I am dismayed by the settlement agreement that was reached in the lawsuit against Shoreline’s Deputy Mayor Maggie Fimia, Ransom, Way and Chang for violations of the Open Meetings Act. Bill Will said it best when he wrote the following in the August 2007 issue of The Washington Newspaper: “In court, much like in politics it seems, you don’t have to be right. You just have to have more money to spend than your opponent … The only way these four will not be found guilty of violating the OPMA is if the case drags on so long that the … plaintiffs run out of money and drop the case.”
These were prophetic words. While Fimia and the others squandered $341,000 of citizen’s money to fund their defense, the plaintiffs used their own resources in an effort to defend the rights of those citizens. Perhaps Mr. Will summed Fimia and her cronies’ reprehensible actions up best when he wrote: “Public funds — and public trust — are precious commodities. These four have squandered both in droves.” The public must remember those four names and how dismally they were served. (Note: Mr. Will is general manager of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and a board member of the Washington Coalition for Open Government.)
Michael S. Jackson
Shoreline
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