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Second Public Statement Regarding False Accusations Made By
Selectman Candidate Roland Van Liew Selectman Candidate Roland Van Liew has issued a second Better Not Bigger Chelmsford email blast in which he continues to berate my husband, Phil Stanway, for not answering his questions related to selective logging at the 66-‐acre Oak Hill parcel in North Chelmsford. Now he is trying to discredit me for serving as Phil’s spokesperson. To set the record straight: -‐ Phil, who serves as a Committee member on the Oak Hill Study Committee, has no knowledge about any side deals related to selective logging of valuable hardwood at Oak Hill. As such, he chose to not answer Selectman Candidate Van Liew’s questions and referred him to the Committee Chair, Sue Carter. -‐ When Selectman Candidate Van Liew continued to press him in a second email, he wrote, “I'm asking YOU what YOU are doing and why.” -‐ Phil chose to have me, a professional public relations consultant and publicity steward for his volunteer organization, the Chelmsford Open Space Stewardship, be the one to respond on his behalf because of Selectman Candidate Van Liew’s habit to spewing misinformation and trying to force people to defend themselves when there is nothing to defend. -‐ It’s no secret that I do not want Van Liew to be elected as a selectman. It’s not because he asks questions and it’s not even that he always has bad ideas. I don’t want him to be elected selectman because he is a bully. He accuses people of things that are untrue, he thinks everyone in town is corrupt, he beats dead horse issues senseless, he twists information to confuse issues, and he uses his big bankroll to distribute he own brand of propaganda. -‐ He claims to be honest and to have integrity, but I’ve never seen it. He is a massive contradiction of everything he states publicly in his ridiculous mailings. In his Better Not Bigger Chelmsford email distributed today, Selectman Candidate Van Liew quoted me as saying in an email chain, "keep it up for all I care because I can play all through election day." That is 100% correct. I also asked him multiple times to substantiate the allegations he made against my husband – “It appears that Oak Hill Study Committee member Phil Stanway (the "lead steward" of the Chelmsford Open Space Stewards) has been working quietly with a selectman to set up a deal
for selective logging of valuable hardwood at Oak Hill, supposedly in order to create revenue for the Town.” As far as I’m concerned, THAT’S the story. Not that Phil chose not to dance with him, but that Selectman Candidate Van Liew has made a serious allegation of impropriety – not only by Phil, but my a member of the Board of Selectman. However, he refuses to reveal his source, the name of the selectman or the name of the logging company. Don’t you want to know? I, for one, feel the Ethics Commission should investigate. If Selectman Candidate Van Liew is correct, then deal-‐making, in which a selectman and a prominent town volunteer stand to profit, needs to be nipped in the bud now. Selectman Candidate Van Liew calls my sparring with him a “political parlor game.” But it’s not to withhold information as he stated. It’s to make sure the voters see him for who he is – as they did during his recall attempt, his last bid to be a selectman, his multiple failed lawsuits against the town and private citizens, and so forth. I can be reached at [email protected] or 978-‐273-‐1473 if you wish further comment. Joanne Stanway January 14, 2013