Slings & Arrows: An opaque brand of transparency

She has yet to acknowledge our open records request from two weeks ago for the name of the person who provided the error-riddled Request for Qualifications for a new city attorney. We at least learned — during the citizen comments of the meeting — why she won’t talk to me (or us).

According to Dixie Smith, Palmer’s neighbor, Palmer does not respond to our requests because she has been advised by her legal counsel not to do so.

It would have been appropriate if Palmer had chosen to tell us that herself. Her action, instead, is to simply ignore questions and requests.

During her comments, Smith reminded us she is a soft-spoken person.

She then went on, in her soft-spoken way, to smear this newspaper, calling it the “Community Inquirer.” She then impugned my objectivity, and made a number of false statements in attacking my character and my article in the Aug. 8 issue of this newspaper.

For the sake of transparency, the false statements she made deserve correction.

She created a conspiracy theory because of the timing of when the emails upon which the article was based were written.

She then accused me of illegally using the emails in the story, saying they were “leaked” to us.

So let me be clear. That statement was entirely false.

We received the emails in response to a very broad open records request we made to the city. They were a part of more than 400 emails we have received.

Being soft-spoken does not give one the latitude to lie, especially in public.

She then accused me of reaching out to Marcy Galle for comment only after I had decided what I was going to say in the article. While I admit it was a tight timeline, I had not begun writing my article until after I contacted her, and I waited for her response until the last possible moment before I began writing.

I have a couple of very flustered staff who will tell you that last week’s article was the very last thing written for the paper. They were patiently waiting for it so it could be proofed and the paper could be sent to press by deadline.

So soft-spoken or not, she was presenting pseudo facts of which she had no knowledge.

An earlier speaker, Roy Ramos, also criticized the article, saying it was short of the mark for fairness, clarity, and professionalism.

I respectfully disagree with Mr. Ramos’ point — if the article was one-sided, it was not due to lack of trying on my part to get the other side of the story — repeatedly.

But going back to the comments at the meeting, here is what was missing: not one point of fact in the article was in any way rebutted.

Every incident reported in the story had corroborating witnesses.

Nowhere in Smith’s righteous, soft-spoken comments was an iota of concern for city staff who feel threatened to the point they need police escort to their cars after work.

There was not a bit of soft-spoken compassion for a city staff member who was being harassed while her husband was in ICU.

Also missing was soft-spoken alarm that city staff are taking down family photos in their offices out of fear those family members would be targets on social media.

As the owner and publisher of The Community News, I have worked for more than 30 years with the staffs of our cities. I have interacted and come to know professionally many in Willow Park.

Any of the people who made the accusations in last week’s issue of The Community News did so because they have experienced more than was even reported last week. None of them are the kind of people who use “emotionally charged language and inflammatory accusations.”

If no one else will speak up for them in public, I will.

They are all conscientious, capable people and Willow Park is lucky to have them.

So, for the sake of transparency, their stories need to be told.

And for the sake of transparency, it should be more than a buzzword.

Holding secret meetings at city hall after hours or on weekends with selected residents is not transparency.

Cherry-picking agenda items and manipulation of agendas are not transparent.

Obtaining un-vetted and error-riddled legal documents from an undivulged “citizen” is not transparent.

Simply announcing your choices for the Home Rule Charter Commission with no announcement of the names of applicants and no input from the council is not transparent.

Not responding to a proper open records request is not transparent.

I think there are a lot of well-meaning people who attend Willow Park city council meetings who feel Mayor Palmer is being mistreated when she is actually being held accountable.

I’ve talked to enough people that I feel there is legitimacy to their complaints that they weren’t being heard. Mayor Palmer campaigned on transparency.

What is happening now is not that.

Randy Keck is the owner and publisher of The Community News. He serves as the president of the National Newspaper Association Foundation.