| In a certified
letter delivered 11/30/04,
Mike Moquin, MERS' Chief General Counsel, threatened "appropriate legal action"
if, within 20 days, I did not "cease and desist from any further contract
violations [and] contact all clients that received [my] email and retract all
negative statements concerning MERS." He said that this website and the emails
I've sent to MERS customers violated 2 contracts I'd signed while working
for MERS. One dealt with standards of professional and ethical conduct, the
other with Internet usage. I don't believe either of the contracts apply here, since I am no longer a MERS employee. Further, it is a stretch to
claim that any part of either contract has been violated by my website or the
fact that I sent emails to MERS customers. Email addresses of public agencies are public
property and those agencies cannot prohibit the public from using them for
legitimate reasons. Nevertheless, I have removed from my email list those that
have specifically requested that I stop emailing them (see
Feedback).
I have sent 2 emails so far. On 11/4/04, to
announce this website, I emailed this message to the payroll contact at about
500 of the 600 MERS municipalities:
Hello again! I miss talking to
you!
It is probably no surprise that MERS
(Municipal Employees Retirement System) has internal problems just like most
organizations. I talk about some of my experiences on a new, alternative MERS
website: www.mersdirt.com. Check it out and let me know what you
think.
Steve Harry
On 11/5/04, Tama Allen, the IS Director at MERS,
sent this email to the municipalities:
|
MERS RESPONSE
TO UNSOLICITED EMAIL
On November 4, MERS became aware that a former
employee was sending out personal spam email to MERS municipalities and
courts. Steve Harry (who became a MERS retiree in May, 2004) had
been responsible for working with payroll officials on reporting
issues. After his retirement, Mr. Harry performed contractual
services for MERS for several months, until his services were no longer
needed and the contract terminated. It now appears his new
occupation is to send unsolicited spam on his “perceptions” of some MERS
events to those persons with whom he had any contact with while at MERS.
He has no access to internal data, but is contacting municipalities from
public email addresses. His actions are not authorized by MERS, and
his spamming conduct is inconsistent with any notions of how MERS conducts
business.
You
can trust MERS as your “public retirement fund” to operate in an “open”
and “transparent” manner. As a public employer, MERS has no more
immunity than any other municipality against complaints from disgruntled
former employees or citizens. Nonetheless, MERS regrets that Mr.
Harry has chosen to abuse the trust that you placed in him as a MERS
employee, for his own personal reasons. Be assured that MERS will
undertake those legal actions available and necessary to protect our
clients from interference and annoyance. In the meantime, you can
request Mr. Harry to remove you from his unsolicited email list, and you
can file an email complaint with his ISP provider: domain.tech@yahoo-inc.com.
Should you have any questions, please contact Deb Peake (dpeake@mersofmich.com)
or Cathy Watkins (cwatkins@mersofmich.com)
at MERS.
 |
On 11/18/04, I sent another email to the 500
municipalities:
Hello again!
The www.mersdirt.com website has been
down since 11/12/04 due to technical difficulties. It is back up today. See
the new “Call Center” story.
Steve Harry
On 12/3/04, I sent a letter to Mike Moquin with
the following offer:
In your letter of November 29, you
said the mersdirt.com website contains inaccurate and misleading
information. If so, it was unintentional. If you will point out the parts
that are misleading and/or inaccurate and explain why you consider them so,
I will be happy to correct them.
I've received no reply to my 12/3/04 letter.
On 12/14/04, my attorney, Jim Starr, sent a
letter to Mike Moquin. He asked for copies of
the 2 contracts and said this:
I would also appreciate knowing
what you considered inaccurate and misleading about the information which he
has used on his website and also any statutory or case law that you may have
defending your claim that he has somehow violated an obligation to MERS.
Hopefully this matter can be handled without litigation.
Mr. Starr later phoned Mike. Mike told him he had
given his letter to private attorney Lisa Ward, who is handling the matter for MERS.
(Apparently Mike and MERS' other staff attorney were too busy.) Mr. Starr
called Ms. Ward and asked her to explain how the contracts were violated. She
wouldn't (or couldn't) say. She replied formally in a 12/29/04
letter in which she was no more forthcoming
than in the phone conversation.
So far, no legal action has been taken by MERS. I,
on the other hand, have sued MERS for release of
termination agreements signed by some
former employees. |