The Declaration of Independence makes crystal clear that the Founders fought for the proposition “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed …” Having lost the 2020 election, Donald Trump became the first president in our history to oppose the peaceful transfer of power and to try, in...
The only way for the item calling for withdrawal to be placed on the warrant is for the selectmen to put it there, even though they were the ones who signed the settlement on behalf of the town in the first place.
After the motion to place him on leave passed, Skorput resigned and walked angrily out of the meeting room in Town Hall, followed by other fire department members and supporters.
On multiple occasions, the commission found, Skorput violated a provision of the conflict of interest law that prohibits municipal employees from acting officially in matters involving their own financial interests or those of an immediate family member.
In the spirit of reflection and self-examination, herein lies The Edge's second annual Great Barrington year in review. It includes some select stories from other South County towns as well, along with embedded links to Edge stories for more information.
Peter Skorput, fire chief and a former selectboard member, allegedly "committed multiple conflict of interest law violations, including setting stipends for himself, his daughter and his nephew; voting as a selectboard member to reappoint himself fire chief; and terminating a firefighter who had filed a complaint against him.”
Abrahams said all elected and appointed government officials in the state take an ethics exam every other year. There is a phone number officials can call if they have a question and need to talk to someone at the ethics commission.
2018 has provided enough Great Barrington news to keep journalists busy and observers of town politics highly amused, signaling that the community dubbed "best small town in America" by Smithsonian Magazine continues to be a place in transition.
Abrahams doubts anything will come of it because the ethics commission told him earlier there was no conflict of interest so long as he did not have a financial relationship with the applicant or otherwise stand to benefit financially.
Last December, Pignatelli was joined by Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito as 17 towns in southern Berkshire County signed a Community Compact by which they would explore future collaboration in education, public works, public safety, and human services. This bill would allow Lee, Lenox and Stockbridge to share a town administrator.
"I always will keep uppermost in my thinking, not just my legal obligations, but my ethical obligations as a government accountability officer.”
--Massachusetts State Auditor Suzanne Bump
The outcome of this special election resolves, for the moment, questions raised before the State Ethics Commission about the propriety of having a fire chief as a selectman.
In his letter to the editor, Robert H. Jones Jr. writes: "Chuck Cardillo was chosen the last time around by a majority of the voters. He was deprived of his ability to serve by having to choose between that service and his livelihood."
Cardillo expressed his desire to serve as a selectman, and his hope that he will be re-elected at a special election.
“I feel I have the support of the town, but we have to go through all this, for the same result,” he said.
“I am not questioning Chuck Cardillo’s right to be a selectman and fire chief. It appears to be a matter of state law. He was elected by the people, and I personally want him to be a selectman. This is not an attempt to undo the election.”
-- Charles Gillett, chairman of the Stockbridge Board of Selectmen
