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Friday, May 24, 2013

By Janet Hefler
Published: May 14, 2009

In response to news coverage of a complaint filed by Tisbury police officer Kelly R. Kershaw with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), various town leaders have reacted with a combination of caution, irritation, and anger.

On April 28, copies of Officer Kershaw's complaint were delivered to the town of Tisbury, the Tisbury Police Department, and Sergeant Timothy Stobie, who is named in the complaint. Ms. Kershaw alleges that in addition to sexual harassment by Sgt. Stobie, she was subject to a pattern of harassment and work actions not applied to male officers.

Ms. Kershaw also alleged that Chief John Cashin and town administrator John Bugbee ignored a written request dated October 26, 2008, asking town officials to address her complaints.

In her complaint she said a promised interview with Chief Cashin, in connection with an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing she described as an attempt to force her to quit her job, also never took place.

After the town received the complaint, on April 30 selectman Tristan Israel asked John Bugbee, who was due to leave on vacation, to write a statement for the town that he could bring to the board for approval.

In response to inquiries by The Martha's Vineyard Times on May 5 about the complaint, the Tisbury selectmen approved the town statement that night but instructed the assistant town administrator to only provide it on request.

Upset at the publication of a May 7 news article, "Tisbury officer files MCAD charge," Chief Cashin called The Martha's Vineyard Times to ask which member of his department was the source of the story. He also issued a department bulletin banning members of his department from talking to the media.

Prior to the selectmen's meeting on Tuesday, May 5, Mr. Israel, newly elected as board chairman, told The Martha's Vineyard Times there would be no comment on the specifics of the complaint because it is under investigation. But he said that the selectmen would be issuing a statement shortly, after meeting as a board to discuss the issue.

At the meeting, Mr. Israel and selectman Jeffrey Kristal met for the first time with Geoghan Coogan, who was elected selectman on April 28. At the close of the regular meeting, the selectmen went into executive session, and approved the statement Mr. Bugbee had drafted before leaving on vacation.

"Although this is an internal personnel matter, the Town will cooperate fully with the Commission and their investigation," Mr. Bugbee wrote in the statement, dated May 6. "There is a clear process for handling claims of this type of claim and we are now in the initial stages of that process. I speak for the entire Board of Selectmen when I say that the Town rejects any type of discrimination. We treat these claims very seriously and will handle this case accordingly."

Asked on Friday, May 8, why the town did not provide The Martha's Vineyard Times with a copy of the statement on Wednesday to be included in the news story he knew would be published on May 7, Mr. Israel said the three-paragraph, one-page document was not a press release to be sent out to the media, but rather a statement.

During the same phone conversation, Mr. Israel said he was aware The Martha's Vineyard Times was writing about the MCAD complaint, but that it was not his obligation to provide the statement to the newspaper.

"I was asked what the town was going to do, and I said we need to meet and talk about our statement," Mr. Israel said. "So we did, and we have a statement. And the statement was there for the world to have on Wednesday morning. And if anybody, the Cape Cod Times, the Bangor Maine whatever, calls us, this is what we'll send them."

Mr. Kristal provided a similar explanation. "It was a statement to be made available if there were any questions," he said.

Mr. Israel also criticized The Martha's Vineyard Times article ("Tisbury officer files MCAD charge") for providing details about a previous MCAD complaint filed by former Tisbury police officer Theophilus M. (T.M.) Silvia III in 1996.

"I just think, had there been one sentence about the T.M. Silvia case, fine, but I mean, this was let's just drag the town through the mud again, as far as I'm concerned," he said.

Mr. Silvia subsequently sued the police department and the town on charges of racial discrimination. The matter was settled in Mr. Silvia's favor in 2000, at a cost to the town of more than $600,000 in damages, legal fees, vacation and sick time pay, and continuing health-care coverage for him and his family.

Mr. Israel said that town officials cannot legally comment substantially on the MCAD complaint at this point. "We need to be very measured in our response because of our responsibility," he said. "We're dealing with taxpayers' dollars in this."

Chief Cashin focused on how the information about the MCAD complaint became public. In a call to The Martha's Vineyard Times last Thursday he asked who the source was.

In response to phone messages left last Wednesday asking him for comment, Sergeant Stobie also called The Martha's Vineyard Times on Thursday. Although he declined to say anything about the case, Sergeant Stobie asked who tipped off the newspaper about the complaint.

Both police officers were told that news sources are kept confidential.

As a result of what Chief Cashin called a "leak in his department," he said he planned to come down hard on his officers and that all requests for information from the press would have to go through him.

Officer Michael Gately, who heads the Tisbury Police Union, confirmed that a bulletin was issued last Friday instructing members of the police department not to talk to the press.

Despite tensions within the department, Officer Gately said, "This is not going to interfere with the operations of the police department in any way. The public should know that all of us, from the top to the bottom, are continuing to do our jobs, answering and responding to calls. We are cops first."