That is exactly what has occurred. Earlier we published a letter from Salisbury resident Kay Gibson. Gibson originally submitted her letter to the DT. Editorial page editor Susan Parker doesn't want you to read it before Tuesday's election. Her boss, GM Tom Claybaugh agrees. God forbid that YOU be allowed to make up your own mind:
Mitchell, Shields Stage Destructive PerformanceIf anyone wants to know the real source of conflict on Salisbury’s city council, they need only look at the two members who complain the loudest about “civility,” Laura Mitchell and Shanie Shields. Listen to the audio of last Tuesday’s work session on the city’s website, www.ci.salisbury.md.us
Mitchell stationed a tape recorder on the table to capture what was obviously a staged performance. She and Shields disrupted the meeting for a solid hour or more, shouting, interrupting, berating, accusing and more, even trying to goad the council leadership into fights and into shutting down the meeting. Neither Terry Cohen nor Debbie Campbell took that bait, and both stayed focused on the work.
Mitchell literally bullied the city attorney, attacked me by name and made misrepresentations about the proposed business disclosure ordinance under discussion. Later that night at the candidate forum at Salisbury University, candidate Jake Day pretty much parroted what Mitchell said about the proposal. Was this the purpose of the tape recorder?
Shields admitted that night that she “lost it” at the meeting. Mitchell’s behavior was just as destructive, done in front of state agency representatives and the general public. Mitchell’s conduct at the last legislative meeting was thoroughly unprofessional, too.
As a frequent attendee at council meetings, I’ve seen these two be anything but civil for nearly two years. This was no spirited debate of viewpoints on their part. It was one of the most disgusting displays of behavior for political purposes I have ever seen.
Mary Kay Gibson
Salisbury, MD
Remember, this letter is only tangentially related to the current city elections. However, we can't let the hoi polloi find out that councilwoman Laura Mitchell is feeding candidate Jake Day his talking points anymore than we can allow the public to find out that Day doesn't hesitate to take as many different stances on a given issue as there are audiences. For a more detailed analysis of the DT's actions, see my Media Monday column.
G. A. Harrison is a former editor of SBYNews and a current contributor. He also writes at the DelMarVa Observer.
31 comments:
This is outrageous! The Daily Times and their chosen candidates want people to think all the "can't get along" is due to the three members who work their hearts out for the people instead of special interests.
Mrs. Gibson is definitely right about something that was there for all to see. I watched that last meeting on PAC14 and Laura Mitchell was ridiculous.
For a device used by all but the " real council members" Laura could be asked why her husband was fired from Salisbury University along with his previous position at another college. I had the times and their selective methods of tabloid gossip.
I listened to this "clamor" In one sentence Shanie is vehemently against asking LLC's for a disclosure form naming the members of the LLC, and in the next she asks how in the world are we supposed to know who we're dealing with when we hire an LLC?
Shanie, pick a side; you can't argue both just to make noise and disrupt the subject at hand! Oh, wait, you did anyway...
So she changes the subject to whether or not there should be a "farhouse" on the west side instead and gets interruptedly loud about it. Nice move. You can be excused on April 2.
Let us face facts G.A., Mitchell is nothing more than a lap dog for Liarton. She knows Jimbo is going to lose to Joe so she is trying to use Day to get herself into the head position on the council so they can attempt to block the foward progress that Joe, along with the council majority, will bring to the Salisbury area. I wonder if Day even has a clue that he is being paid luke a fiddle. My concerns with him are that he flip flops on issues which lead me to believe that he does not have independant ideas of his own nor does he have the conviction to stand for what he believes in. I ask you this, does Salisbury really need or want to continue down the destructive path which it has been traveling down? If the residents of Salisbury really want a positive difference, they need to re-elect Debbie and elect Joe. Salisbury deserves a chance to flourish and become the gem it is capible of.
Perhaps this is in the wrong forum, but again, my Albero for Mayor yard signs signs keep disappearing.. and more and more Day signs keep appearing on the same street. In my mind this is just another example of the "low information voter" mentality.
My vote will not be silenced.
The daily times. No one reads that paper anymore.
7:56, you got that right. Mitchell has been hateful since she didn't get a top spot, so Jake Day is her ticket to the spotlight.
Debbie Campbell came to my door this weekend and I joked she was later than usual since she has always knocked on my door. Then I found out her father was in the hospital recovering from a heart attack, so that explains why she hasn't been out and about as much.
She works at a real job, takes care of her family, works her butt off on council and now she's dealing with the care of elderly parents.
People who support her might want to give her a walking or waving signs or making phone calls. I told her I would make phone calls. Can you imagine trying to campaign with all this on top of you?
She is the closest thing to Superwoman I've seen. I shudder to think what would happen if she doesn't get re-elected.
People who still read the Daily Times also take it as gospel.
This needs to stay on top and so does that $19 million post.
Of all the times the local news needs to stay front and center, this is it. The primary is tomorrow already!
Shields and Mitchell are wrong! No business is going to be "insulted" if they have to disclose. The city would get more bids because as it stands alot of companies don't even bother submitting bids knowing that preference is given to favorities and it's all in "who you know."
Their argurment has no merit and quite frankly defies any and all common sense!
8:27
Right on -- if Ireton and Day are elected, along with Shanie, SAPOA and developers will own Salisbury again, like they once did under Barrie (and the "Dream Team" of Dunn, Comegys and Cathcart.
what would you expect from one off obama's uber liberals? parker, what a pos!
It's all about keeping everyone honest and when the public's money is involved disclosure should be the norm.
The only ones showing their "true colors" are Shields and Mitchell. Why are they fighting honesty and transparency?
The only ones who would be "insulted" are those who have been riding the tax payer gravy train all these years and are afraid of their money tree drying up.
The public does have a right to know where their money is spent and who it benefits. It's about time the public had a say and not just the governement on where our money goes and to whom.
Day has also "parroted" alot of his vision for Salisbury off of this very site and it's comments.
Thank you, Mrs. Gibson.
My wife and I will be voting for Debbie Campbell tomorrow. Thanks for your blog site which keeps us informed. You are doing a great service for Salisbury. Without you we would only have the DT and the local TV stations as our news source. Without another source of information we would just be another "low information voter" that would probably help elect another loser like Obama or Ireton and his cronies.
Theses 2 idiots ALL they care about is URBAN FOLKS?.
Tommy Claybaugh strikes again.
Shanie worry about your bingo in McDonalds god forbid you had a diet coke?
I tried for years to get my Letters to the Editor posted in the DT - only to have the sentences partially re-written and thus censored by none other than Susan Parker.
There were times I went above her head to Greg Bassett, and Greg would not do one thing about it.
It's no wonder the have lost all of their good reporters including ones like Joe Cacchiolla.
February 25, 2013 at 7:38 AM
Isn't there already a farhouse on the West side? Is she saying she wants another one?
Shanie did you foreclose on your property now that's an embarrassment and you work on the council? so much for personal responsibility.
Yeah there is a farhouse there. She just got herself all riled up and digressed into something that had no relation to to discussion at hand.
To her credit she did apologize.
I think the Mayor lacks leadership and I don't think too many people could disagree if in fact they are honest.
Take like the skatepark. When the outcry started instead of having a contingency plan in place or even telling everyone that they need to get back to the drawing board and come up with Plan B all he does is badmouth and call the council the "council of no's."
Why would Day want to "partner" with anyone who
when things don't go their way all they do is call a press conference and cry and whine instead of going out and coming up with a plan that works.
Anonymous said...
Yeah there is a farhouse there. She just got herself all riled up and digressed into something that had no relation to to discussion at hand.
To her credit she did apologize.
February 25, 2013 at 12:55 PM
Yep there is a farhouse and to many paid farmin sitting around doing nothing, but collecting pay checks. What a waste.
Shields didn't apologize, she just stated a fact. She "lost it."
Mrs. Gibson has guts and tells it like it is. I've seen her on many a PAC14 televised meeting. We need more people like her. But Ireton has dissed her too. Remember when he made some nasty crack about her and Debbie and Terry?
The man is an immature sell-out and Jake Day thinks Ireton needs a partner for that? If Jake Day is not willing to hold the real culprits accountable for their bad behavior (Ireton, Mitchell and Shields), then he is not worthy of being the people's representative. Debbie and Terry admit their mistakes, one of many things that have earned my respect even though I didn't support them at first. I do now.
Someone said it on another post 1:56. Jacob Day is a Yes Man. His wanting to partner with Ireton is proof. When you are confident in your own abilities you don't feel a need to partner with anyone. Anyone can see what's going on with Ireton and his subsidized housing farce and why the fight put up by Mitchell and Shields against the disclosure.
The city has gone to hell and partly to blame are all these so called local developers who act like big shots but in reality haven't done a thing to progress the city in the direction it should be going.
Now in there demise they are making a last attempt to suck the city dry before it turns into a shell of a town, povery and crime ridden.
Neither Shields nor Mitchell gave any reasons why disclosure isn't a good idea short of no one else does it.
The public benefits of disclosure outweigh any imagined risks involved.
If anyone wants to do business with the city, they should be involved in a public disclosure process. If they don't like it then they need to either get over it or get out of the business. The city won't miss a beat because the fact is---There's a butt for every seat.
Next order of business should be to put the city checkbook online so the public can view General Fund expenditures and vendor payments.
Oh Laura, I can't wait to wave you good bye..
Debbie had a hard few weeks recently while her father went through a bypass surgery last week.
She is a superwomen and I admire her for it. She has knowledge, while working she finished her studies at HARVARD (yes, Mr. Day - HARVARD) and above all she has a lot of practice and patience in dealing with our URBAN legislature.
She is honest and trustworthy. She accomplish a lot fighting for us!
And Mr Day shows us how he dances with his fiancé. How charming.
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