"No one" supports Andy Upham

Have you noticed something interesting about Andy Upham's supposed supporters?

None of them dare to publicly announce their support. Oh sure, you see the ads, but what's missing are the names of anyone who supports Andy. Oh sure, you read about him in The Monument, but you notice that no one is willing to stand up and be counted as his supporter.

In order to file the recall papers, 5 people had to publicly announce their opposition to Upham. And all 39 petition collectors had to clearly state their names on the petition forms. And 1029 voters were certified as having signed their names in favor of the recall.

So you have 5 names, then 39 names, then 1029 names.

But you can't count the names of the people who support Andy, because they won't come out of the shadows.

Makes you wonder who actually supports Andy, doesn't it? Perhaps no one supports him. The voters will make that clear on May 2 when they vote YES for his recall.

Nathan Tsukroff

Yes

Yes, I wish for a return to civility in our town council.

Yes, I believe our town councilors should listen to the voters.

Yes, I believe all of our town's committees are important to the future of Gray and should be allowed to do their work without harassment.

Yes, I believe a councilor who doesn't listen to anyone else is bad for the Town of Gray.

Yes, we should recall Andy Upham.

Nathan Tsukroff

Pravda in America

Pravda is a Russian word that means "truth". The irony is that the Soviet government used it's national newspaper, called "Pravda", to spread lies that the government wanted to foist on its citizens in order to mislead them.
We now have Pravda here in Gray. Instead of presenting facts and the truth, Prata and her group of are spreading lies and untruths in Prata's newspaper - which is why Paul Proudian refers to her as "Pravda."
A fitting term, I fear, especially after this week's issue of The Monument.
And in a mailing to everyone in Gray this weekend, The Pravda group claims the recall is an attempt to "overthrow Gray's government." Quite simply, the recall of a single rogue town councilor doesn't constitute a revolt. It's merely the desire to remove a councilor whom the majority of voters find to be revolting.
Hysteria and misleading statements in the Pravda won't mislead the voters who wish for a return to civility and common sense with the removal of Andy Upham.

Nathan Tsukroff

Be a team player

Dear Gary Foster and Andy Upham,
I'm disappointed that you are not playing along with the rest of the team.
The team voted to move the library to Pennell, but you chose to ignore
the team and do your own thing.
And then when players complained, you tried to kick those players off
the team!
You should be team players and do what the team -the voters of Gray-
asked. You shouldn't be changing the rules to fit your own agenda.
A real team player listens to his or her teammates. From your lack of
response to the voters of Gray, it appears you are very poor team players.
Nathan Tsukroff

The Sound of Silence

Ask the members of the Town Council a question. Any question. Go on, I dare you. Now share the answer with your neighbors.

You won't be able to, because the Town Council won't talk to most of us. Council Chair Gary Foster still hasn't replied to Richard Hall's emails from several weeks ago.

Vice-Chair Andy Upham spoke to me only long enough to make it clear he didn't want to speak to me. And Councilor Denise Duda has stopped answering any emails I or anyone I know has sent to her.

This is a sad commentary on our council - first they ignore the will of the people in the (non-binding) vote on Pennell, then they simply ignore the people!

Just one more reason to recall Andy Upham. If you don't have the courtesy to at least respond to your constituents, you should not continue in public office.

I hope Crane, Foster, and Duda are listening. And I hope they will respond to future emails and questions from the citizens of Gray.

Nathan Tsukroff

Committee meetings may actually be Council meetings

It seems our illustrious Town Council is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the citizens of Gray.

The council asked for volunteers for its Finance Committee, but was unable to fill the committee seats. So council members have been filling in as the Finance Committee.

The only problem with that is the three council members - Chair Gary Foster, Vice-Chair Andy Upham, and Councilor Skip Crane - make up a council quorum when they meet. This smacks of violation of all sorts of rules about Council meetings . . . such as the requirement that Council meetings be properly "noticed" or announced to the public. The Finance Committee is meeting very quietly and without a lot of notice. Chair Foster is contacting the Portland Press-Herald to announce meetings on short notice, which meets the letter of the law for announcing committee meetings. But because he is not announcing these as Council meetings, the Council appears to be in violation of other rules. Where is the hue and cry from the Council about these spurious meetings?

Councilor Denise Duda was indignant that the GPLA, a town organization, was required to properly "notice" its meeting with neighbors to discuss the impact of the expansion on the neighborhood. And that was a non-meeting since only two members of the GPLA were actually at the meeting. She is curiously quiet about the fact that three members of the Council are having meetings that are essentially unannounced.The hypocrisy of these actions is astounding. How can Foster, Upham and Crane find fault with other committees for how they conduct meetings, when they are conducting what appear to be illegal meetings themselves?

Nathan Tsukroff

From the missing persons desk

Its been six weeks and there's STILL no sign of the little old lady who was harassed into signing the recall petition! I hope she's alright. For that matter, there's no sign of the five OTHER people who were reportedly forced to sign aginst their will by a pack of desperate, wild-eyed petitioners. No calls, no complaints, nothing. You'd think one of 'em would have said something by now, wouldn't you? Instead, the poor souls just vanished! Sounds very sinister to me. Everybody please check on your neighbors. I mean, nobody would invent a crazy story like this, right?

Right?

Random insight

From a recent chance encounter with a Verizon employee:

"For some reason this company is full of know-it-alls. We even have a name for them. We call them IKEs - I Know Everything."

Hmmm. Verizon. Know-it-all. No respect. Sounds eerily familar....

Tough question

Which of the following two choices deserves to be called "insiders"?

582 Pennell/GPLA voters (79%) and 1029 recall supporters, including dozens of town volunteers

OR



Think hard. Take your time.