Sentinel Reports on Rude City Councilor Pam Slack

August 10, 2009 by Ian
Filed under: Corruption, News

Thanks to Casey Farrar at the Keene Sentinel, liberty activists got coverage in Sunday’s paper. The story features the spokesman for “senator” Jeanne Shaheen running cover for Pamela Russell Slack, who has been touring parts of New Hampshire working for Shaheen’s office. He’s not telling the truth, of course, and we have the video to prove it. Here’s the story, and check the first comment for my rebuttal to his misinformation:

Shaheen meetings targeted
Activists, staffers clash over format

A slew of town-hall style public forums on health care hosted by Democratic legislators across the country this summer have stirred up some heated debate.

Earlier this week, White House officials counseled Democratic senators on how to cope with orchestrated disruptions from opponents confronting them about President Barack Obama’s health reform proposals during the forums.

Recently, activists in the Granite State have used a similar approach at meetings with staff members for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in communities including Grafton and Keene.

Shaheen staffers say they’ve been scheduling office hours to allow constituents to talk with them one-on-one about individual issues — not as public forums.

But messages on a handful of Web sites for conservative and liberal groups alike have dubbed them town-hall forums, with some even implying that Shaheen would be present, according to Michael A. Vlacich, state director to Shaheen.

And demonstrators have shown up carrying video cameras and demanding to be allowed access to private meetings between constituents and staff members, Vlacich said.

A group of activists, including some members of the Free State Project — an effort to recruit 20,000 people who prefer limited government to live in New Hampshire — showed up at Keene City Hall during scheduled office hours Friday morning.

They say they came because it was billed as a public event and they don’t understand why Shaheen representative Pamela Russell Slack (who is also a Keene city councilor) turned them away without meeting with them.

Slack did not return a message seeking comment.

Vlacich said staff members have to take their safety and the safety of the constituents into consideration during the meetings and the activists were making people uncomfortable.

Keene Police Lt. James A. Cemorelis said two officers were sent as a precaution after bailiffs from Keene District Court contacted them about a disturbance on the second floor of city hall.

The office hours format, with Shaheen’s staff members holding meetings in town halls and public libraries, goes back to when she served as governor from 1997 to 2003, Vlacich said. Staff members meet with small groups or individuals about concerns or questions they may have, ranging from how to navigate new bank and foreclosure processes to veterans trying to access medical benefits.

People from all points of view are invited to meet with the staff, including opponents of Shaheen’s stance on issues, but they are expected to treat each other and the staff members with respect, Vlacich said.

“I appreciate that folks demand accountability of elected individuals and their staff, but what stunned me was the harsh tone (the demonstrators) took with their neighbors and the constituents that were there,” Vlacich said. “You have to respect there are fellow neighbors here who have serious issues and all you’re doing is making them uncomfortable and in some cases turning them away because they don’t want to be videotaped.”

But Ian “Freeman” Bernard, an outspoken Free Stater who hosts a nationally syndicated radio talk show based in Keene, said he attended the session as a member of the press, and while Slack had already met with some other constituents, she told him she would not meet with the Free Staters.

She also said the video cameras carried by some of the demonstrators would not be allowed in the room where she was meeting with constituents, he said.

“She just doesn’t like video cameras and she doesn’t like tough questions,” Bernard said.

Vlacich said Slack was concerned about people filming her during one-on-one discussions with constituents. At one point, he said, Slack escorted an upset woman to her car and returned to find that some furniture in the meeting room had been rearranged to allow for a camera to be set up.

“People were having private meetings with her,” he said. “It wasn’t an appropriate place for them to be filming.”

Brooke Kelley, an activist who said she’s not tied to the Free Staters, said Slack sat down with her but ended the meeting after only a few minutes when she learned that Kelley doesn’t live in Keene.

Kelley, who calls New Orleans home, has been traveling the country for more than a year to promote Restore the Republic and Campaign for Liberty, groups she volunteers for. She said she was in town, heard about a meeting on the radio and wanted to talk with Slack about health care, but felt Slack had just been looking for a reason to end their conversation.

“I didn’t think that it was a public meeting where everyone was going to speak together and that was fine,” Kelley said. “But I’m a citizen of the U.S. and I’m one of the people that health care is going to affect, so for her to say she’s not going to meet with me because she’s not my representative doesn’t make sense.”

Vlacich says Shaheen’s staff members will continue to provide office hours for the public.

“We want it to be a welcoming forum for all constituents, including those who disagree with Sen. Shaheen,” he said. “But there has got to be a way to do this that does not intimidate people and chase them away.”

Casey Farrar can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1435, or cfarrar@keenesentinel.com.

http://freetalklive.com/ Ian

Since the Keene Sentinel pulls their stories after seven days, I'm reposting the comment I made here:

Vlacich is lying (or unwittingly passing on misinformation) when he claims Slack "escorted an upset woman to her car" and returned to find furniture rearranged.

First, Slack returned to find the camera set up after she stormed out of her session with Brooke, so she did NOT escort someone who was upset out. Total fabrication. Pam Slack shouldn't tell lies when video footage can prove her wrong. Of course, she shouldn't lie period, but hey, she IS a politician.

We spoke with all the women who visited Slack. They were friendly and at no time were they at risk of being recorded.

Finally, no furniture had been rearranged. Sam had set up his camera for HIS session, which she refused to do. At that time, she closed the "office hours" and refused to meet with a representative from Monadnock Family Services who had canceled business meetings to talk to Slack.
ahasp

I have a few comments:

1. Was it really billed as a public event? This should be easy to prove.

2. Is Pamela Slack a Shaheen staff member, or a city councilor, or both? The article states that "Shaheen's staff members will continue to provide office hours", stating that Slack is a staff member. Is she double dipping? Is it appropriate to be both a staff member of a senator and a city councilor?

3. Were the demonstrators demanding access to meetings other than meetings between the demonstrators and Shaheen's staff?

4. How large were these "small groups" meeting with the staff?

5. Why won't representatives meet on tape to answer questions? Would it be possible to invite Shaheen onto FTL to answer questions?
AnarchoJesse

1. All over the radio, which is the only reason I even knew about it (I was there for this shindig).

2. She's both. As for the commentary on what she is doing and the ethics, I'll leave that up to everyone else.

3. No, as far as I can understand your question.

4. I think we had… 8 people?
Dan

So we may ask all the questions we want as long as we aren't making her "uncomfortable." And having to answer any difficult questions makes her "uncomfortable."

I'm glad she's running for higher office.
Whammo

These people including Pam Slack are just people. Imagine if you're an average employee just doing your job. The fire alarm goes off. You've now got an excuse to walk away from your desk, complain about not being able to get your job done and reason enough to put off a deadline.

From the point of view of the employee, a good thing.

Let’s look at the constituents’ discomfort.

They're uncomfortable about discussing publicly, their concerns about the allocation and consumption of public resources. They might want to reveal medical or other personal information to see how the laws effect, or will affect them. Fine.

What the free staters already know is that these laws are a gun to the head. This is not their perception, this is the reality.

Don't file your taxes, refuse instructions, and men with guns will come and get you. As sure as the sun rises, your body will be confiscated by the govt., all your other property will be picked over by govt. goons and you will likely be confined with dangerous, violent people that would happily kill you for a pack of cigarettes.

This is the reality of what we are standing against.

Does the supplicant to the Mafia Don have the right to privacy? Even if you’re not there to ask permission that someone not paying their ‘protection’ money be ‘bumped off’, but merely to appropriate funds for a ‘health plan’?

You’re not a martyr, Pam. You’re a hoodlum.
Mr. Sarcasm

People should not blame hitmen that kill people for money. They are just an employee doing their job, like any Cop.

It's the Mafia Don's fault that he ordered the community to pay for his protection racket, don't hold the bottomfeeders responsible for using violence to collect protection money. Blame the people in power.

You should join the mafia if you want to change things. Become a mafioso to work with the mafia and change it from the inside.

The mafia just wants to provide you with healthcare. Why don't you want the mafia's healthcare?
Puke

At work 98.7 WINQ (Part of the Monadnock Radio Group, I believe.) had a short news blurb about the next "town hall style meeting" in Henneker or some place with an H.

Why would the radio be announcing these as "town hall style" meetings if the press release they get didn't state just that?

Good old gov't deception.
Cracker

Hi everyone. CNN just used the footage from Ian and Sam. CNN said 1 lady was brought to tears and council person had to be escorted from the building by cops for her safety. They also didn't give any credit to Ian or Sam for the footage. CNN also said that protesters were interrupting private meeting. Hope someone else saw it.
Larry The Dwarf

Cracker, it looks like Sam submitted his video to CNN's ireport site. Too bad it sounds like they completely distorted the facts.
Mackler

This is an outrage