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The Guinta Files: MCTV Edition, With a Dash of Gatsas

by: Kathy Sullivan 2

Thu Jun 10, 2010 at 21:42:55 PM EDT
There has been a lot of news in the Union Leader lately about the settlement reached by the Manchester School District with my sister, Dr. Grace Sullivan, the founder of, and the soon to be former director of, MCTV, the Manchester government and education access cable station. I was not going to write here about it, as it involves a family member, but since the NHGOP decided to issue a press release about it, it seems more than cricket to write about what I learned from city documents I received in a right to know request about the efforts of Frank Guinta and Ted Gatsas to force out a hardworking school district employee without due process. Unfortunately, Frank Guinta's computer was scrubbed when he left office (sound famiiar?), but there was enough to paint a pathetic picture.

It is a very long and complicated story, but the short version is, in one of his final acts as mayor, Frank Guinta ordered an audit of the expenditures by the Manchester School District to make tenant improvements for the new MCTV studio.  Through his assistant, Sean Thomas, the mayor provided incomplete and mistaken information to the auditor, who was ordered to complete the audit in a rushed manner so that it would be done before Guinta left office. The mayor wanted the auditor to see if the process for funding the improvements violated a contract between the city and the school district. He ordered this even though a legal review of the process by the district's attorney had found there were no violations.  

It would give you a headache if I tried to list all the erroneous information given by Thomas to the auditor, or the information that was not given, but it is clear that Guinta wanted the auditor to find that Dr. Sullivan had done something wrong.  Although he spoke in detail with Thomas, the auditor never spoke with Dr. Sullivan before writing his report.

 
Kathy Sullivan 2 :: The Guinta Files: MCTV Edition, With a Dash of Gatsas
Despite the biased information, the auditor could find nothing wrong, other than a claim that Dr. Sullivan had, last August, instructed the contractor to break the payments under the contract into installments of less than $20,000, which Gatsas alleged was a violation of the city/school district contract. Had he spoken with Grace, the auditor would have known Grace was on leave and not at work last August. Had he been given all the documents involving the building, he would have known that the building was in fact owned by the city of Manchester, and that under the city's management contract with the building manager, it was the responsibility of the building manager to negotiate all contracts for tenant improvements. In addition, the district's attorney had already given an opinion that installment payments did not violate the contract between the city and the school district.

Interestingly, despite the misinformation, incomplete information, and pressure from Guinta, the auditor's notes show that he  concluded that any errors in the process were minor, and did not violate the agreement between the city and the school district. It also concluded that the accounts were fine. Unfortnately, those conclusions were not included in the published report. Guinta's public accusations of possible malfeasance and possible misappropriation created a taint around the studio and Dr. Sullivan.

When Ted Gatsas became mayor, he used the controversy to try to bully Dr. Sullivan into resigning, even though she had done nothing wrong, and without affording her any of the due process which she should have been given. Sadly, neither the school board nor the board of aldermen ever gave Dr. Sullivan the chance to defend herself or to clear the record.
Instead, they started down a path to dismantle MCTV at the behest of Gatsas. This enabled him to accomplish through elimination of MCTV what he was unable to accomplish through his attempt to bully her into resigning.

The complicity of the aldermen reached its most disappointing point when they failed to even consider a plan which would have permitted the existing MCTV staff, including Dr. Sullivan, to establish a new cable operation for the city. Behind closed doors, without any public review or input, the aldermen concocted a plan to  start a new non-profit, and to hire the MCTV staff - but with the notable exception of Dr. Sullivan, even though she is the most experienced and qualified person to run the operation. When I asked an alderman why she was not being given the opportunity, he said it was because "the school district owns her contract".  When I told him that all of the staff worked for the school district, there wasn't an answer. The real answer was, they already had  decided to do what Ted Gatsas wanted, which was to finish the job Guinta started.

I am not going to speculate as to what motives Guinta and Gatsas had to go after someone who worked for the school district for over 30 years.  I do know that shortly after Gatsas became mayor, he told a school board member that it was time for Grace Sullivan to go. I know that because the school board member came to meet with another one of my sisters and me to deliver a message: Gatsas had decided Grace either had to resign, take a transfer to teach art, or be investigated. It was bullying, pure and simple, and an effort to intimidate someone to give up her job without any due process whatsoever. I guess he didn't realize that Sullivans don't give in to bullies.

So, if anyone is wondering why Dr. Sullivan is receivng the settlement that has been written about in the paper, there is the abridged version, based on my review of the city's documents and my personal conversations with elected officials. If anyone wants to know why there has been a settlement, it is because Frank Guinta and Ted Gatsas abused the powers of their office in an effort to force my sister out of her job. Kudos to my sister for standing up to stress, smears and pressure from two mayors for her rights.    

 
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The Guinta Files: MCTV Edition, With a Dash of Gatsas | 23 comments
There's a reason why courts require an oath to (0.00 / 0)
"tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."  A partial truth is as good as a lie, even if that's not how it's classified.  And the things left out often make all the difference.

But, while Dr. Grace Sullivan was right to resist the bullies, she wasn't standing up for her rights so much as insisting that agents of government respect individual rights and desist from deprivation under cover of law.  When the law is used to deprive individuals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness unjustly, then the rule of law is undermined.  It becomes a fig leaf for shady dealings by crooks.

"Gatsas and Guinta -- the crooked g-men of Manchester"

She was not (0.00 / 0)
bullied.  She may feel she was because "her" station was merged but many things in this district have had to be merged, eliminated or changed due to budget.  I am sorry if she doesn't like it but she's not the only one suffering in 2010.  

If anything SHE is the bully.  Saying she will retire but only if the district pays her $253,000!  They should have refused her threats and gone to court.  

This is so sad.  Did you know that the HS band is wearing uniforms purchased in 1985?  But that's OK right, so long as your sister is allowed to extort her $253,00.

Main Entry: ex·tor·tion
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1 : the act or practice of extorting especially money or other property; especially : the offense committed by an official engaging in such practice
2 : something extorted; especially : a gross overcharge

There are plenty of teachers that do fatastic things for and with the children in this city, Grace Sullivan isn't special in that regard.  She doesn't deserve this sum of money and she should be ashamed for taking it.  

[ Parent ]
This is the trade you make (0.00 / 0)
when you buy the "taxcutters" line as a voter.  We had the same sort of thing happen in our little town.  Due to a resignation of a selectman during her term, we were electing two people to the 3 person board in 2006.  They ran on cutting taxes, and when elected they fired the town administrator when she questioned what they were doing, and hired Harriet Cady, a Republican state rep from Deerfield, as town administrator.  Ms. Cady's resume showed absolutely no experience that I could see to qualify her to run the day to day affairs of a small town.  I leave you to decide what that was about.

Disclosure:  I was defeated in that election by one of the gentlemen running, and he resigned after about 9 months on the job because the people of Northwood turned out for every meeting of the board to protest their actions and the pressure was apparently a bit too much.  The selectmen chose a respected member of the community to fill the empty seat and after investigation they terminated the employment of Ms. Cady.

And one of the funniest things (0.00 / 0)
was that this particular board of selectmen were the first to have their meetings taped and broadcast on our public access channel!  One member of the board thought being on TV was wonderful!  I used to get questions from people in neighboring towns who shared the Lakes Region Public Access TV government channel with us.  "What in the world is going on in Northwood?"
Which of course is why certain people would prefer not to have an independent media.

Disclosure:  I was the chair and then the selectmen's rep to the cable advisory committee that set up the public access broadcasting.  This board of selectmen refused to reappoint me to the committee when I was no longer a selectman.  The committee objected and actually stopped meeting until things changed and I was reappointed.  I stepped down last year and passed the torch on.  The committee just got up on Facebook.

I wish (0.00 / 0)
the other "Aldermen" that are mentioned in this article were mentioned by name.  I am enormously frustrated at the lack of backbone in the city and want to know who is behind some of these squishy actions.  

Thanks for writing this article, I really appreciate all the hard work you are putting into exposing F-Guinta for the kind of person he is.  

The Aldermen (0.00 / 0)
Mike Lopez has been the most disappointing to me. He has worked very closely with Ted Gatsas in trying to terminate the relationship of MCTV with the school district. In the right to know documents I received, I found that Alderman Lopez was active in making sure that a school board member had a copy of the flawed, rushed audit report.  Alderman Lopez would have better served his constituents to ask for the auditor's entire file, and to stand up to the abuse of office by both Guinta and Gatsas. Could have saved the taxpayers the cost of the settlement.

Sadly, you can't even count on the promises they make. Aldermen O'Neil, Corriveau, Ouellette and Arnold promised the other MCTV employees they would be hired by the new operation - but it is my understanding from someone who spoke with one of those employees that they were told by the city clerk's office recently that those decisions needed to be made by the new directors of the new non-profit.  That flies in the face of a condition placed by the school district on the termination of the contract with the city - that nonoe of the employees would be laid off.  

There is the sad thing - there are veteran aldermen saying they are happy with Gatsas because he meets and talks with them; they say Guinta never talked to them.  What a low bar they have set for leadership.  



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

[ Parent ]
Thank you for further explanation (0.00 / 0)
Appreciated!
[ Parent ]
Lopez has been Gatsas' pet Dem for ages (0.00 / 0)
Teddy has bamboozled a large segment of the political community into believing he is a "bipartisan consensus builder", and yes, I'm talking about you, Mr. Pindell. Of course, it's codswallop.

Gatsas has long trotted out Mike Lopez as his Democratic front man. It's really a case of two good old boys looking out for their crowd.

What's the result of this faux bipartisanship? Tax increases under the last three Gatsas-Lopez budgets, while at the same time gutting funding for those services which benefit people from outside of Ted and Mike palooka circles, such as transit, libraries, and public education.

The basic point is that this isn't D vs R, or left vs. right. It's old boy insider vs. the public good.

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand. -Harry Truman

[ Parent ]
next up - IT and Finance (0.00 / 0)
Ted is currently planning a similar power-grab with the IT and finance departments of the school district. He will not stop til everyone has to kiss his ass...
Gatsas/Guinta also screwed the school board and aldermen (0.00 / 0)
Thanks to the sneaky nonsense that Kathy describes, the respective boards were essentially painted into a corner. It ultimately came down for them as two bad choices a) give Grace Sullivan $250K or b) get sued for bad actions by Ted and Frank and likely spend more money losing a lawsuit to her. Democrats really gotta do a better job in Manch pushing back against this kind of nonsense.
What? (0.00 / 1)

This isn't a democrat or republican thing, this is a teacher who was offered a job and refused. Instead of playing by the rules she called her sister.  How many teachers have been shifted around Manchester? Teachers get moved all the time, they don't sue.  Don't be fooled, she wasn't given the money because people thought she was right, she was given the money because people are afraid of not getting Kathy's support.  
If anything the NH dems should be outraged (I am) because we should have higher standards than this.    
[ Parent ]
thank you (4.00 / 1)
for your CONCERN, Maria Y.
[ Parent ]
Which Joe is this? (4.00 / 1)
Levasseur, Briggs, or Lahr?

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand. -Harry Truman
[ Parent ]
I am not (0.00 / 0)
one of the Joe's.  I am the parent of two children in a school district who could not buy paper at the start of this year.  I don't know if you live in Manchester or not but our district is in a lot of trouble and handing over $253,000 because a teacher did not want to change jobs is a hard pill to swallow.

If you would like my full contact information I can give it to you.

[ Parent ]
Um. no (4.00 / 2)
Dr. Sullivan loves teaching, and had no problem with teaching. The problem was that two mayors and a superintendent tried to bully and intimidate her out of her employment with no due process.  

If there was so  much fear of me, the two boards would never have eliminated MCTV to begin with - so that dog just don't hunt.




"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

[ Parent ]
I responded to you (0.00 / 1)
above.  It didn't post to the correct place.

She was not bullied.  She may feel she was because "her" station was merged but many things in this district have had to be merged, eliminated or changed due to budget.  I am sorry if she doesn't like it but she's not the only one suffering in 2010.  
If anything SHE is the bully.  Saying she will retire but only if the district pays her $253,000!  They should have refused her threats and gone to court.  

This is so sad.  Did you know that the HS band is wearing uniforms purchased in 1985?  But that's OK right, so long as your sister is allowed to extort her $253,00.

Main Entry: ex·tor·tion
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1 : the act or practice of extorting especially money or other property; especially : the offense committed by an official engaging in such practice
2 : something extorted; especially : a gross overcharge

There are plenty of teachers that do fatastic things for and with the children in this city, Grace Sullivan isn't special in that regard.  She doesn't deserve this sum of money and she should be ashamed for taking it.  


[ Parent ]
Maria (0.00 / 0)
You're highjacking the thread.The topic here is MTCV. Please stay on topic.  
[ Parent ]
I was NOT (0.00 / 0)
the first person to mention Grace in this thread.
[ Parent ]
I'll answer (0.00 / 0)
The plans and votes to end the school district's operation of the cable station were made after Grace refused to give in to the threats being made against her.  As for the budget, MCTV came up with a plan to operate under the lower budget Gatsas insisted on; it would have kept the entire MCTV staff and brought over the director from MCAM. The aldermen neve considered it, but instead came up with a plan to operate without Dr. Sullivan. Interesting that the mst qualified person to direct the operation was not considered; instead, they told another MCTV staffer, a male, that he would be the new director. Oh, and they picked him over another woman who works at MCTV who has a masters degree, which he does not have. Without an application process.

This isn't about budgets, this is about Gatsas  dictating the operations of the school system,  contrary to the non-interference provisions of the city charter. It also is about Frank Guinta abusing the powers of his office against a district employee. They put the district at risk of significant legal liability. Should someone give up their rights of due process and their legal rights to recourse when they have been wronged? No - because it will just get worse. If you don't stand up to bullies, they will just try to beat up on the next person, and the next person.

Gatsas's anti MCTV obsession has cost the city in this situation, and it is going to cost the city again, as he has offered to take over MCAM's liabilities, which are in the area of $150,000. One of those liabilities is a six month severance package for the MCAM directot.  Gatsas - or the aldermen - could have avoided all these costs by adopting the MCTV plan.  The school board could have avoided it by telling Gatsas to pound sand instead of giving up MCTV.



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

[ Parent ]
Question (0.00 / 0)
Are any of the MCAM liabilities related to contracts or other business arrangements with Briggs Media, the firm owned by Ward 2 school committeeman (and anti-MCTV stalwart) Joe Briggs?

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand. -Harry Truman
[ Parent ]
I think it's very (0.00 / 0)
obvious from what has been typed here that she had WAY too much power to begin with.  A shop teacher doesn't get to decide if shop class will happen or not so why would she get to decide if the students would have a TV station.  

Thank you very much for finally making me understand how this could have happened to begin with.  I guess now my job as a parent is to trace back who/why/when she was given so much power.  

[ Parent ]
about the salary... (4.00 / 1)
I am sure Kathy's sister was well worth every penny she was paid, and I don't fault her for suing and I don't fault the school district for settling out of court.  But I would love to hear an explanation of why a public access cable TV director in a medium-sized and not particularly wealthy city was being paid about $125k/yr.  This is a job which is typically done by a volunteer, or by someone being paid typical service-worker wages.  How did they end up paying someone a very decent professional wage for this job?

I am inferring she was a veteran schoolteacher, who had been earning raises every year for two or three decades... but even so $125k/yr is surprisingly high pay.

[ Parent ]
? (0.00 / 0)
You are grossly inflating her salary. Also, this was a department of the school systel with educatoinal programs, as well as broadcasting all city and school distrcit meetings and other programming. Because of Dr. Sullivan, Manchester has had a very successful and cutting edge three station cable operation.  This is not the same as perhaps what you have in your townn.  



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    
[ Parent ]
The Guinta Files: MCTV Edition, With a Dash of Gatsas | 23 comments

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