Judging from the words of Mayor-elect Lori Hohenleitner at the end of the last regular meeting of the current Atlantic Highlands Mayor and Council, it would seem that the first action of the new governing body should be to introduce an ordinance defining what bad behavior is.
As council president, Hohenleitner presided at the council meeting in the absence of Mayor Loretta Gluckstein, who was unable to attend because of personal commitments. Gluckstein did not seek election last November and Hohenleitner was elected to the position over Councilman James Murphy in a hotly contested ballot race. (see related story.)
The December 14 meeting was light, cheery, happy-go-lucky with council members posing for votes on who had the ugliest Christmas shirt and genuine cheerfulness and camaraderie taking over most of the meeting.
Yet before it was all finished, Hohenleitner who started her monthly report for the public citing her daily sweep of the borough, her check with the police department every day and her pride in how beautiful residents have decorated homes for the holidays, changed the tenor of the meeting. She said she hoped all have “renewed commitment to be good neighbors” and that she is excited to welcome everyone to come to meetings and “it is important for you to speak up.”
“We’re gonna work well moving forward” the mayor elect continued before concluding ….and anyone who tries to get in the way of that……..”You’re welcome….. BUT Bad Behavior will not be taken kindly.”
Bad Behavior????
It sounds more like a violation of an American’s rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Bad Behavior?
Is it Bad Behavior for a resident to ask a question?
Or is it Bad Behavior for a resident to ask too many questions?
Perhaps it is considered Bad Behavior for a resident to oppose something an elected official advocates?
Or how about when a councilman whispers to another while someone in the audience is speaking, is that Bad Behavior?
Or how about when a council member scolds a resident for turning around? Is that Bad Behavior?
There was a time a few months ago when the meeting was halted for a medical emergency and someone shut off the audio for the ZOOM attendees, but left the video running. Was that Bad Behavior? Seeing something untoward happening but not being kept informed resulted in a private telephone call from a ZOOM attendee, private words exchanged on that private call from hundreds of miles away, and a complaint to the police that called for an investigation of a threat .
Was the caller from hundreds of miles away guilty of Bad Behavior? While someone in the audience or at the council table may have thought so, the investigation that followed found the Police , including the Chief, apparently did not find that phone conversation was Bad Behavior.
It is for reasons like these that if the mayor elect’s mandate is to be enforced, an ordinance has to be in place to define what bad behavior is.
The words of the mayor-elect, all officially recorded and available to be listened to at any time in public records, should be enough to make residents worry about whether they are being threatened, intimated, or being informed their First Amendment rights are in distinct jeopardy.
An ordinance would then have to spell how what is the meaning of bad and what is behavior?
Is making a scowl or bursting out laughing bad behavior? Are scowls or laughter even behavior or are they spontaneous reactions? Is talking too fast bad behavior as some of us believe? Or is it bad behavior to come to the mike at every meeting and ask the same questions that have not been answered, as another resident feels?
Are some of these silly, or laughable possibilities? Are some of these possibilities out in left field?
Perhaps.
But then there were some who tried to limit a resident’s talking at public meetings to a few minutes until the residents pointed out that was wrong….hmmmm bad behavior?….and got it restored.
There were those who take it lightly that a recount was called in the last election. But it showed that at least one voter’s right to cast a ballot had been denied. One vote, did not make a difference, no big deal. But a voter’s right had been taken away until restored with a second look.
There were the tens of thousands of people who were denied their right to freedom of religion because the Governor, or President, or both, ordered churches be shut down during the original Covid crisis. Done for safety sake? Most likely. But it meant wiping out an American’s right under the Constitution. Does it all start with a threat that “Bad Behavior will not be taken kindly?”
Who knows? There were those who scoffed when some Bostonians said the taxes weren’t fair….. until they dumped a few barrels of tea in the water.
Was that Bad Behavior on the part of the Yankees? Or was it their absolute right to oppose what they Felt was Bad Behavior by those in power who were dictating what they said was right and just.
