SWAMPSCOTT — Don Hause, the select board member accused of calling the Black Lives Matter movement “liberal bull****” during a dinner conversation at Mission on the Bay restaurant last month, is holding a community forum Tuesday to answer residents’ questions and hear their concerns.
The virtual community forum will be at 6 p.m on Zoom. To join the meeting online, visit https://swampscottma.zoom.us/j/97939206087. The meeting can also be joined by phone at 929-205-6099, or on the smartphone Zoom application. The webinar ID is 979 3920 6087. Those with questions who are unable to attend the meeting may email them to discussion@swampscottma.gov.
“I would like to invite the community to join me for an open discussion … where we can engage in a one-one-one dialogue about my commitment to diversity and equality in our community, and I can answer any other questions or concerns you may have,” Hause said in an online statement about the community forum.
“Again, this is not a select board meeting — it is a forum for the community to speak directly to me,” Hause said.
The community forum comes at a time when there is an active campaign to remove Hause from his elected seat, and petitioners have been standing outside Swampscott Town Hall several days a week gathering signatures for a recall election.
Controversy surrounding Hause started last month after Erik Heilman, a member of the waitstaff at Mission on the Bay, said in a post on the private community Facebook page “Swampscott01907” that he was serving Hause at the restaurant when he overheard him say white privilege isn’t real and call the Black Lives Matter movement “liberal bull****” while talking with his dinner party.
Hause has called Heilman’s comments inaccurate and defamatory, and said the dinner conversation was about many things, including current events, and at one point he shared his opinion that “rioting and looting was hurting the Black Lives Matter movement and its core message.”
At Select Board meetings following Heilman’s post, residents called for Hause to host a discussion on the incident. Hause, at last week’s select board meeting, said he would like to host a community forum, similar to holding virtual “office hours” like board members did before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s part of a conversation and a larger context, but I want to make sure that there isn’t anyone out there who may have had a question or issue that they’d like me to address but feel like I haven’t,” Hause said.
Organizer of the recall effort Nick Scibelli said he has until July 22 to gather and submit 1,708 signatures. He said he is not only concerned about Hause’s alleged comments at Mission on the Bay, but is also concerned Hause was the only select board member to not sign a proclamation condemning the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. The police and fire chiefs also signed the proclamation.
The community forum will also be livestreamed on the town’s official Facebook page, www.facebook.com/swampscottma01907, and viewable online at Swampscott Government Access TV at tv.swampscottma.gov.
