“To protect my person, explanations are necessary.” These are the first words of Michele Patano, 71 years old, municipal councilor of “Taranto Mediterranea” in the majority, involved in a whirlwind chatter that would have seen him protagonist of a hot audio while he was connected remotely to participate in the commission’s work Production activities last Tuesday.
«With my lawyer – Patano now announces – we are preparing the necessary defamation complaints. I spoke to the secretary of the commission and some fellow members of the commission who claim to have heard nothing of what was published but only a swear word. Immediately after the filing of the complaints I will go into the details.”
A version confirmed by my colleague Luigi Abbate. “Personally I was present at the commission’s work and I didn’t hear anything,” claims Abbate, who says he learned of the story from the media.
Meanwhile, it transpires from Palazzo di Città that the mayor Rinaldo Melucci would have sent a letter to the prime minister Piero Bitetti inviting him to have the commissions’ work carried out in person and no longer remotely except in completely exceptional cases.
The episode, which remains to be clarified, has raised several controversies. Mattia Giorno, former councilor and leader of the Democratic Party, believes that «if the facts that have been circulating in recent hours regarding the red light affair during the work of a council commission were to prove true, it would be necessary to open a debate on the political seriousness of those who go only to the commission to collect the attendance fee. In the meantime – continues Giorno – we expect a clear stance from the majority, perhaps with the removal of the councilor involved from its ranks”. The former councilor also believes that “it would be appropriate to discuss the possibility of bringing the commissions back into presence”.
Online meetings were a necessity resulting from Covid which has now been overcome. «In this regard, the general secretary of the Municipality will be vigilant and open an internal check on compliance with the regulation which already provides for the obligation to have a video camera turned on or we will be forced to ask the competent authorities to start an investigation to this effect in defense of the institutions, of democracy and human dignity.”
From the opposition benches, Luca Contrario comments «city councilors are paid with taxpayers’ money to participate in commissions and sessions of the city council in which they discuss and decide by representing the citizens. I ask that the presidents of the commissions enforce the regulations governing remote participation. In Taranto we need to recover the meaning of the institutions.”
