Whatever one feels about this kind of manipulation of meetings - and for sure it does take place, and whatever opinion one has about the “Delphi Technique” and it to does exist, the two things are quite different.
To the point, what the author describes here as the Delphi Technique is not. There isn’t a single point in common between this manipulative management of meetings and the anonymous blind delphi technique which does not ordinarily even make use of meetings at all.
For a reason I don’t understand the author has rightly objected to the covert manipulation of a public meeting (no problem - a common leftist/greenie/progressive tactic) and incorrectly labeled it as using the Delphi Technique. Why slur the delphi technique in this way?
You are correct. The real Delphi technique has nothing in common with these manipulative schemes used in getting "public input." My first use of the real Delphi took place around 1968, and I used it many times during my professional career. I personally knew the inventors of Delphi, Dalkey and Helmer, when they worked at RAND.
Why do the manipulators describe their procedure as "Delphi?" Primarily so they can claim validity for it, hijacking the term and claiming it was developed at RAND. Those of us who are familiar with the real Delphi may be fighting a losing battle, but I can't stand by and let these manipulators pretend that their schemes have anything to do with the real Delphi.