An open letter to the citizens of the Town of Edgartown:

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends and Neighbors, Voters,

At this year’s Annual Town Meeting, we are being called to hear, deliberate and decide whether or not to consent to the ethics of our government, Article #63.

On April 10th, we are “the people.” We will be asked to “hear our government” and to take whatever action together we decide is in the best interest of “the people.” Our purpose is not to support a “class of men, a family or any one person, their profit, their honor, their private interest.”

We will be there to protect and preserve the “sovereignty of the people;” give consent to being governed and the manner in which we are governed.

Before we can give this consent, we must hear from the people’s representatives and public servants on the matters important to us. On April 10, we can take all the time and energy required to hear from and deliberate with our government. At the conclusion of that debate, we should have the necessary information to consent to the manner in which our representatives and the public servants govern.

In the past, our consent has allowed our government to become instituted for the profit, honor, or private interest of a particular “class of men [and women],” composed of “public officials and public employees / municipal employees.”

If, by our consent we are the cause, then we have the remedy. It is disclosure and honest debate. Without the disclosure of honest facts, how are we to knowingly debate and deliberate upon the issues, to give instruction and consent? This “class of men and women” has maintained and supported a “private interest” by their silence, their secrets and their allegiances. The silence must be broken.

There has not been open debate or recording of many of the most damaging implications of abuses of power. Why not? An open and honest government has nothing to hide. There are no secrets in a thriving democracy, in the peoples’ business.

I will state my “grievances” before you, my peers especially, citizens of Edgartown, but also my friends, at the Annual Town Meeting. Rather than make an anonymous report to the ethics commission, approach the attorney general, or sue the government, I come before you because we, the people, are responsible.

To charge or assert that any one person or agency of government has willfully, conspiratorially, deceptively violated our rights, our constitutions would be irresponsible. We have silently consented to these violations and allowed silence and subterfuge to continue. We are the culpable party. Without our support and consent, our government would not operate for the profit, honor or private interest of a class of men and women such as it does. It therefore falls upon us to end the silence.

At the meeting, I will offer opening remarks to start a conversation on these issues. It will be for our representatives and public servants with greater knowledge of the facts to inform the people on the issues we deem important.

Unfortunately, we are faced with some difficult moments ahead.

First, I believe we “the people” will be uncounseled at that moment and in need of counsel, good counsel, to assist us with protecting our sovereignty as “the people.” I understand that the Honorable Mr. Rappaport, while advising “the people” well in our regular deliberations, is a “public official” at that moment and represents the public official. The Honorable Mr. Norton, moderator extraordinaire, will continue in that function guarding and guiding the process for “the people.” Public employees may or may not have counsel.

I will suggest a process for us to follow that has the promise of restoring health and vigor to our government. However, any action will require unanimous support. If we are not all willing to take the necessary steps, then and there, at that Annual Town Meeting, we will lose the opportunity to reform our government. The trampling of our rights will continue and we will consent to the government being instituted for the “profit, honor, or private interest of a class of men [and women],” in direct opposition with the fundamental tenants of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Are we willing to look deep inside our government and expose the corruption that exists? Are we willing to open government to fresh air and sunshine? Are we willing to prove to our “public officials and public employees” that we demand openness, honesty, clarity in their service to “the people?”

The Honorable John Paul Sullivan, in his investigation for the Town, prepared a document of 65 pages on a single matter, for which Judge Sullivan provided several recommendations. The meeting will offer us the opportunity to respond to that document and to give instruction to our executives.

I will present 11 additional matters for consideration at the Annual Town Meeting. Each deserves the same intense scrutiny that Messenger Sullivan provided in re: the wastewater matter.

We are called by our Constitution to hear of our government, deliberate on our government, present grievances to our government, give instruction to our government and finally, to give consent to be governed. Having the requisite knowledge, we will be able to consent. Without that knowledge our consent is blind and empty.

I believe a “trust council” could be the best way forward for our community. If we guarantee absolution and the freedom to speak without fear or repercussions in return for open and honest disclosure before the people, the silence will be broken. Let “the people” do “the peoples” business. This is a peaceful and economic way to deal with the volcano of assertions that exist, a concept to get us through the stormy time in our search for solutions.

We in our cooperation as a society, a community of citizens, “we the people” looking out for our own happiness, looking out for the “common good,” have the ability to rectify our wrongs, pardon transgressions against us, resolve outstanding ethics issues in public with full disclosure and “give instructions” to our government. Finally, once we have traversed this course, we will have excised the silence in our government and moved forward in the quest to give informed “consent, of the governed.” Shall we give it a try?

Please attend our Annual Town Meeting on April 10 and thank you.

Peter Look

Edgartown