Last September, after listening to three hours of public comment, Northampton County Council member Lori Vargo Heffner tried unsuccessfully to put the brakes on the public's right to speak. She got nowhere, and for good reason. The First Amendment specifically provides that the "people" have the "right" "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." And under the Sunshine Act, either residents or taxpayers must be afforded a "reasonable opportunity" "to comment on matters of concern." Anyone who buys a gallon of gas or cup of coffee in the county is a taxpayer. Whether "the matters of concern" are agenda items is irrelevant. That's why they're there. It's their job to listen, and the rest of County Council was wary of muzzling the public. I thought that was the end of it, but she's at it again. At the April 18 Governance Commitee that she happens to chair, Vargo-Heffner once again has suggested some gags on the public's right to speak.
Vargo-Heffner claimed to be worried about what has happened in Bethlehem and Easton, where pro-Palestinian sympathizers were demanding that both city councils adopt cease-fire resolutions. Things did get out of hand in Bethlehem, but that's only because Council both misled these sympathizers and President Michael Colon was completely unable to control the meeting. They never reached that point in Easton despite Council member Taiba Sultana's efforts to wind everyone up. That's because Mayor Sal Panto was able to let people speak while maintaining control.
Current policy limits public speakers to five minutes, and Vargo-Heffner suggested more restrictions.
Council member Jeff Warren, who previously served on both Easton City Council and as a Hanover Tp Supervisor, was less than enthusiastic at limiting the public's right to speak. "I personally like how loose it is right now. ... I honestly don't see there being a problem. ... I want folks to be heard."
Council members Ron Heckman and Kelly Keegan both said they'd approve a change that postponed public comment on nonagenda items until the end of a meeting.
Council member John Goffredo was leery of making any changes. "We're very open, whoever wants to speak on any topic and I think it should remain the same. I don't think I'm in favor of adding another public comments section at the end of the meeting just because then you're almost inviting people to come and speak about things that are off topic." He, like Jeff Warren, believes that Council should have the latitude to let members of the public speak longer than five minutes.
Given the lack of enthusiasm for any change, Vargo-Heffner put her muzzle away.
12 comments:
Useless. Let’s limit public comment so we do t have to listen to what we don’t like. She needs to switch parties.
Lori’s lust for power is an unquenchable thirst.
Do what Easton City Council does. After the consent agenda, allow members of the public five minutes each to speak on agenda items only. At the end of the meeting, allow any member of the public five minutes to discuss any agenda or non-agenda item. It works very well.
Taxes on gas and coffee are not local taxes. Those who pay these taxes may petition the taxing bodies in Harrisburg and Washington. Those taxpayers aren't being denied anything. Why is this difficult to grasp? You were a lawyer?
We should also remember that public meetings are where the public's business gets done. The night Mark Pinsley brought in his protesters there was an important union contractor issue on the agenda. Those people had to sit through hours of disturbing testimony so, yeah, I agree with Kelly Keegan. Council should have the ability to move public comments on non agenda items to the end of the meeting when necessary.
The public should always have the right to speak but some of these organized protests are designed specifically to inject chaos into the governing system.
Is Lori a malignant narcissist ?
I wonder if Brown was egging her on ? Remember when Brown used deputies to keep Werner out of a presser ? Lori is showing some of the same authoritarian tendencies.
Lori Vargo/Heffner is a terrible President. Commissioners who want to get re-elected in ‘25 should keep their distance from her.
It to worry she and her fellow Republican Heckman will be ousted next trip around.
It makes no sense. Why would Lori Vargo want to limit the public right to speak. I know she’s always cutting fellow Commissioners off, but she always is bending over backward to give more time to speakers. I think John Brown is behind this.
An underreported aspect of LVH-SLUHN is that she’s constantly texting and won’t give people the courtesy of looking up while they’re speaking.
First, none of them are true “commissioners” but their vanity and egos are fed now. Secondly, Heffner doesn’t care what the other council people think, she has her own aganda and it includes testing out being a Republican.
She cares nothing about proving that an ethics board cleared her conflict of interest, or has she shared the letter?
She has abandoned her ability to work with both sides to target the executive chair for herself. Poor conflicted Lori.
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