Press release from the Garballey campaign, forwarded by request

It seems from a couple of the comments at the site that not everyone approves of the indecisive tone, but I like the balanced, tactful assessment of both Thielman and Garballey.  Those who may be struggling to make a decision at this point will probably find that it articulates the differences in a way that will assist them in matching their votes to what they most value in a candidate.  

This editorial makes as much sense as someone who obstructs your supermarket checkout line because they can’t decide between paper and plastic.

Arlington, Mass. – The Advocate, apparently, is a true representation of the community. In an effort to endorse a candidate for state representative, we have been discussing for almost a month now who to support, and it came down to this: one vote for Sean Garballey, one vote for Jeff Thielman. In the end, we decided to endorse both – with equal enthusiasm and reservation.

Garballey, a current School Committee member and Town Meeting member, has also worked with Vision 2020 and with the Mystic River Neighborhood Team on environmental issues. He has been in the political arena since he was 16 and in the past month, he has proven age is not a factor. He has risen to the occasion and launched an impressive campaign for state representative. He has shown leadership, experience and an ability to talk with the community to try and understand issues from the wide spectrum of the people who live in Arlington and Medford. And because of his humility and his compassion, he can easily relate to the people he could be representing.

However, Garbelley does not come without fault. We believe he needs to focus on his strengths rather than what people perceive as his weaknesses. He has to learn how to handle criticism better, how to maintain an objective stance on issues and not be swayed by the person making the most noise.

Garballey may not have the extensive political experience, but he makes up for it with his enthusiasm and his passion as a public servant. It is apparent that, if elected, Garballey will work tirelessly for this community.

Thielman, who does have extensive experience, has demonstrated strong leadership. As a School Committee member, he led the campaign for an override, which was the first to pass in almost 20 years. He has made education a priority, specifically education for underprivileged children both nationally and internationally and children with special needs. He has a legal background, which will help guide him on Beacon Hill. And, in this economic downturn, Thielman, as the executive director of the Cassin Educational Initiative Foundation for the past seven years, has the know-how and experience to work with big, sticky budgets. We are impressed that Thielman is already working with Sen. Jim Marzilli to close corporate tax loopholes in an effort to increase local aid to communities and that he has already met with the speaker of the House as a representative of Arlington.

We’ve learned that Thielman can stand his ground and stand by controversial decisions he makes, something that we believe is essential as a state representative. But we feel that taking such a firm stance on issues can also be a detriment to Thielman, as he sometimes seems willing to take the more expeditious route in solving a problem rather than looking at other, if slower, alternatives. If elected, we hope Thielman will be open and thoughtful to other ideas because there will be times when he will have to handle sensitive matters in a sensitive manner.

<

p>NOTE:  Thielman backs the school department decision to dismiss Coughlin, Garballey supports Coughlin and voted not to renew the superintendent’s contract.

Coughlin dismissed for involvement in e-mail scandal

Arlington, Mass. – School Superintendent Nate Levenson dismissed Chuck Coughlin, a teacher at Ottoson Middle School, on Aug. 9, after an investigation concerning Coughlin’s actions during e-mail exchanges with Ottoson Principal Stavroula Bouris was completed, the Advocate has learned.

The investigation, led by the firm of Stoneman, Chandler and Miller of Boston, included accessing e-mails from the district’s backup system and the hard drive of school computers, as well as personal interaction with Mr. Coughlin.

Attorney Alan Miller concluded, as described in a letter of Request for Public Comment from Superintendent Levenson, that Coughlin:

“1.) Forged an e-mail to make it appear I (Levenson) was the author.

2.) Created the impression, via forged e-mails and an ‘electronic paper trail,’ that I had denied a request for an extended vacation by Principal Bouris, when in fact I had approved the request.

3.) Sent a number of e-mails on a school computer, via the district’s e-mail system, during the school day to Principal Bouris, which portrayed an inappropriately intimate relationship at times making reference to matters of a sexual nature.”

Levenson discussed these conclusions with Tom Scott, Executive Director, and Mike Long, General Counsel and Advisor of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, before dismissing Coughlin. He also approached Irwin Blumer, chairman of Educational Administration and Higher Education at Boston College Lynch School of Education. Levenson said all three “indicated that they believed most superintendents statewide would terminate an employee, given the facts as we know them.”

The forgery was discovered, Levenson said, during the accessing of e-mails from the school’s computer backup system during the investigation. Levenson had sent an initial e-mail to Principal Bouris with a specific time-stamp. A time-stamp shows the time of a sent e-mail down to the exact second.

Also found on the backup system (the hard drive) was a virtually identical e-mail with the exact same time-stamp, only with an additional paragraph. These two slightly altered e-mails triggered the issue of how there could be two e-mails sent at the same second with slightly different content.

The investigators then placed every e-mail in chronological order, and discovered that Principal Bouris forwarded the original e-mail from Levenson to Coughlin. Coughlin then responded back, according to Levenson, saying, “I am working on your letter.” Moments later a slightly altered new e-mail appeared on the server.

The additional paragraph in the e-mail, according to Miller’s investigation letter to Levenson, is the following:

“We will need to speak regarding your vacation. I have never approved a vacation of more than 2 weeks. We need to spend a good deal of time preparing the Ottoson for its 5-year plan. With NELMS and the Walker Group on the horizon it is not a wise decision.”

Miller also claims that the study of the e-mails suggests that Ms. Bouris did not want to take a trip to Greece to visit her husband’s family.

“In an attempt to achieve that goal, an e-mail from the superintendent to Mrs. Bouris was altered by Mr. Coughlin to make it appear that the Superintendent was discouraging Mrs. Bouris from taking a vacation to go to Greece,” Miller said.

Miller concluded at the end of his letter to Levenson that the forgery warrants termination “without regard to the other findings of impropriety.”

Levenson said that Coughlin and his attorney, Frank Mondano, had the opportunity to refute the charges of the forged e-mails.

“Not only did he not deny writing the e-mails – his attorney acknowledged that he had written the e-mails and said that the forgery shouldn’t be held against him because the content of the e-mail wasn’t germane or related to school business … but at no time during their opportunity to refute the facts did he and his lawyer deny the e-mail or that it was, in fact, a forgery,” said Levenson.

The network technician, who accessed the e-mails between Bouris and Coughlin after receiving an anonymous note about Bouris and Coughlin, was cleared of wrongdoing at the conclusion of the investigation.

Miller states in a letter to Levenson on Aug. 8 that, according to the Public Schools’ Acceptable Use policies, e-mails in the Arlington system are accessible to the public and therefore no privacy should be expected.

Miller added that e-mails are not regularly monitored unless there is suspicion of misuse.

Garballey should kiss his campaign goodby now that Nage/seiu has endorsed him. This is one of the most corrupt unions in mass. It knows how to pick a winner, Reilly, M. Callahan, K.Donnelley just to name a few 2nd and 3rd place finishers. I work with a lot of nage members who tell horror stories about the thier union: 4,000 members voting to leave nage to go to another union in the past few years, phone calls that don’t get returned, a president (Dave Holloway, former beacon hill lobbiest) making $300,000/year off the dues of state worker secretaries wallowing in poverty. Garballey, or the people running his campaign, should know better then to promote a nage endorsement.
Phil West

Never mind what Rudy said about the New York Times endorsement… what progressive in his right mind would pay any attention to a Boston Herald endorsement?