Framingham Town Manager: Campaign Against Veterans Agent 'Malicious' and 'Vindictive'

Framingham Town Manager Bob Halpin said the actions of “a small group” against Framingham’s Veterans Agent is the “most personal, vindictive and frankly malicious campaigns of attack against a public official that I have seen in the course of my career in local government.”

Last week, Framingham Selectmen voted 3-2 not to call a Special Town Meeting for two warrant articles request by Town Meeting member Deborah Butler, despite the fact she gathered enough signatures from registered voters.

Tuesday night, Selectmen reconsidered their vote, and agreed to call a Special Town Meeting on February 23, to coincide with an already called Special Town Meeting.

The two articles for the new Special Town Meeting both focus on the Town’s Veterans Services Officer Peter Harvell.

The first article requests the Town of Framingham to “eliminate CORI checks for Veterans, who apply for benefits though the Department of Veterans Services.”

The Town has maintained it does not do these criminal history checks on Veterans.

“I want to state emphatically, Veterans Services Officer Peter Harvell has never run a CORI check on a veteran as part of the application process for veteran’s benefits in the entire 7 year period in which he has served in Framingham,” said Halpin. “I want to repeat: Peter Harvell has never run a CORI check on a veteran applying for benefits.”

The second article asks Town Meeting members to “take a ’no confidence’ vote regarding Peter Harvell’s performance as the Town’s Director of Veterans Services and Benefits.”

Selectman Jason Smith, said based on Town Counsel’s opinion, he would vote to allow the Special Town Meeting, but that he still has serious concerns about the articles.

He said the no confidence vote sets a dangerous precedent.

He questioned what if a parent thought a teacher gave too much homework and then gathered signatures to have Town Meeting take a vote against that teacher.

He said he was “extremely disappointed” in the process and the bylaw, that would allow a vote on the Veterans Agent.

Selectman Michael Bower said as the law is written Selectmen needed to call the Special Town Meeting based on counsel’s advice, but that in his opinion it was an “abuse of power” being used ”to vilify a respectable town employee.”

Bower said he hoped Town Meeting would “step up” and send a message.

“Town Meeting needs to put a stop to this nonsense,” said Bower, who said every complaint against the Veterans Agent has been reviewed and been unfounded.

“All of these instances have been reviewed,” said Bower. “At what point is the process more important than someone’s reputation?”

Selectman Laurie Lee, who like Bower and Smith, voted against calling the Special Town Meeting during the first vote, called the attack’s on a town employee “repugnant.”

Butler, who represents Precinct 7 at Town Meeting, has said she is not asking Town Meeting to “fire” the Veterans Agent but requesting a yes or no vote on if he is “serving our veteran population.”

Halpin said in investigating the complaints about the Veterans Service Officer he has “consistently found these allegations to be false, distorted, vague, and ambiguous.”

Framingham Town Manager Halpin released a statement on the Special Town Meeting and on the Veterans Agent, and the attacks against him. It is published in its entirety below.

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The Board of Selectmen acted on a petition to call a special town meeting to consider taking action against our Veterans Services Director. Under Mass. General Laws governing town meetings they had no choice but to call a Town Meeting.

Nevertheless, the submission of this petition, in my opinion, is one of the most personal, vindictive and frankly malicious campaigns of attack against a public official that I have seen in the course of my career in local government. It has been mounted by a small group of people since early last summer during which time they have generally misstated or distorted facts about the Veterans Services Officer, advanced allegations about his conduct as Veterans Services Officer that have been consistently investigated and found to be without basis in fact. This campaign has been mounted by this small group of people for the expressly stated purpose of driving our Veterans Services Officer from his job.

Since June of last year, I have investigated and responded to each and every allegation or complaint that has been lodged against the Veterans Services Officer by this group of individuals, either officially to me or unofficially in various public forums.

I will provide to Town Meeting members a comprehensive response to each and every complaint that has been raised against the Veterans Services Officer and the results of each and every inquiry I have made into those complaints. I have consistently found these allegations to be false, distorted, vague and ambiguous.

The sole exceptions are a complaint of a prolonged delay in delivering two bronze memorial plaques to the widows of deceased veterans, which was unacceptable and for which we are deeply sorry and a review of disallowed requests for state reimbursements for benefits which will be discussed shortly.

I would like to comment on the background of our Veterans Services Officer Peter Harvell.

Harvell served a lengthy and distinguished career within our military over the course of 23 years. During that time he was accepted into the elite U.S. Army Special Forces as a Green Beret. He has served on numerous occasions overseas, including Iraq during Operation Desert Storm, within the command center of General Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. When not serving oversees, he has held positions of responsibility within the U.S. Army in Washington, DC that included representation of the U.S. Special Operations Command before committees and subcommittees of Congress concerning appropriations for weapons systems and programs.

He retired from the U.S. Military at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He has been the Veterans Services Officer for the Town of Framingham since 2008 and has served in that position during an economic downtown that create some of the highest levels of need for veterans benefits services the Town has ever experienced.

From 2007 to 2015 the ongoing case load for veteran’s financial benefits grew from an average of 20 to the current average of 60 cases. Through much of that time he managed this dramatic increase in demand as the sole employee with the Department of Veterans Services, having lost an Administrative Assistant to town wide budget cuts and staff reductions dictated by the worsening economic condition.

One repeated false allegation that continues to be made in public is that the Framingham Veterans Services Officer routinely runs criminal history records (CORI) checks on veterans applying for benefits through his office.

I want to state emphatically, Veterans Services Officer Peter Harvell has never run a CORI check on a
veteran as part of the application process for veteran’s benefits in the entire 7 year period in which he has served in Framingham. I want to repeat: Peter Harvell has never run a CORI check on a veteran applying for benefits.

While in the past the Veterans Services Officer reserved the right to run such a check for other purposes not connected with the eligibility of benefits – such as a referral for employment counseling or public housing – it was mutually agreed in in October that we will no longer seek a CORI authorization as part of the benefits application process. This false allegation should stop.

I have already acknowledged that the delay in delivering the memorial plaques to two widows of deceased veterans was regrettable, unacceptable, and a repeat occurrence will not be tolerated.

On the issue of disallowances by the MA DVS on requests for state reimbursement of benefits paid, it is a confused picture. The MA DVS reimburses the Town 75% of benefits paid to eligible recipients. The Town’s Chief Financial Officer has completed a comprehensive review of reimbursements since 2008 and is finalizing a report. The overall findings of that review is that while the disallowed requests may still be substantial it is far less than the $76,281 alleged.

The initial allegation only included disallowances in monthly reports back to the Veterans Services Officer and did not include subsequent resubmittals that were in fact subsequently approved for the 75% reimbursement. Additionally the CFO has determined that many requests for reimbursement were properly documented and should have been reimbursed. Some of these submittals were submitted multiple times by the Veterans Services Officer and disallowed – thereby increasing the apparent level of disallowances.

The overwhelming bulk of these disallowance occurred between 2008 and December 2012. This was a period of time when the average weekly caseload of the Veterans Services Officer grew from 20 cases to approximately 47 and during which he operated as a single person operation.

Since January 2013 through December 2015, when a part time Assistant was restored to the office, the total amount of requests for reimbursement disallowed is a total $523. During this time the Veterans Services Officer’s case load increased to average of 67 cases at any given time.

Interestingly, the $523 includes a discretionary emergency payment of $358 authorized by the Framingham Veterans Services Officer to a homeless veteran in April and May 2015. The MA DVS would not honor the request for reimbursement. Nevertheless during this two month period the VSO was able to work with this veteran to secure a 100% service connected disability pension from the US
Veterans Administration.

This is the very example of what the Veterans Services Officer is being accused of NOT doing for our veterans at that very time they criticize him for not obtaining reimbursement for not obtaining reimbursement for these discretionary authorization.

In closing, I will say once again that this personal, vindictive and malicious campaign against our Veterans Service Officer should come to end.

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Photo of Framingham Veterans Agent Peter Harvell from the Town of Framingham Memorial Day Ceremony 2015. Photo by Petroni Media Company.