Councilor Gary Castonia: Covert Reformer?

[XLFD]

At the 3-12-2012 City Council Meeting, Ludington's Sixth Ward Councilor Gary Castonia remarked at the end of the latest FOIA appeal:

 

"I think John Shay has went above and beyond the call of duty by trying to figure out what he wanted, as the City Attorney said.  And I also feel we got 21 pages of stuff and nobody showed again.  What... 21 pages times ten people, that's a lot of paperwork we're wasting for nobody to show up and give their side of the story and I'm just fed up with it and more than happy to uphold the FOIA Coordinator's decision!"

 

This may sound like a ringing endorsement of John Shay and a barb aimed at the FOIA requester (me, this time), but he is actually making my points. 

1)  He says that Shay has went "above and beyond the call of duty" an idiom meaning doing much more than expected.  Is this not an admission that Shay is doing more than his position of FOIA Coordinator entails, and thereby charging the requesters and the taxpayers for a lot of wasted efforts on his part?  Is not he also insinuating that the tens of thousands of dollars the City of Ludington already spent in their defense of a FOIA appeal in Circuit Court goes beyond what a reasonable City would do to illegally block the public records from being seen by the public?

2)  He says it was difficult to figure out what I wanted from my request for nine specific records identified by the financial records prepared by Heather Venzke-Tykoski in exactly the way I presented them to Shay.  Is he not then condemning the way the DDA and Mrs. Venzke-Tykoski have been keeping their records?  I'm with you Councilor Gary. 

3)  He says "and nobody showed again", knowing full well the requester is blocked from entering the City Hall without the threat of arrest for the misdemeanor of trespassing, and presumably that written permission from City Manager John Shay is required by the law he helped develop in committee and passed one year ago.  Is this showing discontent with the Workplace Safety Policy?  More on this shortly.

4)  His complaining about 21 pages issued to 10 people being an awfully lot of paperwork also shows his agreement with the FOIA requester and contempt for Shay's presentation.  Consider, I sent an E-mail with my position known to all of the councilors explaining everything that was germaine to the appeal, at a totally green cost of zero pieces of paper.  Neither was there any branch of a tree used in my original E-mail request.  But then John Shay and his City Law Firm decides to put out 210 pages in their defense of... providing me all the invoices. By not showing a relevant invoice, only two checks and a statement.  As Shay asks for $.25 a copy, the City used $52.50 for copies alone here.  Castonia realized this and discretly berated him.

5)  He lastly reiterates his displeasure once again of the WSP keeping me out of the meetings, and throws his support behind Shay's decision, as he knows that Shay will eventually be called to task for violations of the FOIA and criminal non-disclosure/destruction of public records, Gary's vote is only expediting the process.

 

That's my interpretation at least...

But the above is written with my tongue-in-cheek, and I've not seen Councilor Castonia in public deal with any substantive issues as per the FOIA, WSP, and other issues that matter to the common citizen.  However, I recently got possession of an exchange he had with the City Manager just shortly after I was disenfranchised in the November election which shows at least a little light bulb going off as far as City policy influencing the behavior of Ludington's most dangerous citizen, as defined by Ludington City Hall.  It starts with a confusing bit of logic from City Attorney Richard Wilson (illegally and unethically impersonating a hearing officer) in a decidedly non-binding five page opinion which I seen for the first time on 3-7-2012.  This is summarized by the City Manager:

 

 

The only City Councilor that noticed a problem was an unlikely civil libertarian, Gary Castonia.  He wrote back:

This voice of reason is countered by a voice of unreason:

John Shay and the rest of the City Hallers have not used common sense in the totality of their dealings with this individual.  Remember this is all talk amongst themselves, with no relation of their commonsense conclusions to me or my counsel.  So as far as I know, the letter served me still has its full impact, while the five page rationale by the City Attorney Richard Wilson is laughably meaningless to my attorney.  Gary next throws out another idiom, because he likes doing that:

 

I don't know what the heck he means, but that doesn't matter-- John Shay does :

 

So let's review:  just after John Shay prohibited me from going to my polling place to vote in November by having a Letter of Trespass placed on me which threatened me with arrest for stepping foot on City Hall property, they revise the policy so that I still cannot get into the City Hall to do any business or attend any meeting, or to vote for that matter without the threat of arrest for a misdemeanor by the LPD next door.  But I won't get arrested until I step foot in the lobby of City Hall, not the external property.  Hallelujah.

This concept is so simple that even Gary Castonia gets it.  But the City Manager, the mayor, six other City Councilors, and at least seven very smart City Attorneys, do not.  Thanks for helping me "fight the man", Councilor Castonia, I hope for more of your help in the upcoming federal investigation.

[XLFD]

Shrugs,

Tried the same myself in December, and got the same overwhelmed feeling at about 25% through.  It's a big task. 

Giving slack is a two-way street, and Dale you'll find you're days numbered if you continue to show the same lack-of-slack you protest in others about.  I prefer a battleground of ideas, not personalities.

[Sweater Cows!]

Wow, I took some time off once and realized that trying to catch up  for only a few weeks off was difficult, easier to check in every day and read the new stuff even if not commenting. Hope things have been going well for you.

[XLFD]

Dale, I have been only served with the LOT dated 3-1-2011, there has been no revised LOT, nor has the City Council done anything to amend the law.  The E-mails are meaningless as far as policy, as is the City Attorney's opinion; I must go by what the LOT says, and interpret to my best ability what the WSP means.

I am pretty certain the ban on the LPD was instituted for the strict purpose to keep me from being able to inspect or pick up FOIA requests from that organization.  Remember, the 3-5-2011 LDN article had my FOIA activity front-and-center as to why I was a threat and an intimidator.  Wanting to review records is threatening behavior to tyrants apparently. 

You're not the first, Dale, to note the irony involved in having a police escort at the police station.  If I was in an emergency situation in that area, a trip to the LPD would likely only compound the threat to me, so I'm not worried about your last instance.  I'd call 9-1-1.

[XLFD]

Willy, that does seem to be the pattern.  Shay tells the MSP, the LDN, etc. that I can get in any time I want with advanced notice, but doesn't mention there is any such remedy in the policy, or that he ignored three requests prior to me throwing my hands up in the air and saying "No more begging for me."