SWAMPSCOTT — An effort to recall Select Board member Don Hause has started, and residents hoping Hause will be removed from office have been standing at Town Hall garnering signatures for their petition.
Hause was accused last month of calling the Black Lives Matter movement “liberal bulls***” and saying white privilege isn’t real during a dinner conversation overheard at the Mission on the Bay restaurant. Erik Heilman, a waitstaff member, later posted the allegedly overheard comments on the Swampscott private Facebook group Swampscott 01907.
Heilman was fired, but has since been offered his job back. Hause has called Heilman’s description of the conversation inaccurate and defamatory.
Nick Scibelli, the main organizer of the recall effort, said petitioners will continue to be posted at Town Hall and outside the Swampscott Farmers Market on Sundays, and likely at the entrance of beaches and local businesses in coming weeks.
Scibelli said he received petition papers from the state on July 2 and has until July 22 to submit a petition with 1,708 signatures. If he is able to do so, and Hause does not resign, the town will have to schedule a recall election and ask voters whether they wish to recall Hause. Scibelli declined to say how many signatures have been gained so far, but said he is “encouraged.”
Hause has responded to Heilman’s allegations and called them inaccurate in his own Facebook post, in which he said the dinner conversation was about many things, including politics and current events, and that he shared his personal opinion that “rioting and looting was hurting the Black Lives Matter movement and its core message.”
Scibelli said Hause’s response hasn’t been enough, and that he has been calling for a public forum about the incident with no luck.
Scibelli said he has no negative past history with Hause, and has never spoken to him or seen him.
“It’s getting painted as a me-versus-Don thing, but it’s not that at all,” Scibelli said. “It’s the Swampscott community wanting answers from an elected official.”
For this article, Hause referred The Item to his Facebook page, “Don Hause for Swampscott Selectman,” on which he posted, “As most know, Nick Scibelli is gathering signatures for a recall election. While his representations about me and his reasoning for this recall are based on false and unsubstantiated allegations, nonetheless I support his right to engage in the democratic process and let the people decide. Ironically, neither he, nor the nine others who signed the original application know me nor have ever spoken to me, but again this is what democracy is all about. I have no intention of resigning because I would be failing those that elected me and those that support me now. The best way to continue to show support is to let your voices be heard; in particular at the ballot box if the recall election moves forward.”
