Yes on 1 says supporter was targeted for stance

The complaint is available on my website, rayrichardson.com ... click on don mendell, jr on the front page.

The name of the person filing the complaint is anne sullivan.

This is a concrete example of the type of stuff many of us have said will happen.

Don Mendell, Jr. spoke in favor of traditional marriage and now his financial life is being threatened by the tolerant backers of homosexual marraige.

The thrust of the complaint is he is un-supportive of GLTBQ issues in school. I thought No on 1 and AG Janet Mills said this stuff was not going to be pushed in schools.

How is Don Mendell, Jr un-supportive of an issue that does not exist in his work environment?

WAIT!!! So many of the homosexual activists said people would be able to keep and practice their own beliefs, and now this is happening???

From article above: Mark Sullivan, spokesman for No on 1, said their campaign is not behind a complaint. "We certainly have absolutely nothing to do with this," he said.

I actually believe the guy. They are waiting till AFTER the election.....

Ann Sullivan is a social worker at Newport/Plymouth Elementary School

Not a very savvy campaign tactic. They should have waited until after the election to prove how much their entire campaign is based upon lies. I hope and pray SFMM has the resources to bring this to light before Election Day.

The politics of personal destruction rears it's ugly, liberal head once again.

I read through the complaint and a section states that all information contained in the complaint is to remain "confidential" while the proceedings are on going. It was good to let the public know about the liberal witch hunt against him, but it's possible a second charge can be lodged against him by his oversight committee and lose his license for the disclosure. My hat is off to the guy for taking the chance of falling on his own sword professionally to let the public know what kinds of attacks/persecution to expect from liberals if the homosexual marriage passes.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30, 2009

For More Information:
Scott K Fish, Communications Director

The following statement can be attributed to Stand for Marriage Maine Executive Committee member Bob Emrich:

(Portland, ME) – “Yesterday, Stand for Marriage Maine Yes on 1 released a statement on the disturbing development on the livelihood of Don Mendell, a Maine high school counselor who has had a complaint filed against him triggered by Don Mendell's appearance in a pro-traditional marriage Yes on 1 television ad.

“Additional information is coming to light and it’s worse than we thought.

“The redacted copy of the complaint against Mr. Mendell was filed by Ann Sullivan. Ms. Sullivan works for Randy Gould, who is the principal at Newport/Plymouth School. Mr. Gould’s wife, Sherri Gould, appeared in a NO on 1 campaign commercial. Nokomis High School has five stakeholders in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning Youth Commission which recommends steps to aggressively push the gay agenda to toddlers through twelfth graders.

“It would appear that the education system is fine with one of their own appearing on TV in opposition to Question 1, but the system will come down on you – and hard – if you support Question 1 and favor traditional marriage, which is what Mr. Mendell did by appearing in our ad.

“This is a powerful example of how the gay marriage agenda will be forced on students. Those who object will be silenced and those in power will push it throughout the school system just as they have outlined in their Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning Youth Commission report, a copy of which is on Maine’s Children’s Cabinet website.

“No American should have his or her livelihood threatened for believing marriage is a union of one man and one woman. But this is precisely what legal scholars on both sides of the debate forecast would happen if same-sex marriage were to become legal in Maine. The difference between what they said earlier and today is that the predictions are coming true even without LD 1020 taking effect!

“This debate is about much more than protecting marriage. It is also about preserving free speech, freedom of conscience, and religious liberty and about what our children are taught in schools.

“Keep in mind that this situation deals with a school counselor. The complaint demands, in effect, that all school counselors support same-sex marriage. Otherwise, they should lose their licenses and be banished from the profession.

“This threat to Don, and his family and his livelihood, reveals that those who want to redefine marriage will try to punish and silence anyone who disagrees.

“Are the people of Maine even free to disagree without fear of harmful attack from those with whom they disagree? This attempt by someone aligned with same-sex marriage activists to strip a traditional marriage supporter of his livelihood suggests Mainers cannot. And that attitude is wholly contrary to Maine values.

“The opposition will stop at nothing – even threatening a man’s career and his family’s well-being – to silence dissent.

“It’s ironic that those who preach tolerance are so intolerant that they would threaten a father’s career and put his family’s future at risk. This latest attack reveals the true face of the opposition.

“When the people of Maine vote yes to protect marriage Tuesday, it will be a victory not only for marriage, but a victory for free speech and religious liberty. Otherwise, Don will only be the first victim of this much larger agenda.

“The Yes on 1 campaign has said and proved homosexual marriage will be a topic of discussion in Maine schools if it is legalized in Maine. Most recently, on Thursday, October 29, assembled Maine teachers and students joined Yes on 1 in showing:

“a. A Governor Baldacci Commission made up almost entirely (85-percent) of members of the No on 1 Coalition, the Maine Education establishment, and the Maine Attorney General's office are recommending Maine pre-K through college classrooms for eye-opening recommendations on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Youth issues.

“b. Maine's Family Life education courses, school Civil Rights teams, Diversity Teams, and Gay and Straight Alliances are in place for pervasive discussion in Maine schools on homosexual topics.

“Now, sadly, Maine guidance counselor Don Mendell is the latest proof from the Yes on 1 campaign that there will be horrendous consequences if Question 1 fails and same-sex marriage becomes legal.

“It is of no comfort to Mr. Mendell and his family that the No on 1 campaign is publicly trying to distance itself from Ms. Sullivan’s complaint. The fact is that this should deeply concern every Mainer, especially Mainers who, like Don Mendell, need government licensing for their livelihoods. Governor Baldacci and legislators who supported LD 1020 were warned many times the pending law has serious flaws with far-reaching, negative consequences for Mainers. It’s coming true today and homosexual marriage is not even Maine law.”

-30-

Simply amazing! Do they already think they have the power to abuse their positions? Lying seems to be okay as long as you are for counterfeit marriage. Wow... If you know this, if you are in possession of this information and are not reconsidering your support for homosexual marriage, you simply can not be considered anything but intellectually dishonest to the highest degree.

I have reviewed the laws and regulations on the Department's website and could find nothing that says a person who is the subject of a complaint can't make the complaint public. I am not an expert in the area, but Mr. Mendell's lawyer is speaking publicly about the complaint. I expect he checked to make sure his public statements were not in violation of any rules or laws.

Dan -

thistle included a link for downloading a copy of the complaint against the Maine guidance counselor in the post above. Here it is again.

Best,
skf

Ray,

Thank you for the information. I can assure you a complaint will be filed against Ms. Sullivan's license. I suspect, and hope, there will be several. I will, additionally, be contacting her employer, Newport Elementary School, to express my displeasure with their employing a hate-mongering bigot like Ms. Sullivan to tend to the emotional development of schoolchildren.

Ms. Sullivan is grossly misinterpreting the provisions of the NASW Code of Ethics, and is directly violating sections 2.01 and 4.04. Her employer, Newport Elementary School should be made aware of this by as many people as possible; this would then bring her into noncompliance with Section 4.03.

Ultimately this issue is much less about gay "marriage" than it is about freedom: freedom of thought, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom to keep your job without fear of losing it because of your political opinion. The Gay Brownshirts know this, which is why they are pursuing their gay "marriage" goal: they don't care about marriage, they care about shutting you up.

wv-republican: confidentiality is incumbent upon the process, not upon the principals. Mr. Mendell is free to do anything he wants with the complaint, including posting it upon the internet. I have insider information about this which I cannot reveal. But your greater point is well-taken.

Scott: I read the complaint earlier. I was responding to the suggestion above that the release of the complaint might be some kind of violation itself. It does not appear to me that is the case, though I am not an expert in this area.

Thomas E. Madison: Two wrongs don't make a right. Dueling complaints is not the way to go.

Mr. Billings,

I had not seen your most recent post about confidentiality before I posted my latest response. You have surmised correctly; there has been no breach in confidentiality unless employees of the Department of Professional Regulation, or Board members, have released this information. The accused licensee, as well as the complainant, are under no obligation to maintain confidentiality about the complaint.

Mr. Billings,

Again, I did not see your latest post about dueling wrongs before my last post.

I'm afraid you missed my point regarding the filing of a complaint against Ms. Sullivan. Of course the filing of a complaint against her would be tit for tat; there is no denying that. The difference is that Mr. Mendell, as a private citizen, publicly voiced his opinion on a controversial matter of social concern; he made no attempt to silence anyone else's opinion, nor took action to deprive anyone else of their employment as did Ms. Sullivan. As such, Sullivan, in my opinion, deserves the same treatment.

If Sullivan had not taken her action I would have posted nothing on the subject. Again, the greater issue for me is freedom of thought, of speech, of political expression. Brownshirts must be fought, otherwise we all lose. Frankly, I don't much care about the gay "marriage" subject; for me it is rather like debating the Maine legislature repealing the law of gravity. No matter what they do, the Legislature can no more make me float away from the planet's surface by passing such legislation than they can "redefine" marriage by similar legislative fiat. Such action is yet another step in the degradation of the culture, degradation which I believe ultimately cannot be stopped.

In the meantime, I hunker down with my family, and my dogs, raging hopelessly against the dying of the light, though secure in my Faith, yet bemused by the apparently bottomless pit of insanity the human race is capable of dropping into.

Thanks for your observation, though.

And they're off! I'm sure Ms. Sullivan has had many distressed phone calls from the No on One people decrying the damage she has wrought with her complaint. Timing here is everything and everyone has tried to be so nice about shoving gay marriage down our throats. Be on your best behavior til after the vote. Legal scholars predicted this very result: lawsuits, intimidation, and lack of protection for personal beliefs. Other states who have considered gay marriage wrote their laws very differently. This is just the beginning folks, hang on. The resulting lawsuits and demand for damages will be rationalized as "reparations" I'm sure for all the years of suffering under a misguided society valuing the joining of a man and women in a monogamous relationship. Can't you just see it?

Where are Charlotte, Domino and Avg Joe on this subject? This is not surprising, disturbing yes but hardly surprising. You really have to love the open mindedness of the liberals, who welcome diversity and wear it like a badge, unless of course you disagree with them.

morningsentinel.mainetoday.com
Complaint cites appearance in ad by Nokomis counselor
BY SCOTT MONROE AND SUSAN M. COVER
Staff Writers Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 10/31/2009

Don Mendell, of Palmyra, is the subject of the complaint, filed Oct. 19 with the state Department of Professional and Financial Regulation. According to documents of the complaint, it was sent Oct. 19 by a person only identified as "Ann" and seeks to have Mendell's license as a social worker revoked.

"While Mr. Mendell is entitled to his own personal opinion," the complaint states, "he does not have the right as a licensed social worker to make public comments that can endanger or promote discrimination."

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/7038535.html

Apparently they are at the same place you are when a schoolteacher speaks in favor of gay marriage.

From the Morning Sentinel story linked above:

Let's take a poll; who here agrees that Mr. Nimock's logic should also apply to those who speak out in favor of gay marriage?

I'm about to make a comment that could put my license to speak at risk, but what the hell. Nothing ventured, nothing lost.

"Ann Sullivan is a social worker at Newport/Plymouth Elementary School"

One wonders whether she is a "one trick pony" who tells every child that their problem is caused by repressing their true "sexual preference."

lol look who shows up as a contact person for the civil rights team leader at newport elementary~
Newport Elementary School Ann Sullivan Newport 368-4470

http://www.glad.org/uploads/docs/publications/list-of-me-school-civil-ri...

I've been too busy to post. Both sides should have the freedom to voice their opinions.

True Charlotte but only one side is trying to destroy another person for disagreeing, trying to silence the opposition.

Note; To my knowledge guidance coun. do not have to be social workers and carry that credential!!

It occurred to me that there are some parallels between this case and the issue of baiting bears with donuts.

Anyone here find it odd that the Morning Sentinel story said the person filing the complaint was only identified as "Ann" when clearly, if I had her name and had a copy of the full complaint, surely they had to have had it as well?

Amazing how the newspaper did not follow up with a question about how Mr. Mendell had been consistently un-supportive of GLBTQ issues in the school when No on 1 and AG Janet Mills said those issues were not relevant to this vote and debate because they do not exist in the school.

How can Mendell have a long-history of being un-supportive of issues such as these that do not exist in school?

This event simply proves, very publicly, the type of stuff traditional thinking educators face every day. You would not believe how many educators emailed me yesterday because I spent most of yesterday morning talking about this issue. Overwhelmingly, they feel they have to walk on egg-shells as these issues are discussed in and around school for fear of being labeled un-supportive of their students or worse, being branded anti-gay.

Hundreds of emails yesterday expressing worry that this is just the tip of the iceberg if Yes on 1 fails.

And foolish me, I thought government schools were about education.

I live in SAD 48 and know Don Mendell and Sherri Gould. I think they're both fine educators.

That being said, they both took a calculated risk by appearing in TV commercials about a very divisive social and political issue.

So I'm not surprised that one side is playing hardball with only a few days to go before the referendum.

IMHO: Filing a counter-complaint will only make things worse, and nothing will really be settled until after Tuesday.

Bob MacGregor: Why did you decide to stop engaging in real discussion and just be a troll?

Can you point me to one post on AMG where someone has said that a person should be fired for their position on gay marriage?

Hey, at least he hasn't blamed it on Bush... yet.

Can you point me to one post on AMG where someone has said that a person should be fired for their position on gay marriage?

Semi-guilty counselor.
I stated in the previous threads regarding educators who were pursuing agendas with their students (I don't know if it were the Camden Hills thread or a similar one), should be terminated immediately. In my opinion, (that isn't likely to modify).
I have always held the relationship between attorney/client, physician/patient, priest/practitioner, teacher/student,
and so on to have high ethical requirements, which it was demonstrated in the previous thread that there was a violation of public trust in the teacher/student relationship, which bothers me. Forgive me who ever posted that his son's teacher recently told the class to write an essay regarding issue 1 and cautioned the children that being in the yes on one crowd discriminated against people. (I read this this morning here but only have a 10 minute recall span) Our fellow AMGer advised that only two of the children in the class were willing to swim upstream on this and wrote in favor of issue one. This is the crap I refer to. I don't mind a bully, only if the bully comes to me first and tries their luck. If the bully tries to pick on children, it makes me very very unhappy.

This issue was first addressed on another thread, the one regarding the use of school classrooms for political ads.

On that thread, I posted the story, and stated that IMO, Mr. Mendell had an absolute legal right to state his opinion, and that he should not be penalized by someone making complaints made to the licensing board. I also reiterated my belief that school classrooms should be off-limits for television ads.

Here's the other thread:

http://www.asmainegoes.com/content/no-1-uses-school-district-resources-f...