Letter: Tiverton Budget Committee five disrespectful, misinformed

ast name, referred to me as a liar. I was not aware I was going to be the topic of discussion.  

I was not in attendance to defend myself or dispute his defamatory accusations. He went on to make a motion to remove all my public comments, as well the comments other taxpayers made, all of us who took the allotted time to speak on behalf of the schools, library and town services. 

The week prior, public comment section was voted out of the process.  Apparently, I have struck a nerve — or better yet, five. Jeff Caron, Justin Katz, Nancy Driggs, Donna Cook and Ruth Hollenbach are threatened by the truth, and by attempting to rewrite minutes they foolishly think what I must say, what others must say, will go unnoticed.  Guess again

I am an advocate for our schools, library and town services, which does not bode well for the five mentioned. Week after week I watched as respected town employees were interrogated by these five. The level of disrespect dished out has been deplorable. I listened as they put forth inaccurate information, chart after chart of dated information, pulled from the archives of a time gone by. I listened as they spoke on subjects they know nothing about as if they did, and I have taken note as they done their best to bend Tiverton’s antiquated Charter to accommodate their agenda.

A quick scan of the RI Ethics Committee points to several violations made at many of the meetings.

Go to the video tape? Please do. You too can watch when Caron has his temper tantrums. Mr. Katz recently blogged about the lack of power the Budget Committee holds. When I questioned the actions of committee member Nancy Driggs,  Donna Cook interrupted me and stated, “We can do whatever we want.”  Really? Justin Katz may brag about his last three petitioner budgets voted in “by the people” but I argue that many of those people had no idea of the repercussions his budgets have caused.

Mr. Katz admits he is “deliberately ignorant” of where the funding comes from when he blogs, and does "research" for various right wing conservative websites.

He, along with Jeff Caron, Nancy Driggs, Donna Cook and Ruth Hollenbach do not have the power.

Tiverton taxpayers do.

Gloria Crist

Tiverton

Ms. Crist is an advisor to the Tiverton schools’ drama program (she said she donates her stipend back to that drama program.)