Pembroke official told to give up post Wife employed by local school system

MACHIAS – Citing a conflict of interest, a judge has told a Pembroke school committee member to quit because his wife works for the school system.

The superintendent of School Union 104 said Wednesday that committee member Donald Veader plans to appeal the decision by Superior Court Justice Andrew Mead.

Superintendent Robert Lang said it would be up to the school committee to appoint Veader’s replacement. He said the school committee is expected to deal with that issue at its meeting in February.

Veader’s attorney, Donald Brown of Bangor, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Last year, the Pembroke school committee filed a lawsuit in Superior Court asking for a court determination on whether one of its members could hold a seat if his spouse worked for the same district.

Veader, who was elected to the committee during town meeting in July 2001, denied there was a conflict of interest and maintained that a forced resignation would violate his First and 14th amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution to serve in an elective position.

According to an affidavit provided by Lang, before Veader was elected another candidate for the school board withdrew from consideration after he was advised he could not lawfully serve on the school committee because a unit within the school union employed him.

Union 104 comprises the Pembroke, Charlotte, Perry and Eastport schools.

Shortly after Veader was sworn in, Lang informed him that he could not lawfully serve on the committee because his wife, Nancy Veader, was employed as a food service worker at the nearby Charlotte School.

But Veader, through his attorney, said he would not quit.

One month later, the school committee filed a complaint, asking Superior Court to rule that Veader could not lawfully serve and that his seat was vacant.

Veader filed a counterclaim, arguing that his position had neither a “direct or indirect bearing” on his wife’s employment.

Veader alleged that the state law being applied violated his rights under the Constitution’s First Amendment rights of free speech and his 14th Amendment rights to equal protection under the law. He asked the court to halt the school committee’s attempt to force him off the committee.

In his decision and judgment, Mead said the statute involved was “unambiguous.”

“Defendant’s service on the Pembroke Municipal School Committee is clearly in violation of its prohibition,” Mead wrote.

Although Veader argued that his voting role would not directly affect his wife’s employment, Mead said Veader ignored a fundamental issue: “That he, as a member of the committee, is charged with the duty of supervision and directing the superintendent who is in turn is charged with supervision and directing his wife. A patent conflict of interest is thus created along with a powerful danger of a public perception of impropriety,” the judge wrote.

The judge also said Veader’s rights of free speech and political affiliation were not affected. “He is free to participate in public debate and policy despite the fact that he is prohibited from holding office in the municipal school units of School Union 104,” he wrote.

Mead ordered that Veader vacate the seat. The judge also awarded the school department its costs.