Last year, around this time, MAGIC was getting beat up over the fact that it had been revealed that they had entered into an agreement with the Wilderness Society to transition the Katahdin region into a gateway community. Council Chairman Avern Danforth, a MAGIC member, was up for reelection, and there was a referendum question on the ballot to cap MAGIC's funding at $25,000.

Since they didn't like what the public was saying, and because they had no real answers to the questions that were being asked of them, MAGIC decided that the best thing they could do was to shut the public up. Chairman Danforth decided that the public would not be allowed to speak. One week later, he was defeated in his bid for reelection.

This year, MAGIC hopes to reelect Matt Polstein and to elect MAGIC's director, Bruce McLean, to retain the power of the green bloc on the Millinocket town council. MAGIC supporter Richard Angotti is also on the ballot.

Not ones to learn from their mistakes, MAGIC once again intends to muzzle the public.

Two Orders, both requested by former MAGIC member, Councilor Gail Fanjoy, a lame duck who is not running for reelection, are on the agenda for tonight's meeting, one seeking to limit the use of cameras and recording devices, and the other intended to limit the public comment that would be permitted during town council meetings.

If adopted, Order #235-2005 would permit KAT TV to film the council meetings from any vantage point they wish, but all other media outlets would be restricted to a fixed location at the back of the council chambers.

Order #236-2005 would limit public comments in several ways, and would restrict the topics that could be discussed to those which have not already been referenced by a previous speaker, and would not permit discussion of actions taken by the council.

While requested by Fanjoy, the Order restricting the use of cameras in the council chambers is a result of complaints made by Councilor Matt Polstein, who is up for reelection this year. Polstein has specifically targeted the Magic City Morning Star's camera, claiming that it is trained on himself more often than any of the other councilors.

The first time that Polstein brought this complaint to the council, he received no support from any of his fellow councilors. Apparently, he took Councilor Wally Paul out to the woodshed because Paul made a point of agreeing with Polstein during the last meeting, stating that he had noticed that the camera was trained on Polstein and Fanjoy more often than any of the other councilors. However, when the Morning Star offered to give Paul a copy of any of the DVDs made from our recording of the council meetings so that he could see for himself, he said that he wasn't interested.

I can understand that. After all, why would anyone be interested in the facts if he knows that he doesn't have the authority to act upon these facts independently, anyhow? When you don't have the power to be anything other than a puppet, there's no point in letting the truth get in the way.

I am not usually able to attend council meetings, so I have reviewed every one of these recordings and if Polstein is filmed more often than the others, it is only because he speaks - or is often the subject of discussion - more often than the others. No one is being targeted by our camera.

But that's not the point. Anyone who has an appreciation for the facts is not likely to be a MAGIC supporter, anyhow.

The second Order is even worse. If enacted, public comments would be permitted only if a public hearing is called. Otherwise, the public may or may not be allowed to comment on an item on the council agenda, but only at a designated time at the beginning of a council meeting, when MAGIC councilors would probably make a point of being late.

If enacted, citizens would not be permitted to discuss the same or similar items or arguments that were put forth by previous speakers, the result being that even if the first speaker did not make the case that you might want to make, or did so inadequately, no one else would be permitted to speak on that subject. Carried to its logical conclusion, MAGIC could easily put someone on first, who would deliberately make inadequate arguments, thus preventing further discussion of the issue.

If enacted, this Order would prohibit citizens from commenting on actions that have already been discussed or acted upon. When the council makes a bad decision, you would not be permitted to comment on it.

These are very bad Orders put forth for one reason and one reason alone. Since MAGIC's agenda is bad for our community and its supporters do not have a positive record to run on, their only hope is to keep people from discussing it publically.

It didn't work for them last year, and it shouldn't work for them this year.