In This Corner - Robert Slager |
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Cutting through the library lobby rhetoric
UPDATED WITH GLEASON COMMENT
As expected, the Friends of the Wareham Free Library are now in full spin mode. They’re playing the victim card they know so well, the one they use whenever somebody tries to hold them accountable for their words and actions.
Once again the group has come under fire for the ethics of its fund-raising activities. Town Counsel is investigating the legality of using what appears to be a town-sanctioned Facebook page called “Wareham Free Library” to raise funds for the Friends, a group that has reminded Wareham time and time again that it’s a private corporation that doesn’t need to share its financial information with the public.
The Friends, of course, are baffled why anyone would object to this. Their spokesperson – Nora Bicki – is once again accusing the selectmen, the town administrator and the Observer of having an evil agenda to destroy the library and anyone who supports it.
Personally I’m getting tired of the empty rhetoric the Friends employ whenever somebody questions their fund-raising methods. They constantly distort the actual issues by playing the victim and accusing everyone who questions them of hating the library. It’s a cheap and easy rhetorical device that only serves to divide people when this community should unite in support of the library.
This has nothing to do with “hating” the library or philosophically opposing non-profit organizations. That’s just nonsense. This is about trust. It’s about faith in the leadership of the Friends. It has nothing to do with the concept of the organization itself.
Here’s the problem: A few years ago the Friends changed their mission statement. No longer would they just be making donations to the Wareham Free Library. Now they could donate to a “library system.”
That meant donations made to them could also be used for the Spinney Memorial Library Project. As most of you know, the Friends want to turn the long-dormant Spinney Library in Onset into a branch of the Wareham Free Library. But until Town Meeting voters accept that plan Spinney is a private project with no tie to the Town of Wareham.
The Friends never told the general public they changed their mission statement. Bicki has repeatedly refused to answer a very direct question – if money is donated to the Friends and isn’t specifically requested to be used for the Wareham Free Library, where does that money go? Can all of it go to Spinney, which is not yet connected to the town?
That seems like fair question. But the Friends will not answer it, and they will not open their financial records to the public.
That’s why people don’t trust them. They won’t give a straight answer to a direct question. That’s why people who truly want to support the Wareham Free Library should make their donations directly to the town. That’s the only way to be certain that such donations will be used in the way they were intended.
Right now the Friends have nearly $1 million in the bank. The former board of library trustees (who formed the private Wareham Library Foundation in 2007) has nearly $400,000 under its control. They constantly complain about the financial state of Wareham Free Library but they have more than enough money at their disposal to solve that problem immediately. What are they waiting for? Even if they keep $600,000 for the Spinney project they could turn over $500,000 to the Wareham Free Library and still have $300,000 left over. Can you imagine what $500,000 would mean to the Wareham Free Library right now? All the problems would be solved.
Here’s the straight truth: The Friends are just playing politics. That’s all it is. As long as the library struggles they can blame the town’s current administration for it. Bicki is actively campaigning for Take Back Wareham. She openly insults the selectmen, the town administrator and the acting library director on a local hate web site and wonders why people are reluctant to donate money to the organization she represents. She doesn’t realize she’s alienating thousands of potential donors by calling people things like “dumbass” next to a Swastika on a hate web site.
On Sunday Friends president Kathy Gleason made the following post on the Wareham Free Library Facebook page:
"Please request your friends to become a Fan of Wareham Free Library. We need 48 more fans by midnight tonight to reach our goal of 1500. Reach our to your friends. Thanks! Bur (cq) remember to block Wareham Observer."
Block the Wareham Observer? What does that have to do with raising money for the library? Apparently Gleason is referring to the Observer's Facebook page, which is intended to raise awareness for local events, businessess and charities. Why would the president of the Friends of the Wareham Free Library use a Facebook page called "Wareham Free Library" to thwart fund-raising efforts for other groups in Wareham? That's how crazy this has become now.
There are so many questions the Friends refuse to answer. Why hasn’t the Spinney project broken ground yet? The Friends have had enough money for nearly two years. How much have they lost by investing donations? Why wouldn’t they turn over financial documents when investigators from the state’s Inspector General’s office came to the library a few weeks ago? Why would they ban somebody from a “Wareham Free Library” Facebook page for simply asking who was operating it?
Again, that’s why people don’t trust them. They’ve surrounded themselves in a cloak of secrecy and deception.
On Friday morning I sent this e-mail to Nora Bicki: "Please answer one direct question, Ms. Bicki. If somebody writes a check to the Friends of the Wareham Free Library and puts nothing in the note line that specifies where that money should go, does that money always go directly to the Wareham Free Library? It's a yes or no question. "
Bicki did not repond directly. Instead she made the following post on the local web site: "This message goes directly to the bathroom in Halifax. I have no doubt that it will be read in under 5 minutes!! Tacky Tabloid Writer--stop sending me emails. Don't waste your time as you have been permanently blocked from my email site."
That, ladies and gentlemen, is what Bicki and the Friends of the Wareham Free Library think about accountability. I didn't ask the questions on my behalf. I asked it on behalf of the people of Wareham.
The Friends claim they are a private board when it suits them to do so. But when people questioned them for creating a Facebook page that used the name “Wareham Free Library” instead of “Friends of the Wareham Free Library” they claim they are officially “sanctioned” by the town. They can’t have it both ways. Either they are officially a part of the library or they are not.
During the litigation between the town and library support groups one former library trustee said that because the trustees belonged to a private organization called Wareham Free Library Inc. all checks made out to the Wareham Free Library were, in effect, made out to the private organization. These people apparently have no issue co-opting the name “Wareham Free Library” when they can use it to raise funds for their own private corporations. But when somebody asks to take a peak at their financial records they refuse.
This isn’t about hating the library or engaging in personal vendettas against library supporters. It’s about demanding these people start telling the truth and stop their divisive attacks against anyone with the temerity to question them.
The Wareham Free Library deserves better than that.
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In This Corner - Robert Slager - 14 opinions posted | 