To the editor:
I write in response to the recent letter from Jon Piasecki urging a vote for Wayne Cooper in the May 13, 2024 Select Board election in West Stockbridge. Mr. Piasecki’s letter suggests that a vote for Wayne Cooper will help to heal our divided community. We find this ironic given that Mr. Piasecki himself is one of the principal pot stirrers causing the unrest in our town. His boorish and aggressive behavior during his own failed attempt to join the Select Board in July, 2023 has been well documented. (A simple Google search will produce an abundance of substantiation.)
His letter attempts to further divide the town by pitting the “new folks” against the old timers in town. Please note that all the current members of the Select Board, including incumbent Andy Krouss, have lived in West Stockbridge for decades. Select Board Chair Kathleen Keresey’s family goes back five generations in this town. We have lived here for almost 30 years. It is not “us against them” until someone creates that situation.
Mr. Piasecki tries to cast himself in the role of the “peacemaker” as he hurls slanderous and unsupported accusations of racism, classism, and gentrification at some current and past Select Board members—going so far as to suggest that a previously “peaceful” town is now rife with conflict because of them. Mr. Piasecki’s list of grievances includes the Select Board’s “uneven application of bylaws,” “favoring their friends and pet projects,” and “persecuting their perceived enemies.” Such outrageous accusations without any support whatsoever beyond his “opinion” really have no place in civil discourse, but Mr. Piasecki has previously demonstrated his preference for outrageous conduct and insults over civil discourse.
Mr. Piasecki is supporting Mr. Cooper’s candidacy to try to get a “third bite at the apple” after his first two attempts to join the Select Board failed. After all, Mr. Cooper is already on record stating that the Select Board should “Get off [Mr. Piasecki’s] back,” thereby prejudging a contentious issue currently pending before the board without the benefit of any study, fact-finding, or consultation with fellow citizens. Is this the kind of leadership we want in West Stockbridge?
We hope that you will reject Mr. Piasecki’s plea to vote for Mr. Cooper and see it for what it is: compensation for his loss in the last election by supporting a candidate who has already decided issues in his favor. Please, Mr. Piasecki, spare us your condescending “compassion” and “pity.” If you really want to help heal the divide in our town, please consider refraining from vilifying your representatives and neighbors in pursuit of your own special interests.
David Schecker
West Stockbridge
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