Controversial e-mails not basis for removal, superintendent says
Weller refuses request to resign from Lew-Port board
The Lewiston-Porter School Board president accused of sending racist and sexist e-mails intends to keep his seat, despite pressure to resign and an investigation launched by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Superintendent R. Christopher Roser said board President Robert J. Weller was asked to resign and refused, but Weller cannot be forcibly removed because no board policies have been violated.
“There’s no specific board policy you can put your finger on that he has violated,” Roser said. “It was certainly in poor taste, but we can’t find anything. We can support him as board member and not support what he does as a private citizen.”
Weller is accused of sending e-mails to fellow board members including sexist jokes and racist pictures about President Obama. The messages were sent from his personal e-mail account and appear to have been leaked publicly by one of the nearly dozen e-mail recipients, he said.
Weller said he will not resign unless his fellow board members feel it would be best for the district, although none have indicated that will happen.
“If you resign, it is admission of guilt,” Weller said. “If the district and the rest of the board has me resign, I’ll do it, but I wasn’t going to voluntarily resign without getting my side of the story out. I’m not a racist.”
The School Board on Tuesday will hold its first regular board meeting since the allegedly racist e-mails became public. The Rev. Darius Pridgen, who led a reaction calling for an apology or resignation, will speak to board members about diversity.
Weller said he will meet with Pridgen privately before the meeting. The two have spoken on the phone two or three times and Pridgen has accepted his apology, Weller said.
But the matter isn’t settled. A deputy from the Department of Justice contacted Roser last week to investigate Weller’s e-mails.
“I think they’re looking to see what we’re doing as a board and how we, the district, is handling the fine line of civil rights and freedom of speech,” Roser said. “I think he wants to know that this is unusual and we are responding appropriately.”
Weller said he isn’t surprised the Department of Justice is getting involved; he said he has received several anonymous e-mails from people who said they had reported him to the state.
Since the offensive messages were made public a week ago, he has received e-mails nearly every day — many from outside the state, which range from insults on his appearance to threats.
Weller has apologized, saying the e-mails were not intended for the public to see. The messages were mostly sent in September but held by a political adversary until now.
“Nowhere in the deepest, darkest part of my psyche would I really try to offend somebody on purpose,” Weller said. “I guess that’s the sad part of it. It’s strictly politics as usual.”
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