In my time observing Maplewood's city council, I've generally come to regard Diana Longrie as a mediocre lawyer at best. But when it comes to the traditional lawyerly skill of twisting language to make a statement narrowly true, while conveying a fundamentally misleading message, I have to give her credit. Her lengthy article in the latest city newsletter contains a great example:

Just last month (April 2009), Council member John Nephew brought forward his theory contending some of Maplewood’s publicly owned open spaces or parks are destined for private ownership.

Of course, the actual theory in my article was that the Mayor herself is laying groundwork to privatize city parks and open spaces, starting with her long-running scheme to put control over them in private hands via conservation easements. This theory stems, of course, from the observation that you can't really take Ms. Longrie's statements at face value, as she has once again demonstrated.

Labels: council politics

Posted by John Nephew on 5/02/2009 02:39:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink
Tweet