The campaign trail is getting a bit heated as Laurel's Nov. 1 Election Day draws near, with some city officials and mayoral and at-large candidates accusing each other of resorting to intimidation tactics to win votes.
In a letter to the Laurel Leader, published Oct. 27 in the opinion section, City Administrator Kristie Mills accused mayoral candidate and former City Council member Michael Sarich of threatening to fire city employees if he is elected. Sarich is running for mayor in a three-way race with incumbent Mayor Craig Moe and Laurel Ethics Commission member Valerie Cunningham.
In an interview with Mills Friday, she said some city employees told her that Sarich and Adrian Rousseau, an at-large candidate running against incumbent City Council President Michael Leszcz, had threatened to fire them if they are elected.
"I won't give their names, but I talked to several city employees, 30 employees, who were frazzled because they said when Sarich and (Adrian) Rousseau were in the building, they made those comments," Mills said. "I felt a need to speak out for our employees."
Both Sarich and Rousseau deny Mills' allegations.
"There is absolutely no truth to that and I think it is insane to think that I'd go in as mayor and fire anyone," Sarich said. "You can't run a city that way. I'd like for her to produce the names of the people who said that because it's inflammatory. I will examine my legal options on this and will take this before the Ethics Commission."
Rousseau called Mills' charges a scare tactic to convince city employees that if they do not vote for the incumbents, their jobs would be jeopardized under a new leadership.
"My name is being tarnished by these charges and I've let people know that I did not threaten anyone's job," Rousseau said. "I've let them know that a councilman can't hire or fire anyone without the backing of the rest of the council and the mayor"
According to Rousseau, he received a letter from Mills two weeks ago, stating that he could only enter the Laurel Municipal Center or any city facility with her permission because of the allegation that he threatened city employees' jobs.
"Yesterday (Thursday) when I was working the polls and needed to use the bathroom, the mayor called Kristie Mills for me to get buzzed in to use the bathroom (at the Laurel Municipal Center). She gave the permission, but why should I, a candidate, need permission to come into city hall and others don't?" Rousseau said. "This hurts my reputation with residents."
Mills did not respond to e-mails about the letter to Rousseau, but did say in the interview that if Sarich wins the election, she will resign.
"I have no intention of working for Sarich and would get out as soon as possible," Mills said. "He would be awful for Laurel."
In the interview, Mills also accused Sarich of trying to intimidate the Laurel Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 11. Local FOP President Jesse Conyngham sent out a letter last week to all candidates, in which he stated that following the group's endorsement of Moe earlier this month, Sarich met with him and another officer in what he described as an attempt by Sarich to "intimidate" Police Department officials.
"We met at Dunkin' Donuts with him and his wife and he said it was unrealistic for him to do the things he said he will do for us if we continue speaking out against him in the press," Conyngham said. "He was talking about comments I had made in the Laurel Patch. But we would hope whoever gets elected, we can have an amicable relationship with them. We feel comfortable with our endorsement and we won't tolerate being intimidated."
Sarich said he did meet with Conyngham and another FOP official the day after they endorsed the mayor, but denied trying to force them to support his campaign.
"I did not say what they are saying because that's not how I operate. I've supported the police in the past on their benefits programs and their endorsement (for Moe) won't make it hard for me to work with them," Sarich said.
In Mills' letter to the Laurel Leader, in addition to speaking out for city employees who allegedly felt their jobs would be threatened if Sarich wins the election, she questioned Sarich's credentials in terms of knowing how to deal with the city's budget process and said he's never sponsored any legislation. When asked why she went beyond standing up for city employees in the letter and attacked Sarich as not having consensus and leadership abilities and being "unthinkable" as the city's mayor, Mills did not answer but stood by her statements.
Sarich pointed out that he has chaired the council's budget committee, has a master's degree in public management and listed numerous ordinances he co-sponsored on the environment, development and other issues. He accused Mills, a mayoral appointee, of abusing her position by making the charges in the letter.
"She's simply trying to influence the outcome of the election, which is inappropriate, an abuse of her position and something no other city administrator has ever done," Sarich said. "No one should use their paid government position to advance a candidate's political ambitions."