The False Allegation Report

A couple of months ago, Andy Brinkman made a formal allegation to Board President Judy Remington that Board member Bill Brennan had been seen twice meeting with former West Elementary School Principal Wanda Erwin. Brinkman questioned whether that since Erwin is involved in a lawsuit against the Board (she was fired by former Superintendent Craig Hitchens rather than accepting her retirement request), Brennan should be holding meetings with her as this might compromise the Board’s position in the lawsuit.

Upon receiving the complaint, Remington asked Board member Bob Sievert to look into Brinkman’s allegation on behalf of the Board.

Attached is a copy of the False Allegation Report to the Board, which was submitted at the July 17 meeting. Sievert’s thorough investigation reveals that Brinkman’s allegations were false and baseless. Moreover, it appears that attorney Tim O’Brien may have been behind Brinkman’s alleged complaint and perhaps actually prompted Brinkman to make the initial claim against Brennan as Brinkman never actually witnessed Brennan and Erwin meeting with each other.

Brinkman is a New Richmond resident who has attended and spoke at recent Board meetings. O’Brien is a prominent local attorney who serves on the Land Committee for the School Board. He is one of the leaders of the Vote Yes NR group and is a past President of the New Richmond Chamber of Commerce (yes- the same Chamber of Commerce who planned this past weekend’s Fun Fest).

The False Allegation Report clearly states that Brinkman’s source for his complaint to Remington was O’Brien. Brinkman goes on to reinforce this by stating to Sievert:

“If you can’t trust Tim O’Brien, who can you trust?”

Well Mr. Brinkman – probably just about anyone else.

However, more problematic for O’Brien is that Brinkman’s complaint alleges there were two meetings between Brennan and Erwin. There was one and it occurred at the Bean Bag Coffee Shop while both happened to bump into each other while coincidentally there separately for coffee. No District business was discussed. But the key question raised by the False Allegation Report is – did O’Brien knowingly set up Brinkman to publicly make a false statement by alleging there were two meetings? And if so, how does Brinkman feel about being duped and played for by Mr. O’Brien?

Since there was no second meeting between Brennan and Erwin, the circumstances surrounding this mythical second encounter are intriguing. As the False Allegation Report verifies, a second meeting between Brennan and Erwin did not occur. However, according to the False Allegation Report, Adam Swanda was seen peering out of his St. Croix Financial Services office window across Knowles Avenue into the front window of the Bean Bag Coffee Shop. While doing this, Swanda saw Brennan inside the Bean Bag. Swanda, who also happens to be the NRHS boys hockey coach, apparently then informed O’Brien, who then instructed informed Brinkman, who then lodged a complaint with Board President Remington that there were two meetings between Brennan and Erwin.

If this is getting a bit to confusing and bizarre, don’t worry; we believe Oliver Stone is contemplating a movie showcasing the similarity between the grassy knoll and this alleged second meeting.

It is also of interest to note that Board President Remington singled out O’Brien at the June 5 Open Forum stating she believed O’Brien had recently called her at home late one evening and that she felt threatened and intimidated by the call because O’Brien was saying that the next year of the School Board was going to be very difficult. The timing of this call is important because it occurred at about the same time that these alleged meetings between Brennan and Erwin were supposed to have been occurring.

This is not the first time O’Brien has created significant controversy over School Board related matters. Just over a year ago, he wrote a letter to the editor of the New Richmond News attacking Bill Brennan on a school related issue. Fair enough. However, what he did not properly disclose in this letter to the editor was that he was representing Jeff Moberg, the NRHS Principal, against Brennan in a separate legal matter involving different School District related issues. Intentionally withholding disclosure of representing a client in a legal matter while at the same time publicly criticizing the other party in the legal dispute on a separate subject may be a severe breach of the Wisconsin Bar Association’s Professional Code of Conduct and Responsibility.

During this past School Board election campaign, O’Brien, along with Kent Elkin, another fellow Past President of the New Richmond Chamber of Commerce, wrote a joint letter to the Editor of the News endorsing candidates Deanna Cook-Shannon and Andy Lieffort. Many believed the letter was written in such a way as to create the impression that the Chamber was making an endorsement in the election, which as a non-profit organization is prohibited from engaging in political activity.

Then, just days before the election, O’Brien, along with Adam Swanda sent out an attack political mailing criticizing the two opposing candidates of Cook-Shannon and Sievert. O’Brien’s Law Firm’s postage meter was used for the postage and several local non-profit associations mailing lists were apparently used to send the hit-piece to. The negative backlash from this flagrant attempt to sling mud and the use of such negative campaign tactics backfired on Cook-Shannon and Lieffort. Some believe that it is one of the key reasons they lost the election and blame O’Brien for those voters who resented this style of campaign activity and attacks on people they personally know to be upstanding and decent people.

This also makes us think about whether O’Brien was involved with the inaccurate statements made by high school teacher Mandy Erickson at the May 22 public meeting about the Remington Law Firm as she never disclosed who was the source of the information behind her false claims.

Why does Mr. O’Brien do these things? He is an attorney. As a member of the Bar, he has sworn to uphold the law and also, as an officer of the Court, to maintain proper and ethical standards of conduct in both his professional and personal activities.

There are many people in the Vote Yes NR group who follow Mr. O’Brien’s lead and political advice on matters involving the School Board and their joint desire to raise everyone else’s property taxes with costly and expensive unnecessary new school buildings. Maybe, just maybe, some of them will begin to recognize why they have not been successful in these efforts.

Maybe the release of this False Allegation Report verifying that Brinkman’s claims were false was the reason Mr. O’Brien was not at the July 17 Board meeting. He attends all the others. We wonder if he was leaked a an early and confidential copy of the Report by a fellow Board member – maybe even one who also voted against upholding the US Constitution.

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