Michael Riordan’s comment on Director Carol Anderson’s Letter to the Editor:

My jaw dropped when I read the title of the Sounder article, declaring that Carol Anderson and Ron Claus had broken the law by telling the truth.

As a long-time author of many, many articles in the regional and national press (see my website), I fully recognize that a publisher has final say over the choice of titles. But I wonder aloud how this particular choice may have been influenced by the purported author, Teri Nigretto, or by those who influenced her to make such an unsubstantiated claim in public.

I have to admit that Teri — whom I voted for in the last EWUA election — has not shown the leadership I had hoped. In fact, I had not expected her to become the President of the EWUA Board of Directors in her very first term, given her lack of experience in non-profit management. That “leadership” has unfortunately been characterized by EWUA board meetings that degenerate into shouting matches between opposing factions. A president who understands and enforces Roberts Rules of Order would have done much better.

In the current situation, as Carol Anderson points out, Teri obviously does not understand the meaning of “fiduciary responsibility.” A board member’s primary fiduciary responsibility is to represent the rights and interests of the members he or she has been elected to represent. Their secondary responsibility is to be faithful to other members of the board. Carol and Ron have obviously chosen to follow their primary responsibility in submitting affidavits in the Farm to Market lawsuit.

I applaud their courage in doing so.