Letters

I listened with interest and mounting concern to the recent “27Speaks” podcast [“Ethics Board Finds Violations,” December 19]. It was shocking to see Robin Brown’s image plastered on the front page for what seem to be minor accusations and unsupported findings. It also appears to me to be routine operating procedure in the village for trustees and other officials to be offered free attendance at events. The question of whether there were related pending matters that might compromise judgment is the salient point.

It makes one wonder why Robin, whom I find to be a kind and well-intentioned public servant, was singled out. The answer is what she herself eloquently asserted: This was a transparent politically motivated hit job, with political appointees to the Ethics Board lending themselves to the twisted effort at character assassination as vendetta.

I disagree with two conclusions of the podcast participants: (1) “good for the ethics board” for wading in, and (2) only people who dislike you make ethics complaints, and we’d “hold our breath” for complaints from friends.

Before I resigned from the Village Planning Board, I had occasion to call the board about what I felt was a serious matter, and I was not motivated by antipathy for anyone, only an interest in seeing what I believed was fair procedure followed. I was objecting to public polling of board members on camera before a chance to hold public debate on still-open hearing matters.

The concern was feeling pressured to declare a position before all the facts were in and before a chance to read the decision on which I was being asked to vote. I was informed that my concerns were not within the board’s jurisdiction. Maybe not, but the role of the board and the paper in covering it is what should be assessed.

Is the board, and the code which informs its work, serving the public, or is the board being manipulated to ruin people’s reputations in an ongoing tit-for-tat that plays out every week on the Opinion/Letters pages? That might satisfy the public’s appetite for gossip, but it is unfair and deeply damaging to the village to pillory good people in the town square.

Who in the world will sign up to serve in an environment where any perceived misstep uncovered by a dogged rival is telegraphed to the world? Why is that good?

Willa J. Bernstein

Southampton Village