In Dracut, conflict? What conflict?

IMAGINE IF Phil Thibault had been elected to the Dracut Board of Selectmen.

Even though the

Dracut Access Cable Television board of directors, on which Thibault serves, is technically not a government body, Thibault apparently thought there was nothing improper with landing a $10,000 contract to help design DATV’S new studio, as Thibault is an architect.

Then there’s another unsuccessful candidate for Dracut selectman, Brian Bond. As a member of the same board of directors, a Bond relative landed a $24,000 contract for studio furniture.

Bond said he voted against the contract.

What he should have done was tell his relative to seek business elsewhere.

State law Chapter

268A, the conflict of interest law, is very specific.

Even the appearance of a conflict is considered a violation of the law written to keep public officials and their family members and friends honorable.

Another section of the law prohibits public officials from voting on matters in which they, a family member or friend has a financial interest.

Sheryl Bourbeau, of the Gallagher and Cavanaugh law firm that has been hired by DATV with funds that surely originate with the ratepayer, told The Sun, that DATV is not a municipal organization so its board members and employees are exempted from the state’s conflict of interest law. DATV’S articles of organization require only that someone disclose a potential conflict to assure the person does not take advantage of the organization. DATV’S bylaws prohibit compensating a director for his or her work on the board, but they make an exception if the director can provide something of value to the organization.

With all that’s going on with DATV, and primarily Bond, Thibault and former Selectman John Zimini, using public access television shows to attack political rivals, one would think directors would go above and beyond to present a clean image.

The contracts were uncovered by Selectman Joe Dirocco, who has emerged as the loudest critic of DATV and its management.

FORMER SELECTMAN Warren Shaw, who served Dracut for nearly two decades, is watching the DATV controversy closely.

It was Bond, earlier this year, who criticized Shaw on his show, The Dracut Connection, for an alleged sweetheart deal Shaw, a farmer, made with the town to ensure a field got hayed.

Bond said he discovered through a Freedom of Information Act Request that a farm owned by Shaw was allowed to harvest hay on a town property last summer