WEST NEWBURY — Complaints that his campaign misused a school directory to promote his candidacy are simple not true, said Tom Atwood, chairman of the Pentucket Regional School Committee, who lost a bid for a seat on the Board of Selectmen last weekend.
The candidate has been accused by some supporters of his opponent, Albert Knowles Jr., of using a directory of student and parent names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses created by the West Newbury PTO to issue an e-mail regarding the special election.
Atwood, whose wife Pam is a former PTO president, admits the following epmail was sent to "a variety of West Newbury residents," including some Page School parents:
"Just a friendly reminder that there is a special election this Saturday, September 27, for the open Selectman's position in West Newbury. Polling hours are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the 1910 Building. Your vote is important!
"Regards, Tom Atwood"
As part of his campaign strategy, he had a group of around 35 volunteers collecting e-mail addresses of neighbors, friends and family which he then entered into a database. All volunteers were to get consent before adding any addresses, Atwood said. He stressed that at no time did he authorize the use of the Page Directory and assumed it was simply a case of a volunteer "taking the path of least resistance."
"I received one complaint, from John and Lisa Duxbury of 25 Pleasant St., that the e-mail was offensive and that the e-mail address in my database was created for school communications only," Atwood said, noting that prior to the election the Duxburys had a lawn sign for Knowles on their yard.
"I apologized to Lisa regarding the e-mail, and mentioned that I would look through my information for the person who provided the address and ask them to make sure they ask for permission to use any e-mail address in the future."
Atwood said he also followed up with the PTO executive board, who told him that they also received a complaint from John Duxbury. The Duxburys could not be reached for comment yesterday. A Daily News reporter who covers Newburyport was also contacted by an unidentified man on Tuesday about the use of the Page Directory.
PTO president Anna Marie Beech confirmed that the organization received a few complaints from parents, but added "the PTO did verify that not everyone in our directory received the e-mail."
The PTO Executive Board then issued a reminder to its membership that all contact information in the annual school directory is for school communication use only. "Any solicitation or non-Page School communications of any kind is prohibited. Please do not pass this information out to anyone," the memo stated.
Atwood said he had tried to run an upright campaign and was saddened that there appears to be so much continued animosity coming from Knowles supporters, noting that a few even ran over his campaign lawn signs and shouted rude comments to his volunteers holding signs at the polls on Election Day.
""I'm ready to move on and get back to my work on the School Committee, but unfortunately, for some the campaign is still going on."
