We are writing to ask that voters of Greenfield consider joining us in supporting Virginia “Ginny” DeSorgher for mayor on Nov. 7. She has proven leadership and managerial skills needed in Greenfield. It so happens we have personal experience with Ginny for she rented from us before our moving into our current home in Greenfield. She was a pleasure to work with, respectful, direct and 100% reliable.
We also have a personal connection to former Greenfield Police Officer Patrick Buchanan, as he is our next-door neighbor. Over the years he has proved himself to be a generous, sensitive and helpful neighbor.
We are appalled by the way he has been treated by the city of Greenfield. Mr. Buchanan was passed over four times starting in 2014 for promotion to the position of sergeant, three under Mayor William Martin and once under Mayor Roxann Wedegartner. When Wedegartner became mayor in January 2020, we ask why she did not familiarize herself with this long-standing issue before four white men were promoted to the sergeant position in 2020/2021. (It’s the mayor who actually does the promoting in Greenfield.)
This is very concerning to us. We don’t expect the mayor of our city to respond to a long-standing issue after weeks of a court trial and days of deliberation, by saying “it’s fresh information for me” [“Jury finds Greenfield PD discriminated against former officer,” Recorder, May 7, 2022).
We are asking ourselves, how can we trust that Mayor Wedegartner has the skills to lead this city forward? We truly believe Ginny DeSorgher will be the “mayor for us all.”
Jeanne M. Douillard
and Armand M. Proulx
Greenfield