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Health & Fitness

Nickeled and Dimed

“I didn’t take a dime” from Tom DeChiaro. “Not a nickel.” Those are Michael Grace’s words, from a recent Town Board meeting at the John C.Hart Public Library. Grace has a fondness for Latin phrases – vox populi is a big one (more about that later). But on this occasion, it was all a matter of cui bono: who benefits. Or, as is always the case with politics, follow the money.

DeChiaro is a partner in the Winery, which as anyone knows who is not living in a cabin in the woods totally off the grid, has become the focus of intense interest. For a number of reasons. Wetlands permits and the taking of public parkland for parking, for one. But also campaign financing: DeChiaro is under investigation for improper use of a PAC.

Grace is technically right, at least as far as we know from public campaign records. He might not have gotten any money directly from DeChiaro – but he did from his partner, Chris Sciarra. It’s all right there in the public record – Sciarra’s company, CF Construction, 2 checks, Michael Grace. And it was way more than a nickel. Eight thousand of them, in fact (or 4,000 dimes, your choice). And Grace is reported to have held fundraisers at the Winery, and a victory party after his election. Did he reimburse them for the expenses? If not, that’s a lot of nickels – a contribution in kind, but a contribution all the same.

So, that’s the way it works in America, right? Well, yes. Anyone can contribute to a campaign. And the Supreme Court, in an act of creation rivaling that seen on the back wall of the Sistine Chapel, has proclaimed that corporations are people: so now literally anyone can get in the game. It inevitably raises the question of improper influence – a very uneasy balancing act, but it’s what we’ve got.

Every politician has a base, and they are quite naturally the primary source of the funds necessary to mount a race. Once the election is over, though, you hope the door of those newly elected will be open to all their constituents. That our representatives will at least keep in mind the greater good and the common interest. This is particularly important when it comes to the person in charge. Party and faction get you elected, so there’s nothing wrong with being responsive to them. But the Town Supervisor has a duty above that: in a public forum, where he is in charge, he has to be impartial. Democracy is fragile. It depends on all sides knowing that their voice, however unpopular, will be heard. That they can stand up and participate in a civilized debate without intimidation or fear.

It used to be that anyone could use their three minutes at Courtesy of the Floor, uninterrupted, to say what they liked. That’s real vox populi, to use Grace’s favorite expression: the voice of the people. Then the Supervisor, or other Board members, would respond; and the person who had spoken would be able to follow up at the closing Courtesy of the Floor, at the end of the meeting. But those days are long gone. A symbol of evenhanded justice, the gavel has now become a weapon to silence dissent.

So what does this have to do with nickels and dimes and the Winery? Sadly, through Grace’s arbitrary use of the gavel, the genuine debate that we should have had never took place. Anyone who was there will not soon forget the Town Meeting where it was supposed to take place. Speaker after speaker who rose to present a reasoned argument questioning the wisdom of giving away town land for private use was treated with contempt and often cut off. It culminated with the truly shameful sight of John Schroeder being shouted down. He was there to present the report of the Open Space Committee. A volunteer, like all the members of our town committees, working without pay for untold hours in our behalf. You’d think people would want to hear what they had to say: but no. Watch the tapes: it was mob rule, not even allowing him to speak.

And Grace sat there smiling, the gavel silent on the table in front of him, until the ugly wave of heckling had subsided on its own. Do you know what the definition of real courage is? Imagine what kind of guts it takes to stand there surrounded by an angry crowd shouting personal insults, seething with hate. And meanwhile the man who should be defending your right to speak does nothing. But John patiently stood his ground and waited it out. And he went on to present the committee’s report; and in his quiet, even-toned presentation, calmed the crowd, bringing them back from the brink.

Standing in the back, hearing the anger surge around me, I was horrified. And ashamed. This was America? This was my town? Serafina Mastro, the head of the town Republicans, recently referred to “third-world thuggery” at the Town Board: she undoubtedly had this scene in mind.

We saw it again at the last Town Meeting. Grace announced at the beginning of the meeting that there would be no politics. All five Board members agreed. And then? Two people launched an extended attack on three of those very members. About – you guessed it – the Winery. And who were those two? Both Republican district leaders. One, a member of the Planning Board in charge of reviewing the Winery applications, although she claimed to be speaking “as a private citizen.”

And the second speaker? None other than Chris Sciarra. The very same Chris Sciarra who gave all that money to Mr. Eight Thousand.

Hey, if it’s your party, and you’re paying the piper, the microphone is yours. You can talk as long as you want. As for the issue of the wetlands, Sciarra pointed out that the parcel of town land in question was tiny – not even worth fighting over (one had to ask, then, why he claimed that not having it would keep scores of his other businesses from coming to town).

He’s right: from the beginning, this has not had much to do with the Winery itself. How could it? That debate has never taken place. What’s really at stake, though – what the real battle is over – is something way more important: the voice of the people. Our right to stand up and be heard without fear or intimidation. It has to do with the very essence of civil discourse.

Through his naked favoritism, by stoking division, Michael Grace has unleashed what Shakespeare called this tiger-footed rage, setting neighbor against neighbor. This has to stop. We must remember, despite his efforts, that everyone who speaks loves this town. And that dissent, however passionate, is how progress in a democracy is achieved. It’s through the fire of a real debate that a compromise is hammered out; and while not everyone gets what they want, it is fundamental to our way of life and our government that at least their views get the respect that is their due.

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