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THURSDAY MARCH 1, 2007 Last modified: Thursday, March 1, 2007 1:04 AM EST

Wrentham police accuse pair of trying to discredit them

BY MICHAEL GELBWASSER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF

WRENTHAM - In a complaint filed Wednesday with the state Ethics Commission, Wrentham's police union accuses Selectmen Jennifer Firth and John Zizza of trying to discredit the police department.

The Wrentham Police Association also accuses Firth of trying to undermine the process of choosing Police Chief Joseph Collamati's successor through comments during the selectmen's Jan. 2 closed session and the Feb. 6 public session.

"The Wrentham Police Association firmly believes Selectwoman Firth is engaged in an effort to undermine the selection process for chief of police by way of removing the position from civil service and placing the position under the control of the board of selectmen," the complaint states.

Selectmen have been discussing whether the post's status should change.

"Ms. Firth's motive and bias is evidenced by her comments regarding police political activity being punished by denying promotion and her fabricated allegations that a police officer made criminal threats to kill a political candidate," the complaint continues.

The union also alleges that Chairwoman Mary Dunn said during the Jan. 2 closed session that Collamati "uses his uniform to do evil."

Selectmen discussed Collamati's retirement plans at that time, according to the complaint, which union President William McGrath provided to The Sun Chronicle on Wednesday.

Firth alleged on Feb. 6 that a Wrentham police officer threatened online to kill a selectman two years ago.

The union accuses Zizza of stating at that time that he "read the blog and confirmed the police officer is identified, adding credibility to the false allegations made by Selectwoman Firth's criminal allegations."

The Norfolk County District Attorney's office last week found no evidence that a police officer made the threat on the Web site freerepublic.com against Gregory Pazurchek, who was running for re-election but lost.

The union has called for Firth's resignation. She has declined.

The union alleges that Dunn said on Feb. 6 that she was unaware of the blog or its contents.

However, Firth recently told an investigator for the district attorney's office that Dunn gave her the blog on Feb. 4. Firth also told the investigator that Dunn gave Collamati a copy of the blog two years ago.

Firth has said she is under the belief the ethics commission only investigates those who have a financial interest in a matter, something she denies she has here.

Dunn and Zizza couldn't be reached, and Firth declined to comment Wednesday, saying the issue has become confidential for the board.

A closed meeting has been scheduled for tonight, and the issue is expected to be discussed, The Sun Chronicle has learned.

MICHAEL GELBWASSER can be reached at 508-236-0372 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.

See also: Wrentham police union files ethics complaint against Firth (Bellingham Country Gazette 3/1/07).

Unlike The Sun Chronicle, the Country Gazette's reporter, Heather McCarron, seems to actually be trying to get her facts about Free Republic straight, not blaming PAR35 for a comment he didn't make and not calling this forum a left-wing "blog". From the end of the article:

Firth said she did not wish to discuss the thread in open session. During that Feb. 6 meeting, according to a taped recording, she stated, "I guess I don’t know how much we can talk about that particular thing in open session because it’s somebody’s reputation ... if we want to talk about the killing of a candidate and the things that are in the blog, then we’re going to have to go back into executive session."

The "kill your opponent" comment on the thread was made in response to a question posted by "Little Bill" on behalf of "Guinness Boy," identified by police as Labonte’s son in-law, Ron Groves, who was campaigning for Labonte and who wanted advice about running a winning race.

A poster identified only as "Phantom Lord" suggested: "winning tactic — kill your opponent." According to Phantom Lord’s profile on freerepublic.com, he is not even tied to Wrentham, residing in Apex, N.C. Little Bill is listed as a Massachusetts member of the Web community, but his home town is not included.

Firth this week said she does not know who the poster is. She also claims she doesn’t recall sending an e-mail to two fellow selectmen, Dion and Labonte, in which "a police officer writing derogatory things on various politically right-wing internet chat rooms" is referenced.

"Their (the police department’s) contention was that I had said it was a police officer," she said.

The confusion, she said, is that Labonte’s son in-law was taking part in the chat thread. Labonte also has a son who is a Wrentham police officer, but Groves isn’t a policeman and has never been connected with the Wrentham Police Department.

"I think there’s been a lot of confusion for two years," said Firth this week. "I think the confusion is around the fact that it was a relative (of Labonte) involved."

Firth said she is disappointed the chat thread has sparked so much rumor and has been allowed to fester over two years in the town’s undercurrents. "I find it unconscionable that it was ignored," she said.

Greg Pazurchek, meanwhile, said on Monday that, while the internet posting was disturbing, he never felt directly threatened. He is questioning why the thread has been brought up now, and why it has been allowed to get so out of hand, especially since, he said, Labonte could have stopped the entire conversation Feb. 6 simply by pointing out that his son-in-law, and not his police officer son, was involved.

"Why is he adding fuel to the fire instead of saying, ‘Wait a minute, this isn’t a police officer. Yeah, the guy (Groves) was trying to help me and some arbitrary person wrote this alleged threat’?" Pazurchek said, noting that, at the time the chat thread was active, "I knew it wasn’t a cop."

Labonte did not return a phone call seeking comment. Collamati was on vacation this week and could not be reached for comment.

The Wrentham story of the Board of Selectmen vs. the Police Union did not go away today.

There is a new story in the Sun Chronicle today about the selectment hiring an outside independent legal council at $130-$150/hr to do another investigation because apparently the word of the Norfolk DA wasnt good enough.......in other words, the selectmen were proven wrong and need to use town money in the time of deficit and overruns to carry on their witch hunt.

To the Wrentham citizens: there is a recall citizens petition being proposed to vote by the selectmen, I suggest showing for that vote, it's the only check & balance that will be available to the monopoly style gov't our town now has.

OJ Simpson paid alot of money to be "right", at least it came from his own pocket............