Raw Milk Advocates Call on Attorney General Coakley to Investigate MDAR Commissioner Scott Soares

March 29, 2024 |


May 17,
2010

PRESS
ADVISORY

ATTENTION: Massachusetts Politics, State House Reporters
                         
CONTACT: Alexis Baden-Mayer, 202-744-0853,
alexis[a]organicconsumers.org

Jan Buhrman, 508-360-4491, jan[a]kitchenporch.com

John
Mayer, 925-681-9780, johnm[a]organicconsumers.org

Raw Milk Advocates Call on Attorney General Coakley to Investigate MDAR
Commissioner Scott Soares

Scores of Citizens Denied Access to
Public Hearing on Controversial MDAR Proposal Against Raw Milk

BOSTON – The Massachusetts
Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) blocked scores of citizens
from participating in a public hearing held on Monday, May 10, 2010, to
examine controversial proposed regulations restricting public access to
raw milk.  The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) has sent a formal
letter of complaint (see below) to Attorney General Martha Coakley
seeking a full investigation of what is a serious violation of the
state’s open meetings law.  OCA is a national organization with
thousands of members in Massachusetts.  It promotes healthy organic
foods such as raw milk.

Last Monday, May 10, hundreds of citizens, and at least one
dairy cow, descended on the State Capitol to protest and testify
against proposed MDAR regulations that would end, for all intents and
purposes, the ability of most Massachusetts citizens to obtain fresh raw
milk directly from the farm.  The proposed regulations would put out of
business many family farms during these hard economic  times.  

Despite
the peaceful nature of the public hearing, scores were kept from
attending the proceedings and were not provided with any alternative
means to hear, see or participate in them.

“These dictatorial
proposed rule changes have sparked outrage among Massachusetts milk
drinkers and dairy farmers,” said Jan Buhrman, a chef and farmer
advocate who attended the hearing.  “The Department of Agriculture knew
this was a contentious issue, and yet the hearing was held in a room
much too small for the number of attendees.  We call upon Attorney
General Coakley to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation and force
MDAR and Commissioner Soares to comply with Massachusetts law regarding
public meetings.”

Commissioner Soares has violated the
Massachussetts open meetings law.  The proper and immediate sanction is
to do it right – open this process anew and conduct another public
hearing with no lock-outs and full and fair public participation.

Attorney
General Martha Coakley can be reached at (617) 727 2200,
ago[a]state.ma.us

Robert Nasdor, Director, Division of Open
Government, can be reached at (617) 727 2200, Robert.Nasdor[a]state.ma.us

MDAR
Commissioner Scott Soares can be reached at (617) 626 1701,
Scott.Soares[a]state.ma.us

THE
COMPLAINT:

May 13, 2010

Attorney General
Martha Coakley

Office of the
Attorney General

One Ashburton Place,
20th Floor

Boston,
Massachusetts  02108

 

Via Email, Fax and Overnight Certified
Mail

 

Attn: Robert Nasdor,
Division of Open Government

Re: Open Meeting Law
Violation

 

Dear Attorney General Coakley:

I am writing to
ask you to investigate an open meeting law violation that
occurred on Monday, May 10, 2010 during a hearing conducted by the
Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (“DAR”).

The
meeting occurred pursuant to a notice advertising changes to the DAR’s
regulations regarding raw milk.  It
took place in meeting rooms D and E on the second floor of 100 Cambridge
Street
in Boston.  A number of people (we
estimate between 50 and 75) were prevented from entering the hearing
room by
DAR staff who stated that allowing additional people to attend the
hearings
would exceed the rooms’ capacity. These people were directed to another
room that lacked any visual or
sound connection to the hearing room. Only as individuals left the
hearing room were additional people
allowed, on a one-by-one basis, to enter the hearing room.  As a result,
a large number of
interested persons were prevented from attending the meeting at all.

I
strongly believe that preventing people from entering the meeting
violates the open meeting law, which provides:

All meetings of a governmental body shall be
open to the public and any
person shall be permitted to attend any meeting except as otherwise
provided by
this section.

G.L. c. 30A, § 11A1/2. 

In this
case many “person[s]” were not “permitted to attend” this
meeting.  No exceptions in § 11A ½
apply, as there was no declaration of an executive session and no basis
for
excluding anyone.  The same is true
under the version of the Open Meeting Law that will become effective on
June 1,
2010.  G.L. c. 30A, § 20(a).

There is no exception for a room that
is too small, as DAR claimed. I
recognize that there are codes limiting the number of people in hearing
rooms.  That places the burden on
the agency to secure a large enough room or at least to provide for
video and
audio feeds into and from any room holding people who are turned away
from the
live hearing.  Responsibility for
the size of the room falls upon the agency having control over the
arrangements, not upon members of the public who are trying to exercise
their
rights to address and petition their government.  Failing to provide
adequate space cannot be allowed as an
excuse for non-compliance with the open meeting law.

Moreover,
the DAR itself anticipated a large amount of interest in its
proposed regulations.  In an
attempt to reduce attendance, it posted an announcement on its website
after
hours on Friday, May 7, attempting to withdraw a controversial provision
of the
proposed regulations and contacted at least one large organization,
which
withdrew its request for its members to attend.  Enforcing the
government’s open meeting
responsibilities to allow “any person . . . to attend any meeting” is
particularly important when the agency tries to match room size and
audience by
taking active steps to reduce attendance instead of providing a large
enough
room, with overflow capability by video and audio feed.  The DAR is not,
after all, without
resources to comply with the minimal open meeting burdens that the
legislature
has imposed upon it.

 

I respectfully request an investigation.

 

Signed,

 

Alexis Baden-Mayer,
Esq.

Political Director

Organic Consumers
Association

 

cc: Deval Patrick, Governor

      Ian A.
Bowles,
Secretary

      Scott J.
Soares, Commissioner

###

Learn more at
organicconsumers.org/raw-milk