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| "I'm Deputy Dan and I AM the law!" |
By Will Collette
Following the letter of the state's open records law, I filed an appeal with Town Administrator Bill DiLibero over the denial of my request to get Council Vice-President Deputy Dan Slattery's "two-inch thick folder of evidence" from his so-called investigation of complaint's of town hall corruption.
Deputy Dan brandished this file at the October Town Council meeting as if he was the reincarnation of Senator Joe McCarthy when he reported the findings of his bizarre "investigation." This is the same "investigation" that Jim Mageau denounced for 15-minutes at the November Town Council meeting as he, Mageau, brandished his own file full of materials.
While both Mageau and Slattery both seemed to be channeling the spirit of ole Tail-gunner Joe, at least Mageau handed his records in for inclusion in the Council meeting records.
Slattery did not.
In my view, Slattery has no legal or legitimate reason to hold those records back. He used them as a prop during the Council meeting, repeatedly referring to them. He said he accumulated the materials in the file from Town Hall employees. He said these materials show no guilt on the part of any town employee. And he said his investigation was closed.
So hand in the damned records, Deputy Dan! You may have Deputized yourself to be Charlestown's Grand High Inquisitor, but you are not above the law.
Now that I have the official denial of my request for reconsideration from the Town (see letter below), the law now provides that I take this to the Attorney General. BTW - I know the records are not at Town Hall, and I expected exactly this answer, because Deputy Dan is stilling holding the records - unless he's already destroyed them.
