Seven Villages, Janet Joakim

how does that song go?
things that make you go … hmmmmm

In law, defamation is the communication of a statement that makes a false claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may harm the reputation of an individual, business, product, group, government or nation. Most jurisdictions allow legal actions, civil and/or criminal, to deter various kinds of defamation and retaliate against criticism.

I have been receiveing emails from a group of college kids who are taking a keen interest in the COG blog – www.capecog.com
They have asking for numbers and background and a couple of the math wizs have found their way to the DOR site and more.

One kid actually thought the whole thing was some sort of joke, not believing these were adults writing like this and putting such convaluted spins on the numbers.

They have agreed to try to keep reposting messages – or comments on this blog written and administered and written by Gary Lopez, and owned by Eric Schwaab.

Apparently every time they post – the messages are removed, and they quickly realized it wasn’t just them. Anyone who refutes figures, disagrees with Lopez’s posts, or anyone who posts messages that disagree with others who post messages of hate and viceral garbage, their messages are removed by Gary Lopez.

So they have now been collecting as many as they can catch, whether they write them or others they may not even know.

Today a group of roomates were trying to post and each of their computer ip numbers were blocked from leaving any comments on the CapeCog.com site- so they headed over to one of the campus libraries with their jump drives in hand and posted all the messages they had saved. Figuring if the computers they are using are blocked, they can just go to another one as there are over thirty computers in the lab.

In the process more kids are watching all of this and getting involved! Thus the “voice of the future” — this collective group that now reaches around the country, is formed.

They have asked me to post some of the messages or comments that are being removed – this is a rough collection of responses to yesterdays post on the http://www.capecog.com site. All of these posts were removed shortly after going up…. in the COG way – shame on them for disagreeing with them and for questioning their “facts” and “figures.”

Recognize these are from kids who are frustrated that one can post only if they agree….

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reposts:
(by the way these are the workings of at LEAST 3 people. but i’ll still
take the blame for all of them since i know you’d find it hard to believe
so many have things to say against thee)

should i make up a name like john h or carol a so you’ll give me some
credit as a human being? i didn’t want to have to lie…

Continue reading The Voices of our Future!…

Yesterday I received a copy of this article, anonymously. The sender included a note that read (spelling etc as presented) :

“Mrs. Joakim, My wife and I are sorry about our signature on the afidavid. We were lied to we will let J Walsh no it.
This article says it has nothing to do with Gary Lopez, but it does and J Walsh told us about the group that Mr. Lopez is leading.
We did not know about the other thing that residential exp. and the money that that saves.
He said in the article that it is nothing personal and it is, he said some inapprorpate things about you and your family.
We will tell Mr Walsh to stay away from us and our neighborhood when he is getting people to sign the petition!”

Town councilors facing backlash for split tax turnabout
By Joe Burns
Wednesday, February 28, 2007 – Updated: 08:32 AM EST

The decision by the Barnstable Town Council to rescind the split tax rate it established in 2005 and return to a flat rate has some Barnstable residents irate.
A Centerville citizen is waging a campaign to recall Barnstable Town Council president Janet Joakim from office, while a long-time Barnstable gadfly has been hurling insults across the Internet at councilors who voted against retaining the split tax, threatening to have some of them recalled.

The Split tax system placed more of the tax burden on businesses while reducing the property tax for most residential homeowners. It was voted in by town council following the November election where voters approved a non-binding resolution calling for the establishment of a split tax. The town council voted to maintain the formula the following year.
James M. Walsh of Centerville has been busy gathering signatures in an effort to have Joakim either resign or face a recall election.
Walsh needs 245 valid signatures to move the process forward. All signatures must be from the 6th Precinct, which Joakim represents and where Walsh resides. If Walsh collects the required signatures, the petition would go to the town council with a request for Joakim to resign. If she does not within five days, a recall election would be set in which Joakim and possibly others, would be on the ballot.
“I’ve got people calling me and wanting me to come to their house to get their signature,” said Walsh who has until March 8 to reach the required number.
“People are ripping about this because the resident taxpayers are paying for the businesses. We shouldn’t support the business,” Walsh said, noting that Barnstable is the only town or city in the state with residential property taxes are higher than commercial property taxes.
Walsh said that he is asking for a recall because Joakim had promised the voters that she would support the split tax rate and has now voted against it. Walsh said he would probably be as incensed if voters favored a flat rate and Joakim first pledged to support it and then voted against it.
“This is nothing personal between Janet and I. I don’t want to run anybody out of office,” Walsh said. “[But] if you tell people you’re going to vote for something, you should keep your word on it. That’s all.”
Joakim responded: “As a councilor, it is my obligation to act as a agent of my constituents as well as a trustee of the town. That requires finding the balance between what benefits my constituents with what is best for the town’s overall health.
“I also voted in favor of the residential exemption, which provided a much larger savings on my constituents tax bills, and which no one seems to be discussing here,” Joakim said. “This year, the residential exemption will save the people in my precinct a total of $412 on the median priced house … which gives about $105,000 credit towards the assessed value of a home in my precinct.”
Walsh said that he’s acting on his own and not in consort with Gary Lopez of Centerville who has been waging his own recall campaign on his blog site, Citizens for Open Government in a less than genteel manner.
“Joakim … lied and cheated her constituents out of a ton of money with her split tax rate vote,” Lopez rails on his blog site.
Speaking of Joakim and fellow councilors Jim Crocker, Jim Munafo Jr., Harold Tobey. Fred Chirigotis, Janice Barton and Gary Brown, all of whomvoted to re-instate the flat rate, Lopez asked: “how many pieces of silver did Joakim et al receive to screw their constituents.”
Lopez also accused Tobey of lying and warned that he would be next to face a recall with Chirigotis and Barton to follow.
Barton said she would not comment on what bloggers write, but offered that she has been consistent in supporting a flat tax rate. She said in doing so she has taken feedback that she received from voters in and out of her precinct.
“A lot of small business owners live in and out of town and they support the town in many ways,” Barton said, calling the split tax divisive.
“It’s a unity issue,” Barton said.
Regarding the threat of a recall petition Chirigotis said “they can do whatever they believe is appropriate and we’ve got to do whatever is in the best interest of the town. I think that’s been done.”
Tobey, who was returned as town councilor for precinct 8 in 2005, had expressed reservation regarding the split tax prior to his re-election, saying jobs would be lost if businesses had to absorb an increase in taxes. Tobey defeated John Alden, who had come out in favor of the split tax, by a margin of 315-104.
Joakim has accused Lopez of being behind the recall effort and has taken exception to Lopez’s language and tone on his blog.
“The rhetoric they are using to make an argument for recall has been downright mean and ugly, and full of lies and what comes very close to libel,” Joakim said. “I have never taken money, or business, in exchange for a vote.”
Joakim had expressed concerns about the split tax prior to its being voted upon by Barnstable residents. In October 2005 Joakim said that she feared that small businesses renting space from large property owners would bear the burden of a commercial tax increase, and that shifting the tax load to businesses wouldn’t result in much of a savings for her the people of her precinct.
“It does matter when you’re talking about some very expensive houses along the water. But when you’re talking about the people in my precinct — the average home here is $250,000 to $300,000 — there’s not a lot of savings,” Joakim said at the time. She estimated that the average homeowner in precinct 6 would save about 30 cents per $1,000 assessed value while businesses would see their rate rise from $5.65 to $8.48 per $1,000.
Chirigotis said that the split tax initiative as originally conceived wasn’t to create tax relief for residential homeowners.
“FAIR, the group that was pushing [the split tax rate] was talking about tax relief. What people voted for and what I think they were looking for is tax relief. Tax relief isn’t based upon the split tax rate,” Chirigotis said. “People have called me concerned that their tax was going to go up. The reality is, with the residential exemption in place there won’t be a substantial increase.”
Chirigotis said the town is losing taxable commercial property as a result of airport expansion into Independence Park and open space acquisitions. He said the percentage of taxes paid by the business community is in decline and is continuing in this direction.
“Real estate property values are increasing and the business properties are decreasing. We need to encourage business development,” Chirigotis said.
Walsh said that Joakim and others aren’t looking at how people are living in Barnstable
“A lot of senior citizens are on fixed incomes. Ten dollars is a lot to some people in this town,” Walsh said.
“I went to get a signature the other day. This woman was in a wheelchair. This woman needs every single penny she can get,” Walsh said. “She couldn’t believe that Janet didn’t go along with this tax rate.”