Ethics Tosses Compaints After Beck Officially Resigns from Board of Ed

The Board of Ethics moved to throw out two complaints against former Board of Education (BOE) member Greg Beck at the start of the complaint hearing Thursday morning as Beck’s official resignation from the BOE was submitted earlier in the day.

Beck sent an email to BOE Chairman Scott McCarthy and A Brookfield Party (ABP) Chairman Rob Gianazza Tuesday stating that he intended to resign and submitted his letter to the Town Clerk’s Office at 8 a.m. Thursday.

Beck’s letter simply reads: “Please accept this as my formal resignation from the Board of Education effective immediately.”

The two complaints filed asked that Beck be forced to step down from the BOE due to a comment he posted on a Facebook post asking for 26 days of kindness leading up to the anniversary of the Dec. 14, 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Beck received pressure from the community, Republican and Democratic party leadership and his own board to step aside and chose to do so earlier this week.

“Once that happened, both complaints and the circumstances surrounding them were moot,” Board of Ethics Chairman Alice Carolan said Thursday.

The Ethics Board found probable cause on both complaints due to the fact that Beck is also employed by the town as an emergency dispatcher, however the nature of the complaints specifically referred to his role as a member of the BOE.

“We’ve never had this happen before,” Carolan said, adding later that she is “pleased for Mr. Beck that this has been resolved in the way that it has been resolved.”

“I thank Mr. Beck for doing the right thing,” Sherri Keefe, the first complaintant, said after the Board of Ethics rendered their decision. “I really appreciate that.”

Nancy Lincoln, who filed the second complaint, echoed Keefe’s thanks, turning to speak to Beck directly.

Beck sat silently through the brief proceeding and afterward directed questions to his attorney, Brian Parrott.

Parrott maintains that there was no legal basis for the hearing, as probable cause was determined based on his position with the police department and not his status as a then-candidate-elect to the BOE.

“As asinine as Mr. Beck’s comments were, they are protected under the 1st Amendment,” he said, noting that any ethics consideration was “clearly about his dispatcher position.”

Despite that legal challenge, Beck ultimately decided to resign rather than act as a hinderance to the BOE, according to Parrott.

“He attended two meetings as a member and it was clear that he was serving as a distraction,” Parrott said.

When asked about potentially running for an elected position at a later date, Beck said that would “definitely be a decision for the future.”