To the Editor:

Potsdam Town Supervisor Marty Miller is correct when he states that the town government cannot remove an elected official. According to the Town Law Manual, "the town board does not have the authority to fire or remove an elected official. Under Public Officer Law § 36, a resident of the town or the county district attorney may commence a court proceeding to remove an individual for committing misconduct, maladministration, malfeasance or malversation in office."

But when the supervisor says that his letter "is the extent of action that this Board can take," he is not quite correct. The board could adopt a resolution of censure and/or a resolution urging Council Member Christine Paige to step down, though it could not compel her. The town could consult an ethics board, which could examine the matter and issue recommendations.

The fact that Superintendent Miller has not posted his letter on the Town of Potsdam Facebook page seems to indicate that he does not want any public discussion on the matter. Will he permit discussion at the next town board meeting? There are many ways the board could avoid dealing with the issue. The board could suspend courtesy of the floor (which is not required by town law) or do away with it altogether; they could say the matter is a personnel issue, and therefore must be discussed in executive session, that is, behind closed doors; the supervisor could ask law enforcement to remove speakers he deems unruly; or the board could just end the meeting at a certain point.

The concept of the subhuman, or as Paige sees it, the non-human, and how such a being should be eliminated, is certainly nothing new in the history of political and social theory; it is, however, somewhat surprising to see this concept resurface in a comment by a member of the Potsdam Town Board. 

Though Paige posted her comments on Facebook as a private citizen, the comments and her defense of them indicate a condition of moral depravity especially unbecoming in an elected official.

However, Council Member Paige is still an elected official who received almost a thousand votes. It is likely that even after her recent comments, she still has the strong support of a certain rough element in Potsdam which feels that the end justifies the means and that assassination rationalized by dehumanization is a legitimate form of political action.

Kevin Beary
Colton