My response to Jeff Baron's reprehensible attack
I had hoped to avoid saying anything about Jeff Baron's misuse of the soswayland.com domain name that he registered and then used (or allowed to be used) maliciously. Even with this rejoinder to his 3/26 Town Crier guest column, I maintain my track record of never having instigated an attack, and pledge to continue in that vein.
My candidacy for re-election to the Wayland School Committee is about the students we serve, and it had been my intent to stay focused in that regard. By the despicable act of his guest column, he gives me no option but to respond.
About the following, there is no dispute.
- 1. The domain name of Wayland Save our Services is soswayland.ORG.
- 2. Mr. Baron registered the nearly identical soswayland.COM in September of 2008.
- 3. Earlier this year, Mr. Baron or someone to whom he'd given password access changed the soswayland.COM registration to hide the owner's identy.
- 4. Earlier this year, Mr. Baron or someone to whom he'd given password access used soswayland.COM to misdirect visitors to a site critical of Save Our Services.
Baron: In regards to a name for a group of concerned Wayland citizens who were seeking with me to organize and protect our schools, a search using words such as "supporting schools," "save our schools" and "Wayland" produced an automated list of available domain names.
Mr. Baron's failure to explain the malicious use of the domain name that he registered is cowardly.
Mr. Baron's attempt to change the subject by citing the wholly legitimate registration and use of the waylandschoolcommittee.org domain name is reprehensible and calls his character and fitness for public office into further question.
As spelled out on the School Committee's new "about" page (posted 3/24 following discussion at the prior evening's meeting), EVERY aspect of that site's registration and use has been and is appropriate.
Baron: This site operates now under a privately registered ownership status, and purports to be the official site of the committee. It is not.
The site was temporarily registered as private as the result of renewing the domain name. Other than this recent brief period, the registration has always been public.
Baron: It is, in fact, a private site used and paid for by members of the current School Committee to advocate for overrides and other positions – things that would be against campaign finance laws if it was truly an official site.
The site waylandschoolcommittee.org is and always has been the official site of the Wayland School Committee. The fact that Committee members self-fund it (no outside funds are raised) in no way changes this fact. Mr. Baron's ignorance about the site's content is astonishing for someone who purports to be a legitimate contender for a School Committee seat. Even a cursory review of the site will show that override information is only a tiny fraction of the available content.
Mr. Baron's ignorance of campaign finance law is equally odd. The Office of Campaign and Political Finance is quite clear that public funds may not be used for unsolicited communication regarding ballot questions (see especially their Interpretive Bulletin 91-01). Not only are no public funds used, but all communications are solicited. In short, the site's content could legally reside on the publicly-funded Wayland Public Schools Web site; it resides separately so that it can be updated more quickly without burdening School Department employees.
Baron: Sure, a disclaimer regarding private funding was added only after people raised the issue this past fall, modified again in an "off-agenda" discussion during the March 23, 2009 School Committee meeting after further increasing pressure from the public in regards to its misleading nature, well after the site’s reputation as "official" was established. If even one member of the School Committee refused to put his or her name on it, this obfuscation would be abundantly clear.
Contrary to his statement at the League of Women Voters Candidates Night last evening, Mr. Baron appears to be backing away from the notion of Committee responsiveness. For six years, no one said a word about the School Committee site's registration or funding source. When a few residents expressed concern on several occasions, the Committee responded on several occasions. Why Mr. Baron has flip-flopped to support stone-walling is curious.
Mr. Baron's "off-agenda" comment is clearly intended to suggest inappropriateness. Again, his ignorance (or maliciousness) rears its ugly head. The Committee frequently discusses issues that are either minor in nature or that have been raised since the agenda was put together. Failing to do so would be an abrogation of responsibility.
Mr. Baron, your house is made of glass.
Thank you.
If you have any questions or comments, call me at 508-353-3175 or
send me email at dieffenbach @ alum.mit.edu.