{"id":1141,"date":"2016-03-31T08:53:47","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T13:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=1141"},"modified":"2016-03-31T08:53:47","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T13:53:47","slug":"the-kanter-saga-continues-addison-should-do-what-is-right","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=1141","title":{"rendered":"The Kanter Saga Continues: Addison Should Do What is Right,"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Kanter Saga Continues:
\n<\/strong>Addison Should Do What is Right,
\n<\/strong>Not What it Can Get Away With
\n<\/strong>By Susan M. Halpern
\n<\/strong>Former Addison Councilmember (1992-1999)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I can\u2019t even buy<\/em> \u201ctransparency\u201d in Addison.\u00a0 Not that I should have to pay for it, I pay plenty of taxes, and my Addison tax bill has risen 28.8% in the five years since Meier has been mayor.\u00a0 You\u2019d think an almost 30% rise in taxes would entitle me to some real disclosure.\u00a0 Not so.\u00a0 What I\u2019m discovering is that my tax money is instead funding the elaborate cat and mouse game that has replaced the concepts of disclosure and transparency in Addison.<\/p>\n

It all started with an accountant. You remember Larry Kanter, the consultant Todd Meier trotted back out at the February 23, 2016 council meeting to repeat what he\u2019d said two years ago so that Meier could create a new political campaign?\u00a0 The guy who disparaged prior staff and management with his recycled presentation?<\/p>\n

We know that the presentation omitted significant and material facts, most notably the perspective of prior management and staff. So, two days after the meeting, on February 25, 2016, I submitted two narrowly drawn Open Records Act requests to obtain documents showing, among other things, that management refuted Kanter\u2019s claims of non-cooperation.<\/p>\n

On March 11, 2016, Addison responded by submitting the whole thing to the Texas Attorney General. Addison sought approval to withhold everything<\/em> I\u2019d asked for, citing the audit privilege, the \u201cagency memoranda\u201d exception and, incredibly, the attorney-client privilege. That\u2019s right, the attorney-client privilege for an accountant\u2019s non-audit.\u00a0 Addison apparently included some documents for the AG to look at (supposedly \u201crepresentative\u201d samples), but they weren\u2019t described, so I don\u2019t know what the AG is looking at.<\/p>\n

I was astonished at Addison\u2019s position, so I responded on March 16, 2016. Among other things, I cited the AG to Kanter\u2019s agreement that expressly states that his work is not an audit <\/em><\/strong>and, therefore, the audit exception couldn\u2019t possibly apply.\u00a0 I also informed the AG of the very public, one-sided discussions that Meier has been orchestrating, pointing out that such public disclosure surely waived any privilege Addison might claim.<\/p>\n

Shortly after faxing my response to Addison\u2019s attorney, I was contacted by Wes Pierson who told me that Addison would be withdrawing its AG submission and would produce documents. Wes told me I would hear from City Secretary Laura Bell about the production.\u00a0 Sounded too good to be true.\u00a0 It was.<\/p>\n

Several days passed, and I heard nothing. Then, I got a voicemail from Laura Bell promising that I would receive a cost letter on Monday, March 21st.\u00a0 That day came and went, still nothing.\u00a0 I made another inquiry.\u00a0 Finally, on March 24th<\/sup>, I received a cost letter telling me that some documents would be produced, but I had to pay $210.00.\u00a0 You see in the \u201cnew\u201d Addison, you have to pay for what they call transparency, all very different from the past.\u00a0 But wait, there\u2019s more.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I continued to contact both Wes Pierson and members of the council. For one thing, I hadn\u2019t received a retraction of Addison\u2019s submission, as promised.\u00a0 On March 24th<\/sup>, I finally received Addison\u2019s March 23rd<\/sup> letter to the AG, and quickly realized that Addison was continuing to cite the attorney-client privilege. Again: for an accountant\u2019s non-audit work.<\/p>\n

I continued to press Pierson and members of the council to release the key document I\u2019ve been seeking: Lea Dunn\u2019s January 24, 2015 memo, which I\u2019m told is 19 pages long, and which I\u2019m led to believe will tell a very different story about Kanter\u2019s allegations. Because, well, it\u2019s the right thing to do. And, every last one of them should be standing against the farce that is being perpetrated on Addison\u2019s residents.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when I got the real bombshell. Wes Pierson told me via email that Addison is withholding Lea Dunn\u2019s memo, claiming the attorney-client privilege.\u00a0 Now, this isn\u2019t rocket science.\u00a0 Kanter claims the staff won\u2019t cooperate, and Lea Dunn responds, presumably refuting that claim and, given the vigor with which Addison is fighting, probably saying some pretty direct things about Kanter and his methods.\u00a0 The memo was sent to the Finance Committee.\u00a0 No part of that sounds like someone seeking or receiving legal advice.\u00a0 It\u2019s not.\u00a0 Logic tells us all it can\u2019t be.\u00a0 And the mere fact that it was cc\u2019ed to a lawyer changes nothing.\u00a0 And that\u2019s before you get to the issue of waiver, because Addison has publicly discussed the subject.\u00a0 You can\u2019t tell one inflammatory side of a story and then conceal the rest by hiding behind a privilege!<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s exactly what Addison is doing. And because of that, Meier and his cadre have been free to fabricate whatever story they want, all the while preventing the public from knowing the real truth. \u00a0It\u2019s the Meier brand of \u201ctransparency:\u201d it\u2019s a complete illusion.<\/p>\n

When pressed, Pierson said he had no authority to withdraw the privilege claim. The council has largely ignored me, other than one member who told me \u201cthere is a process.\u201d\u00a0 The three incumbent candidates have refused to communicate with me on the issue.<\/p>\n

So, my money\u2019s been paid, and here I sit, still waiting to see even one piece of paper. Almost a month after I made my requests.\u00a0 Well this is some \u201cprocess,\u201d don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n

This folks, is the \u201cnew\u201d Addison. It is no longer about doing the right thing, including by disclosing documents that citizens have a right to see.\u00a0 No, this \u201cnew\u201d Addison is governed by folks who are all about doing what they can get away with.\u00a0 That\u2019s the real \u201cprocess\u201d these days.\u00a0 And, I find that to be utterly deplorable.<\/p>\n

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