To the Editor:

Two years ago we wrote to you, the people of Wareham, to let you know that accusations made by Robert Slager in the now defunct Wareham Observer against our deceased loved one, Mary Jane Pillsbury, were absurd and untrue. Today, you don’t just have to take our word for it.  You can take the word of the State of Massachusetts.

Mary Jane’s innocence is now a proven, indisputable, and undeniable fact.  She has been exonerated and vindicated from false claims that were never anything more than a bunch of nonsense. We urge all residents to read the recently released report from the Office of the Inspector General. In doing so, you will find that after a thorough state investigation lasting nearly two years, not one single shred of evidence of any wrongdoing whatsoever on Mary Jane’s part was found. This is because these false claims simply never happened.

This Saturday, October 8, 2011, will mark the third anniversary of Mary Jane’s passing. Three years ago, we had hoped, but did not expect, that after Mary Jane’s death, Slager would show an ounce of compassion and allow her to rest in peace, but that never happened.   Don Quixote was never able to stop tilting at windmills, Capt. Ahab could never let go of his hunt for the elusive white whale, and here in Wareham, Robert Slager appears to be unable to stop making false accusations against a deceased cancer victim three years in the grave.

These false statements have caused this family immeasurable pain and suffering. It was painful enough for us to watch Mary Jane fight and lose a physically and emotionally painful battle with cancer, but to have to put up with her reputation being attacked with ridiculous and untrue claims is an experience that no one should ever have to go through.

We have been put through Hell and have done nothing to deserve it. Mary Jane’s good name has been attacked and she did nothing to deserve it.

As you read the IG’s report, we think you’ll find the pervasive theme throughout the 21-page document is that Slager just cannot seem to get his story straight. We could go on forever pointing out the holes in his fantasy tale, but some of the more glaring discrepancies are:

• In a Nov. 2009 column back when his paper was still in print, he claimed to have in his possession a list of 123 names and that he’d provided a person in Florida a copy of the list of 123. However, the IG reports being told by Slager that he wrote 40 names in a notebook. Then he refused to provide the IG this alleged notebook when asked for it. People, if that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know right there, we don’t know what does.
• Slager claimed that money was taken from library photocopiers, yet the IG determined that the photocopiers were operated by a private company and that employees of this company, not library staff, handled the money.
• Slager claimed that money was embezzled, yet the IG wrote: “If there was a scheme to kickback large amounts of cash to certain Library donors, one would expect there to be large unexplained cash withdrawals from some or all of the bank accounts under the control of the Trustees’ Corporation and the Friends. This was not the case. The OIG review of the Wareham Free Library donor records disclose for the most part, small one or two time donations from single individuals rather than frequent small repetitive donations from the same individuals. This finding contradicts the claim made in the Observer that many of the 123 donors in the alleged kickback scheme made multiple small donations to avoid Internal Revenue Service scrutiny.”
• Slager claimed that illegal book sales occurred, yet the IG wrote: “Suffice it to say that the amount of revenue generated by these sales could never have supported the kind of widespread organized criminal scheme detailed in the Observer story.”
• A grand total of 28 former library trustees were interviewed by the IG.  The IG report states: “None reported any knowledge of criminal wrongdoing on the part of any members or officers of the Trustees’ Corporation, Friends, Foundation, Library officials or donors.”
• The IG further stated: “In summary, this investigation disclosed no evidence that a donor kickback and embezzlement conspiracy ever took place.”
• Beyond the report, there is another issue to consider.  We direct the public’s attention to an “In this Corner” column entitled “A bit of reason long overdue” written by Robert Slager on page 14 of the Sept. 4, 2008 print edition of the Wareham Observer. In that column, he wrote about the Wareham Free Library: “It’s a wonderful facility, and Mary Jane Pillsbury deserves much of the credit for that. As a selectman, she rightly earned much criticism for her tactics. As a library director, she should be above reproach.” Needless to say, we disagree with the claim that her performance as selectman deserved criticism. However, we affirm that the assessment of “2008 Slager” of Mary Jane’s work as a library director as being “beyond reproach” was spot-on. We further agree with “2008 Slager” that the Wareham Free Library is “a wonderful facility, and Mary Jane Pillsbury deserves much of the credit for that.” It’s funny, today, “2011 Slager” now claims that as early as the summer of 2008, he thought that Mary Jane was up to no good at the library, yet on September 4, 2008, he sang her praises as a library director in a column in a newspaper that he printed many copies of and distributed all over the Town of Wareham. When Mary Jane was alive, Slager praised her work as library director. After Mary Jane passed away, Slager hurled one insult after the next at her work as a library director. How quickly his opinion of Mary Jane’s service as a library director changed once she was no longer alive and became physically unable to put her hand on a phone to call a defamation attorney.

Those are just a few examples of the truck-sized holes in the fictional tale written about Mary Jane. Read the report and learn the truth for yourself.

We ended the letter that we wrote two years ago by saying that as long as people continue to see Mary Jane’s inability to defend herself as something to be taken advantage of, we will never be afraid to defend her and we renew that vow.

The undeniable truth is that Mary Jane Pillsbury was one of the best public servants that the Town of Wareham ever had.  False smears on her reputation from a man who, quite frankly, will never hold a candle to her when it comes to character and class, will never change that fact.

Sincerely,

Charles Pillsbury, III

Charles Pillsbury, IV

Matthew Pillsbury

Cara Pillsbury