by Scott Dreyer
On March 9, 2010, in the heated struggle to approve the controversial “Obamacare” legislation (aka “Affordable Care Act”), then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) made national headlines when she tried to support the bill and remarked, “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it….”
Pelosi’s line comes to mind regarding the roiling debate in Salem about proposed surveillance cameras that may (or may not) be installed at some yet-unclarified locations around town.
The Roanoke Star reached out to Salem Mayor Renée Turk, Vice Mayor Jim Wallace, and City Manager Christopher Dorsey, who began his position on January 8, 2024.
The questions were as follows:
- Do you have any statement about the issue of city-funded surveillance cameras, and your personal perspective on it?
- Do you know about how many cameras there will be, and how much it will cost to install and operate them?
- Who will have access to all that information collected, and where and how long will it be stored?
Vice Mayor Wallace did respond, City Manager Dorsey did not, and Mayor Turk did not respond but delegated the task to Communications Manager Mike Stevens.
It’s unclear if Stevens realized he was taking a page from Pelosi’s Playbook, but twice he essentially claimed, (paraphrased), “The cameras haven’t been approved yet, so it’s too early to talk about it, but if they are, then we can have a discussion.” Continue reading