Letter: RTM Dems Explain No Vote On Ethics Commission Appointment

To the editor,

We write in response to the letter to the editor from the Republican caucus of the Representative Town Meeting regarding the votes of many members of the Democratic caucus of the RTM opposing the reappointment of a member of the Fairfield Ethics Commission. In this vote, as in the vote a few months ago on the initial appointment of this member, we did not want to publicly discuss some of the commissioner’s past actions, which we felt were misleading to the public and a breach of trust. But since our votes have been challenged on false pretenses, we need to clear things up.

We feel that the Ethics Commission is the wrong place for Ms. Kery. We believe that a member of the Ethics Commission should be a strict rule follower, impartial, and someone who values the rule of law and the democratic process more than any specific goal he or she may have. Ms. Kery’s past actions do not suggest that she is qualified using this standard.

Many people in town are grateful to Ms. Kery for the effort she put into uncovering the historical and fill pile contamination in Gould Manor Park. But in advocating for the park, Ms. Kery took several actions that struck many of us and our constituents as poor choices.

• Three days before the 2019 town election, in which Ms. Kery was a candidate for RTM, she and her husband sent an email to many people in town regarding the fill pile contamination. Many of our constituents were disturbed to receive this and did not understand how she obtained their email addresses. It was later learned that she used a Freedom of Information Act application to the Parks and Recreation Department of the town to request all email addresses they had of town citizens. We feel this was a serious misuse of FOIA, which is a law meant to allow the public to learn what is going on in government, not to obtain personal information on citizens. Such a practice could lead citizens to stop sharing personal information, even email addresses, with the town to protect their privacy.
• In addition, at least one of the emails sent by Ms. Kery to the public relating to the contamination was made to appear to be coming from the town, not from her. This misleading email was confusing and concerning to many residents.

The members of the Democratic caucus who voted against this reappointment did not reach out to Ms. Kery before Monday’s vote because she had appeared before the RTM only a few months ago when she was first appointed to finish someone else’s term on the Ethics Commission. As noted above, RTM members did not wish to publicly embarrass Ms. Kery by discussing her past actions. Republican town leaders, including RTM Republican Caucus Leader Iacono, with whom RTM Moderator Wackerman communicated her concerns after abstaining from the initial appointment in January, have known of the concerns regarding this appointment for a long time. We had hoped that Republican leadership would spare Ms. Kery from public discussion by nominating her for one of the many other boards or commissions in town.

Rep. Matt Jacobs, District 3
Rep. Scott Nickel, District 3
Rep. Laura Karson, District 4
Rep. Alice Kelly, District 4
Rep. Meredith Odinak, District 4
Rep. Will Diaz, District 5
Rep. Josh Garskof, District 5
Rep. Joe Seibert, District 5
Rep. Jay Wolk, District 5
Rep. Matt Ambrose, District 6
Rep. Lisa Havey, District 6
Rep. Lauren Bove, District 7
Rep. Karen Wackerman, District 7
Rep. Dru Georgiadis, District 9