Ethics Panel To Take Up Complaint Against Council Official August 9

By John Voket

Newtown’s Board of Ethics has scheduled a special meeting Monday, August 9, to take up a complaint filed against the vice chair of the Legislative Council by the husband of the local school board chairman.

The complaint against Mary Ann Jacob by Tom Bittman, husband of Board of Education Chair Lillian Bittman, revolves around Mr Bittman’s interpretation of a social network post on the local Republican Town Committee’s Facebook page.

As the subject of the complaint, Ms Jacob has the right to have all fact-finding in the matter, as well as any subsequent hearing if warranted, to be held in public. As a result, the August 9 meeting in the council chambers at the Municipal Center at Fairfield Hills will be open.

In his July 12 correspondence, Mr Bittman stated Ms Jacob “lied about an elected official on another board, attacking her character through a post on the Internet.”

Mr Bittman’s complaint hinges on the 51-word post on the social network page Ms Jacob administers on behalf of the local RTC, which was also circulated as part of an RTC email bulletin and post on the local GOP website.

According to the complaint, the statement in question reads: “Did you know the Board of Education was asked to share in the reduced revenue losses and the Board of Education Chair told the Board of Finance they would discuss the issue in public? Did you know only the Republican members of the Board of Education voted to discuss the issue?”

Mr Bittman says in his complaint, “Fundamentally this post calls my wife a liar. It can’t be read any other way, and can’t have any other purpose.”

Challenging anyone to show where she accused anyone of lying, Ms Jacob said she decided to request all proceedings be made public because she feels Mr Bittman is trying to “bully” her into removing the reference from the RTC Facebook page.

Mr Bittman’s complaint accuses Ms Jacob of violating Sections 36-2, 36-4, and 36-10 of the local ethics code.