To the editor:

Bill McLaughlin has no good reason, other than his own self-interest, to recall our elected Town Council president and vice president. So his political buddies (about a dozen or so instigators) now have to resort to lies to try and hoodwink enough voters to show up and overturn the last election.

As the saying goes, repeat a lie enough times and people will eventually believe it. One of their favorites is that the Town Council “got rid of” open public forums at council meetings.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. This Town Council allows anyone with an interest in Tiverton to get on the agenda if requested in advance. They’ve been more transparent and had fewer executive sessions. They’ve had shorter meetings, and more of them, so people don’t have to wait until midnight on Mondays to have their matters heard. Oh, and by the way, yes, the council still has open microphone forums at about two out of every three meetings. Turns out almost nobody signs up for it, probably because President Coulter, unlike others before him, lets any Tiverton resident speak on every agenda item all night along. Watch the videos to see for yourself.

Here’s another example of how open and transparent Councilors Coulter and Katz have been. They led the council in adopting a first-ever formal policy and voting to release all minutes and records of executive sessions. They are even working on releasing audio tapes. No public body in Tiverton for sure, and I bet anywhere else in Rhode Island, has ever run a government this open and transparent.

The whole recall effort is a sham based on lies, this being one of them. It’s 180 degrees opposite from the truth.

Reject the recall. www.rejecttherecall.com. By making the informed choice to stay home, by not helping them reach the minimum number of voters, and by not letting these recall stunt artists pull off this trick.

Sheri Aakre


Member, Tiverton Budget Committee