-loldogs-wharrgarbl.jpg)

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