To the editor:
Below is a copy of a Formal Complaint I have filed with the Massachusetts Ethics Commission, David A. Wilson, executive director, dated Oct. 3.
I am sending it in response to the puff piece that ran in The Item (“New school is the talk of Swampscott,” Oct. 4).
“Dear Mr. Wilson,
Please accept this formal complaint as a request for enforcement of the Massachusetts Conflict of Interest law against the following: Swampscott Town Administrator, Sean Fitzgerald; Swampscott Executive Director of Elder Affairs, Heidi Whear; and, the corporate entity known as the Town of Swampscott.
A bit of background may be helpful.
Swampscott’s Special Town Meeting, held on September 13, 2021, approved an appropriation of approximately $97 million to construct a new elementary school. The Select Board set a town election for October 19, 2021, where residents could vote on a debt exclusion related to the project.
Shortly thereafter, the Swampscott School Superintendent, Pamela Angelakis, sent an email blast to an unknown number, perhaps close to a thousand, of parents and public school personnel, asking the recipients to visit a ‘Yes’ website which provided, as she averred, ‘accurate’ information regarding the new school proposal. The email list she used is owned and managed by the Swampscott School Department and is not available to residents or the general public.
Her email obviously was meant to squelch and discredit any information disseminated by an organized group that stands in opposition to the debt exclusion and school project. Numerous citizens filed complaints with your agency about her actions, yet to their (and my) dismay, you took no action.
Now, at the instruction of Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald, executive director of elder affairs Heidi Whear has been forbidden to host at the town’s Senior Center an event that includes members from both sides of the debate regarding the proposed new school.
Mr. Fitzgerald claims that because the event will be held in a town building, he has the privilege to exclude viewpoints that don’t match the town leadership’s vision. He has limited the panel to four advocates who are well-known proponents of the school: Superintendent Angelakis; School Building Committee Vice Chair Suzanne Wright, who also happens to be the sister of Select Board Chair Peter Spellios, another avid proponent; Max Kasper, Swampscott Facilities Manager; and Mr. Fitzgerald himself. Members of the opposition are to be ignored.
Ms. Whear, in her capacity as executive director of Elder Affairs, had produced, posted, and circulated a flyer that invites the public, especially senior citizens, to submit questions for the panel prior to the event.
Note that the flyer boasts of a moderator. However, questions will be pre-screened and chosen by Mr. Fitzgerald, and a moderator is superfluous at a one-sided affair.
The event will be videotaped and broadcast to all residents, at regular intervals, on Swampscott’s government and/or education cable-access channel until the October 19, 2021 special election.
In his function as Town Administrator, Mr. Fitzgerald is in direct violation of Public Advisory 11-1, as follows:
- ‘In their public roles, public employees are subject to Section 23(b)(2)(ii) of the conflict of interest law. That section provides that public employees may not knowingly (or with reason to know) use or attempt to use their official positions to secure for themselves or others unwarranted privileges or exemptions of substantial value that are not properly available to similarly situated individuals. Section 23(b)(2)(ii) restricts the extent to which public employees may engage in political activity in their public roles, or use public resources in connection with such political activity.’
- ‘Subject to these exceptions, a public employee may not engage in political activity, whether election-related or non-election related, on his public work time; while acting in his official capacity or while in his official uniform; in a public building (except where equal access for such political activity is allowed to all similarly situated persons); or with the use of other public resources, such as staff time, public office space and facilities, public office equipment such as computers, copiers, and communications equipment, public websites and links to public websites, or public office supplies such as official stationery.’
Time is of the essence. Conflicts of interest in Swampscott continue to escalate in many parts of its political and social framework. Do not minimize Mr. Fitzgerald’s infractions. Please enforce the law to prevent his attempt to impede free speech. Please intervene to stop use of a public arena and a public broadcast system to spread the bias inherent in the upcoming presentation orchestrated by public employees, particularly Mr. Fitzgerald.”
William R. DiMento
Swampscott
