In a letter to the Hopkinton Independent written on Monday, June 12, former chair of the Hopkinton Democratic Town Committee Darlene Hayes issued a written apology for the recent controversy surrounding her use of multiple aliases in online forums to affect the May 15 School Committee election.
>> RELATED: Chair of HDTC Used 24 Pseudonyms to Stoke Debate
The letter read:
Dear Neighbors,
I am sorry. I immensely regret my online behavior, as well as the disappointment and mistrust it caused. I take full responsibility for what I did. It was thoughtless, unnecessary and inexcusable.
I care deeply about our community. My husband and I have lived in Hopkinton for nearly 30 years where we have raised our family in this wonderful town. I have been an active member in our community, supporting many local causes and organizations, and I also extend an apology to all these that I may have hurt with my actions.
Moving forward, I will strive to be a better neighbor and hope in time that you will be able to forgive me.
Sincerely,
Darlene Hayes
I am grateful that Darlene has publicly apologized to our community. Regrettably, I don’t see my name in the apology and that’s really disappointing.
Darlene’s behavior (both online and not) has left a gaping wound in our town, one that is going to take a long time to recover from, if ever. Darlene’s apology is only the first step. The HDTC needs to take an introspective, hard look into their organization and fix the systemic issues if it ever hopes to continue as a viable political organization in Hopkinton.
Hopkinton has lost trust in the HDTC and its members. They continue to turn a blind eye to the division and hostility they have caused for many years in Hopkinton. The democratic process for volunteer positions has been summarily destroyed.
To have any chance of moving forward with any integrity or trust the HDTC should do the following:
1. Put together a new HDTC policy that condemns divisive,harmful attacks online or otherwise, AND hold their members accountable. Make this new policy public;
2. Publicly apologize to Holly Morand, School Committee Member and Hopkinton resident for the mistreatment and attacks she had to endure after supporting my campaign.
3. Investigate and make public your findings into the coordinated efforts of the HDTC and the HTA during the election;
4. Ms. Hayes needs to resign from all elected positions and the Selectboard should be asking for her resignations, immediately.
Darlene’s apology may be a good start. But the HDTC needs to put in the work to rebuild Hopkinton’s trust. Otherwise it will just be business as usual.
Ashley you forgot to mention Darlene stopped by your house to speak to you in person . You were not home and she left a note and a peace plant. She is trying to unravel the chaos she’s created, and doing some major internal reflection- as she should.
1). The HDTC did not support, nor have any knowledge, of what Darlene did. So I see no reason to rewrite a policy. This was not done by the committee. There was no collaborative effort.
2). I think Holly and Darlene have made their peace.
3). Why? Once again this was not a group effort to destroy your campaign. While Darlene screwed up royally, and is paying the price, you lost back to back elections. What if any responsibility do you take in your losses? What steps did you take in the community to get yourself known to those not in your circle? I’m asking because I know the step I and others took last year during our campaigns.
4) Time will tell.
I do not condone what Darlene did. It never crossed my mind that she was the poster of the comments. So to blame the entire HDTC for the actions of one seems a bit ridiculous.
Peter Thomas perhaps this could be your last article? At this point you are beating a dead horse. I also noticed none of these comments have been posted on the Hopkinton Independent.
“What steps did you take in the community to get yourself known to those not in your circle”
Seriously? I think she did the best any candidate could knowing such a predator was out an about in this COMMUNITY
I disagree. You either get out there and promote yourself or you don’t. I’m just asking what she did? And yet no one speaks about f the cruelty shown to Susan? Calling her a carpet bagger, with no kids in the HPS. The overlooking her education and time in the school system in PA. I didn’t think Susan had a chance after the plethora of ugly comments aimed at her.
Beth, reading your comments makes me feel as if I have regressed back to Jr. High. Investigate Ms. Hayes fully for campaign violations, specifically interfering with the outcome of an election. These boards are not the place to really hold Ms. Hayes accountable. The courts are. As a non-democrat I feel she violated my rights to a fair process through fraud and deceit. Let us focus on the real issue, not who said what to whom on some women’s forum.
Chris Swezey
Libertarian
I worry this string of comments undermines Darlene’s efforts to move forward. We should all be supporting the goal of elevating our local political discourse.
1. We cannot possibly know what coordination efforts were at play without a full and thorough investigation. While this behavior may have not been condoned officially throughout the years it benefitted many sitting HDTC folks nonetheless. When we consider a restorative justice model, we hope that a community can come together not only to forgive the individual but take action steps towards healing – a new policy is a great idea! And as the HDTC was lead by someone who was behaving unethically the right thing to do is address it by acknowledgment and perhaps even new operating procedures.
2. Perhaps Holly and Darlene did. But if we are working towards community healing, Hopkinton residents need to see that a Democrat can support an unenrolled candidate without fear of retribution. I do not think either of us have the right to speak for Holly, but I have been horrified by the treatment of elected folks by their own party the last few years. And the silence is noteworthy – how many others are afraid to speak up for fear they will not be supported in their next campaign? New policies to protect members and hold folks accountable are both necessary at this point.
3. Election interference is a serious, serious offense that our local officials should be investigating immediately. Whatever information folks believed they had was shared with calculated intent. You need not look past the candidates night questions to recognize a narrative was created behind the scenes, blindsiding Ashley. Most unfortunately it was baseless and harmed her reputation. Did it cost her the election? I don’t know. But it certainly was deplorable.
4. Until Darlene’s supporters and the HDTC remedy this situation concerned citizens will continue to sound the alarm. It is not fair to make Darlene the scapegoat – her being caught in this situation helped to shed light on the length at which efforts have been made to harm both non-Dem candidates and Democrats who dare question the party. If we are to have a strong local government, all voices should be heard regardless of religious beliefs or party affiliation. Now is the moment to strive for excellence in our local politics. It is a moment to work together, not deny the problem. Why not instead pledge to help fix this broken system?
Replying to Beth Malloy!
Hi Beth, since you are critical to point out how you don’t think Ashley ran a good campaign which resulted in 2 losses. For argument purposes I would like to point out the other side of a not good campaign (that I saw) but no negative chatter from the DTC and the results were with a win.
I met you when you were running for constable. You came up to me and said vote for me I am running for town constable. I asked you first what a constable was and then I asked why I should vote for you and not your opponent. You said he was in the position a while and I think you even said he was a townie. Then you said I want to be the first female town constable. That was the only thing you shared with me- no skills – no what I will do in the position other than serve papers. And you won. If only Ashley was allowed to have the same campaign as you the results would have been different. She was targeted from day one with this campaign. She wasn’t even allowed to say the awful stuff said about her publicly wasn’t true. People said I don’t believe you when she tried to explain herself. I didn’t see you step up to defend Ashley. You seem to care about being female only when it’s a female you share the same agenda with and not ALL females or even all townspeople. I could be wrong but that is the impression you left me with when I met you. So give others the grace and understanding that you seem to give to some and not all.
Also Darlene’s apology where she says to those I MAY have hurt. She doesn’t even believe she hurt anyone. And maybe she should apologize to Ashley publicly since we all saw those attacks in a public space….only when Hop News showed us though.
And MAYBE you won’t see the comments on Hopkinton Ind because Hop News broke this story and asked for a response from Darlene and Darlene went to Hop Ind. Why did she choose that paper to give her response? IDK.
Darlene works for Bagdon Advertising the parent company of the Independent. Also I’m sure she hates hopnews now.
Have the guts to use your name or don’t.
First off there was no one in the position I ran for. I ran against 2 wonderful candidates neither of whom held the position prior to running. Fact. I put in for Frank D’urso’s position when he passed because he was my friend and I hated to see it vacant.
What does a Constable do in Hopkinton… not much. Post town articles is about it. I literally mentioned bring the first female Constable in Hopkinton twice. Only twice because I did not want that to be my fall back. This is absolutely true. I don’t fall back on the female thing because I have enough confidence in myself not to need to. If you truly knew me, you’d know that. Worked hard on my campaign and met Ashley along the way. I never saw her at the events I attended. That is why I asked what she did to promote herself. I didn’t see her in the last election doing it so wondered if she made a greater effort this time around. Simple question no one seems to have answered. Was I being critical or just asking a question?
There were many questions directed to Ashley during her campaign that she skated around, primarily her thoughts on our LGBTQ students. On her page she offered to have private conversations but I do not remember her taking a stand in support of our LGBTQ kids. Correct me if I’m wrong. I’d go back and look but she deleted all of that from her page. Why is that?
@ Peter Thomas why did I vote for them? Because I knew where they stood on the issues. Susan volunteered here each time she came to Hopkinton- primarily through the senior center. Her knowledge of the workings of schools in PA and her education, to me out weight the volunteer sims we all do as our kids are coming up. I did it as did many other moms in our town do that did not stand out to me as special. Bottom line is if the town folks wanted to vote Ashley in they’d have done so. It didn’t happen last year so who’s to blame for that?
As a gay student in Hopkinton high school I would much rather have Ashley Fogg a common sense candidate than Mrs. Hayes who created the biggest false smear campaign in order to help herself and others win. Anyone paying attention including kids understands what she did is diplorable and should get her removed from all town positions she is in. Anyone defending Hayes and the verbal attacks used against Fogg and affiliated people should understand that they are the problem in the town not Fogg.
Beth, this is an honest question: What was it about Adam and Susan’s campaign’s that impressed you so much? Did they personally drive around to their supporters’ homes and place signs? Did they build their base from nothing, based SOLELY on their connections and friendships in town? Did they coach sports teams and volunteer in the schools and build relationships over the course of several years? Because it looked to me largely like they availed themselves of an established network and base through the HDTC and let Darlene and Co. do the rest. Neither of them had to defend themselves against baseless, false, hurtful attacks. (Saying Susan is a recent transplant is not baseless, false, or hurtful. It’s relevant and true.) Adam didn’t even show up to the Meet the Candidates night, and had the benefit of a fellow HDTC member stump for him… not just read his statement, but ENDORSE him publicly. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I harbor no ill-will toward Susan and Adam. I’m glad they are civically-minded and want to serve our town. But to say that they ran a better campaign than Ashley is to COMPLETELY ignore the facts.
Beth, nobody believes that it was not a coordinated effort to smear and slander Ashley’s name right from the beginning. Anyone that watched the women’s club “meet the candidates” event noticed that Nancy Cavanaugh, Amy Groves, and Jamie Wronka- all HDTC members asked the same duplicitous question which came out of left field. Then, like clockwork, Darlene’s inner circle of usual suspects all came out pretending to be concerned citizens when they were really just trying to throw gasoline on a fire of rumor, gossip, and misinformation. We all saw it and it’s really not up for debate. If you are going to double down and attempt to absolve yourself and your comrades in all this, then you continue to be part of the problem that Marisa Jones so eloquently articulated here.
Lastly, Is the apology sincere or are we just sorry we were caught? Time will tell and actions speak the loudest. Let’s not gloss over that there have been literally hoards of community members sharing their stories and concerns regarding years of harrying behavior.
Neither I nor the HTA communicated with Darlene or Hopkinton Democrats about this issue or any issue. Neither I nor the HTA will comment any further.
I’m not impressed with Ms. Hayes apology. This is only one instance in many years that she has been caught. I hope that the HDTC will proceed with another leader with ethics. The voters of Hopkinton deserve a reprieve from this type of behavior
Ms Hayes,
I appreciate that you issued a public apology. However, you mention that you will strive to be a better neighbor but you should strive to be a better person.
Claiming to care deeply about your community is not accurate, you cared deeply about your agenda and would go to any length to forward it. If you truly cared about the community you would listen to all points of view, be respectful of differing opinions, find the middle ground, and let other people make their own opinion.
Those that seem to indicate that Ms Hayes is taking responsibility I believe that you are off of the mark, had this article not broke this behavior would undoubtedly have continued. Beth Malloy posted, indicating that she does not think there needs to be change in the committee, I understand that the acts of one person do not reflect the entire organization, but statement’s like this would indicate to many that the committee is more concerned that she was caught and less con with the results of her actions. Furthermore, you callously mention that Ms. Fogg lost back to back elections, is it possible that this happened in part to the smear campaign that Ms Hayes perpetuated resulting in people being falsely influenced?
Previous to this I have experienced Ms. Hayes’s statements trying to manipulate or dig for information with statements of “do you know who I am?”and “Do you know how I can make this look?”. Ms Hayes reveled in her opinion that she was a influential person in town. No matter how you look at this it is dirty politics.
People should not be scared to voice their opinions or run for office because someone “who cares deeply about our community” is willing to do anything to smear that person so only THEIR views prevail.
Oh yes EVERYONE will know who she is now, for sure! If she asked me what color the sky was, I wouldn’t even answer. Saying it was blue would be gossiped, exaggerated and misconstrued by her as fascist. Probably isn’t even safe to give her the time of day.
Weak ass apology. She’s only sorry because she was caught. She went through a pretty elaborate process (in her mind) to cover her tracks 24 times. That’s not a poor decision, that’s premeditation. Guaranteed not the first time and she will find a way to push her influence again. Damage was done and every single committee is perfectly happy with the outcome, despite their claims that they do not condone such behavior….which is why they accepted resignations intead of cutting ties with Darlene immediately.
When the parents can’t behave properly, it’s no wonder the kids are having issues. The SC has leaned to one sided for a number of years and I’ve never seen more emails from admins regarding student behavior.
Ms. Hayes, that was no apology. It was a feeble pity party. Do us all a favor and go torture the residents of another town. You may have violated campaign law here, and that is unforgivable.
Chris Swezey
Libertarian
30 years of commitment to this town is a long time and a lot of hard work to be dismissed so quickly. No one, even Darlene, is trying to defend these actions. But it’s very important to remember that good people make mistakes too.
No one is defending what Darlene did because what she did is indefensible. Yes, good people make mistakes. What good people don’t do is regularly use their status and influence to affect the outcome of elections. They don’t make up fraudulent accounts to spread lies in order to push their own agenda. They don’t threaten community members who disagree with them. And so on. At this point, I don’t think Darlene can be described as a good person who made a mistake. Her actions were pre-meditated, calculated, and recurring. She had ample time to reconsider her behavior and didn’t. Had she not been publicly outted, there’s no doubt in my mind that she would still be up to her old tricks.
Carrie, that was a long and well thought out “Mistake”. Darlene and her cronies have been back stabbing conservatives in town for years. My wife was removed from one of Darlene’s Facebook groups for the sole reason she is married to me. I love how the HDTC is claiming they had no knowledge of her actions. I can’t wait until all of their emails are subpoenaed!
I appreciate the apology, but this person needs to resign or be fired from every elected and volunteer position…..which, incredibly, has NOT happened yet! Have you no decency Ms. Hayes? And shame on the other board/council members who have not taken appropriate action to separate themselves from this woman. Actions have consequences, especially disgusting ones such as those perpetrated by Ms. Hayes. Please show a shred of decency and RESIGN!
I hope someone has started a petition to do what her feckless colleagues cannot do themselves. If not, I will do it myself. Allowing this person to remain in these positions is akin to tolerating her sleezy, pathetic actions as acceptable, which they most certainly are not.
Darlene, being a resident for 30 years and actively participating in the community does nothing to undo the damage you have caused. This was not a small lapse in judgement. Your actions during this latest election cycle are consistent with a history of dishonesty, deceit, manipulation, and scare tactics spanning many years. I’m sure you are sorry you were caught — how embarrassing for you to be outted as a liar and a fraud!
It’s clear that you have a loyal coterie of people willing to defend and excuse your behavior, but I hope you realize that there is also a large contingent of townspeople who do not trust you and will not let your juvenile behavior pass. Going forward, your presence in any leadership role on any committee here in town is a stain.
Let’s be honest, Darlene has been going after anyone who doesn’t support her agenda for years. That’s why I removed myself from the real housewives of hopkinton Facebook page years ago. I was not impressed with her behavior even back then. It seemed to me that she was a woman who had too much time on her hands and was indulging in town gossip under the guise of working for the towns best interest. I saw how she was acting publicly on Facebook towards the women who started the new Hopkinton Facebook page for women, Hopkinton Uncommon. Again, I was not impressed. That being said, she’s obv dealing with some real emotional and mental health issues, but that’s not an excuse for this kind of behavior. Her apology seems somewhat cold and vague, skirting around the actual hurt she caused the school committee candidate she opposed, as well as potentially compromising the election. Instead it seems she is trying to deflect by mentioning all the other things she feels she has done for the town. The bottom line is: she could have been the nicest person in the world before all this, but until she truly acknowledges the hurt she caused and stops trying to distract from it by talking about all the other things she has supposedly done for the town, it all just seems rather disingenuous to me. That being said, I don’t think berating Darlene or bullying her in return helps at all. She’s a human being and has a family who I’m sure is being impacted by all this. I just truly hope she gets the help and support she needs, so that she may gain some compassion and perspective moving forward.
I’d like to point out that the letter was addressed to the Hopkinton Independent, no letter to HopNews? It was HopNews that did all the work to unravel the pseudonyms, and where the majority of her dozens of inaccurate, slanted and slanderous comments also appeared.
I’ve lived here 50 years, raised my own child here, and my Mom still lives here too (same as many of my old high school friends). Living here a long time, and loving our “community” is no excuse for small town partisan politics and bashing people that have a differing opinion, just sayin’.
Has anyone formally asked the Secretary of State, or Hopkinton PD, for a formal investigation of election fraud and tampering with the outcome? I am happy to, if it has not been done already.
Chris Swezey
~Libertarian
I originally posted the following two comments on 6/9 and will share again and edited because of the new details coming out daily:
1.What has happened can be looked at as election interference. Freedom House has listed three types of election interference. One of which is informational measures ,in which online discussions are surreptitiously manipulated in favor of the government or particular parties or persons ,or to discredit a particular party or persons. It may not rise to this level but maybe the Secretary of State should take a peek. Town leaders should be looking closely at the events that have unfolded the past few days and at minimum make a joint statement.
2.I personally did not indicate an election crime took place. I was referencing one of the points in the Freedom House article. It does seem on it’s face however that Darlene Hayes actions were intended to discredit ‘a particular party or persons’. I also said nothing of conspiracy. Given that, I did speak with an attorney friend of mine who indicated that although she may have been the one doing the online posting could some of the postings have been done on behalf of others? I want to be clear that I am in no way alleging any crime(s) being committed. I think for the sake of reassurance to the town and the voters and to move on it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Secretary of State to take a look at what has transpired.
Cared about power and control not the community. Didn’t help our schools or our children or our future. Just tried to rig elections and bully people for over a decade. No good to the town. And for those who attached yourselves to this shame on you. I stopped voting for anyone aligned to this toxic group years ago.
Nearly no one in this town is a victim, majority of us are Privileged!! Feel fortunate to live in a nice town and let’s chalk it up to a very rotten apple and move on.
What type of example does it set to our children that we can’t let go and continue to victimize ourselves? Be strong, the world does not crumble when someone is mean to you, whether right or wrong.
Imagine if you lived in Ukraine or Sudan I’m sure it will enlighten you to think differently about our town and this incident ….
Move On – I agree. We are privileged to live in Hopkinton. It’s an amazing place to live and raise a family. However, to say that we should just “let it go” is not healthy. Like all “disease”, ignoring it won’t make it go away. It needs to be investigated and those responsible should be held accountable for their actions. Nothing more, nothing less. Once accountability has been taken, then the healing can start. Sweeping it under the rug is not going to make this go away. And, you are right, the world doesn’t crumble if this isn’t properly addressed but it will prevent us from us from moving forward and it will deepen the division and mistrust among the residents. Healing can only begin after you know what you’re dealing with.
move on, it is oppressive to have leadership trying to change the outcome of elections that affect the people of this town. furthermore why on earth would the fact that we have money matter in this argument I don’t feel very privileged knowing that leadership is trying to skew election results. trying to “move on” shows two things you benefited off the election outcome and don’t care if innocent people are called names and harassed, and that you feel guilty because you support a woman who was a jerk to everyone except you and other privileged voters. The message is to the children: oppressive behavior will be punished because we live in a society where common decency matters.
Move On…. Stealing the election rights of non-democrats through deceit and fraud should be taught to our children. Do not do it, or you could be the next Darlene Hayes. Teach our kids not to bully, at any age, to advance a personal cause. Is it a privilege for you to steal my right to a fair election? No, it is not. We live in the U.S., so don’t throw red herrings about other countries in. I have family in Sudan, thank you. You need to grow the back-bone and exhibit the strength to print your name and explain this massive insult. You are nothing but a coward and a keyboard warrior whose opinions may come from the family pet. I shall not take you seriously. This warrants an investigation. It is Curious, you want to squelch the sun shining in. What is your agenda?
Chris Swezey
~Libertarian
I find the statement in the article here that says based on the transcript the two candidates had similar answers completely wrong. I also read the transcript and came away from that debate believing the two candidates to be on very different sides of topics like book banning. Also the statement, “While 57% of the questions focused on issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ community, only 2.9% of students in Massachusetts identify as “transgender or questioning their gender identity” leaves me incredibly disappointed in the author of this article. To think that only students who are LGBTQ would care about these issues is so incredibly wrong.
I appreciate the truth coming to light, and while I identify as a democrat I am saddened to think of anyone orchestrating politics here in town, falsifying questions or comments, etc. I am glad that these problems are hopefully going to be addressed. I hope vetting of candidates will change, and other political procedures will be shaken up. But this article seems to be implying that everything in the school committee race was orchestrated against the candidate who was not democratic. I am not involved in town politics, I don’t know anyone in the HDTC, but I was frankly horrified by Ashley Foggs stance on book banning. As a bystander I was grateful those questions were asked.
I do wish this information about Susan had come to light before the election, I would have appreciated her take on it. And I would have appreciated Ashley not feeling so bullied, and perhaps she could have been given a chance to express her views more. I ultimately don’t think either would have changed my vote ultimately but I know it probably would have changed others. But I also don’t think click bait articles lambasting people is the way to fix things.
Who knows…”Move On” could be DH