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Documents Detail Conclusion of Bianchi Complaint
By Joe Durwin, Pittsfield Correspondent
02:27AM / Tuesday, January 06, 2015
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This is Part 2 of a two-part article on the documentation from an investigation by the Pittsfield Human Rights Commission about allegations against Mayor Daniel Bianchi, who has strongly denied the accusations. Part 1 can be found here.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Recently released documentation from an investigation by the city's Human Rights Commission have offered a more extensive view into controversial claims by Medford resident Doreen Wade that Mayor Daniel Bianchi impeded her efforts to develop her publication business in Pittsfield, in a growing conflict that began in early 2013. 

These documents outline a chronology that began with Wade's first inquiries to the city in March of that year, and elaborated into animosity during a series of meetings in April, culminating in a tumultuous exchange of words on April 29, 2013, the nature of which has been of much debate in the nearly two years since.
 
Following that meeting, Wade turned to the Berkshire NAACP, and to local media, to voice her concerns. On May 8 of that year, the Medford resident addressed a meeting of the organization, accusing Bianchi of a "racist verbal communication," and a "race-baiting attitude" in their exchanges.
 
A few days later, Wade followed up with a press release to local media outlets. A copy of this press release is not included in the HRC documents, and was not sent to iBerkshires.com, but based on reports in The Pittsfield Gazette and Berkshire Beacon, Wade accused Bianchi of making racially insensitive comments at their first encounter, and of denying those comments at their second, the April 29 meeting.
 
About a week after that, the NAACP met again, this time inviting Bianchi to offer his side of the story. Handwritten notes from this meeting, again taken by then Director of Administrative Services Mary McGinnis, offer a kind of shorthand transcript of the discussion that took place.
 
Bianchi described Wade's demeanor upon their first meeting as "very aggressive," and denied making the alleged statement that there "were no black role models" for students, indicating that he did voice concern about "a lack of minority teachers" in the schools when asked about disparities in graduation rates.
 
The mayor reiterated that he'd told Wade he was unsure Pittsfield had the demographics to support a print version of her New England Informer, but said he'd attempted to offer whatever support he could.
 
"I asked her 'What do you need?' and she said 'I don't know,'" said Bianchi, according to these notes.  " 'At least be able to verbalize what you need.' "
 
" 'Never did she tell me what she needed,' " the minutes quote Bianchi as saying, who added that he had offered her an office "across the street."
 
This marked the close of what appears to have been only a brief discussion of Wade's accusations, with the remainder of the May 22 meeting devoted to a discussion of broader topics of racial equity in the city, from city hiring practices to youth development.
 
Next in the chronology of records released to iBerkshires, the documents contain a copy of an unsigned letter from Bianchi to Wade dated June 10, 2013,  that reads:
 
"Dear Ms Wade,
I would like to send my apologies to you in a letter, with hope that we can repair the previous month's encounter and start fresh, with new prospects for you and your business. The city of Pittsfield has an abundance of resources for anyone who is trying to open their career here, and I would hate to have you lose out on the opportunity. I am assigning Mary McGinnis, my Administrative Assistant, to guide you through the process and meet all your needs. Please let me know what I can do to be of service."
 
On this copy provided to the rights commission, a handwritten note at the bottom, apparently penned by Wade reads, "This letter was never mailed out or given to Mayor. Sue Santolin, secretary for Mayor, said Mayor didn't send this. Mary McGinnis wrote it."  
 
From here, the HRC records turn to the subject of city personnel hiring, another of the three main topics of concern listed in Wade's official 2014 complaint to city government. Included in these documents are more than 100 pages detailing correspondence between the Medford businesswoman and Pittsfield's personnel department, as well as applications by Wade for a series of upper level administrative positions in city government.
 
These records suggest some discrepancy as to precisely how many positions Wade applied for during the course of 2013 and 2014. Documents provided to iBerkshires show bids for three positions, beginning in August 2013: director of administrative services, director of cultural development, and a request for a position directing the city's affirmative action policy, a job which has to date not been created under the city code.
 
A complaint filed against the city by the NAACP in November 2013 also included in the HRC documents, however, states that prior to these applications, Wade had also applied for the position of director of personnel. In this complaint, NAACP President Will Singleton states that Wade "had submitted a resume and application for the Director of Personnel position that John [DeAngelol] was subsequently hired for. It is alleged at this time that Ms. Wade, who owns her own media company, directly experienced racial discrimination by the City of Pittsfield. She has extensive qualifications for all the responsibilities of the Director of Personnel position she applied for with the City of Pittsfield, but the receipt of her application was not acknowledged and and she was not granted an interview."
 
The complaint states that DeAngelo was hired in July 2013, after Wade's application for it, and subsequently concludes, "We also alleged that a reasonable person in possession of these facts would conclude that the City of Pittsfield was not acting in good faith to recruit and hire qualified candidates of color for available positions."
 
While cover letters and extensive letters of recommendation are included for the other three positions, HRC documents released by the city contain no sign of an application for the director of personnel position. Contrary to the date given in the NAACP complaint, official announcement of DeAngelo's appointment to this job was released to local media by the city on May 9, 2013, 10 days after the combustive second meeting between Bianchi and Wade regarding her desire for assistance in developing New England Informer as a print publication in Pittsfield.
 
On July 31, Wade met with DeAngelo's assistant, Michael Taylor, requesting to be sent copies of all future city job postings for posting on her site, and continued to follow up with Taylor on multiple occasions from August 2013 to March 2014 to ensure these were being sent, according to emails included in the HRC records. 
 
On Aug. 11, Wade sent a letter to DeAngelo proposing she be hired to take over administering Affirmative Action for the city. The Medford resident had earlier expressed her doubts about DeAngelo's ability to discharge this duty, writing in a May 17 email to Singleton, "I do not believe he is going to be able to handle the affirmative action part but I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Smile."
 
"Pittsfield and the Berkshire community is in need of a person who can bring the 'City and the Community' to a mutually working relationship, and although my first encounter took a negative turn I believe my skills and experience will outweigh, so all involved can begin to journey toward modification of change, movement of healing and instantaneously to progression of advancement," wrote Wade in her proposal, "Joining our illustrious leader, Mayor Doyle [sic] to our underserved community has to be the goal to a successful alliance."
 
"If the City of Pittsfield is really ready to take on their crisis and move us in a positive direction, standing together in a show of unity for our Community, led by a resilient, respected and influential leader in our Mayor Doyle [sic] this term, next term and in future terms, strengthening the City than placement of Doreen Wade as Affirmative Action Director is the right choice," Wade concluded.
 
Receiving no reply to her Aug. 11 proposal, Wade sent a followup email on Aug. 21 to inquire about the status of her job request. DeAngelo replied the following day, indicating he had received this on Aug. 19, but that no such position was currently available.
 
"We did discuss the Affirmative Action Coordinator position in a previous meeting on July 3, 2013, which included city employees, yourself and other members of the NAACP.  At that time we decided to follow the City's affirmative action plan and that I would remain the Coordinator until further notice."
 
"Who was the last Affirmative Action Person in the City of Pittsfield and when did they serve in that position. From what year to what year?" Wade responded.
 
"I'm not aware of any City official whose sole responsibility was an Affirmative Action Officer for the City of Pittsfield. It is my understanding that this responsibility has been included in the Personnel Director's job description or another job description of a city employee," DeAngelo responded.
 
Following this exchange, further correspondence between Wade and the Personnel Department was limited to city job postings forwarded to the Informer by Taylor, until March 2014. When Mary McGinnis left her position working under the mayor, Wade submitted a cover letter and resume on March 31, the same day she submitted a revised version of a petition to the City Council from two weeks earlier asking to address that body about her allegations of discrimination and unfair hiring practices at City Hall.
 
This time DeAngelo replied approximately an hour later, asking Wade to provide a writing sample that had been requested in the job posting.  
 
After not being contacted to interview for the position, Wade emailed DeAngelo again on April 16, writing, "It was explained to me that I can send you a request for an explanation on why I was not accepted considered for the position of special assistant for the Mayor position. I am formally making that request."
 
"The reason you were not selected for an interview was because you didn't meet the minimum qualifications for the job.  The positions requires a minimum of a bachelor's degree," replied DeAngelo.
 
"Where on my resume did you not see Bachelor's degree?" replied Wade. "What I don't have is a graduate degree."
 
A resume submitted for this position, included among the HRC documents, contains no information detailing education.  A LinkedIn profile for Wade lists Harvard Business School, while a separate LinkedIn profile lists Burdette College and Mount Ida College.
 
The same day, Wade applied for the position of director of cultural development made vacant by the departure of Megan Whilden.  
 
Of the three applications for city positions, this one has received the most scrutiny by the Human Rights Commission thus far.  At its June 16, 2014, meeting, commission member Pamela Malumphy particularly questioned Wade about qualifications outlined in her cover letter for this role, including a more than 30-minute exchange regarding her past association with Tanglewood. Emails released to iBerkshires from the commission demonstrate that further exchange on this subject took place via correspondence before and immediately following the June 16 meeting.
 
In a June 10 email to Wade, Malumphy asked, "In your cover letter for the Cultural Development Position, you state 'I actively work with the Berkshire Arts Community with clients like the BSO- Summer Program at Tanglewood and Colonial where I built strong and proven Marketing relationship.  I was asked to be part of the summer program at Tanglewood but I continue to work in the area of Marketing.' Can you tell me in what capacity BSO/Tanglewood was a client? When were they your client? With whom, at BSO, did you work?"
 
Having not yet received a response, Malumphy reiterated this question at the June 16 meeting. The lengthy exchange which followed at that meeting is briefly summarized in official minutes provided to iBerkshires:
 
"Ms. Wade stated that she had worked with the media department of BSO. She stated that if Ms. Malumphy wanted to call the media department they should be able to confirm the work she has done for them. Ms. Malumphy stated that she called the BSO and they did not recognize Ms. Wade's name. Ms. Wade stated that she can provide the Commission a copy of the email communications that her business the New England Informer had had with the BSO."
 
Just  a few hours following the meeting, at 1:37 the following morning, Wade emailed Malumphy along with then-Chairman Joshua Cutler, forwarding an invitation she'd received to a press party for the Tanglewood Jazz Festival in September 2009.
 
"I am sending this out of respect to show that I have been doing press and invited to press events for some time," wrote Wade. "I would like for this to be submitted and in your next month's meeting you can place this in the records and publicly clarify that I was working with Tanglewood/BOS and the information furnished to you was not correct."
 
A followup email showed that the BSO had responded to a subsequent request from Wade for press tickets to the same 2009 Jazz Festival. Wade also requested she be notified prior to any future attempts by commission members to speak to any of her professional contacts with regards to the investigation, and to be told the name of the person Malumphy spoke to at BSO.
 
"To clarify," answered Malumphy in an email later that morning, "I asked, based on your cover letter for the Cultural Development position being written in the present tense how BSO was your client. The emails below are five years old. It appears  that you received press releases (as do hundreds of news/press agencies and, in one instance were given lawn tickets. For most, that doesn't define a 'client' relationship."
 
 "I would please, again, request the name of the person you contacted  which said I have no relationship with the BSO/Tanglewood," Wade responded. "I would like to be able to furnish this information to the Attorney General's Office for further investigation."
 
Malumphy emailed back, asking Wade to have the Attorney General's office contact the commission directly for more information.  
 
"Please know that I submit the following respectfully," Malumphy wrote. "I never said that you 'have no relationship with BSO/Tanglewood' nor did I ever characterize you as an employee. I asked you to better define your relationship and if that relationship were current."
 
A week later, on June 26, Malumphy forwarded this email exchange on to the rest of the members of the committee, having further followed up with BSO.
 
"As you recall, Ms. Wade suggested that any of us reach out to BSO's press office to verify her client relationship with them," Malumphy wrote them. "I did call the press office and ask about her work with them. They did not recognize her name, her company's name, and, in searching their database, did not have her on any list as a person or company with whom they had a press relationship."
 
Soon after, the investigation essentially ground to a standstill, following a tumultuous July meeting that adjourned abruptly following several outbursts from an outside party.
 
Following this, the commission did not meet again for four months. Accordingly, there is a substantial gap in the HRC documents recently released by the city between this time and November, when it again convened, electing Celia Rock as its new chairman.  
 
The chronology of these documents ends shortly thereafter, with communications from Rock to Wade, notifying her that a fact-finding subcommittee had been formed to continue the investigation into her complaint.  
 
"The Human Rights Commission is fully prepared to continue working on your complaint,"  wrote Rock, in a certified mail letter dated Nov. 21, "However, it is important to know if you still wish the HRC to conclude its investigation."
 
Rock asked that Wade advise the HRC in writing of her decision no later than 30 days after receipt of the letter, explaining that if they received no further word, the commission "will dismiss the complaint without prejudice at a subsequent Commission meeting."
 
A call from the supervisor of records to the City Solicitor on Dec. 2 indicated that no new word had come from the complainant at that time, and no reply or additional correspondence from Wade was included in the release of HRC records on December 29.  
 
As more than 30 days has passed since receipt of the letter (Dec. 24, according to the U.S. Postal Service tracking receipt), it is presumed that the discrimination complaint against Bianchi by Doreen Wade will be officially dismissed at its next regularly scheduled meeting, on Jan. 22.
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