>Breaking Loose in Lee
>Op Ed Oct. 28th Berkshire Eagle
>By Dierdre Consolati
>
>Now that the dust has settled on Veolia Water North America's unsuccessful
>plan to privatize Lee's water and sewer systems, let's take a stroll
>through
>the reconfigured landscape.
> Gone from the town is Veolia's corps of crisp-shirted consultants who
>carried bulky briefcases and held cell phones to ear while they briskly
>came
>and went from Memorial Hall. Gone is the van that parked in front and the
>printer who unloaded box upon box of documents, as the draft, and then the
>final copy, of a weighty 20-year contract came into being.
> And free to get up in the morning and go to their jobs without anxiety
>are
>the seven Lee workers who stood to be transferred to the water giant whose
>corporate ties were global in scope.
> Nowhere to be seen is the loser, Christopher Hodgkins, former state
>representative for District Four and vice president of the corporation who
>had waged an intensive campaign to bring the project to fruition (a figure
>of $500,000 has been cited). Through the local media, he
optimistically
>predicted success. A South County weekly ran the headline: "Supporters
>predicting Lee will approve Veolia". The paper also cast the resistors as
>near the brink of defeat: "Opponents of the plan, however, still hold out
>hope that they can marshal enough support to stall or kill the project."
> In light of the decisive 41-10 vote by Lee representatives on September
>23
>that sent Veolia packing, one has to wonder how Hodgkins had got it so
>wrong. Didn't the numerous public statements made by local wastewater
>experts during the negotiation process, or the depth of ire shown by the
>workers, or the high number of anti-privatization neighbors who showed up
>at
>public meetings, or the involvement of the local Green Party and Quaker
>Friends and Northamption- and Boston-based organizations, tip him off?
> Hodgkins stuck to his frequent argument that an "emotional few" were
>spouting misinformation. "Critics of public-private partnerships use
>emotional arguments to block progress" he wrote in a July letter to The
>Eagle. The Lee selectboard took his cue. "A few people are distorting the
>facts," said Frank Consolati and later, "In the end, emotion took over."
>Patricia Carlino said, "The issue regarding Veolia is complicated,
>emotional
>and requires change. Although facts are stated repeatedly, emotions
distort
>them." Gordon Bailey noted, "Misinformation has been a huge point."
> The town administrator even weighed in: "I do know that the effect of
>all
>the emotion involved was to deflect the issues. Passion and emotion is
>great. But it should not have gotten in the way of the facts."
> From the present perspective it is hard to believe that a small number
>of
>agitated people could have influenced so many residents throughout
>Berkshire
>County to lend their support to the opposition in Lee. Indeed, the word
>"emotion" needs to be replaced with the more descriptive phrase, "civil
>disobedience."
> When the news emerged that Veolia was the sole bidder on the plan to
>build a new sewage plant and that the impetus to privatize had come from
>Lee's own native son, the dissidents (quite a number, actually) scrambled
>to
>get the wider picture. They downloaded stories about Veolia's corporate
>transgressions in cities such as Lynn and Rockland Massachusetts;
Angleton,
>Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; and New Orleans, Louisiana, to the chagrin
of
>the proponents. As recently as September 30, the Boston Globe reported
that
>a saga of embezzlement and countersuits involving US Filter (now Veolia)
in
>Rockland had come to somewhat of a conclusion. The guilty party was
>indicted
>and the suits are ongoing.
> It was not a coincidence that the former mayor of Schnectady, Albert
>Jurczynski, showed up in July to woo the Lee representatives, or that the
>former mayor of Taunton, Richard Johnson, an employee of the corporation,
>worked closely with Hodgkins to finalize the contract. As it turns out,
>Veolia is the sponsor of a "Meet the Mayors" program nationwide that is a
>branch of their corporate lobbying strategy.
> Just before a United States Conference of Mayors in Washington, D. C.
in
>January, the following on-line letter was sent to the nation's mayors,
>inviting them to create a tape so as to be better heard at the council:
>"You
>may arrange for your taping, which will only take 5-10 minutes, by going
to
>the usmayors.org booth located in the main lobby of the hotel. A
>representative of the Conference and Veolia Water North America will then
>escort you to the taping room or schedule an appropriate time for your
>taping."
> How many of those mayors were later approached with an offer from
Veolia
>officials to tour their water or sewer services and come up with
>recommendations? It happened twice in Pittsfield, once under the
leadership
>of Mayor Gerald Doyle (where the City Council turned down the idea) and
>later under Mayor Sara Hathaway, who insisted on being shown the actual
>cost
>savings, which never materialized. In a telephone interview, Hathaway said
>that in 2002 and 2003 she attended meetings of the Massachusetts Mayor's
>Association in Boston, both of which were sponsored by US Filter (now
>Veolia) and others. "Richard Johnson sat with us during conferences and if
>I
>played golf I probably would have been invited for a game."
> Certainly it's important for Lee's leaders to move on since the defeat
>of
>Veolia's plan and they are wisely making the effort. But if they wish to
>have clear sailing they must seek resolution with their constituents. And
>that has yet to happen. Regardless, the jack-in-the-box that used to be
>Lee's voting population can never again be pushed back into its tight,
dark
>space. The town's 40-year stranglehold on representative government is
>over.
> The landmark vote has spawned a movement to expand the selectboard from
>three to five members and to run alternative candidates to challenge
>pro-privatization incumbents. The town moderator's seat presently held by
>Hodgkins is being eyed with interest. Sometime soon there will be public
>discussion on returning to one-person, one-vote town meetings in order to
>include the town's new advocates.
> Democracy, in this moment, is at its best in Lee.
