Jason Fiske is running for the Loudon select board, and he wants your trust, not to mention your vote.
He wants you to believe him when he says he won’t tarnish the integrity of this sacred elected body, won’t discuss town business privately with his father, Bob Fiske, who already sits on the three-person board.
He wants you to believe that the third board member, Steve Ives, will be an equal ally in the decision-making process, and he wants you to believe that the town’s residents will be part of the process as well.
If Fiske wins on Tuesday, he insists that father and son won’t talk town business while bowling together, or having lunch together, or watching the big game together, won’t talk about a hot issue that has the town buzzing.
Like police Chief Kris Burgess’s attempts to hire a staff, something that Bob Fiske, the former police chief who served for 44 years, blocked because of the power he possesses as a member of the board.
Jason Fiske stated his case to me simply: too many Fiskes won’t spoil the broth.
“I don’t seek advice from my father,” Fiske, a sergeant in the Pembroke Police Department, told me by phone last week. “I’m my own person. I make my own decisions and I make up my own mind.”
Here’s where Loudon residents need to breathe deeply. Does this pass the smell test? That’s your choice, and your voices will be heard when the election results come in sometime late Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, we’ve got a juicy issue here. The state statute does not bar family members from working together on a town’s select board. That’s clear, and it was pointed out to me by Jason Fiske and several other sources.
Take Piermont, for example, where George Mertz is trying to join wife, Terri Mertz, on that board. Will they talk business at night, after fluffing their pillows and turning off the lights?
Our law, though, is clear about procedures. Section 91-A:2-a states, “Communications outside a meeting, including, but not limited to, sequential communications among members of a public body, shall not be used to circumvent the spirit and purpose of this chapter.”
And section 91-A:2 says matters must be discussed at formal meetings, and “no such chance or social meeting shall be used to circumvent the spirit of this chapter.”
There’s that word, “spirit,” again. It refers to public bodies as public bodies, and town business as town business, without a majority colluding in secret to plot strategy.
Charlie Chandler, a two-term selectman in Warren who’s running again on Tuesday, served in the Legislature simultaneously with his brother and father. But the rules are different at the State House, where lawmakers often chit-chat at local pubs.
Here, Chandler saw a potential conflict. He told me it’s hard enough for board members who are not related to hold their tongues when they bump into each other.
“You go to the local store for a cup of coffee and there is a board member there, you have to be real careful what you talk about,” Chandler told me.
He continued: “A lot of people don’t understand the significance of the body. If you’re doing the public’s business, you better be doing it in public. No off-hand discussions.”
Longtime Loudon resident and retired machinist Dick Vincent called what the Fiskes are attempting a “power grab.” He cited Bob Fiske’s retirement from the police department two years ago. Vincent said Fiske’s entry into politics is an example of his new-found power to control what his successor, Burgess, can and cannot accomplish.
Burgess has already tried and failed to add two officers to his department because Bob Fiske, who could not be reached for comment, blocked both.
“When Fiske retired as chief from the police force, that more or less gave him control over the department,” Vincent said. “If you put another Fiske in there on the board, that’s two against one, and that’s a power grab.”
To which Jason Fiske said, “Unfortunately, (Vincent) has had an issue for many, many years for the way things have been going in town.”
Burgess was out of town on vacation last week and could not be reached for comment. Selectman Steven Ives, whose term runs through next year, sounded gun shy in his email, which read, “Unfortunately, I can’t comment on the candidates running. We do have a few contested positions which I feel is healthy for the town. New people with fresh ideas are always welcome.”
Selectman Robert Krieger’s term ends this week. He stressed that it’s Jason’s right to run, telling me, “I said at the last official Tuesday night selectmen’s meeting, ‘May the best man win,’ ” Krieger told me.
When asked if a win by Fiske could be problematic for the town, Krieger said, “I’d rather not comment on the rest of it.”
Fiske’s opponent, Jeff Miller, might have added an intriguing component here, but I wasn’t able to reach him.
Meanwhile, Fiske’s stance, the one he wants you to know as Election Day approaches, is obvious: When it comes to back room, off-the-record discussions, nothing to see here.
“When my father and I get together, which is on rare occasions, we don’t discuss business,” Fiske said. “My father always told me when I worked for him (in Loudon), he would hold his hand up with a fist and say ‘Personal one side, business on the other side.’ And that’s how it’s going to be.”
To which Chandler told me, “The person who is running is going to have to convince people as part of his campaign that he is an independent person. He’s going to have to be very convincing.”