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"City attorney's appeal of spending cap ruling ires mayor"
The New Hampshire Union Leader Online, August 4, 2009
Manchester – The city is arguing a superior court judge had “no legal basis” for throwing out its case against the proposed spending cap.
Attorneys for the city are asking Judge James D. O’Neill III to reconsider his decision to dismiss the case. In a newly filed motion, the attorneys denied O’Neill’s finding that aldermen violated the state Right-to-Know law when they decided in private to contest the spending cap proposal in court.
The motion, signed July 31 by attorney Peter Chiesa, argues the aldermen had a legal right to meet behind closed doors with Deputy City Solicitor Tom Arnold and to instruct him to seek a judicial ruling. The city’s stance is that those discussions did not consititute an official “meeting,” and so were not subject to the Right-to-Know law.
Aldermen were hoping to have O’Neill say whether the proposed cap on taxes and city spending is legal before it heads to the ballot this November. Critics have accused the aldermen of trying to keep the proposal off the ballot.
Mayor Frank Guinta, who supports the proposed cap, said he is “deeply troubled” that the solicitor’s office filed the motion for reconsideration. Neither he nor the aldermen were involved in that decision, he said.
“I am quickly losing confidence in that office, since it continues to press a case initiated by an illegal action,” Guinta said in a statement.
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READERS' COMMENTS (In Part):
It seems obvious that the Mayor is worried that the proposed cap may be deemed illegal and thus he doesn't want this to go any further. I for one, as a taxpayer and voter in the city, would like to know if this proposed cap is even legal before we spend money to put it on the ballot. Let the judge decided on the merits of the proposed language instead of trying to bully the solicitor into dropping it. His comments about losing faith in the office sound like a veiled threat.
- Ben, Manchester
And the very same person who is losing confidence in the city solicitor is also losing the confidence of his constituents. We see the anti-tax platform you're trying to build here as part of your Congressional bid. Let the lawyers do their job Mr. Mayor.
- Robert Boutin, Manchester
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