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Keene council to consider taking action against member
KEENE — The city’s investigation into allegations of simple assault and sign removal by a sitting councilwoman during the November election will come before the city council on Thursday.
Following the Nov. 8, 2011, election of city officials, candidate Dorrie Faulkner O’Meara accused At Large City Councilwoman Ruth Venezia of yelling and screaming at her as well as shoving one of O’Meara’s campaign signs into her chest outside a polling location on the day of the elections.
A report of the incident commissioned by the council’s finance, organization and personnel committee was reviewed by the committee on Thursday.
Manchester attorney Elizabeth Bailey compiled the report, which includes the investigation conclusions of both state police and the Attorney General’s Office of the Election Day incident.
Bailey made three recommendations to the committee:
Ÿ Accept her report and recommend the full city council take no further action;
Ÿ Refer the complaint to the full city council to determine whether further action should be taken;
Ÿ Refer the complaint to the full city council with the recommendation that it proceed with the removal of Venezia according to city charter regulations.
Thursday night, P. Dale Pregent, former mayor and now a council member sitting on the committee, proposed accepting the report as informational and to recommend no further action.
“I did want to put it to rest,” Pregent said, adding the matter had already been fully investigated by state police and the Attorney General’s Office.
“It was very well-handled by the city, by police, by the state attorney, by everyone involved,” Pregent said.
This move, though, tied 2-2 in a committee vote. The committee then unanimously voted to accept the report and refer it to the full city council to determine if further action is required.
In December, state police Det. Sgt. Joseph DiRusso said his investigation into the simple assault allegation confirmed the incident took place, but did not rise to the level of a criminal offense, and therefore he would not be press charges against Venezia.
“It is evident that Venezia was the primary aggressor and did act unprofessionally by raising her voice and using profanity in a public place while O’Meara remained composed,” he wrote in his report.
In her report, Bailey wrote Venezia admitted to using profanity at least once during the altercation.
The attorney general’s investigation into the allegation of removal of political signs concluded with a Dec. 22 cease- and-desist order issued to Venezia by Assistant Attorney General Matt Mavrogeorge.
According to DiRusso’s Dec. 6 interview with Venezia, she admitted she had removed one of O’Meara’s campaign signs from the corner of Route 12 and Maple Avenue and brought it to the polling place to confront O’Meara, Mavrogeorge wrote in the order. Venezia admittedly broke state law by removing the sign, he wrote. “However, since the sign was located on public property, this office is unable to pursue a civil penalty against you.”
In a Nov. 9 letter to then- Mayor Pregent, O’Meara alleged Venezia “screamed” and “yelled” at her and shoved one of O’Meara’s own signs into her chest while she was standing outside the polls at the Keene Recreation Center shortly after 4 p.m. on Election Day.
O’Meara was a candidate for the at-large seat, which she lost to incumbent Venezia.
According to O’Meara’s letter, she was standing outside the center holding a sign and talking with another candidate, Bettina Chadbourne, when Venezia drove up to the curb, got out of her car, and shoving an O’Meara political sign at O’Meara said “this is the second one of your signs that I pulled out that was put in front of mine and we don’t (expletive) play like that here.”
O’Meara said that when she responded saying she had more than 300 signs and did not put all of them out personally, Venezia allegedly yelled at her saying “then your representatives should have (expletive) known better.”
O’Meara’s account of the incident continues with further expletives and screaming from Venezia, according to the letter.
Chadbourne backs up O’Meara’s claims in a letter to the mayor and city clerk on Nov. 15.
“I heard Ruth say something like ‘Get the (blank) out of town…’ then I heard Dorrie say ‘Councilor, did you just drop the ‘F-bomb,’ ” Chadbourne wrote.
Another witness, Elisabeth Jarvis of Keene, also reported the incident in a Nov. 14 letter to the city clerk. She wrote she was in the parking lot heading back to her car after she had voted when she “heard raised and angry voices.”
“I stopped and looked back towards the driveway and saw Ms. Venezia screaming at Mrs. O’Meara. I heard Ms. Venezia say ‘Everyone wishes you would just go the (expletive) away.’”
Jarvis said in her letter she was compelled to come forward after reading Venezia quoted in a local newspaper saying “nothing happened.”
Bailey wrote in her report that Venezia did not deny the incident took place, and clarified what she had said to the press in her interview with Bailey.
“Councilor Venezia explained that by saying ‘It’s a non-issue’ she meant that she did not consider the Nov. 8, 2011, interaction to rise to the level of warranting press coverage,” Baily wrote in her report.
O’Meara, who has been asking for Venezia’s removal from the city council since she reported the incident, reiterated her request Venezia be removed in a Dec. 27 letter to the city manager, in which she says Venezia’s story discrepancies only reinforce her argument.
“In the beginning, she claimed she did not assault me, and in her interview with the state police she said she ‘dropped the sign against me.’ These are only a few of the discrepancies in her stories regarding the incident,” O’Meara wrote.
On Thursday, Venezia’s attorney Roy Tilsey told the committee Venezia is sorry the incident happened and requested no further action be taken, Pregent said.
The city council plans to take up the matter at its next regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday night.
Following the Nov. 8, 2011, election of city officials, candidate Dorrie Faulkner O’Meara accused At Large City Councilwoman Ruth Venezia of yelling and screaming at her as well as shoving one of O’Meara’s campaign signs into her chest outside a polling location on the day of the elections.
A report of the incident commissioned by the council’s finance, organization and personnel committee was reviewed by the committee on Thursday.
Manchester attorney Elizabeth Bailey compiled the report, which includes the investigation conclusions of both state police and the Attorney General’s Office of the Election Day incident.
Bailey made three recommendations to the committee:
Ÿ Accept her report and recommend the full city council take no further action;
Ÿ Refer the complaint to the full city council to determine whether further action should be taken;
Ÿ Refer the complaint to the full city council with the recommendation that it proceed with the removal of Venezia according to city charter regulations.
Thursday night, P. Dale Pregent, former mayor and now a council member sitting on the committee, proposed accepting the report as informational and to recommend no further action.
“I did want to put it to rest,” Pregent said, adding the matter had already been fully investigated by state police and the Attorney General’s Office.
“It was very well-handled by the city, by police, by the state attorney, by everyone involved,” Pregent said.
This move, though, tied 2-2 in a committee vote. The committee then unanimously voted to accept the report and refer it to the full city council to determine if further action is required.
In December, state police Det. Sgt. Joseph DiRusso said his investigation into the simple assault allegation confirmed the incident took place, but did not rise to the level of a criminal offense, and therefore he would not be press charges against Venezia.
“It is evident that Venezia was the primary aggressor and did act unprofessionally by raising her voice and using profanity in a public place while O’Meara remained composed,” he wrote in his report.
In her report, Bailey wrote Venezia admitted to using profanity at least once during the altercation.
The attorney general’s investigation into the allegation of removal of political signs concluded with a Dec. 22 cease- and-desist order issued to Venezia by Assistant Attorney General Matt Mavrogeorge.
According to DiRusso’s Dec. 6 interview with Venezia, she admitted she had removed one of O’Meara’s campaign signs from the corner of Route 12 and Maple Avenue and brought it to the polling place to confront O’Meara, Mavrogeorge wrote in the order. Venezia admittedly broke state law by removing the sign, he wrote. “However, since the sign was located on public property, this office is unable to pursue a civil penalty against you.”
In a Nov. 9 letter to then- Mayor Pregent, O’Meara alleged Venezia “screamed” and “yelled” at her and shoved one of O’Meara’s own signs into her chest while she was standing outside the polls at the Keene Recreation Center shortly after 4 p.m. on Election Day.
O’Meara was a candidate for the at-large seat, which she lost to incumbent Venezia.
According to O’Meara’s letter, she was standing outside the center holding a sign and talking with another candidate, Bettina Chadbourne, when Venezia drove up to the curb, got out of her car, and shoving an O’Meara political sign at O’Meara said “this is the second one of your signs that I pulled out that was put in front of mine and we don’t (expletive) play like that here.”
O’Meara said that when she responded saying she had more than 300 signs and did not put all of them out personally, Venezia allegedly yelled at her saying “then your representatives should have (expletive) known better.”
O’Meara’s account of the incident continues with further expletives and screaming from Venezia, according to the letter.
Chadbourne backs up O’Meara’s claims in a letter to the mayor and city clerk on Nov. 15.
“I heard Ruth say something like ‘Get the (blank) out of town…’ then I heard Dorrie say ‘Councilor, did you just drop the ‘F-bomb,’ ” Chadbourne wrote.
Another witness, Elisabeth Jarvis of Keene, also reported the incident in a Nov. 14 letter to the city clerk. She wrote she was in the parking lot heading back to her car after she had voted when she “heard raised and angry voices.”
“I stopped and looked back towards the driveway and saw Ms. Venezia screaming at Mrs. O’Meara. I heard Ms. Venezia say ‘Everyone wishes you would just go the (expletive) away.’”
Jarvis said in her letter she was compelled to come forward after reading Venezia quoted in a local newspaper saying “nothing happened.”
Bailey wrote in her report that Venezia did not deny the incident took place, and clarified what she had said to the press in her interview with Bailey.
“Councilor Venezia explained that by saying ‘It’s a non-issue’ she meant that she did not consider the Nov. 8, 2011, interaction to rise to the level of warranting press coverage,” Baily wrote in her report.
O’Meara, who has been asking for Venezia’s removal from the city council since she reported the incident, reiterated her request Venezia be removed in a Dec. 27 letter to the city manager, in which she says Venezia’s story discrepancies only reinforce her argument.
“In the beginning, she claimed she did not assault me, and in her interview with the state police she said she ‘dropped the sign against me.’ These are only a few of the discrepancies in her stories regarding the incident,” O’Meara wrote.
On Thursday, Venezia’s attorney Roy Tilsey told the committee Venezia is sorry the incident happened and requested no further action be taken, Pregent said.
The city council plans to take up the matter at its next regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday night.