Don’t Rush To Judgment

To the Editor:

Michael Marsalisi’s (second) Letter to the Editor on May 29 (“Newtown’s Clown Act”), regarding Carolee Mason’s termination, has a few errors of fact and conclusion, so this response letter is meant to inform and provide context.

First, the complete list of detailed charges against Mason has not been made public yet, so any real conclusions as to her guilt or innocence, or the appropriateness of her termination, are premature. Under the law, employers cannot reveal confidential personnel matters, especially while a case is pending, so, for due process, we must all wait until Mike Kehoe is called to testify (hopefully this Thursday).

Selectman Mangiafico has been running the appeal hearing process, and has allowed Mason’s attorney to present her case for the first six hours of the process. Thus, to date, Mike Kehoe, Mason’s direct supervisor, has not even presented his findings. Kehoe supervised her work, he received the complaints about her; he conducted the investigation, and he recommended her termination based on his findings. Without his testimony, we only have Mason’s version of the events.

Carole Ross was involved, as the human resource administrator for the town; and Joe Borst signed the letter because all department heads report to him (Mason had six subordinates).

Mr Marsalisi bad-mouths Borst, Kehoe, Ross, and Henderson, and concludes that this was a “shoddy rush to judgment,” yet he has no facts yet about the judgment made. If he had attended the hearings, he would be more informed.

I would hope that Mr Marsalisi could restrain himself from submitting ill-informed and barely disguised hate mail, until the facts of the case have been revealed. This very sad event is impacting real lives and is too serious a tragedy to warrant casual histrionics and political bashing.

Kaia Fahrenholz

5 Sycamore Drive, Newtown                                              June 3, 2009