Misinformation Goes Both Ways,

But Its Impact Doesn’t

To the Editor:

I am responding to a recent letter attributing misinformation about Fairfield Hills to Ruby Johnson, a person long dedicated to Newtown causes and one of the few people without whom Newtown would not own this valuable treasure today.

I know first hand that some well-intended letters, including the letter I am responding to, occasionally include inadvertent and inaccurate information.  That’s why in The Bee’s online edition, these letters are found under “Opinions” and not under “News.”  But at the same time, letters to the editor, especially those from Ruby are a valuable source of news that you will not find anywhere else.

Providing accurate information for the public is not all that easy when your position differs from the opinion of town leaders.  When I last sent information to town offices asking them to review it for errors before I shared it with the public, they confirmed there were errors, but they refused to tell me what they were.  They chose instead to copy The Newtown Bee in on our correspondence. 

Anyone concerned about the effects of misinformation should be worried about statements made by town leaders when important issues and millions of dollars are on the line, as was the case during the 2007-2008 budget season.

“There is no line item in the budget related in any way to the new town hall project.” “There is no linkage between voting against the budget and preventing the town hall from being constructed,” and “We’ll build the new town hall even if the public doesn’t approve the budget.”

 Each of these statements was either deliberately incomplete, or simply not true. Yet they convinced taxpayers to pass the budget last spring after it failed three times.  If Newtown’s taxpayers had joined together and refused to approve any budget that included new debt service on un-borrowed funds for a new town hall, financial consultants would have prevented town leaders from borrowing any funds until the town hall issue was resolved with the taxpayers.

But instead, these inaccurate or incomplete statements from town leaders and the fear of further cuts to the Board of Education budget forced many anti-town hall voters into a corner.

 Still today, 82 percent of the public does not support the new town hall.  Yet town leaders, who took an oath to serve the public, refuse to help taxpayers understand the options available to them to stop the new town hall.  Even construction has not yet begun, they want taxpayers to believe it’s too late and that they must accept the project even though it is now estimated that it will cost nearly half of the $21.8 million Fairfield Hills bonding package.

Can Newtown still convert the project to a new multi-use Community Center that many believe would better serve the town?  Yes.  Would this prevent the need to fund another $10 million down the road?  Yes. But first, town leaders must give us the information we need to change direction, and that’s not likely to be forthcoming.

Kevin Fitzgerald

24 Old Farm Hill Road, Newtown                               March 12, 2008