To the editor:

Before last week’s meeting, the city commissioners could at least claim that giving Deciphera an unprecedented tax break on Oct. 23 was an innocent error. Yes, they gave a multimillion-dollar gift to a private firm without public input. Yes, they discussed Deciphera only behind closed doors. But they could at least have argued that this was just a thoughtless misdeed, not a conscious violation of public trust.

No longer. The city commissioners have now accepted the attorney general’s ruling that their procedure with respect to Deciphera was a violation of state law. It was both illegal and undemocratic. But they refuse to correct their mistake. In fact, they have now vocally repeated this mistake – in public, with the cameras rolling, ignoring every objection.

They reaffirmed the tax gift to Deciphera. They decided not to seek an impartial cost-benefit analysis or follow established city practices for tax breaks. They said yes to Deciphera, no to democracy.

Two wrongs don’t make a right. Taxation without representation is reprehensible.

City officials who refuse to correct their own admitted mistakes are an embarrassment. Voters should not take this lightly.

David Smith,

Lawrence