Letter: Riser Criticisms Unfair

With all due respect to my friend Eliot Sekuler, I believe he has a narrow view of the Joe Riser controversy.

As a founding member of the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council, I have known Joe [for some time] and always found him to be unquestionably ethical and dedicated to community service.

He has served Hermon very effectively and because Cypress Park was originally in the ASNC, he has served there at the Friends of the Cypress Park Association ever since.

If he can bring that service to Sycamore Grove, they will be very fortunate indeed.

This is a struggle over control of the board and finds Joe being the second Hermon representative accused of unethical behavior by Martha Benedict in the last year. The first of those charges were just refuted by DONE after an exhaustive investigation.

[ed. note: Mr. Brunk is referring to accusations of unethical accounting practices made against Hermon resident and former ASNC treasurer Mark Legassie. Those accusations were made by several members of the board, not solely President Martha Benedict. A recent audit of ASNC finances did not find any major accounting errors, though it did raise concerns of Legassie's use of Benedict's electronic signature, allegedly without her permission]

Joe is impugned for trying to form a Hermon neighborhood council, although at the request of his constituents because of the accusations against Mark Legassie.

Mark served as Web Master for the ASNC at no charge after years of paying major fees for the service. Joe is impuned for "making a career" of the ASNC, but Martha Benedict has been involved directly even longer. Before she ran for the board she was a contractor to the ASNC  Joe was a founder, but did not run early on. This is a struggle for control and representation, developing into the kind of politics we have come to dislike.

Apologies to Eliot Sekuler for being at odds with his opinion, as I respect him greatly as the [co-founder] of Lummis Day and a good citizen.

-- David Brunk, Mount Washington