NEA Comes Under Fire Over ‘Dirty Trick’

NEA Comes Under Fire Over ‘Dirty Trick’

Former Supreme Court Justice Bob Flanders and former Attorney General Arlene Violet expressed outrage and disappointment yesterday over an NEA Rhode Island official who allegedly used a fake e-mail account to impersonate a state rep and misrepresent his positions during the election.

“Whoever is doing this, this is not appropriate conduct,” said Flanders, who is also chairman of the Board of Regents. “It’s particularly disappointing to think that this conduct would be engaged in by one of our teacher unions or one of its representatives. That’s not a very comforting thought.”

Violet: ‘Bastardizes’ the process

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Violet, a frequent critic of public employee unions, called the alleged tactic a “dirty trick” that “bastardizes” the process. “Too bad (President) Nixon couldn’t have used them in his motley cabal,” she told GoLocalProv.

John Leidecker, an assistant director of the NEA, was arrested earlier this week by Bristol police for creating a false e-mail account and sending out messages claiming to be state Rep Doug Gablinske—who was successfully targeted by the unions in the Democratic primary. Two of the computers at his Cranston home—and one at the NEA offices—were seized by authorities.

Yesterday, the focus shifted to the executive director of the state NEA, Bob Walsh, who dismissed the alleged e-mail caper in an interview on 630 WPRO, a GoLocalProv media partner.

NEA Leader: It was a ‘sophomoric prank’

“I have great faith that John Leidecker will be fully exonerated and this, at best, would be in the sophomoric prank category and not anything do to with communicating fraudulent information to voters,” Walsh told talk show host Dan Yorke.

Violet called the comment “totally irresponsible” and urged Governor-elect Lincoln Chafee to remove Walsh from his Transition Advisory Committee. “Mr. Chafee has a chance to show that he won’t tolerate a ‘boys will be boys’ attitude on his transition team by ousting Walsh,” Violet told GoLocalProv, saying Walsh’s continued involved undermines the “Trust Chafee” message.

She added: “I think it is such a dirty trick that it was unworthy of the NEA and it is not a sophomoric prank. It goes to the heart of the integrity of the system.”

Walsh goes on medical leave

The arrest was followed by news yesterday that Walsh will be on leave from the NEA. He is scheduled to undergo surgery today in a procedure that had been planned months in advance, according to Mike Trainor, a spokesman for Chafee’s transition team. Trainor told GoLocalProv that Walsh will remain a member on the team’s advisory committee—notwithstanding either the surgery or the controversy over his assistant executive director.

Trainor said Chafee was aware of the charge, but is reserving judgment until the investigation and potential adjudication is completed.

Karen Jenkins, a spokeswoman for the NEA Rhode Island, declined to comment on Walsh’s “sophomore prank” comment.

She denied that anyone else at the NEA had any involvement in the matter. “No one else who is a leader or who works here was involved in that,” Jenkins told GoLocalProv. “There was no knowledge or participation in that.”