Public Comes to the Rescue at Warwick City Council meeting
The following was extracted from an “X” post by Ken Block, who was just named GoLocalProv’s “Man of the Year”
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Oh, Warwick!
Warwick’s dysfunctional government has been a hot-button topic for me for more than a decade. What happened in Warwick this week was horrifying and clearly illustrates why the city’s government is so broken.
On Monday, the Warwick City Council’s President, Anthony Sinapi, attempted to bounce Finance Committee Chairman Ed Ladouceur from his position on the committee. Sinapi wrangled a change to the City Council’s rules earlier this year, giving the Council President the power to remove a committee chair from their position for no reason at all.
Why did Sinapi, a lawyer, want Ladouceur exiled from the Finance Committee? Because Ed had the gall to perform his job in public. Quite literally, Sinapi was unhappy that Ladouceur had publicly asked hard questions about issues before his committee. Last I checked, that should be welcome behavior for any committee member, Chair or not.
Tellingly, Warwick’s Mayor, Frank Picozzi, also publicly expressed unhappiness Monday night with Ladouceur’s job performance, stating that he (the mayor) had told Ladouceur not to question things in public. Here is where Warwick’s problems truly reside.
Picozzi has no business – zero – demanding that any City Council member do anything. Unfortunately, Warwick’s City Council has been nothing more than a rubber stamp to Warwick’s Mayor for decades. The Council has made it difficult for government watchdogs and critics to register their unhappiness with what the Council (and, by extension, the mayor) does by severely limiting public speech during meetings. Now, the Mayor and Council President attempted to punish a Council Committee Chair for not toeing their line.
Fortunately, a crowd of approximately 100 members of the public showed up to express their disapproval of this extraordinarily autocratic move. The meeting was total chaos, and in the end, Ladouceur kept his committee chairmanship (for now).
Warwick lacks an effective municipal check-and-balance on the mayor’s power. As a result, Warwick frequently goes off the rails in many ways. Departmental oversight is absent, and fiscal mismanagement goes unchecked. Warwick’s neutered City Council enables the worst behavior and policies out of the mayor’s office.
Good government means transparent government. Good government means accountable government. Picozzi unleashed his wholly owned council president to punish a council member audacious enough to ask questions and insist on public transparency. Instead of creating tools to enforce a go-along-to-get-along culture, Sinapi should be working to strengthen the City Council’s role in overseeing Warwick’s misfiring government.
Everything about this was disgustingly wrong. There is much more to discuss regarding Monday night’s horrifying display. I’ll discuss further soon.
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