State rep to council: Stop playing to the cameras

Okay, I fudged the Eagle Tribune headline which is really "State rep to Haverhill council: Stop playing to the cameras."

http://www.eagletribune.com/archivesearch/local_story_117022959.html

State Rep. Harriett Stanley said city councilors should stop playing to the TV cameras and start doing their part to solve the city's budget problems.

She also said city leaders are responsible for creating Haverhill's $7 million annual debt on the old city-owned Hale Hospital because they all but gave it away to a private company.

Stanley was responding to criticism from the council about Haverhill's Statehouse delegation at last week's meeting, televised on local cable TV. Comments from the council criticized the legislators for failing to bring Haverhill enough help in these trying economic times.

"The city councilors got the story they wanted and they expressed their frustration, but the way to deal with this is to knuckle down, work, and do it away from the TV cameras — where nothing has ever been solved," said Stanley, who along with Reps. Brian Dempsey, Barbara L'Italien and Sen. Steven Baddour make up Haverhill's legislative team. "The way to get this resolved is not to put on a show for the TV cameras."

I guess the moral of the story is NBPT isn't the only community in a financial pinch (duh!).

Check out the comments! Their Council meetings sound even more interesting than ours.