Attacking the messenger

I guess the choice is whether you want “civility” or truth

By Will Collette

Boss Gentz uses the bully pulpit

For two consecutive months, I found myself in the weird position of being personally attacked by Town Council members speaking from the Council Platform during a Council meeting. Last month, it was Councilor Lisa DiBello. This month, it was Council President and CCA-endorsed Boss Tom Gentz.

Both denounced me by name and attacked the news and opinion coverage in Progressive Charlestown. Both claimed I had written bad things that I should be ashamed of, but neither provided any basis or substantiation. Indeed, Ms. DiBello flatly said her attack was based on second or third hand reports since she never read Progressive Charlestown herself.

Both were so over the top that, to my surprise (and gratitude), none other than Jim Mageau rose to my defense, noting that if you want to see vicious attacks, go take a look at the CCA blog.

Here’s the key distinction between what I write on Progressive Charlestown and what DiBello and Gentz said from the Council platform. I research every single thing I write. I provide the documents and back-up. They made their attacks on me without any basis other than the fact that I have obviously gotten under their skins.

Progressive Charlestown provides Charlestown with a point of view – and hard, documented facts – that cause several of our distinguished Council members to look bad, mostly by simply reporting what goes on at council meetings. I often suggest to readers that they should either come to Council meetings or watch Clerkbase to see – and judge – for themselves how well our Town Council serves the people.

If we – if I – simply made stuff up and didn’t provide hard evidence, everything Gentz and DiBello said about me would be justified.

No, they scarcely need me to make them look bad. Just watch the Clerkbase video for Monday’s Council meeting and read my colleague Tom Ferrio’s blow-by-blow live action blogging to see what a comedy of errors this Council has become.

Watch the amazing debate over Y-Gate and that slippery, sliding price tag this Council wants Charlestown taxpayers to pay. Watch the Ninigret Park MOU SNAFU. Watch the foul-up over what should be a simple matter – selecting a Search Committee for a Town Administrator.

I do not have the imagination to make stuff like this up. But I guess it’s just impolite – not “civil” – that we should report on it.

Sure, I include my conclusions with the facts but those conclusions are backed up by the facts. Sure I write with an edge and yes, I use humor and satire. Without apology.

If you are going to step into the public limelight and put yourself in a position of public trust, you should expect that under the bright light of openness and transparency, you may not always look at your best.  

Once again, you don’t have to agree with my opinions and that’s fine. But don’t make up your own facts. And don’t think that repeating things over and over without evidence will make them true.

After Ms. DiBello’s attacks, I provided a long and detailed list of the issues I’d reported related to her. I included the links and asked her to respond with her own documented refutation. To date, she has not responded.

I make the same challenge to Boss Gentz.

You call me a liar. You call me mean and nasty. You effectively call for a boycott of Progressive Charlestown. You make charges that call for proof.

Put up or shut up.

If you have evidence to dispute any article I have written, analysis I have published or opinion I have uttered about the issues you have espoused – and let’s start first with Y-Gate – then bring it.

Over the months, the whole town has seen Tom Gentz’s evolution from the jocular Uncle Fluffy to the mean-spirited, dictatorial Boss Gentz that was on full display Monday night.

It is hard to be credible about preaching civility while spewing venom. Even worse when the venom has no substance.

If Gentz and DiBello want to make me a campaign issue, what does that say about their candidacies? Is that the best they can do?