This is
in response to Kevin Buckley's article which links to
this page. I posted it as a comment on his blog, but it can not appear
on the page without his permission. Because the election is tomorrow
and time is short, I am posting the response here:
Dear Mr.
Buckley:
Thank you
for directing attention to the
news section of my website. Your attempt to call the MMSD documents on
my website mudslinging is a weak attempt to sway the election in favor
of Ms. Rollings. Let’s stick with facts rather than your opinion.
Ms.
Rollings was the litigation lawyer for
MMSD until very recently. Her job was to oppose claims made by the
Village of Whitefish Bay and
its
residents against MMSD.
On February
12, 2011, I made a post to my
website pointing out that she had a substantial conflict of
interest. Apparently she agreed,
because two
days later she resigned, on
February 14, 2011.
Later, I
was
able by an open records request, to obtain numerous records. Among these was a
January 2011 document indicating that Ms. Rollings had a
conflict
of interest and that her boss, Sue Anthony, advised her of her conflict
and told her that her loyalties would have to remain with MMSD
if she
won the Trustee position. The record nevertheless reflects that
Ms. Rollings continued to pursue the Village Board
position as
if
she had no conflict until I pointed out her conflict on www.willdemet.com. This
reflects upon her judgment.
I was right
in
pointing out the conflict. Both MMSD and Ms. Rollings agreed that she
had a conflict. This is demonstrated by the internal
MMSD memo
from
Sue Anthony to Ms. Rollings and her immediate resignation from
MMSD after the conflict was made public.
People want
accountable government. I
applaud the part of your opinion that suggests that people go to my
website. There voters will
find
sufficient documents demonstrated to
make their own decisions about Village flooding, MMSD and Village
responses, and Ms. Rollings’
conflict of
interest that led to her
resignation. It is clearly not mudslinging to educate the public with
public documents that anyone
should have
a right to see. I had
previously taken down the conflict of interest memo from Rollings upon
her resignation but I am now putting it back up in order to clarify the
chronology of events.
Thank you,
William Demet