| Attorney General's Office Requests Documents from Nokomis Social Worker |
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| Written by Ike Morgan |
| Tuesday, 12 January 2010 16:56 |
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Publisher’s note: The letters of complaint referred to in this article, and the responses they generated are available for inspection on our web site, www.svweekly.com. The links are listed at the end of the online version of the article. NEWPORT--Maine Assistan Attorney General Robert Perkins, in a letter sent to Nokomis High School Social Worker Don Mendell, has requested that Mendell turn over transcripts of the video commercial he made in support of a YES vote on the recent gay marriage referendum. In the letter, dated December 18, 2009, Perkins also requests that Mendell provide copies of any “letters to the editor” that he may have written in the past year concerning the gay marriage issue.
Perkins, who has been assigned to the Social Work Board, directed Mendell to provide said documentation to Cathy Neumann, complaint coordinator at the Office of Licensing and Registration, within 15 days of receipt of the letter. Mendell forwarded the request to Jordan Lorence, a lawyer for the Scottsdale, AZ based Alliance Defense Fund, a group that specializes in legal defense and advocacy of religious freedom. According to Mendell, the materials requested by the Attorney General's Office were collected and sent in by Lorence. This recent request from the Attorney General's Office is another in a long series of events that began when Mendell made a TV commercial urging voters to support YES on 1 to repeal the law allowing same-sex marriage. He made the ad after another Nokomis High School teacher appeared in a TV commercial urging voters to defeat the repeal effort. Mendell, who has worked at Nokomis for over two decades, has been an outspoken critic of gay marriage. His public criticisms of gay marriage have led to at least two official complaints to be filed against him. Ann Sullivan, a social worker at Newport Elementary in Newport and Jennifer Jones, a licensed clinical social worker from Augusta, both filed official letters of complaint to the Office of Licensing and Registration. Sullivan's letter is dated October 19, 2009 and Jones' letter is dated October 30, 2009. In her letter to the Licensing Board, Ann Sullivan stated that she believed Mendell was in violation the Code of Ethics set down by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). Her complaint stated, “While Mr Mendell is entitled to his own personal opinion he does not have the right as a licensed social worker to make public comments that can endanger or promote discrimination.” Further, she states, “Don Mendell has a long history of being unsupportive of GLBTQ [gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender/questioning] issues.” Sullivan also asserts that Mendell's opposition to the Maine Marriage Equality law helps contribute to an environment of negativity that already exists among students. Jones' letter of complaint states, “Mr Mendell has been engaged in extensive political action that, in my opinion, violates a number of social work ethical principles. He has appeared in political ads that promote his own personal religious agenda. He has written letters to the editor of the Bangor Daily News that have been published that demonstrate prejudice towards homosexuals. The scope and breath (sp) of his discriminatory activism appears to affect at least the following principles.” Jones refers to these six principles: Conflict of Interest, Discrimination, Private Conduct, Dishonesty Fraud and Deception, Social Welfare, and Social and Political Action. Jones further states, “What makes this particularly egregious to me is the number of people Mr Mendell's actions have harmed or will potentially harm.” Mendell has filed a response to the complaints against him. In a letter dated November 20, 2009 to Complaint Coordinator Neumann, Mendell states, “I urge the Board to dismiss this baseless complaint that is nothing more than an attack by someone who disagrees with the viewpoint I advocated publicly in a statewide political campaign.” Mendell continues, “She [Sullivan] is asking the Board to act as a political censor and wield the ethical principles of the social work profession as a weapon to punish people holding viewpoints on public issues with which she disagrees. This Board should soundly reject her invitation to violate the First Amendment.” Mendell contends that Sullivan's complaint is based on hearsay and unverified conjecture, and that she can point to no incident in his professional capacity as a social worker. Further, Mendell notes, “Ms Sullivan believes that speaking in favor of redefining marriage is totally acceptable and would not violate ethical principles, showing she is urging this Board to skew ethical standards in favor of one side of the political debate.” Referring to Sullivan's charge that social workers should act to prevent and eliminate discrimination, Mendell states, “The complaint assumes that traditional marriage laws are inherently discriminatory, a much debated and controversial conclusion that has been rejected by many state and federal courts around the nation, as well as the voters in 31 states. The voters of Maine rejected the notion that defining marriage as one man and one woman is discriminatory. I cannot be in violation of the ethical standards for social workers when I advocate in favor of the very policy the State of Maine has on marriage, and has had since its first days as a state in the Union.” Mendell concludes by stating, “This board should have no part of this politically-motivated effort to misuse the Code of Ethics to demonize a fellow social worker holding a different view.” Sullivan responded to Mendell's response to the initial complaint in a letter to the complaint coordinatordated January 4, 2010. She asserts that she is not attempting to take away his right to free speech, but rather her complaint is about the ethics of the practice of social work. According to the guidelines set down by the Office of Licensing and Registration, Mendell is not allowed to file any further responses and the issue goes before a Board hearing. ----- Don Mendell response to Sullivan's complaint Ann Sullivan's rebutal to Mendell's response
Jennifer Jones Complaint against Mr. Mendell Don Mendell response to the Jones complaint
Letter from Maine AG's office seeking information
Comments (31)
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| Last Updated on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 13:18 |
Nokomis High School Social Worker Don Mendell discusses the letter he has received from the Maine Attorney General's Office requesting that he turn over documents pertaining to his advocating for the repeal of the gay marriage law.
The NASW writes a code of conduct that the State of Maine relies upon for Social Work licensing. The NASW has a very large political agenda tilted toward the left. Thus they have been able to politicize the process of licensing in Maine thoroughly. Mr. Mendell is now being held to a standard written by people who have a political agenda at odds with his beliefs. He has committed no crime, advocated no crime and has engaged in his civic right. Think for a moment if a group with a political agenda were to get their views written into the teaching certification, hair stylist certification or plumbing certification. This would lead to people being held to account for political speech/views that ran counter to the licensing boards political standards. I ask all people to consider how this could run both ways politically.
This case could become a landmark one if it were to move beyond this licensing board to an appeal he might file in court. If a court were to overturn this NASW inspired code of conduct, perhaps the people who brought the complaint might wish they had never initiated such an action. On the other had, it could have a dreadful chilling effect on free speech and political advocacy if the court were to end up backing the licensing board. This complaint should be thrown out on its face.