Fairfield RTM Divided On Whether Ethics Commissioner Should Stay

FAIRFIELD, CT — Commission reappointments are typically uneventful and unanimous in Fairfield. But a recent vote on whether to keep one Ethics Commission member was anything but.

When the roll was called Monday, 14 Democrat members of the Representative Town Meeting opposed reappointing Dana Kery, a Republican, to the commission. Kery also received 23 yes votes, securing her seat.

There was no discussion of the matter Monday, but later in the week, the town meeting’s Republican Caucus submitted a letter to Patch, accusing the Democrats who voted against Kery of playing politics.

The dissenting voters responded by cosigning a published letter of their own. They claimed Kery in the run-up to the 2019 election misused the Freedom of Information Act to obtain resident email addresses from the Parks and Recreation Department, and that Kery sent an email that appeared to come from the town of Fairfield, rather than from Kery.

“It was all about the way she got those emails,” said town meeting member Dru Georgiadis, who represents District 9 and voted against Kery’s reappointment. “That, to me, is not ethical.”

Kery was running for town meeting District 7 in 2019 when a corruption scandal rocked Fairfield. Top public works officials and a town contractor were arrested and accused of conspiring to run an illegal dump for contaminated material at the Fairfield fill pile, a revelation that was followed by the discovery of additional contamination at parks, schools and other sites in town.

In response, Kery, who as early as 2014 had complained about possible asbestos at a park that was later found to be contaminated, created a website called Fairfield First and a lawn sign campaign to share information and generate awareness about the crisis.

The issues raised by the opposing Democrats are related to email addresses Kery obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and later used to contact residents about Fairfield First.

A spokesman for the state’s Freedom of Information Commission said Friday that Kery did not violate the act by using the emails in the way she did.

“The FOI Act is use neutral,” Public Education Officer Thomas Hennick said. “There’s no violation for using it in whatever manner.”

Republican Caucus Leader Pamela Iacono, of District 8, said Kery’s actions were not unusual.

“Republicans and Democrats use data mined lists all the time for their personal campaigns, so I don’t know why we’re taking an issue with someone who used a database to put out a nonpolitical issue,” she said.

First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick offered a theory.

“I personally feel like their no votes are really against her whistleblowing against the leader of their party,” said Kupchick, a Republican, who unseated former first selectman Mike Tetreau, a Democrat, amid the aftermath of the 2019 arrests. “This whole thing just — it reeks of politics.”

Town meeting Moderator Karen Wackerman, a Democrat representing District 7 and one of the dissenting voters, disputed that claim.

“It was absolutely not about her efforts to reveal problems with the government and the pollution,” Wackerman said, noting she was surprised by how many town meeting members voted Monday against Kery. “It was about how she went about it.”

A complaint was previously filed with the State Elections Enforcement Commission about Kery’s website and yard sign campaign, but the agency in 2020 opted not to act on it.

When reached Friday, Kery expressed confusion about why she wasn’t contacted by those who changed their votes after supporting her when she was initially appointed in January to fill the Ethics Commission vacancy. The commission is charged with investigating allegations of unethical behavior in town.

During the January vote, Kery received 29 votes in favor, two opposed and six abstentions.

“Nothing has changed since January, so it’s illogical to me that that vote would go from a yes to a no or from an abstention to a no without verifying the reason,” she said. “If you weren’t satisfied, then why not contact me?”

Kery also offered an explanation for the Fairfield First email that dissenting voters said looked as if it came from the town. She said she uploaded a list of email addresses titled “Town of Fairfield” to the email programming platform for Fairfield First, and as a result, when recipients opted to unsubscribe from Fairfield First emails, they were told they were unsubscribing from “Town of Fairfield.”