RSS Feed
 |
|
||||||||||||||
Massapequa School Board upholds Bennett petitions after controversial hearing By Carolyn James In some ways it was pure theater; the drama of the accused squaring off against those in whose hands the question of his candidacy for the Massapequa School board hung in the balance. In other ways it was pure comedy; the humor of an angry, sometimes pithy resident taunting public officials who were trying desperately to give demeanor to a proceeding percolating with absurdity. In the end, it all evened out. After more than an hour of courtroom-like bantering, Massapequa School Board candidate Gary Bennett's residency in the district was upheld by the school board, two of whose sitting members he now faces on the ballot on Tuesday. "I know that Richard Krebs (school board president) and Christine Perrino (school board trustee), have served for many years on this board, and I am appreciative of the time and effort they have put in," Bennett said after the board announced that it had reviewed all the evidence presented at the hearing late last night and determined that Bennett's does, in fact, maintain his primary residence in the district. "Whether or not we agree on issues has nothing to do with how I feel about you personally," he told them. "I happen to like you, but a democracy is made up of people who have differences on issues; that is what makes a strong country and a strong school district." Bennett has been an outspoken critic of the school board, appearing at many meetings and chastising the board for what he believes is a district whose spending is out of control. He ran for the school board two years ago, but lost, and is running again. The district called the hearing, complete with a court reporter, after it received a letter from a former school board member, Christine Nottonson, who told the district that she was concerned that Bennett may not be a resident of the district. She pointed to an article that appeared in the Fire Island Tide that announced his candidacy for the Village Board there, and a statement attributed to him that said Ocean Beach was his primary residence. While the board initially announced that the hearing would be held in executive session, outside of the public's purview, it apparently reversed that after the Massapequa Post and some residents objected on the basis that the issue was not exempted from the open meeting law. While the board did not mention why it was reversing itself and holding the meeting in public, Bennett credited the community for refusing to allow the board to "act in secrecy." "This shows the power a community has when it gets angry and gets involved," he said. As the audience of mostly Bennett supporters taunted the board at times with comments about the "unnecessary, disgusting, unethical" proceedings, Trustee Fischer who conducted the hearing, made numerous attempts to keep the proceedings on track. "I am asking that the audience allow us to give Mr. Bennett due process here," she said several times, to which the audience responded with laughter. At one point, a district security guard was called into the room, to which one resident said, "I hope someone is out in the parking lot watching our cars." Acting Superintendent of Schools Charles Sulc presented several documents into evidence, calling them exhibits 1-4. They included Nottonson's letter, though her name was redacted; copies of the Fire Island Tide articles; the letter advising Bennett of the hearing, and Bennett's petition for the Beach Protection Party at Ocean Beach. From the outset, Bennett said he would not discuss anything about Ocean Beach, maintaining that it was outside of the school district's responsibility and its right discuss information on him relative to anything but the issue at hand: whether he maintained his primary residence in Massapequa. "Quite frankly what I do with my time when I am not in Massapequa, where I go and how I move around this globe is none of your business," he told the board. "Your only interest is do I currently reside in Massapequa and have I lived here at least a year without interruption? I am prepared to prove to you that I do," he said. Bennett presented LIPA bills for his summer home in Ocean Beach, showing that his monthly charge for April was $18.50, evidence, he said that he did not live there. He also presented his driver's license, Social Security, insurance and income tax documents, all of which listed either his home address in Massapequa or his Massapequa Post Office box, which he uses to have sensitive documents mailed as a precaution against identity theft, he said. Even insurance policies and other documents related to his home in Ocean Beach list Massapequa as his mailing address. At times the board attempted to speed the hearing along, almost as if it had already made up its mind that the case was going in Bennett's favor, but the candidate dug in, telling the board that they had called him there, and that they would just have to sit there until he had had his full measure of "due process." Again, the audience laughed. The hearing was unusual, according to two legal sources, one who agreed with Bennett that the district could have, at least at the outset, simply asked him to informally provide further documentation to prove that his primary residence was in Massapequa, and sign an affidavit attesting to that, thus avoiding the time and money spent on a formal hearing. Krebs said, however, that the board took the advice of its legal counsel and was acting to ensure that the district and Bennett were protected in the event of a challenge. "What if he did not present documentation to prove his residence and the board took action to remove him from the ballot," said Krebs. He would then have the right to appeal that decision to the Commissioner of Education who would ask for information about what was said at the hearing." Bennett's supporters saw it differently. "This board has a history of getting rid of people who disagree with them," said resident Maureen Geier. "First it was Dr. Flaherty, now Gary Bennett." While Bennett appeared salved in the end, not so many of his supporters. "It is despicable and unethical that two sitting board members who are candidates in this election get to vote yes or no on whether a candidate is eligible to run against them," said Larry Chariton, who serves on the district's finance committee for years with Bennett. The district's attorney, Gregory Guercio said that under the law the school board is authorized to make the decision as to whether a petition will be rejected, but that there is nothing in the law that addresses the fact that some of those board members may also be running for reelection at the time these issues come before them. "I believe there is the presumption that some candidates will be running," he said, adding that school board members take an oath to represent the public and take their responsibility to vote up or down on an issue seriously. He acknowledged, however, that Krebs and Perrino could have recused themselves from the proceedings. "We were only looking at evidence to show what I believed all the time, which was that he was a resident of Massapequa," said Krebs. "The entire board is responsible for certifying petitions, for everyone," he explained. "I see no problem of sitting there and looking at evidence." Some continued to believe, however, that Krebs and Perrino should have not participated in the deliberations. "This is America, and we don't do things like that," said one resident. "This was nothing more than a lynching without a rope," said Ida Carattini.
|
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||
