Lange silences Willistown taxpayer despite Sunshine Act, gets sued
“Over the last several years, our board has been criticized for not being transparent on a variety of issues — everything from open space to the budget,” Willistown Township Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob Lange admitted at a December 16 board meeting.
What he did next didn’t dispel the notion.
He forbade municipal taxpayer and former resident Joe Heenan from speaking because Heenan was “sneaky.” Or because he no longer lived in town. Or both.
Neither of those excuses are ineluctable grounds for exclusion from public-comment periods, which local governments must feature as part of their meetings per Pennsylvania’s open-meetings statute, commonly known as the Sunshine Act. So Heenan is suing Lange and the township for violating the act as well as his rights to free speech and equal protection under the U.S. Constitution. Both the open-meetings law and the Willistown Township Code explicitly guarantee local taxpayers may speak during meetings at the proper time.
Heenan, who moved out of Willistown last year but still works for an entity located in the township, often spoke at Board meetings on fiscal and governance issues. Last month, he attempted to participate in a comment period concerning a budget resolution, but Lange barred him.
“If Mr. Heenan had been transparent about him moving out of the township, I think the Board might have been a little bit more receptive for him to continue to come to these meetings and make his comments known,” Lange said. “Consequently…, I really don’t feel it’s appropriate that someone that is not living in the township or having property in the township have this venue to make his comment.”
Lange added Heenan was “more than welcome” to attend township meetings but insisted “I’m not going to allow you to speak.”
After the ex-resident retorted, “Well, Bob, you don’t get that choice to restrict someone from speaking,” Lange answered, “I just did.”
“Yeah, well, you did it illegally,” Heenan said.
The chairman then restated his twofold objection.
“You’re not a township resident and you were sneaky about it,” Lange said. “If you hadn’t been sneaky about it, we would have said, ‘You know what…?’”
He paused briefly to hear Heenan protest a few seconds longer, then calling on another commenter, Julie Frissora, who discussed the Valley Forge Sewer fund but ended her remarks by observing Heenan had a right to speak.
Township solicitor Max O’Keefe interjected by summing up what the Sunshine Act allows.
“The Sunshine Act entitles public comment to residents and taxpayers within the municipality,” he said. “So while it is at the discretion of a governing body of a municipality at its discretion to allow a non-taxpayer nonresident to make public comment, they are not entitled to under the Sunshine [Act].”
During public participation at the end of the meeting, Heenan pointed out to O’Keefe that he is a current Willistown income tax payer and asked that his objection to his exclusion as a commenter appear in the meeting minutes. The solicitor agreed. Neither O’Keefe nor Lange returned a request for comment.
Represented by Wally Zimolong and James Fitzpatrick of Zimolong LLC, Heenan filed litigation asking the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to issue a declaratory judgment against Lange and the township. The plaintiff wants an acknowledgement that the municipality breached the plaintiff’s constitutional rights and that it violates the Sunshine Act whenever it disallows township taxpayers to offer public comment.
Heenan’s complaint also asks for an injunction preventing the defendants from making similar denials in the future. He requests “nominal damages against the Township” and “punitive damages against Defendant, Robert Lange” as well as court costs, attorneys fees, and “all other relief that the Court deems just, proper, or equitable.”
“We want to make an example of township commissioners that are going to flout the law in this egregious fashion,” Fitzpatrick said. “These laws are written for a reason; these taxpayers have the right to participate in these meetings. And if you’re going to have a commissioner that kind of knowingly violates the law, we need to call them on it, especially one that is so preachy and high and mighty about others being ‘bullies’ like Mr. Lange.”
Fitzpatrick’s reference to bullies refers especially to Lange’s aggressive campaigning against his fellow Republican Donald Trump’s successful White House run last year. Lange received fawning media coverage after endorsing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and complaining about being verbally targeted by vitriolic Trump supporters.
The chairman is one of two Republicans on the three-member Township Board, the other being Bill Shoemaker. Vice Chair Molly Perrin is the lone Democrat. Lange was the only supervisor to audibly address Heenan’s attempt to speak on December 16 and “has final decision-making authority on behalf of the Board of Supervisors,” according to the court petition.
Neither of Lange’s colleagues replied to emails seeking comment about his decision against Heenan.
“[Lange]’s just the perfect example of someone that you need to just make an example out of and punish for his actions because they’re illegal and they can’t happen,” Fitzpatrick said. “And if they’re permitted to happen, then it’s just going to provide fuel for others to do the same thing. We’ve got to kind of stop it in its tracks while it’s happening.”
Bradley Vasoli is a writer and media strategist in Pennsylvania. You can follow him on X at @BVasoli.
Best article yet by Broad + Liberty.
1. Lange [R.I.N.O. – Republican In Name Only] is one of two “Republicans” on the three-member Township Board, Ms. Molly Perrin is the “lone” Democrat. (There are two (2) Dems but Lange is a phony pretending to be a Republican.
2. OK, Boomers…
3. All these people acting like children on a long car trip: no black magic and infinity forever! You can’t talk! No, I Jinxed you first!
It is despicable and shameful behavior, and the lawyers are laughing as they count their money which the taxpayers are providing. These politicians all deserve our deepest contempt.
It is an outrage that Chair Lange took this action when the Willistown solicitor, present at the meeting, confirmed that taxpayers are LEGALLY entitled to public comment. I wrote the other two supervisors asking them to immediately take back the Chair’s action by voting on a motion to reverse Mr. Lange. Not only have they not brought such a motion, they did not even have the courtesy to respond to my request. Unfortunately, Willistown’s three supervisors are compatriots, acting as a unit, often to obscure transparency in this community.
Local officials should treat taxpayer dollars as if it was their money, not as OPM (other people’s money). Why are we paying lawyers to defend arguably illegal actions when the stormwater management system of this township is in such disrepair that property owners complain in public meetings that their properties are flooded when it rains?
I have lived in Willistown for 20 years. Transparency has never been this bad. And both political parties seem to support the sorry situation.