BRISTOL -- A report by an independent investigator said Bristol Mayor Ken Cockayne showed compromising photos of a town council member and her husband to another town council member in retaliation for editorial decisions on a local internet radio station.
Attorney Michael Rose concluded in the report:
I conclude that Mayor Cockayne has violated City Policy as to the concerns raised by Zils Gagne and possibly violated the First Amendment rights of Steve Gagne. He retaliated against Gagne by showing compromising photographs, in retaliation for Gagne’s editorial decisions and seeking the Council’s assistance in obtaining broadcast access.
In a letter from his attorney, Cockayne said, "The mayor disputes, in the strongest terms, the conclusion of the report." He said there were factual inaccuracies, unfounded inferences, baseless conclusions of law, and is clearly punctuated with the personal biases of the investigator throughout.
A timeline of the events in the report showed:
(Sections in italics are quotes from the report)
- November 2016 -"The Bristol Beat (an internet radio station) invited former Democratic Mayoral candidate Ellen Zoppo-Sassu to appear on its internet radio program. The owner of the station invited Ms. Zoppo-Sassu because he was told that the chair of the Democratic Town Committee was unavailable. In fact, the selection of Ms. Zoppo-Sassu would likely draw more listeners that a party chair, as would the inclusion of Mayor Cockayne. Mayor Cockayne reacted negatively at first, then angrily. He referred to Ms. Zoppo-Sassu as “no one” and reprimanded Mr. Gagne, stating, “You need to keep her out of the spotlight.”
- March - Bristol Beat, owned by Steve Gagne, the husband of City Councilwoman Jodi Zils Gagne, requests to broadcast the town council meetings.
- April - Mayor Cockayne ignores the request for a month.
- May 9 - The issue is brought up before the city council. As the meeting ended, Mayor Cockayne approached him in anger, showed Mr. Preleski two (2) photographs, a [redacted]
and another photograph of what looked like her husband (Steve Gagne), and exclaimed, “These are the people you are defending. This is who they are.” Another section of the report, Zils Gagne later "described the pictures as depicting her in a partially clothed format." - May - Zils Gagne finds out about incident with the pictures and discusses the situation with an attorney and Diane Ferguson, Director of Personnel for the City of Bristol to determine if the mayor violated the sexual harassment policy.
- June 14 - Mayor tells Ferguson that he was verbally and physically assaulted by the Gagnes.
- June 15 - Zils Gagne decides not to pursue claims of sexual harassment.
- August - Mayor apologizes in public at a counsel meeting.
- August - The Council requests outside an investigation, Mayor Cockayne asks if it's legal.
- August – October - Attorney Michael Rose interviews the people involved but the Mayor declines an in person interview and supplies answers in writing.
- October 19 – Rose's report is released.
Attorney Rose's report
Mayor Cockayne's response:
Appendix to Rose report