Posted by Dennis Herrick on August 13, 2008 at 07:59:52:
Haverhill City Councilor James Donahue censured for Web posts,
By Shawn Regan
Staff writer Eagle Tribune
HAVERHILL — For the first time in 20 years, the Haverhill City Council last night formally and publicly reprimanded one its own.
By a 6 to 2 vote, the council censured first-term Councilor James Donahue, 35, for comments posted from his home computer under dozens of fake names to The Eagle-Tribune Web site, championing his positions on policy matters and criticizing city officials.
"I take my service on this council seriously and there is no place for attempts to sway public opinion and deceive people," said Councilor William Macek, who proposed the censure. "(Donahue) has attempted to bring others down and he has violated the public trust."
Donahue did not accept his fate quietly. He attacked first Macek for "treading on his constitutional right to free speech," then the newspaper for identifying his home computer as the source of more 50 Web site posts in the last month alone.
Some of the Web posts called for several councilors, including Macek, to be voted off the council, while others derided top school officials as incompetent, boring and out of touch with the Haverhill public.
"I have not broken any law or violated anyone's rights," said Donahue, a history teacher at Whittier Regional Vocational High School. "I've engaged in lawful speech that sometimes was critical of the government."
Donahue verbally attacked Macek several times, causing Council President Michael Hart to rule Donahue out of order. Hart warned Donahue against maligning Macek's character, to which Donahue responded: "You're out of order Mr. President."
The last time a councilor was censured was in 1988. The late Betsy Conte was reprimanded for public comments she made that other councilors were profiting from the city's dealings with a private business.
For more details see Wednesday's Eagle-Tribune.