The CCT And Me

Sometimes you just have to get something off your mind, even if you know it has the potential to ricochet back and knock you upside the head. So here goes.

In a Feb. 21 posting on its website headlined "Recall Failed, A Look Back," the Chatham Concerned Taxpayers essentially blamed The Chronicle, me and Chairman of Selectmen Len Sussman for the drive to recall the three selectmen who voted not to renew Town Manager William Hinchey's contract. There's just so much wrong here. Where to start?

First, the CCT refers to the recall effort as a "folly," thus patronizing and insulting not only the citizens who sponsored the drive, but the more than 1,000 voters who signed the petitions as well. Those people were in fact exercising their right to petition the government for redress of a perceived wrong, something enshrined in our Constitution which I would think the CCT, whose leadership are conservative Republicans, would respect.

The recall did not fall "far short" of its effort. The recall bar is set high --- purposefully, to avoid attempts to remove selectmen for trivial or personal reasons --- requiring that 1,406 registered voters sign recall petitions for each of the three selectmen. The petition for Sean Summers garnered 1,102, 78 percent of the required number; Tim Roper's was signed by 1,057 people, 75 percent of the required number, and 923, or 65 percent, signed Florence Seldin's petition. The numbers did fall short, but not "far" short. And remember, more people signed the petition than voted for Summers and Seldin in their last election.

I'll bypass their flawed reasoning behind the need to get rid of Hinchey; never mind that during his tenure the town has been considered one of the best-managed on the Cape, maintains the lowest tax rate in Barnstable County and one of the lowest in the state, and continues to have a triple-A bond rating. Not to mention the fact that Yarmouth snapped Hinchey up as that town's new town administrator as soon as he was available.

CCT blames The Chronicle for creating a "firestorm," after the selectmen had already quietly decided to let Hinchey's contract expire, with an editorial headlined "A Hinchey Lynching?" Selectmen had worked out an agreement with Hinchey, they state, and if not for our editorial, "that would have been the end of it."

Except that nobody knew what was going on, which was the point of the editorial. It criticized the board for keeping the decision to get rid of the town manager a secret, and asked board members to divulge to the public their reasons for doing so. It was that secrecy that drew a crowd to the Nov. 19 selectmen's meeting, and prompted the subsequent recall.

CCT also cites our "news" article (quotes are theirs, not mine) about the situation, mostly because they and others continue to insist that Hinchey wasn't "ousted," as the story stated; no, his contract was simply allowed to expire. By a 3-2 vote of the board. Which terminated a contract that otherwise would have automatically renewed. If that isn't being "fired" or "terminated," I don't know what is.

CCT goes on to wonder why The Chronicle inflamed passions. They state that Hinchey has supplied us with many exclusive stories over the year and provided us with "special access," which we would lose when he leaves. This, they stated, was more important to the paper than "preparing for the difficult years ahead," whatever that refers to. I actually laughed out loud when I first read this. We have enjoyed no special access to Hinchey. In fact, we have gone long periods --- years, in fact --- when he has barely spoken to us, due to some perceived slight or another. Hinchey never ever fed us an exclusive story. EVER. Ask any local reporter with experience in Chatham, and they'll tell you that Hinchey will answer questions, provide detailed explanations of minutia when requested, and even joke quite jovially, but he never, ever simply volunteers information. He has never called me with a story. He returns calls, because he is a professional. But he does not initiate. He is not nor has he ever been a "special information source" for us, as CCT erroneously states.

Did we just want to stir up controversy to sell papers, the group asks. Well, duh. We report news to sell newspapers. The Hinchey situation and the recall were news, big news. So we played it big. They seem to forget that we broke the story last fall; we were the first to report in September that the selectmen were considering not renewing Hinchey's contract. If not for our continued reporting of the story, the board would have slipped the issue by and the members who voted against Hinchey would not have had to justify themselves --- poorly, in large part --- in public.

My son loves Steve Martin's "King Tut." I revisited some of the comedian's material from that era when I put the song on a CD for him. Summarizing our coverage, the CCT states, "All in all, it was a poor performance by the Chronicle and its editor Mr. Wood." I harken back to Mr. Martin's catchphrase of the "King Tut" period: "Well excuuuuuuuse me!"

They go on to attack Sussman for pointing out that those who oppose the board's decision had recourse through the charter. "The Chronicle lit the match and Mr. Sussman poured the gasoline," they state. "That wasn't right."

And is it right to blame Hinchey for the town's financial situation --- which is quite good, by the way, though you wouldn't know that from reading the CCT propaganda --- even though every budget, every expenditure was approved by various boards of selectmen and hundreds of voters at town meeting? Is it right to cite false and misleading information about the town's sewer project, including unfounded assertions that alternative methods would save millions and that the expanded sewer plant is designed with regional expansion as its goal?

Never mind. Their parting words note that Sussman apologized for his behavior, but that "no apology has been forthcoming from The Chronicle."

And none will. We have nothing to apologize for. We informed people, we reported the news, we editorialized about an important issue. We did not organize the recall; I did not even sign the petitions, even though I was asked. I still believe it was a mistake to dismiss Hinchey. Only time will tell.

My final message to the CCT: I challenge you to do something positive for the town. Volunteer for a nonprofit. Contribute to the library. Stop complaining that your taxes are too high.

There. Off my chest. Since this is bound to rile somebody, let me just add this disclaimer. The foregoing expresses my own views and opinions, and is not endorsed by The Chronicle. This blog is my independent forum and not associated with The Chronicle.