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One of three volunteers for the League of Women Voters of Arlington who received written questions from the public on candidates' night March 27 says that none of the candidates had an advance look at the queries.
Deb Sirotkin Butler denied a charge written to the Arlington e-mail list March 29 supporting a suggestion by candidate Joseph Tully that other hopefuls may have seen questions beforehand.
The poster declined to give permission to be quoted and so is unnamed wrote that it was his "understanding from several knowledgeable people about town" what Tully had alleged was the case. The poster did not identify the "knowledgable people."
In an official statement, the LWV has denied the suggestion made by Tully.
Butler wrote at length to the Arlington list March 29 outlining her role in taking questions and rebutting the allegations:
"I can assure [the person who did not want to be quoted] that NO ONE knew what the questions would be in advance.
"I can say this from direct, personal knowledge. I was one of the three volunteers in a hallway who received anonymous questions, some written on cards, some written on regular looseleaf paper [probably written at home thoughtfully and then brought to town hall] and one typed, probably for the same reason. None of them were signed nor am I some kind of hand writing expert to figure out who wrote what.
"Myself and the two other volunters talked about whether the question was one that a school committee member or selectman would have to deal with. For example, I was in favor of asking the question about snow removal as a disabled person, and the other two volunteers came around -- they hadn't thought about it from a disabled person's perspective.
"Besides, I am an attorney myself with over 20 years experience. See: http://massbbo.org/bbolookup.php
"See also: http://www.ma-appellatecourts.org/search_attorney.php?aln=Butler&afn=Deborah&dfy=&dsc=&ddt=&dtp=&sort=&get=Search
"To make an accusation like that about my integrity and honesty, without a basis, itself has a flavor of slander or libel -- you should know it is not true.
"*I know, personally, that NO ONE knew what the questions would be in advance because I helped select them that night.*
"*Further* when the change from 'open mike' questioning to the more usual League method of sorted questions provided anonymously at the event was chosen:
"1. The use of written questions from the public is the norm, statewide, for League candidates nights.
"2. The "open mike" questions had led to folk standing at the mike for excessive amounts of time giving speeches or attacking individual candidates -- which was of no use or help to anyone. Think back to the candidates forum on the State Senate Race [in December]!!!!
"Let's focus on the issues at hand, which are how to provide good government and good education despite inadequate revenue and escalating costs for health care. I suggest that Arlington would be well-served by joining the GIC system managed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Dolores Mitchell. Anyone know how much THAT would save Arlington? Seems to me this is a far more useful and interesting topic of discussion then baseless bomb throwing."
Editor's note: In October, the Arlington list poster asked the publisher of this site to remove his comments throughout the Web site. The publisher has removed the poster's name from this story and paraphrased his comments.
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