Lynn computer clash continues

LYNN – Already at odds over a campaign mailing sent to veterans, Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy and City Council President Timothy Phelan have broadened their election season campaign brawl to include the state?s official seal, which features an Algonquin with a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other.The seal?s use on a campaign mailing card, Phelan said Friday, is “absolutely legal and proper.”?Our card was publicly mailed to over 3,000 people, obviously a transparent document. We were specifically informed the seal could be used for informational purposes but not for the ?sale or inducement of the purchase of goods? or to present yourself as a state official. It was specifically disclosed, in writing on the document, that it was obtained from the official website of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, solely to provide the state?s definition of a Level 3 sex offender,” Phelan said.But Kennedy on Thursday said the Phelan campaign card “in my opinion contained violations of the campaign laws” and she met to discuss her concerns with Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett on Sept. 17, and the DA?s office contacted Secretary of State William Galvin.?We referred the matter to the Secretary of State?s office; they have the authority and expertise regarding elections and campaigns,” said the DA?s spokeswoman, Carrie Kimball Monahan.The mailing underscored the tough stance Phelan said he has taken on sex offenders through a city ordinance he passed.Galvin?s spokesman, Brian McNiff, said state public records officials are reviewing “mail material” that included the seal and a ruling will probably be issued next week.?If it?s decided it?s not a proper use, people are told to stop using it,” said McNiff.Phelan on Friday called Kennedy?s complaint about the card bearing the state seal a “thinly veiled attempt by the mayor to cover her tracks and deflect attention” from her decision to order former campaign manager and computer consultant Kenneth Weeks to remove a council aide?s computer from her desk and examine its hard drive.Weeks? hard drive search did not produce results, but Kennedy defended her decision to tell Weeks to examine Young?s computer.Kennedy said her concerns centered in part on her suspicions that council aide Terry Young signed three signatures that appeared at the bottom of a mailing Phelan?s campaign sent to veterans – the council president?s, his brother, Vincent?s, and their brother, retired Army Col. Robert Phelan?s.?I felt it was my obligation to do it as the chief executive officer of the city responsible for proper use of city property,” she said Friday.Weeks, with Kennedy present, removed the computer and examined it on Sept. 17 – several hours after Kennedy and Blodgett met in his Salem office. Young almost called police to report the computer stolen, and when Weeks returned it, she fired off a letter to the city?s lead attorney and described the computer?s removal as “theft.”Phelan on Thursday said he wrote the veterans letter on Sept. 11. He directed campaign worker Delores DiFillipo to sign the three signatures on the letter “with a black Sharpie” and produced for the Item a copy of an electronic mail and a telephone text message detailing his directions to DiFillipo and her corresponding confirmation.?I have a hard copy of the documents,” he said.Phelan said Weeks is not a city employee, and said the Lynnfield resident “was hired on a no-bid contract.”Not so, countered Kennedy. She said because Weeks is paid less than $25,000 annually, state procurement law does not require her to use a formal bid process to renew Weeks? contract.Instead, she has annually since 2010 solicited three telephone quotes from informational technology providers and Weeks, she said, has always offered the lowest quote.?He has full administrative privileges. He was fully capable and entitled to look at the computer. He was acting as my designee,” she said.Kennedy said she wants to arrange a meeting next Tuesd