Casco town manager blames simmering hostilities among factions in the small town for the outcry surrounding Selectwoman Barbara York, while critics say his smears are simply diverting attention from the fact that York sent a racist e-mail depicting Michelle Obama.

The controversial e-mail depicting ape-like contortions of first lady Michelle Obama is one of possibly dozens of racist e-mails Casco Selectwoman Barbara York has sent, critics of York are alleging this week.

Some of York’s critics, including former television news reporter Jeannine Lauber Oren, are also saying they are shocked with what they say is a public smear campaign by Casco Town Manager David Morton, which they claim is aimed at diverting attention onto them and off of York.

No matter which side you believe, the July 31 e-mail York admitted to forwarding has caused waves of anger and surprise among many in the community and elsewhere, charging York with either being racist at worst, or politically unsavvy at best.

But according to those familiar with the political undercurrents among the town manager, York and members of other Casco town boards, the outrage displayed last week, which was caught on tape, has been simmering for years, and that last week’s events brought the once-private feud into the open.

RACIST E-MAIL

Jeannine Lauber Oren, a former news anchor at Channel 8 WMTW, captured black Casco resident Mary Fernandes calling for York’s resignation on her video camera at the March 23 Casco Board of Selectmen meeting. The video, which Oren disseminated to her former news station and other media outlets, has garnered much attention in the week since it aired.

Oren said her reporter “instincts kicked in” when she saw Fernandes preparing to expose York in public last Tuesday night.

In that exchange, Fernandes, who has lived in town for three years, approached the board and disseminated copies of an e-mail York sent last July depicting side-by-side images of first lady Michelle Obama and an ape, as well as a photo of Sarah Palin. In her remarks, Fernandes said she was highly offended by the racist content of the e-mail as well as the religious implications of the e-mail, which has been widely distributed on the Internet. Fernandes said she was offended by the e-mail’s insinuation that the first lady is descended from apes while Adam and Eve are Sarah Palin’s ancestors.

Once presented with a hard copy of the e-mail March 23, York admitted to receiving it and then forwarding it on. Oren filmed Fernandes saying, “At this moment, I am requesting and seeking the resignation effective immediately of Selectwoman Miss Barbara York.” Oren then aimed the camera at York, who said, “I do apologize … it was sent to me and I sent it on, and I’m sorry.”

The Lakes Region Weekly received a copy of the e-mail from Oren this week. It showed York used her personal e-mail account to forward the controversial e-mail.

BOTH SIDES TALK

So far, the Casco Board of Selectmen and York herself have been silent on the issue, although Casco Town Manager David Morton said he expects both to issue public statements on the matter, perhaps at the much-anticipated selectmen’s meeting April 6.

But someone who is not remaining quiet about the matter is Morton himself. The veteran town manager is openly condemning the actions of Oren, the person who filmed the interchange between York and Fernandes at March 23’s selectmen meeting and even speculating that Oren knew about York’s e-mail before it was made public and possibly had something to do with Fernandes receiving the e-mail.

“I think the issue is one that’s sad for a whole lot of reasons,” Morton said. “The lady who was offended is a wonderful and honorable woman, and she has every right to be offended by the e-mail. But whoever was in on taping her and delivering the note to the woman’s door, those people are definite cowards. They are creating news where it doesn’t exist. And it’s a shame.”

Oren is also speaking out, too. Believing she has become the scapegoat, Oren is charging Morton and others in town government with a smear campaign directed toward her and several of her friends who have openly criticized York and Morton’s handling of town business.

“Stop kicking the messenger,” Oren said. “I never expected that the town manager would lie so blatantly to demonize the messenger, and that’s what you’re seeing now. They’re coming after the messenger, rather than dealing with the message, which is that a town selectwoman, Barbara York, sent not one, but many racist e-mails.”

Oren is referring to “dozens” of other e-mails she said York sent that had racial overtones, indicating the Michelle Obama/ape e-mail was not an isolated incident. She said Morton reprimanded York last summer for sending such e-mails in the past but that she continued to do so even into October 2009. Oren points to several e-mails York forwarded that month that quoted comedian Bill Cosby extensively on the lack of decorum displayed by black youth and overall disintegration of the black family.

“Taken out of context, by itself, alone, no I do not,” Oren said regarding whether the Cosby e-mails York forwarded could be construed as racist. “Taken in context with dozens of other offensive blatantly or even racially sensitive e-mails, I do. Especially in light of the fact that Selectwoman Barbara York had already allegedly been reprimanded by Casco Town Manager David Morton to stop sending these kinds of e-mails. I can only conclude, based on Barbara York’s Oct. 29, 2009, Bill Cosby e-mail that she either disobeyed a direct order from the town manager, or the town manager never told her to stop it. Either way, it’s not good for the people of Casco.”

MORE TO THE STORY

According to Morton, Fernandes is right to be offended and that York’s forwarding of the e-mail was “clearly done in bad taste,” but that Oren is exploiting the situation, he said.

“Last week, when the issue came up, Barbara was clearly on the spot. Things were clearly set up to make her look as bad as possible,” Morton said.

Morton said there is an ongoing feud between Morton, York and a group in town including Oren, going back several years but which most recently erupted with Oren’s allegations that Morton and York improperly managed the finances of Casco Helping Casco, a home heating fuel fund a group of town volunteers, including Oren, helped start in 2008 to help struggling Casco families with fuel purchases. Morton said several of the group’s members resigned, and the fund was frozen in February 2010 after Oren raised questions about a $12,000 accounting inconsistency.

While Morton denies any wrongdoing on his part and said an independent audit found no inconsistencies in the reporting, Oren believes there are still unanswered questions regarding the fund.

“There’s a history here. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes,” Morton said. “Jeannine Oren and her friends don’t like me, they have it in for me. They’ve accused me of mismanaging funds. They drove six or seven of the nicest people off that Casco Helping Casco board, and now they’re milking this e-mail thing with Barbara.”

Oren said York was the treasurer for the group, and in that role, failed to accurately report the fund’s balance. Oren said the funds were diverted to a rent assistance program, and away from the stated purpose of the fund: fuel assistance. Oren says there is still $7,800 unaccounted for and that York has “flat-out refused” to provide documentation regarding the fund.

“That’s why I was there Tuesday night. They were going to talk about Casco Helping Casco. The town lawyer Bill Dale was there. That’s why I had the camera. I usually bring my laptop but the battery was low so I brought my Handycam (camcorder) instead. I wanted to make sure I had a copy of what was discussed. I had no idea this other thing would happen,” Oren said.

Morton sees it differently. Morton said he knew “something was up” that Tuesday night when Oren was at the meeting with her video camera.

“She has never brought a camera before,” Morton said. “Usually, Jeannine and several others will speak on several items throughout the meeting, but that night they were quiet. You could tell they were anxious to get to the big thing. That was quite clear. And then this comes up. Now I don’t want to diminish any of Mary Fernandes’ anger, but there are different issues going on here, and I just think those things should be brought out.”

Another root cause, according to Morton, of the current controversy, was an effort York and Morton led to ban Carroll Morton (no relation to David Morton), the former animal control officer and constable in Casco, from carrying a firearm while on duty last summer. Carroll Morton, who didn’t return phone calls seeking comment, requested the issue be dealt with as a personnel matter in a closed-door executive session, but York and the town manager said the matter should be discussed in public. The board ended up taking no action on Carroll Morton’s request to carry a weapon while on duty.

However, two weeks later, Morton said Carroll Morton was seen at the town-owned beach carrying a gun. York subsequently called for Carroll Morton’s resignation, citing the previous ruling and that his actions put the town in jeopardy since it had no insurance covering the weapon.

“Barbara called for his resignation, but gave him a choice of resigning or being let go. He chose to resign. It put the town in a bad position. Had something happened, we would have been liable,” Morton said.

Morton said the episode with Carroll Morton, who is now on the Board of Selectmen, is important regarding the York e-mail since Carroll Morton’s wife is friendly with Jeannine Oren.

“Carroll’s wife is partners with Jeannine, long before this came out,” the town manager said. “And I think the media has been bamboozled here, not knowing the background of what’s happened in the past. It’s relevant.”

Oren says Morton has it wrong and is “attempting to smear me with lies.” Oren denies being part of a conspiracy with Fernandes. She said she has no clue who tacked the hard copy of the e-mail to Fernandes’ door and that there was no effort under way to get rid of Morton or York. And because she is feeling she has now become a scapegoat and diversionary target, Oren has enlisted the help of the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

David Lourie, chairman of the legal redress committee at NAACP’s Portland chapter, said the group’s involvement in the case “has yet to be determined,” but that the group is looking into the matter.

“I can see this thing has turned around on Mrs. Oren. She has become the issue, rather than the conduct of the selectwoman. What was done or what ought to be done regarding the conduct of (Barbara York) seems to be a secondary issue now. The racism expressed in the e-mail, that’s the problem,” Lourie said.

As a result of this ongoing, intensifying feud between Oren’s side and Morton and York, the town manager said he thinks Fernandes is an unknowing pawn in a behind-the-scenes power struggle between different cliques in town.

Fernandes doesn’t think so. When asked if she knew who delivered the e-mail to her door, Fernandes said, “I’m nobody’s puppet. No one can tell me what to do. It was left on my door, and me, I said I’m going to the town meeting to bring this out into the light.”

When asked, Oren said she had no idea who sent the e-mail as well, but praised the person who did it.

“If I did know who tacked it on Mary’s door, I would take that to my grave. All I know is that whoever did it, they should be applauded for being the first person to stand up to racism,” Oren said.

OVERWHELMING REACTION

Fernandes said she asked for York’s resignation “just to show the seriousness of this. That’s it.”

But she never thought her words at the sparsely attended, small-town selectmen’s meeting would ever garner this much attention, with news outlets as far away as San Diego picking up the story.

“Yeah, I’m slightly amazed. All I want to do is go back to my little quiet house. It’s time for other people to talk now. I’m done. This got bigger than anything I was expecting,” she said on Monday.

While the e-mail furor focuses on one person in town, Casco residents in general, who voted for Barack Obama over John McCain in the 2008 presidential election 1,137 votes to 939, have been hit hard by the scandal.

Gib Klein said he was in “absolute awe” when he saw the TV replay of Fernandes calling out York for the e-mail, not believing “a selectman could do something like that in this day and age. I’m embarrassed for the town.”

Klein added, “Mrs. York, she knows better. How did she think she’d get away with it? When you’re in public office, these are thoughts and acts that should not be. I thought our society had risen above that.”

After he heard the story, Richard Adams wondered about who delivered the e-mail to Fernandes’ door.

“I want to know more about who sent Mary Fernandes a copy of that e-mail. I think somebody delivered that e-mail just to make trouble for her,” he said.

Adams, who said “not too many Mainers are bigots, I thought all this was past us,” said York should have been a little more politically savvy when contemplating whether to pass on an e-mail comparing Michelle Obama to an ape.

“You’ve got to watch everything you say, everything you do. If you don’t want it used against you, don’t say it, don’t do it, don’t write it down. In politics, people are always out to get you,” Adams said.

Chris Velentgas, owner of the Crossroads Store at the intersection of routes 11 and 121, said both Orens as well as York are frequent customers. York lives about a half-mile from Velentgas’ store. While he doesn’t want to take sides, when asked what customers are saying about the recent attention regarding the e-mail, he said, “Barbara has been a super nice lady, and I think the customers would say what I just said. But I don’t want to get in the middle of it.”

Velentgas said York, who also didn’t return numerous phone calls for comment, recently lost her husband Paul, so “she’s been dealing with a lot lately. They were married for 50-plus years. That’s enough to deal with,” he said.

And Beverly White, one of the members of Casco Helping Casco who resigned in January, also didn’t want to extensively comment, but did say, “Barbara has done tremendous work for Casco, the church, she’s got a great belief in God.”

Casco Town Manager David Morton, left, says revelations regarding an e-mail comparing Michelle Obama to an ape are part of an effort to discredit Selectwoman Barbara York, right, who forwarded the e-mail last summer. After the e-mail became public last week, some residents are calling for York to step down, and the ensuing debate has revealed a feud between two factions in the small town. (File photo)