Patrick Hynes: Soucy and Hildreth attempt to rig appointments process

To The Daily Sun,

Councilors Bob Soucy and Jon Hildreth were rightly removed from the city council’s appointments subcommittee by Mayor Mike Bordes after they violated the state’s ban on secret meetings.

Let’s be clear about what happened. This wasn’t a misunderstanding or a technical violation. Instead, it was an attempt to rig the process. Soucy and Hildreth were caught trying to advance a political buddy, Bruce Cheney, to a coveted city position. In doing so, they nearly shut out a highly qualified candidate from full membership on the planning board.

That is cronyism, plain and simple.

What makes this even worse is the response. Based on their comments at Monday’s council meeting, neither Soucy nor Hildreth appears to understand (or care) about the seriousness of their actions. Their dismissiveness only deepens the damage to public trust.

Voters expect transparency, fairness, and integrity from their elected officials. What they saw here was the opposite.

Councilor Mike Conant, who was not involved in this scheme, deserves credit for conducting himself ethically and upholding the integrity of the process.

Mayor Bordes also deserves recognition for taking decisive, principled action. In a moment that called for leadership, he delivered.

At this point, Bob Soucy and Jon Hildreth, who is my councilor, should resign from city council altogether.

Patrick Hynes

Laconia