To the Editor:

I am compelled to address some issues in the Oct. 24 coverage of the Berne GOP leadership’s continuing campaign to aggressively harass, threaten, and intimidate me.

First, The Enterprise reports that the latest complaint, filed against me, alleges that I discriminated against the deputy supervisor in emails that were: “sent back and forth among members of the board.”  This, the very basis of his absurd complaint, is very simply not true.

I have provided The Enterprise with a PowerPoint file with slides illustrating screen captures of the emails with the send/receive details displayed.

Any emails that speculate about any potential causes of the deputy supervisor’s very inappropriate conduct were shared with no one except the town supervisor and town attorney. These emails were first made public by the Berne GOP leadership and deliberately misrepresented for politically motivated purposes by them. 

I did not share them or discuss them with board members until after they were made public by the GOP leadership. The PowerPoint clearly documents this.

It is also clear from these emails that, when context is considered, I requested confidentiality to protect a veteran from public scrutiny while trying to address his very unacceptable threatening and intimidating conduct. I did not make the confidential emails public or share them; the Berne GOP leadership did.

Second, the “capable killer” (out of context) quote perpetuated by the Berne GOP leadership stems from a threatening and intimidating email from him to the board Democrats dated March 1, 2018 (also included in the attached PowerPoint).

The deputy supervisor outlines his combat experience to add an element of intimidation to his threatening email that demands respect. Anyone engaged in multiple combat tours has been trained to kill by the military and is capable of killing. I don’t deny referring to that fact in a confidential email. He cited that experience himself to intimidate board members in a threatening email and that is inappropriate and the reason this was mentioned at all.

In that email, he claims he has been disrespected based on a list of his misrepresentations of situations that he perceived as slights. He advises he is no longer going to tolerate this (perceived) disrespect.

He had, earlier in 2018, advised me to move out of town in an angry tirade. That was how he acted back when he was apparently still tolerating me. I had to wonder how he would be acting now that he was no longer tolerating me.

When asked in an open meeting, he threatened: “You’ll find out.” This recorded threat was covered by The Enterprise and is documented in the attached PowerPoint.

Finally, it was suggested in this coverage that the childish Facebook post addressed to me from the superintendent of highways was posted in April and that is inaccurate; it was mid-October. This is an excerpt: “You are a disgrace. The biggest cry baby and you need a pacifier with some wipes to go along with the diaper you wear.”

This absurd post was actually part of his direct response to my Oct. 10 letter and attached PowerPoint that clearly documents his maladministration that resulted in an unnecessary work-zone intrusion and accident.

The highway superintendent failed to close the highway at the Bridge Road culvert-replacement site and he failed to provide barricades or flaggers before excavating a deep trench across that road. The ridiculous post originated as an email to the town board dated Oct. 11 (also attached).

Joel Willsey

Berne Town Board