Watchful citizen

Friday, June 17, 2011

So, now Brookline is going to post its audit reports on the town Web site.

You know why? Because a guy named Dennis Skey bugged the heck out of them and because our newspapers discovered a state law requiring the selectmen to do so.

Dennis Skey is not a popular guy with the powers that be in Brookline. Actually, the way things are going, it might be more accurate to refer to them as The Powers That Hope to Continue to Be because given the results of the last town election, they could end up being The Powers That Were.

Dennis Skey. Whew. This guy has some guts or, as The Powers That Hope to Continue to Be might put it, this guy has some nerve.

Skey based his campaign for more openness on a checklist put together by the Sunlight Foundation. It includes posting documents that reflect town spending posted on the town Web site. What a great idea.

One of Skey’s arguments for doing so is that taxpayers don’t know if town officials are getting the best prices for contracted work and purchases. What’s that really mean?

Well, let’s use a hypothetical: Suppose Mysteryville decides to seek bids for new computers in Town Hall. They get three bids: The lowest is from Excellent Computers, Inc.; the second lowest is from We’re OK Computers, Inc., and the highest is from Your Brother-in-Law’s Computers. Now it’s possible that the latter is the highest because the company has the best computers, the best support system and a really cool logo. But it’s also possible that the contract goes to the company because the owner is somebody’s brother-in-law.

While we are absolutely certain that his has never happened in any town around here, Mysteryville is another story and it could have, or will, happen there. So posting the information on Mysteryville’s Web site would allow taxpayers to see that. Do we not think this is a good idea?

Well, thanks to Dennis Skey, at least some information will be on Brookline’s site and this could be a fine example for Mysteryville to follow. And thanks to Skey making some noise, the town’s Cable/Web Committee has gotten some new volunteers and now will be able to update the town’s Web site.

Said Alan Rosenberg, a member of the committee: “With the new interest in what folks are calling ‘transparency,’ we’re getting some help with it.”

And that new interest in transparency is thanks to Dennis Skey.

If you’ve never gone face-to-face with an intrenched Board of Selectmen, you don’t know what courage it took for Skey to do so. The Powers That Hope to Continue to Be don’t like being questioned, don’t like having to provide answers to questions they don’t like being asked, and they can make a curious citizen feel very uncomfortable.

We are lucky to have people like Dennis Skey. The problem is, we don’t have enough of them, but sometimes even one can get things changed.

He could use some help, though. Those of you who sit home and watch Brookline selectmen’s meetings on public access cable TV could come to meetings and give him a bit of support. Or you could write letters to this newspaper expressing your views and letting The Powers That Hope to Continue to Be know where you stand. Hey, you might even support them and it would help to let them know that.

Oh, and don’t forget to vote next March, eh?