Anonymous

From time to time I get anonymous messages. They are either phone messages from numbers without caller ID, or letters without a name or signature, or emails that have an unrecognizable address. Apparently all of the selectmen have received these at one time or another, or (in the case of a letter or email) all the selectmen get the same message at the same time.

For example, last year we got an anonymous letter. I asked another selectman about it, and he confirmed my suspicions, "We can't do anything with it."

Some selectmen discredit anonymous messages as being from "disgruntled" employees. Frankly, I don't care if it's a disgruntled employee; I've been around long enough to know disgruntled employees. Usually they are good people who really care about their jobs - more so than the people they work with, or for. They are disgruntled because they are tired of seeing stuff that shouldn't be happening - fraud, waste, abuse of power, mismanagement - but they are powerless to change things.

Those who dismiss disgruntled employees will usually point to the whistleblower laws. Massachusetts ranks an impressive 4th out of 51 (the 50 states and the District of Columbia). However, Massachusetts still has a long way to go, as the folks at the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility point out in their report card.

The Massachusetts whistleblower laws only cover a, "violation of the law, or rule or regulation promulgated pursuant to law, or which the employee reasonably believes poses a risk to public health, safety or the environment." Gross mismanagement, abuse of authority or wastes of public funds are not covered. This would probably explain the Big Dig, or Falmouth High School.

For me, the problem with anonymous information is that I cannot get more detail. Someone leaves me a tip about one thing or another, but rarely are all of the details there. I need to know more. Who, what, where, why, when and how?

There are two solutions to this problem:

1) Provide your name. This can be difficult for folks who fear for their jobs, especially in this economy. Some folks have warmed up to me, and even if I have not been able to act on the information yet, it is not forgotten. Sometimes the pieces of a puzzle take time to collect. In all cases, if you ask for anonymity, you get it.

Scout's honor.

2) Improve the whistleblower law. This would require state action, and we all know how unresponsive the state is to ethical issues. However, the selectmen do have the authority to write policy, and a local whistleblower policy could fill in the gaps left by the state.