By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, NOV. 10, 2014) — Was city money used to fund William Monterosso‘s Golden Parachute (said to be in the $150,000 range) following his disgraceful ouster at Berkshire Works? No said Pittsfield’s personnel director. Yes, the state shot back.

Both statements cannot be true. At best, someone is showing an egregious lack of knowledge. At worst, someone is lying. If the latter, one piece of advice — Lying is best done Big, and ’tis better to be an honest liar than one who ends up fooling everyone but himself.

C’mon down, John DeAngelo, a.k.a., “The Sheffield Shuffler” (TSS). He is not big. He cannot fool himself. No one can.

‘That Walking Embarrassment’

DeAngelo was smoked out of the steaming shitpile by Phil Demers of The Berkshire Eagle in two recent enterprise articles. It was THE PLANET that put The Shuffler in the steam in the first place with our breaking coverage of the scandal involving the walking “embarrassment” that formerly headed BW. “Embarrassment” is not THE PLANET’s word. It was the label BW’s HR director placed upon Monterosso.

Pittsfield mayor Dan Bianchi‘s initial reaction to the scandal was to sweep the mess under the rug. That woeful strategy worked until we got wind of the troubles. THE PLANET’s reportage whisked the rug out from under the mayor, his faired-haired boy from Crackerland, and DeAngelo. Toppled, all.

Demers’ coverage confirmed every important fact in the case first revealed by THE PLANET. Demers’ follow-up story illustrates how web-based journalism, with its ability to turn on dropped dimes, can work with the stodginess of traditional print journalism for the public good.

On the Monterosso story, THE PLANET made the initial discovery, mapped it, and sent back the dispatches from the front. The Eagle followed up by sending its man into the wilderness for detailed cartography. THE PLANET identified the wounds to the public trust, did triage on the body politick, stemmed the bleeding, and performed meatball surgery. The Eagle then did the fine stitching. THE PLANET created the design and drew the outline. The Eagle colored the drawing.

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‘I Can’t Really Disclose Anything’

When THE PLANET confronted DeAngelo face-to-face in his office, he clammed up faster than Ozzie Nelson when Harriet grilled him about the “night before.” Similarly, when Demers tried to get the details about the Berkshire Works scandal, TSS hid in milksop style that echoes nicely that of his boss.

From Demers’ story:

Under questioning by The Eagle, DeAngelo declined to respond to questions about Monterosso’s salary, the total amount he was paid after April 9 and by whom.

“I really can’t disclose anything regarding his tenure over there,” DeAngelo said.

Regarding the Golden Parachute Bianchi approved for his disgraced buddy (a minimum of $30,672 but much more likely $150,000), DeAngelo told Demers that state and federal dollars were used and that Pittsfield wasn’t out a penny. The “monies pass through the city[,] but that’s as far as it goes,” The Shuffler said.

Demers then checked with Ann Dufresne, communication director for the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. She strongly disputed The Shuffler’s statement:

Again, we go to Demers’ story:

Dufresne told The Eagle that the state made sure that no state or federal funds went to pay Monterosso’s separation package.

The executive director’s salary normally is comprised of state and federal funds, so according to Dufresne and other sources, the compensation had to come from an extraordinary source: BerkshireWorks discretionary funds. These funds typically pay for agency expenses not covered by state or federal funds.

Monterosso “was paid by the city,” Dufresne said. “He was neither appointed nor employed by the state. We had to verify that no federal or state funds were used in that settlement. The city paid it out of discretionary funds.”

So which person do you believe: Monterosso — a man whose abominable performance as HR director would, if this were a just world, propel his boss’ immediate demand for a resignation — or Dufresne, a highly regarded state official reviewing the situation with third-party neutrality?

BW’s Dan Collins: ‘The Lack of Communication and Disrespect from the City Has Been Appalling’

To date, neither Bianchi, DeAngelo, Kathy Degnan, nor anyone from the city has explained by Monterosso left (quit? fired? resigned?) barely three months into the job. Yet the mayor expects you, the public, to pay for his Golden Parachute (up to $150,000) and whatever damages will result from the charges that have been filed against Monterosso by Berkshire Works employees. There are at least two cases pending with the state and as many as eight, according to sources, which leads to a question: Why does DeAngelo still have a job?

Then we have this classic bit from The Pope of Transparency:

Throughout the ordeal, Pittsfield Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi, who appointed Monterosso to the job in late January, declined comment on the situation, deeming it “a personnel matter.”

Bianchi recently reiterated that stance.

“It was agreed that he would leave and he did,” Bianchi said.

Although the executive director’s position is funded by state and federal dollars, Pittsfield’s mayor is in charge of hiring for the position.

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Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski, once again Bianchi and his goons have thrown you under the bus.  He and his enablers — sycophants such as DeAngelo, Julia Sabourin, and Kathy Degnan — have taken city government and made of it a zero-sum game.

You get the “zero.”

They get the “sum.”

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“The time to hesitate is through. No time to wallow in the mire. Try now. We can only lose, and our love become a funeral pyre.” — The Doors, “Light My Fire,” (1967).

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.