ROCKLAND, Maine — The city’s mayor has issued an apology after the BDN reported last week that she had asked a resident to come to a meeting to raise complaints about a fellow councilor.
“I apologize. There is no question I messed up. I used poor judgment,” states the apology from Mayor Louise MacLellan-Ruf. She went on, however, to refer to the fact that she had been recorded while making that request.
“Never in my wildest imagination did I think a conversation I had with a friend would become fodder for the press,” she said in an email sent to the BDN on Monday. “For two and half years an individual and I have talked. I am flabbergasted to discover that these conversations were recorded.”
MacLellan-Ruf had telephoned resident Mike Grondin last month and asked him to request some information about the hiring of energy consultants by Councilor Larry Pritchett. She then asked Grondin to raise those concerns at a council meeting, which he did on April 25. The mayor also asked him to provide any information he got to two critics of the council — Sandra Schramm and Adele Faber, Grondin later told the BDN.
According to Grondin, MacLellan-Ruf told him that this would be one way to get Pritchett off the council.
At the council’s April 25 meeting, Grondin spoke during the public comment session and criticized Pritchett for hiring the consultants on his own.
It was after the next council meeting on May 2 that Grondin told the BDN that MacLellan-Ruf had contacted him to raise the questions about Pritchett and that he had recorded the conversation. He said he now felt bad about doing her work.
The terms of both Pritchett and MacLellan-Ruf expire in November. Neither has stated whether they plan to seek another term.
“Of course if I could go back and do it all over again I would have kept my mouth shut,” MacLellan-Ruf stated in an email to the BDN. “Over a thousand discussions and this is the one that is chosen to be shared with the world. The timing is a head scratcher.
“Ask yourself, ‘What if my conversations with a friend were recorded without my knowledge?’ An individual, randomly or purposefully, selects out of thousands of conversations a snippet. Maybe it was you grousing about your boss? Perhaps it’s a random rant about your mother-in-law? Or you are outed for complaining about a co-worker? Per chance you were at a girls’ night out and you shared frustrations about your spouse? Imagine the embarrassment to have these conversations, that you considered private, revealed publicly. Wow. This scenario truly gets the paranoiac gerbil wheel rolling,” she stated.
“There you have it,” the mayor continued. “I was stupid. I am sorry. If I could go back and do it differently I would. But I can’t. So I ask that you consider forgiveness for my stupidity. Of course, that said, trust that I will do something stupid in the future. Human nature at its best.”
The council met May 4 to question Pritchett about his involvement in hiring consultants without going through the proper procurement process, which would have required the city administrator to get a contract. Councilors agreed that Pritchett had overstepped his authority but said they wanted to move on from the issue.
Grondin said Monday he was happy that MacLellan-Ruf had apologized about her tactics and he suggested that the apology should be read at the council’s meeting scheduled for Monday night. Grondin had not been sent a copy of the apology by MacLellan-Ruf and it was unclear Monday whether she shared it with other media or the council.
He said she should raise concerns on her own and not try to get private citizens involved in their disputes.