BRATTLEBORO — Kevin O'Connor has been writing on Rescue Inc. all year, and every time he positions Rescue as the poor beleaguered service providers, so virtuous and innocent, assassinated by a rogue Town Manager from outside Vermont. Horrors! His front-page article is yet another op-ed disguised as journalism.
The Selectboard was extremely transparent at the time of conflict: they released the threatening letter Drew Hazelton, chief of operations of Rescue, sent them, and Ian Goodnow and Liz McLoughlin, Selectboard chair and past chair, respectively, both said outright that they didn't intend to give in to bullying. Franz Reichsman's request for a “comprehensive report” was clearly an attempt to relitigate their decision.
All this could have been avoided if Hazelton and Rescue had been transparent about their finances. But instead, he threatened the town of Brattleboro, and Kevin O'Connor is making it his job to press that threat.