Political arrogance reached a new extreme on Tuesday when Republican Sen. Tommy Tucker of Waxhaw told a North Carolina newspaper publisher, “I am the senator. You are the citizen. You need to be quiet.”
Ok, well, that’s one way to operate in a Democratic society. Another way is to turn the table on this pathetic excuse for a public servant and tell him, “No, we are the people. You are the slimy bastard who wants to conduct public business in secrecy. You need to go away.”
According to a story posted Tuesday at The Charlotte Observer, Tucker made his outrageous statements after he’d “railroaded a bill through his committee that would let government operate in more secrecy”:
The legislation, Senate Bill 287, would allow certain local governments to stop notifying the public about crucial government activities in the local newspaper. The governments could instead just post legal notices in the bowels of their websites, where few people are likely to see them.
Just last week, according to NC Policy Watch, Tucker effectively told another mere citizen – Bill Rowe of the N.C. Justice Center – to be quiet when the senator ordered Rowe to “sit down.” Rowe had questioned the constitutionality of a bill that would require drug testing of people applying for public benefits.
Questioning authority? Easy access to public information? Transparency? Pfft. Who needs it? The “people” just get in the way, don’t they, Tommy boy?
This article appears in Apr 17-23, 2013.
We are supposed to have a democratic society. State bills and other political business IS THE BUSINESS OF THE PEOPLE. After all, WE THE PEOPLE put Mr. Tucker in office and we can remove him any time we see fit.
Nice post. I predict this jackass Tucker will have a hard time getting re-elected. Even conservatives don’t like their reps acting like kings.
A great many politicians feel that way, but most of them are not stupid enough to say it out loud.
you might want to learn how to spell the city he is from
Good catch, triadwatch. Bad proofing on my part. Thank you for pointing that out. It has been corrected.
And if you want to see some of the other side of this issue in regards to the outdated public notice laws check out triadwatch
http://triadwatch.blogspot.com/2013/04/nc-press-association-trying-to-save.html
The reporter who wrote this story just happens to be the editor of a newspaper that stands to lose a lot of revenue due to this bill. Perhaps he has an axe to grind?
Newspaper Publishers are predictably fighting the bills, one of the last reliable revenue streams for print newspapers.
But what they’re really arguing for is a right to maintain a monopoly on what has essentially become a government subsidy of their operations.
It’s a position that is hostile to taxpayers and consumers by blocking free market competition and potentially saving governments money.
This from Howard Owens digital pioneer.
It is a joke seeing the NC Press Association keep their blinders on to this issue. It is not 1949 but 2013 and time for the digital age to provide this information and save taxpayers money.
@Steve Wrona: If you are referring to me as “the editor of a newspaper that stands to lose a lot of revenue due to this bill,” you are absolutely incorrect. Creative Loafing is not one of the newspapers in North Carolina that publishes these legal notifications, so we neither gain nor lose anything with regard to this bill. The two points, to me, are 1) in making this statement, Mr. Tucker snubbed his nose at the very public he’s supposed to represent, and 2) easy access to important public information is essential.
Rather than check in with my own variation on an argument on this topic that has already been well made in several papers across the state, I’ll quote one that I think goes to the heart of the issue. I am fully aware that these newspapers have a financial interest in these public notices; however, this editorial, from The Davidson Dispatch, defends House Bill 723, an alternative to
Senate Bill 287 (the bill Tucker supported) clearly and intelligently:
“One of the reasons state legislators years ago began requiring publication in local newspapers was to ensure accountability. Local officials couldn’t just claim they notified the public of a hearing. By running public notices in the newspaper, a system of outside verification was established. This makes sure government conducts business in the open, making back-door deals more difficult.
“This measure [House Bill 723] also ensures that those North Carolinians who don’t have access to reliable and inexpensive Internet service still has a way to find out what their government officials want to do. Thousands of Tar Heel residents still fall in this category.”