Maine Human Rights Commission # 51 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0051 Physicallocation:79 Union Sb'eet,Augusta,ME 04330 Phone(207)62+6290' Fax(207.) 624-8729. TTY:MaineRelay711 wI.uw,nn ne. I oa/ln Iff c BarbaraArcher Hirsch A*y M. Sneirson EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COMMISSION COUNSEL Memorandum From:AmySneirson,Executive Director410 To: File Date. Feb 6, 2015 Re: Diazv. Moody'sDiner At approximately 10:45am, I receiveda phonecallfromthe Governor.The Governorsaidhe had somefolksfrom Moody'sDinerwith him and theyweretalkingaboutthe case.The Governor understood that peoplewere comingherefor the conciliation and he was askingus to postponeit so he couldissuean executiveorderto investigate. Therehad been improperactionby the hearing officer,by the agency,beforeit evengot to beingheardin frontof the commissioners. lf we don't cooperate,the Governorwill go to court. The Governorsaid he had beento the MHRC manytimesoverthe past40 yearsas an employer and that thistimethe situationsoundedlikesomethingwas very differenVwrong. The Moody'sfolks tell him thatthe hearingofficer(he was referringto the investigator I think)had saidto the Moody's folks"shutup, I'm not listeningto you" and thatthe hearingofficerwas biased;the hearingofficer toldthe Moody'sfolkstheywere tendingto leantowardthe conrplainant.Showsbiasfromthe start. At some pointin our conversation, the Governorsaidthat he doesn'tknowthesepeople(the Moody'sfolks,I believehe meant). I toldthe GovernorI understoodthatthe Moody'sfolkshad concernsbut that I did not thinkthe investigator told anyoneto shut up. I said that the conciliation involvedmore thanjust the Commissionstaff,that all the partieswere headedherenow and that the conciliation processwas requiredby statute.I said that the statutedid not providefor any reviewby the Governor(or anyone else)of the Commission's decision.I askedif he had specificconcernsto discuss.The Governor saidour investigator editedan audiotape;that'sinappropriate. At some point,I misspokeand said got very angry.The Governorsaid "oh, somethinglike"yourclients..."and the Governorimmediately I see,by you referringto them as my clientsyou'vemadeyour positionclear". I toldthe GovernorI was sorry had misspoken- knowthey are not his clients,ljust talk to lawyersall the time.The your position".The Governorsaid Governorsaid"yougo by the law,ok" and "you'veestablished that my predecessor and he had had a fantasticrelationship, that he and Pat wouldtalk if he had a c o n c e r na n d w i t hi na n h o u rco u l dcl e a ri t all up. I toldthe GovernorI wouldbe gladto meetwith him to talk abouthis concernsbut thatthe upcoming conciliation was a separatematter.I told him that the respondents had counselto assistthem and had a choiceof whetherto participate in conciliation, that many respondentschoosenot to participateand/ornot to settlea case.The Governorsaid the respondentsfelt they had no choice becausetheywere presentedwith "thispublicinterestremedies"demand(l presumethe respondentsshowedthe Governorthe sheet of confidentialsettlementproposaltermswe prepared for discussion).I said that the respondentsalwayshave a choicenot to agreeto any settlementand you don'tunderstand, had counselto representthem.The Governorsaidyou don'tunderstand, this is an 87 year old company.The audiotapehad beenaltered,not sure of the source. The Governor said I had indicatedthat the respondents were his "clients"and that showedmy position,my predecessor had alwaysbeen reasonablebut he couldsee that was not the case,goodbye. At approximately10:54am, CommissionCounselBarbaraArcher Hirschand I calledthe Attorney Generalto reportthe above,as the AG's officerepresents our agency.We spoketo AAG Susan Hermanand AG Mills.The AG's officeheardour description of my conversation withthe Governor, and askedthat I pleasewrite a memo for my file.They asked if there had been counseltherefor the Governor;I said I did not know.The AG's officetold us that theywould reachout to Cynthia Montgomery, the actingcounselfor the Governor.The AG's officesaid the Governorhad no authorityto reviewthe case, that there was no such executiveaction he couldtake.The AG's office statedtheywouldinformCynthiaaboutthis and expressthe AG's concernaboutthe Governor's attemptto interferein a pendingaction.The AG's officealsosuggestedthat I pullcounseltogether beforewe beganthis conciliation to put this morning'sgoings-onon the record,and to reportto counselthe AG's positionthat the Governorhad no authorityto intervene.I said I would. At approximately 11.15am, I calledRebeccaWebber(complainant's counsel)to reporlthis morning'sgoings-on,so she wouldnot be takenabackif some of this arosein the conciliation. She said she had giventhe wholeaudiotapeto us, and wouldbe gladto talk to the Governoraboutour accuracy.I saidthat was not my reasonfor callingher. I said I stoodbehindour investigation and my only reasonfor callingher was to ensurethat she was not prejudicedby not knowingaboutthis in case it came up at conciliation, so we were transparent.I told her I would pullcounselasidebefore the conciliation to addressit. At approximately 11:39am, AAG Sue Hermancalledme to reportthat she had talkedto Cynthia Montgomery and that Cynthiahad not been in the roomwhen the call happenedbut that Cynthiahad heardaboutthe case/issue. Cynthiasaidthat the Governorwouldnot pursuean executiveactionbut that he had askedCynthiato reviewthe case.Cynthiaaskedif we would reschedule the conciliation becauseif we did so it mightmakethingslessheated.Sue did tell Cynthiathatthe votealready happenedin this caseand this was just our regularprocess,with peoplealreadyon the way and no requestby the partiesto postpone.I told Sue we had alreadypostponedonce at the requestof the respondents. Sue saidthat Cynthiawouldappreciateit if we wouldpostponeso she couldlookat it, but that I hadto act in my role as ED to do what is appropriate. I said I was not inclinedto postpone pending but alsowas awarethat we had a budgetrequest and that this mightaffectthat;Sue said that I probablyknewthe Governorhad refusedto approvethe AG's budgetorders.She said I hadto do what I thoughtwas appropriatehere. At approximately 11 45 am, the partiesand counselarrivedfor conciliation. At approximately 12:05 j o i n p m , J i l lD u s o na s ke dco u n seto l me i n the confer ence r oom .BAH,JCD,and I m et withR ebec c a Webberand JanetBritton.I informedthem aboutthe following: . The morning'scall and threatof actionby the governor,and his concernthat our investigator editedthe audiotape,and my refusalto postponethe conciliation. . My contactwith the AG's officeand the AG's opinionthat the governorhad no authorityto reviewthe Commission's decision. . TheAG'scontactwiththe governor's counselandheragreement thatthegovhadno authority to reviewthe decisionbuthiscontinuing requestthatthe counselreviewthe situation. . My intentto continue conciliation postponement, as usualunlessoneof the partiesrequested whichlwouldconsider. Janethadno ideawhatwenton in the meetingandwasnotthere,andsaysherclientsdidn'ttellher whatwenton. lt didappearthatJanetknewthatherclientsweremeetingwiththe Governor becauseshewaswaitingfor themto tellherif conciliation wasgoingto proceedandsheshouldplan on thatas usual,or not. Rebeccaaskedfor the nameof the Governor's counselso Rebecca could get in touchandreviewthe information withcounsel.Shewasoutraged respondents that were attacking MicheleDion'scredibility. I didtellthe attorneys thatrespondents hadreached outto severallegislators aboutthiscase,as theyhadcontacted me on respondents' behalf,andthat respondents havethe rightto complain to theirlegislators andthe Governor; the onlyreasonI broughtthisup wasto be transparent andso we'reall on thesamepage.Rebecca askedif we shouldcontinue the conciliation, and I saidI wantedus to treatthisas anyotherconciliation. lf we are notmakingprogress in goodfaithtowardresolution, Jillcanhandlethatscenario. I clarified thatneithercounselwas requesting postponement; theybothconfirmed thatwasaccurate. We commenced conciliation as usualat about12:10pm.