THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, MAy 12, 2023 Page 5 RESNEK| FROM PAGE 4 tor, knew the situation regarding the cameras but stood by while Resnek used the information for stories in the Everett Leader Herald claiming the mayor had installed the cameras. Ethics? What ethics? Atty. Jeffrey Robbins questioned O’Connor’s ethics as to why he chose to ignore the facts and stand idly by as students held demonstrations as Tahiliani made false accusations despite his knowledge about the cameras. “…in all those months, for every day that you have access to her, you were never curious to ask her, do you have any evidence at all to make that charge?” asked Atty. Robbins about Tahiliani’s lawsuit. “No, I did not,” replied O’Connor. “Well, is your job – is one of your jobs as the communications coordinator for the Everett school system and the superintendent to know the facts relating to issues – public issues about the Everett school system?” asked the attorney. “Yes,” he said. “And you didn’t want to see if you could ascertain the facts about whether or not the superintendent’s charges were false?” “No, I did not,” replied O’Connor. O’Connor was then asked if he believes integrity is an important quality in a superintendent; and that being a model for the students is just as important. O’Connor agreed. “And you would not want to have, as the leader of the students of the school system in the City of Everett, somebody who made dishonest or false charges; correct?” asked Robbins. “Correct,” answered O’Connor. According to O’Connor, he informed Tahiliani that he was working for the Leader Herald in 2020 and that she didn’t ask him to disclose his relationship with the newspaper to the Ethics Commission, and especially, the Everett School Committee. “Did she tell you to disclose this to anyone?” asked the attorney. “No.” Keeping their secrets Questioning turned to an email exhibit between O’Connor and the corrupt Leader Herald publisher Resnek. In the back-and-forth emails between the two, Resnek, upset over O’Connor quitting as the paper’s page designer, hassles O’Connor into believing that the mayor will be celebrating O’Connor’s departure, stating in the email as he imagines the mayor saying, “There’s the Irish for you. They suck. They don’t stand with each other. I made him quit – and it cost him – and I’m [expletive] happy.” Resnek ends his desperate email with, “How does he [mayor] know what you’re doing in the first place?” The mayor didn’t, as it was a secret only O’Connor, Philbin, Resnek, Forestiere and Tahiliani knew. Atty. Robbins asked O’Connor why he left the parttime, $300/week newspaper job; O’Connor stated that he thought it was best for the Everett school system, as an option and optically. Resnek offered O’Connor the position when Philbin took control of the newspaper after his father, Andrew Philbin, Sr. purchased it in 2017. Robbins pointed out the irony of Resnek, a self-proclaimed investigative reporter who writes about corruption, has him on the Leader Herald payroll while O’Connor is working on the city payroll. “Yes. I worked simultaneously, yes,” said O’Connor. Like three peas in a pod With respect to the weekly production of the newspaper, O’Connor described how close Resnek and Leader Herald owner Matthew Philbin worked together prior to going to press. As O’Connor finished the pages of the newspaper prior to sending them to the printer, O’Connor would be given the final edits on the phone with Resnek, saying, “It was clear that he and Matt worked in close collaboration because in relaying instructions to me, that would be evident.” O’Connor stated that the editing of the weekly newspaper happened “regularly” where Resnek would tell him what Philbin wanted changed in the content of the articles. “And so, from that, you were able to observe from Mr. Resnek’s own mouth that Mr. Philbin was very much involved in the proofing, review, editing, changing, commenting on the content of the paper; correct?” “Yes,” replied O’Connor. O’Connor also admitted that Philbin was well aware that he was employed by the School Department and was unhappy that he was quitting the newspaper. O’Connor stated that Resnek conveyed to him on numerous occasions how much he despised the mayor and that Philbin wanted to harm DeMaria with the newspaper. RESNEK | SEE PAGE 22
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