A reader tipped us off to an odd discrepancy in the public record of the City Council's Dec. 16 meeting.
The record states on page 27 that Alderman Mike Shields voted against granting a conditional-use permit to the proposed LGBT Center at 1456 Junction Ave. But on page 46, the record states Shields voted for the permit.
RacinePost was at the meeting and reported Shields voted against the proposal. We checked with the city and the City Clerk's office is reviewing the tape from the meeting to determine Shields' vote.
It's worth noting Shields has not objected to reports by RacinePost and The Journal Times that he voted against the proposal.
Update: The city record may be right, according to a city observer. Shields voted to send the LGBT Center proposal back to committee and voted against the proposal in the committee report. But in a third vote at the end of the Dec. 16 meeting, he supported a resolution to grant the center the conditional-use permit. The rationale for the vote would be Shields wanted more discussion of the LGBT proposal and voted against the committee report, according to the observer. But once it was clear the proposal would pass the council, he voted in support of the ordinance. If true, Shields could argue he supported the proposal all along, but wanted more discussion on it.
I was at the meeting too. I heard him clearly and everyone else around me said he voted against. I don't know what happened with the minutes, but I'm glad you're looking into this.
ReplyDeleteThere were three votes on this topic.
ReplyDelete1. Vote to send it back to committee for further discussion. Shields voted YES.
2. Vote to approve the committee's recommendation that the permit be issued. Shields voted NO.
(most people left at this time)
3. Vote on the final resolution (this is the one that matters.) Shields voted YES.
So, in other words, Shields voted against the permit for the center and when he realized he was outnumbered, he flip-flopped.
ReplyDeleteGee, why don't I feel better?
Another arm of the Racine community is learning about Sheild's manipulating his voting record so he can play both sides. He isn't a sharp guy but he knows when he is beat and thus voted in the end FOR the center. He sure hasn't said much in regards to his voting when it was first reported, but is now in big trouble as Dem Chair because of his waffling and 2 out of 3 of the votes. Why send it back to committee? There was no reason for shoving it back. Those of us who have "worked" with Sheilds and I say that lightly because he doesn't do squat but tries and nab the credit, know how he is. For the record, he has been against this "gay" center and has told others he was.
ReplyDelete