My Role with the Communications Committee // The Alternative ...

To the Editor,

I wish to clearly and concisely address the uncalled-for attack on my integrity presented in a previous letter by Nicholas Schiavo.

In the letter, Mr. Schiavo accuses me of lying about my role with the Berkeley Heights Communications Committee and orders me to retract my statement that I helped to bring our local media outlets together for a TV news program.

This accusation is entirely untrue. Below is a chronological summary of my role with the Communications Committee in facilitating the TV news program. Each moment can be confirmed by e-mail and phone logs that I have in my possession, and can be shared with any reader who doubts my story.

1. In February, after being formally appointed to the Communications Committee, I conctacted Councilman Craig Pastore (the Councilman who was spear-heading the Committee intiative) to offer my services in starting a news program. Councilman Pastore asked me to work with Nicholas Schiavo on the project.
2. On April 5th, Mr. Schiavo e-mailed me to ask that I would act as editor and producer of the news program. He outlined what he wanted the program to look like and asked me to facilitate a meeting with the appopriate parties. In this e-mail, Mr. Schiavo wrote "Afterwards, it [the program] is all yours" and "[Y]our word is FINAL should the 3 news media outlets have any questions/concerns." In other words, Mr. Schiavo entrusted me with the responsibility of organizing the program.
3. I spoke with Mr. Schiavo on April 7th and agreed to his proposal.
4. On April 14th, Mr. Schiavo informed me that he and Councilman Craig Pastore had reached out to? members of the business community, and that a business segment of the news program should be included. I agreed with the idea.
5. The next time I heard from Mr. Schiavo was May 1st, in an e-mail sent to the businessmen who had agreed to participate in the news program. In it, I am designated as the "managing editor" and am listed as a volunteer with the Communications Committee.
6. On May 3rd, Mr. Schiavo e-mailed me to ask that I contact all 3 local media outlets - The Alternative Press, the Independent Press and Berkeley Heights/Mountainside Patch - and have them attend a planning meeting for the news program. I promptly did so, e-mailing Mike Shapiro, Mike Curci of Patch and Tracy Ness (then of the IP) to request their outlet's participation.
7. Over the next few days, I recieved confirmation from Mr. Shapiro that he would participate, and from Mr. Curci and Mrs. Ness that they would contact their Editors (Patch ultimately joined the intiative, the IP did not). I forwarded all e-mails to Mr. Schiavo.
8. On May 6th, I spoke with Mr. Schiavo and expressed my concern that my candidacy for Council would compromise my ability to be an objective Editor/Producer for the news program. Mr. Schiavo agreed that I should hand over the production of the program to him as soon as we heard back from all the media outlets. According to my phone log this conversation took place in the late afternoon.
9. On May 7th I sent an e-mail to all 3 media outlets, explaining that a scheduled meeting had been postponed, and furthermore they should work with Mr. Schiavo going forward.
10. After May 7th I forwarded all correspondence regarding the TV news program to Mr. Schiavo.

At no time during this 3-week period did Mr. Schiavo ask me to inform other Communication Committee members about the TV news program and its progress. At no time during this period did Mr. Schiavo state, explicitly or implicitly, that I was not "following up" on my role with the news program. Therefore, the accusations in the letter are completely false and should be ignored as such by the voters of Berkeley Heights.

I would like to note that Mr. Schiavo initially attempted to publish his letter on Patch. He did so anonymously in the hopes (I believe) of protecting his reputation while smearing mine. I do not know why Mr. Schiavo has made these accusations; at no time during or after my statement was initially made did he reach out to correct me or request a retraction. I only became aware of his accusation by seeing the letter online.

To sum up, the above chronology, and the documentation with it, clearly shows that I helped to facilitate the TV news program that is underway in Berkeley Heights. I will not retract my statement and make no apologies for telling the truth.

Stephen Yellin

Source: http://thealternativepress.com/articles/my-role-with-the-communications-committee-1

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