Taiba Sultana Is Cause of Yet Another Chaotic Easton City Council Meeting

She's done it again. Easton City Council member Taiba Sultana managed to create chaos at Wednesday night's meeting. This is because she has a habit of springing items on City Council members with no advance notice. Like when she proposed a $100,000 emergency relief fund without explaining what constitutes an emergency or where the money was coming from. Or when she spung a highly controversial Gaza cease-fire resolution at the last minute. Items to be considered at a meeting must be submitted the City Clerk no later than the Thursday prior to a meeting, but Sultana appears to be incapable of following that directive. At the same time, she has alienated fellow Council members at meetings with remarks like "They [Council] think the black and brown community is criminal and dangerous ... ."

On Wednesday, it was over a natter that should have been completely innocuous. May is American Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and she decided it would be a nice gesture to honor a number of Asian small businesses. No argument there. She invited a number of them to attend Wednesday night's City Council meeting. She also prepared certificates of appreciation that she apparently found on Google. For some reason, she inserted Administrator Luis Campos' name on the award, although he is part of the Executive branch. She never let anyone on Council know what she was doing, nor did she circulate her proposed citations to other Council members. They never saw them. Nor did Campos, who apparently was the bestower of this honor. 

When she mentioned her intent to bestow these certificates, Mayor Sal Panto asked if they were coming from her or City Council. "Council," she replied. 

Then, before they could do anything, like vote on it, she was off the dais and calling out names. Three businesses were there. When Campos saw his name on the certificates, he told Sultana he did not know anything about it. Sultana responded, "Lewis, we'll talk later."

At least she did not forge his signature, like someone who forged State Senator Lisa Boscola's signature on a Sultana's nomination petition for the state house. That petition was circulated by her husband.  

Easton City Council applauded the recipients of these awards, but at the end of the meeting, Sultana was taken to task. She said Council should be tanking these small businesses instead of attacking her. Council member Frank Pintabone then did just that. He thanked the small businesses, but added, "Unfortunately, none of us had any idea what award you were getting or for what. You didn't get an award today from City Council. You got one that Councilwoman Taiba Sultana made up and she put the Administrator's [name] on it without his knowledge." He concluded that they deserve a legitimate city certificate with the city seal. 

An indignant Sultana was shouting, as usual, and interrupting everyone in the middle of sentences. Council member Crystal Rose tried to explain that the certificates were never provided to Council members in advance of the meeting, but Sultana continually talked over her. Eventually, all I heard from Rose was the word "Ridiculous!"

Sultana then noted that she is the first Asian American member of City Council and implied at points that others may not care about this. She even told a recipient, "We talked about this." She later said, "They are recognized by me and nobody - if they want to recognize or not - but they're definitely recognized by me. And you know, as the first elected Asian American - ..."

At this point, Mayor Sal Panto had enough. "Oh, you know what? I'm tired of hearing that. That is so stupid. I'm the first Italian Mayor. Does that make me any better than you? No. Cheezit crackers, we're all Americans." 

Then Ken Brown, who has valiantly tried to play the role of peacemaker, decided he had enough as well. "Ms. Sultana, I've served this City for almost 27 years in various capacities, and in all of my years, I've not ever dealt with what I've dealt with over the last two years. It's to the point right now where I, Ken Brown, have no more confidence in you."

"Me neither," responded Sultana.