Town Council; open seat / Council at Large.

The Council a few terms ago under Harry Winthrop last term changed the Charter so they are the sole deciders on who will fill a vacant at large Councilor seat? This is nothing more then political cronyism. There are a lot of qualified woman and men who should have the opportunity to fill this seat. The way they Fixed the Election process "changed Charter" only ex-member's that the City Voters were tired of and Voted out of office or sitting council members who dare to step down from there seat and not guaranteed to get the post are the only ones who are considered . This revolving seat situation the Council has created is not good for our City as a whole. Now a voted down ex-councilor can slip-in the back-door without any input from the Voting citizens of Newport. First they started with taking away the Voting right to pick Mayor and now this. It just goes to show the fix is in and we all loose in the long run.