Ethically Challenged

City Council Pres. Joe Camara and VP Linda Pereira have violated the code of ethics with their behavior. They should have been arrested for interfering with a police officer. If any real danger existed, DSS would have been called. Call the Ethics Commission, don't let them drop this. Contact, Executive Director Karen Nober @ 617-371-9500. It's harder to ignore a crowd than just one person. FRPD filed a complaint, let's back them up.

onemadmomma

Where was the Fuss on Kuss?

Recently, an arbitrator determined that the City of Fall River is required to pay an additional $2.15 million in damages regarding the eminent domain taking involved to construct the new Matthew Kuss middle school. According to the Herald News, several city councilors expressed surprise and concern over the $2.15 million liability.

“I didn’t know it was in arbitration,” Councilor Linda M. Pereira said. “I have a lot of questions about that.” Questioning the law department, Pereira said, “The council was not privy to Kuss, and I think that needs to be changed.”

“I didn’t know about the lawsuit until Adam Chapdelaine told me on Wednesday,” Councilor Leo O. Pelletier said.

When the concession stand was debated over several meetings recently, Pelletier said, “At no time did I know they wanted more money. We didn’t know we had all that extra money.

Now, anyone who has watched a City Council meeting knows that legal claims against the City of Fall River are listed on the agenda, and the standard practice is to expeditiously refer the legal claims to Corporation Counsel. Therefore, if legal claims against the City are listed in the agendas for City Council meetings, how can City Council members now claim that they didn’t know about the lawsuit? Are the City Councilors indicating that this lawsuit somehow never made it to their City Council agendas?

Another important point concerns the responsibility of the City Council to periodically request that the Corporation Counsel update them on the progress of all litigation against the City. Massachusetts law specifically provides the opportunity for the City Council to hold a meeting in executive session “to discuss strategy with respect to . . . litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the . . . litigating position of the governmental body . . .” Yet, the City Councilors were left in the dark because they don’t request periodic reports on the status of litigation.

I suppose if the City Council never bothers to ask any questions or request updates that they then have the perfect opportunity to feign ignorance.

Government transparency

At the April 15, 2009 City Council meeting, I was very excited to hear a proposal by Councilor Steve Camara that would require the posting of schedules, agendas, and minutes, on the city website for ALL open meetings of Fall River governmental bodies (full text at the bottom). Almost every surrounding town offers this notice to their residents. What is our government afraid of? After Steve Camara's proposal was read, there was an awkward silence. Not one councilor moved to accept the resolution. It went a little something like this -



It is UNACCEPTABLE that Fall River does not offer this information online. Some councilors indicated they are waiting for Mayor Correia's magic new website, that has been under construction for way too long, to provide information on minutes, agendas, and notice of meetings. Do they seriously expect Bob Correia to create or allow a website that offers governmental transparency?

This information NEEDS to be online! And it can be done with minimal effort from the people we are paying at city hall.

A RESOLUTION PROMOTING OPEN GOVERNMENT THROUGH THE REQUISITE POSTING, ON THE CITY WEBSITE, OF ALL SCHEDULES, AGENDAS, AND MINUTES, OF ALL FALL RIVER GOVERNMENTAL BODIES’ MEETINGS, SUBJECT TO OPEN MEETING LAW, M.G.L. c.30A s.11A ½

WHEREAS the residents of Fall River and others should be able to obtain important information about local government via the internet; and

WHEREAS a growing number of Massachusetts municipalities have made it easy for their citizens to obtain access to key government records online. This simple and inexpensive action opens local government to more people and greatly improves their ability to be responsible, informed citizens; and

RECOGNIZING the purpose of the state Open Meeting Law is to eliminate much of the secrecy surrounding the deliberations and decisions on which public policy is based and that the democratic process depends on the public having knowledge about the considerations underlying governmental action, for without that knowledge, people are not able to judge the merits of actions taken by their representatives;

NOW THEREFORE, it is hereby RESOLVED by the Fall River City Council as follows:

1.) The Office of the Fall River City Clerk shall post all schedules and agendas of all Fall River governmental bodies’ meetings, subject to Massachusetts Open Meeting Law on the City website, no less than 48 hours in advance of the meetings; and

2.) The Office of the Fall River City Clerk shall post the minutes of all Fall River governmental bodies’ meetings, subject to Massachusetts Open Meeting Law on the City website no later than 72 hours after all said meetings.

Can't meet deadlines or is Linda hiding something?

Having heard rumors all along that Correia was backing Linda Pereira's campaign for 6th District State Representative, I have been anxiously awaiting her campaign contributions/finance report. This report was due on 9/8/08 (7 days ago). Dave Sullivan filed his on time and it was listed on the state's campaign finance database but Linda Pereira's is not.

I just called the MA office of campaign finance in Boston and they confirmed that Linda has not filed her mandatory report yet. Unfortunately, the penalty is a mere $10 per day every day it is not filed up to $2,500.

So my question is, was this just an oversight? Did Linda just forget to file mandatory paperwork (not a good sign)? OR Are there contributors that she doesn't want the voters to know about until after the election? For example did Correia campaign contributor Jay Cashman (of Weavers Cove fame) also contribute to Linda's campaign?

These are things I want to know but clearly she is willing to pay the $10 a day fine to keep the secret.

Linda Pereira - A brief history

November 1995 - Linda is voted off of the Fall River City Council

February 5, 1996 - Linda attends a party for outgoing City Councilors where she made a grossly racist and insulting comment that she characterized as a "joke" ("Why do black people have sex on their minds? Because they have pubic hair on their heads.") This statement was subsequently reported in the Fall River Herald News

February 1996 - Department of Social Services terminated Linda for her racial comment because of her "joke." An excerpt from the Commissioner of the Dept. of Social Services letter of termination to Linda:

"the joke was insulting, it expresses views which are contrary to one of the fundamental principles under which the Department of Social Services operates: that all people who come into contact with the Department will be treated with respect, dignity and fairness. To have such sentiments expressed by an employee of the department damages the ability of the agency to perform its mission, and to maintain public confidence that investigations of allegations of child abuse and neglect will be handled fairly and impartially. Your racist comment, adversely affected the ability of your fellow DSS employees . . . to perform their duties, and its impact is so serious that it is no longer possible for you to continue to perform your duties as a Social Worker III for the Area Office."

September 1996 - Linda sues the Department of Social Services seeking her job back and claiming that her civil rights/freedom of speech were violated.

August 2000 - Counsel for Pereira characterizes her statement as "stupid," "racist," and "unthinking" - the Supreme Judicial Court of MA ruled that Linda's civil rights were NOT violated. For some reason DSS eventually gave Linda her job back which proved to be a mistake (see Pereira under DSS scrutiny 1/28/06).

January 2006 - Linda divulges information to the Herald News about a DSS case she was investigating involving the rape claim of a minor in foster care. Linda said, "I didn’t feel the kid was credible. The whole story was out of whack. She was all over the place and it was obvious to me that the child was making this stuff up." ...So much for confidentiality.

January 2008 to present - Linda has voted in step with the Sycophant 6 on the city council to pass the majority of Mayor Correia's proposals. Most notably she ignored the voices of thousands of city voters by supporting a contract fire chief per Mayor Correia's instruction.

Campaign for State Rep 2008

• Linda claims she is pro casino in the city but voted in the past against having a mere bingo hall located here
• According to Linda's campaign site "Linda is a full time investigator in the Abuse Prosecution Unit. Linda gives 150% to her duties. Due to her seeking the office of State Representative Linda has taken a leave of absence." Isn't that contradictory? Or is it 150% until a better opportunity comes along
• As an employee of the Bristol County DA her job may be partially funded with federal funds. If this is the case she would be violating the Hatch Act by running for partisan office. Perhaps this is the real reason behind her leave of absence.
• If Linda is the superior candidate, why did Linda donate to Dave Sullivan's campaign for state rep this year? 2/9/2008 Pereira, Linda99 No. Odgen St. Fall River, MA 02723 Sullivan, David B. $80.00

More from the Naughty and the Nice

Clearly the majority of Fall River City Councilors (aka the Sycophant Six) are having no problems contacting department heads while the three with backbones (Leo Pelletier, Steve Camara, and Ray Hague) are at the whim of Mayor Correia when trying to do good for the citizens of Fall River.

An Uncivil Union

Most churches and other religious organizations are 501(c)(3) tax exempt which means that the IRS prohibits them from engaging in candidate election advocacy. Violation of this regulation can result in the termination of their tax exempt status.

Given the multiple rumors I had heard that Linda Pereira was tailoring her political platform to make nice with the Catholic Church, I was disappointed, but not surprised to find this Pereira sign hanging at St. Michael's Church feast 2 weeks ago (also an O'Neil for Probate sign)

Perhaps it is a common practice that is overlooked, but it is still in violation of IRS regulations. Is supporting a racist "joke" telling, self preserving liar worth losing tax exempt status?