Recent jousting on a local citizen-run Facebook page led one town councilor to resign as one of its administrators and another councilor to deliver a strong statement on the value and fragility of non-partisan town government.
An email sent to the Town Council accusing an unnamed councilor of bias in his role as a volunteer “admin” of the South Berwick Bulletin page prompted the councilor, John James, to resign from his position just hours before the Dec. 12 council meeting.
James made the decision after town resident David Sanborn, a frequent contributor to the Bulletin, claimed in the email there is “appearance of bias and conflicts of interest when councilors are communicating with the public.” According to Sanborn, the rules of the social media page, which is followed by some 4,500 people, are enforced in an arbitrary and partisan fashion.
Sanborn said his email, which was read into the minutes of Tuesday’s council meeting by Chair Mallory Cook, was prompted by his being blocked from the page after he made a comment to someone else’s post about traffic lights.
Although Sanborn’s email didn’t mention James by name, he is the only councilor who is also an administrator of the Bulletin, and James acknowledged the letter was directed at him.
Calling it a free speech issue, Sanborn requested that James resign from either the council or as administrator of the Facebook page. James rejected the call for him to step down from the council.
“I have clearly stated, multiple times, and as recently as Candidate’s Night, that my role as an admin on the Bulletin is not as a town councilor,” James said, adding, “When anything pertaining to town business comes up, I refer it to other admins, and no one is blocked without all the admins agreeing.”
However, he said, It is not worth it to him to be an administrator on the Bulletin if it shines a bad light on the other councilors.
“I’m not stepping down from the council,” he said. “I’ve been here for 10 years and am going to serve out my term and probably run again because I feel that what I do is vital to the town. This council has not been partisan and we work well together.”
Cook concurred that the Town Council rarely addresses partisan issues.
“We have a town council that have worked extremely well together and have had some great momentum to better this community, despite our differences,” she said and urged residents to assume the good intentions of each other.
“I am pleading with everyone – councilors and residents – to protect this little bubble of harmony that we have,’ Cook said. “Let’s serve as an example for the rest of our country. Let’s continue to work together despite our differences to do what is best for this community.”
When contacted on line after the meeting, Sanborn said, “I applaud James for doing the right thing and stepping away from a position that is fundamentally incompatible with his mandate as an elected representative for all of South Berwick’s citizens
(Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article attributed a Facebook comment to David Sanborn. It was his comment on the post that was referred to in the article.)
