Complaints About Framingham Councilor Preceded 'Hot Mic' Incident

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Framingham City Hall employees have filed eight complaints since 2018 against District 4 Councilor Michael Cannon alleging a range of misbehavior from gender bias to bullying, according to internal records and interviews with employees.

The complaints have spurred two separate inquiries by an independent investigator who specializes in workplace harassment. They also provide a deeper look into the relationship between Cannon and members of Mayor Yvonne Spicer's staff. Cannon has often sparred with members of the administration during public meetings — and has been involved in several high-profile spats with Spicer and her staff recently.

Framingham Patch obtained details about the complaints, which date back to 2018, through a public records request following an April incident where Spicer's executive assistant was caught on tape disparaging Cannon after a city meeting.

The records released by the city do not name the complainants, but they do involve current and former City Hall employees — including at least one who worked outside the mayor's office. Cannon did not address the complaints directly when asked for comment but appeared to allege they were meant to stop him from questioning the mayor's agenda.

"The Spicer administration’s pattern of intimidation does not frighten me," part of the statement said.

Following the publication of this story, Cannon sent a followup statement about the number of complaints. Patch asked a city spokesperson to clarify the total number — eight — because the records did not provide the specific number.

"I'm stunned by your reference to eight complaints, as I have never been informed of that, nor do I believe it to be factual,' he said. "Additionally, I have never been contacted by an investigator and am unaware of any findings.”

Eight formal complaints

Framingham provided Patch with a variety of emails between human resources employees and others discussing complaints against Cannon.

The emails detail several complaints by city workers in 2018, 2020 and 2021. Some emails go into detail while others mention complaints only in passing.

"I explained the situation and the complaints ... as well as others," a March 2018 email between HR Director Dolores Hamilton and former City Council Chair Dennis Giombetti said. "I explained the federal harassment law and he took it with him. He doesn't feel he is being hostile or intimidating. I explained that sometimes he just pushes too far when he doesn't get the answer he wants or expects or the person doesn't know the answer. I think he understands and said he doesn't want to be a problem."

Former Spicer aide Jacquetta Van Zandt said she filed that 2018 complaint after what she described as a shouting match with Cannon inside the mayor's office. She accused Cannon of coming into the mayor's office and "barking orders" at her. The situation escalated from there, Van Zandt said. It was the first time she had ever interacted with Cannon one-on-one, she recalled.

"Mr. Cannon's approach is to speak over people, to yell in their face or to make comments to trigger them," Van Zandt said.

Van Zandt, who left her job in 2019 to work on former Congressman Joe Kennedy's U.S. senate campaign, said she never heard back about the complaint after it was filed.

On March 2, 2020, Hamilton contacted Regina Ryan, a Winchester-based workplace investigator who specializes in "issues of discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and other employment-related topics." Hamilton said she was looking for someone to investigate a complaint that Cannon had harassed an employee "because of her gender."

"She is experience[ing] significant anxiety, and fear of losing her job. She mentioned harassing emails and being ambushed before City Council meetings," Hamilton’s email to Ryan said.

After another alleged incident on March 16, 2020, Hamilton emailed Ryan again to confirm the city would need Ryan's services. The city declined to release the results of the 2020 investigation citing privacy rules.

The most recent complaint came on March 15, when an employee emailed the mayor, Council Chair George King Jr., and Hamilton detailing a history of feeling "bullied and hounded and insulted" by Cannon.

The employee sent the complaint after a March 11 meeting at City Hall between Spicer and staff about a COVID-19 vaccine program. The employee said Cannon was "neither invited to, nor asked to attend" the meeting but attempted to either call in or log in via Zoom more than 30 times. Cannon also called the employee from an unknown number, she reported, and described the ensuing conversation as "demeaning" and "insulting."

The employee also referred to a 2018 incident at a downtown Framingham coffee shop where Cannon "yelled at" her. Van Zandt said she was present for the exchange, but described it as "a bullied tone and manner" rather than yelling.

She concluded the email asking that the complaint be placed on record and said she would only communicate with Cannon in writing.

"If the Councilor ever needs to contact me, I will be more than happy to help him — but it will need to be in writing," the email said. "I will not be threatened and harassed, and I will hang up the phone on him the MOMENT he is out of line."

Framingham hired Ryan a second time to investigate the March complaint, according to a city spokesperson.

Cannon did not respond when asked about how many complaints he's aware of. His statement focused on his opposition to Spicer's 2022 budget proposal.

"I vehemently oppose Mayor Spicer's strategy to raise taxes by the maximum limit allowed by law at a very difficult time for our community, and I strongly disagree with the Mayor's proposals to increase the budget of the Mayor's Office while cutting the budget of the Senior Center," Cannon's emailed statement said in part.

Public incidents

The March 15 email came almost a month before a "hot mic" incident where Spicer's executive assistant, Jennique Horrigan, was recorded insulting Cannon. But that April incident was just the latest in a series of disputes between Spicer, her staff, and Councilors.

At the end of the April 29 meeting — a Zoom session about Framingham businesses reemerging after the pandemic — Horrigan could be heard grousing with Spicer about several people who attended the meeting, including Cannon.

"Just a schmuck," she said at one point referring to him.

In late 2020, a tranche of text messages obtained by the Framingham Source showed Spicer’s personal feelings about Cannon. In a text with Chief Operating Officer Thatcher Kezer, Spicer said she puts a sticky note over Cannon's head on her computer screen during Council meetings.

Spicer also once warned councilors about how they treat her staff. During a Nov. 7, 2019, city council meeting, Cannon questioned Kezer about how long it takes to get an email response from the mayor’s office. As an example, Cannon told Kezer it only takes a few minutes for officials like Superintendent Robert Tremblay and state Rep. Maria Robinson to get back to him.

"You're setting a tone of complacency in this building, you and the mayor, I believe," Cannon told Kezer.

In response, Spicer sent a letter to the Council on Nov. 12 about the exchange. Other Councilors, including former members Dennis Giombetti and Judith Grove, also questioned Kezer during the meeting.

"[T]he attacks on my office staff were reprehensible," Spicer said referring to the Nov. 7 meeting. "Even to the point of calling out specific employees was uncalled for. If you had a specific concern about anything that my staff has done or hasn’t done, I would have appreciated a personal conversation as opposed to a public tongue lashing of municipal employees."

In his statement about the complaints, Cannon said most of his interactions with the mayor and City Hall employees are already public for anyone to see.

"I have always believed in mutually-respectful discourse," his statement said. "Almost all of my encounters with the Mayor’s administration are in publicly televised meetings or by email; both of which are available for public inspection."

No disciplinary action

King said he has been informed of recent complaints, but said he does not have authority to discipline individual councilors. Framingham can't fire elected officials and can't take away their pay, he said. King said he made the city attorney aware of the most recent complaint.

The city council does have a formal code of conduct, which explicitly says councilors must treat each other, other elected officials, and municipal employees with respect. However, the code does not contain consequences for breaking the rules.

"Council members who interact with City of Framingham staff must do so in a respectful manner and take into consideration that their words and actions can be construed as reflective of the city council as a whole," the code says.

King also said there were legitimate communication issues between the mayor's office and the council. During public meetings, Cannon and other councilors have come to blows with Kezer, Chief Financial Officer Mary Ellen Kelly, and Spicer over a variety of issues — from deficits to the availability of items for the council agenda.

"I think it's well documented the mayor's overall relationship with the city council is not a good one. She's never engaged the city council in any meaningful way," he said.

Cannon, 43, was an outspoken member of Framingham Town Meeting before the change to a city. He won the Saxonville-area District 4 seat that year in a race against Amanda Shepard. He was reelected in 2019 with no challenger and will be up for reelection in 2021.

Van Zandt, the former Spicer aide, agreed that Framingham may not have a system in place to discipline elected officials, but it needs one to avoid possible action at the state and federal level.

"These are not one-offs," she said. "This man has a pattern of being abusive to City Hall workers."

Correction: A previous subheadline on this story incorrectly stated how many employees filed complaints. We apologize for the error.