THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 29, 1995 TAG: 9501270224
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 37 lines
The editorial ``Discussing public business'' in the Jan. 22 edition of the Currents misled your readers about the true events.
Our executive session to discuss the riverboat gambling proposals passed by unanimous vote. No council member expressed concern about secrecy. During the executive session we were given written materials outlining both proposals being considered and, at the close of the session, we all agreed to return those documents to the city manager to avoid a premature disclosure of this sensitive information.
Without the knowledge of other council members, a colleague later demanded from the manager's secretary a portion of these documents, which was then turned over to The Virginian-Pilot. The same colleague later voted against my motion to release all of the information. This same colleague also voted to go back into executive (secret) session to resume negotiations on riverboat-gambling when I argued and voted for completing the process in public.
At our public meeting in December, I stated my opposition to introducing gambling in Virginia. I also explained that because City Council doesn't get to make that decision, we should work hard at positioning our city to compete for a license if the legislation does pass. It would be foolish to stand by and watch our citizens board the boats in Norfolk.
James C. Hawks
Portsmouth City Council
Jan. 23, 1995 by CNB