Andrea Nuciforo & Jonathan Melle & the month of May: Two Terrible Anniversaries!

July 22, 2015

No one is perfect. Everyone has flaws. We should stop bullies like Andrea F. Nuciforo, Junior. We should speak out about bullies so they do not have anywhere to hide to keep hurting people. I am proud of myself for my stand against Luciforo!

- Jonathan Melle

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"Luciforo!"
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Andrea Nuciforo II
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Luciforo!
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May 20, 2008

Today, May 20th, marks one of two May anniversaries between Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. & I. 10 years ago, on May 20th, 1998, then-Berkshire State Senator Andrea F. Nuciforo II set up secret plans with the Pittsfield Police Department to have me arrested after falsely reporting to them that I had made veiled threats against him and that if I was to enter his Pittsfield, Massachusetts, legislative district office, the police were to be called and I was to be arrested.

Prior to "Luciforo's" false allegations, he had threatened me twice: (a) Once in the Summer of 1997 during the swearing in ceremony of Judge Francis X. Spina, and (b) Secondly while he was marching in the North Adams, Massachusetts, 1997 Fall Foliage Parade. The former "Luciforo" threat came via a cold, intimidating and long stare at me where I had to look away. The latter "Luciforo" threat came via "Luciforo" breaking his parade route and aggressively walking towards me and stopping within my personal space and staring me down until I looked down.

Then, during the month of October 1997, "Luciforo" cut out a news article published in the North Adams Transcript and made two ethics complaints against my dad, Bob Melle, to two respective state government agencies in Boston, Massachusetts. "Luciforo" filed an ethics complaint against my dad to the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission for his conflict of interest of being a then-long-term state employee at the Pittsfield court system and being a then-elected Berkshire County Commissioner. "Luciforo's" intent was to force my dad to resign his then-elected position. "Luciforo" filed another ethics complaint against my dad to the Chief Trial Court Judge in Boston, making the case that my dad was insubordinate for speaking out against the issue of courthouse rent payments while ultimately serving his state governmental agency. "Luciforo's" intent was to force my dad into having his long-term courthouse employment terminated. If "Luciforo" had won, he would have ultimately taken away my dad's state pension that my dad benefits from today. "Luciforo" would have placed my family into financial ruin! Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. is a no good, son of a bitch!

In Truth!,
Jonathan Melle

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The second month of May Anniversary is when "Luciforo" & I first met in May 1996 during a Democratic campaign event in Dalton, Massachusetts.

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Re: How one old & obscure news article published in "The North Adams Transcript" has changed my life

January 4, 2008

Dear News Media, Politicians, & the People:

Yesterday evening, I spent a few hours out with my dad. He expressed to me his FEAR of retaliation by Pittsfield, Massachusetts’ powerbrokers in response to my writings and political Blog. Both of my parents have senior citizen health issues and rely on their public pensions for their survival. My dad said that he believes in my right to speak out on public policy issues, but what Pittsfield’s powerbrokers put my family through a decade ago may recur again.

In October of 1997, my dad was quoted in a local news article concerning the public policy issue of Courthouse rent. The North Adams Transcript in North Adams, Massachusetts, published this news story. One of Pittsfield’s powerbrokers photocopied this news article and issued an Ethics Complaint to the State Government in Boston, Massachusetts. The complaint was also issued to my dad’s boss in Boston, Massachusetts, where it was argued that my dad was insubordinate to his “chain of command”. As an aside, I read the entire state ethic’s legal documents in the Spring of 1998, including the attached news article published by The North Adams Transcript in October of 1997.

Sometime about a decade ago, my dad underwent Kafkaesque state government hearings for allegedly both breaking state ethics laws and being insubordinate. My dad was a state government employee honorably serving Probation Officer in Pittsfield since late-1970 (& he later retired from his long-standing position in early-2002), and also, he was elected in 1996 as a Berkshire County Commissioner, serving his honorable four-year-term six months short of completion after the state abolished and took over the functions of Berkshire County Government (from January 1997 – June 30, 2000).

During this time period, I was a graduate student at The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where I ultimately received a Master of Public Administration in May 1999. Due to recurring family conflicts with my mother and other related interpersonal conflicts in my life at that time, I moved into my grandparent’s home in North Adams, Massachusetts on July 1, 1997, where I lived through August 31, 1998, except when I attended U Mass during the Fall 1997 and Spring 1998 academic semesters. I did what I had to do to survive. I am not arguing I was right or my mother was wrong or other people were right or wrong either. Most of the time, it takes two (or more) to tango and both or multiple parties are both right and wrong at the same time. Conflict centers on power, and I was a young man weak on overpowering my opponents. So instead of fighting, I fled. Some labeled me a “Coward.” But, I believe I wanted a better life for myself without hurting others, unlike some of my adversaries.

During the Summer of 1997, while I lived with my paternal grandparents, I attended a ceremony honoring a promotion for State Justice Francis X. Spina. After we exited the Courthouse where my dad worked, I was standing in the outside reception area when I saw State Senator Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., glaring at me with a hard, cold stare. I walked and looked away from “Luciforo”. Then, while I was a graduate student at U Mass Amherst, I came “home” to my grandparent’s home to watch the 1997 North Adams Fall Foliage Parade. I was standing with my Uncle Dick and my cousin Richard when “Luciforo” walked by and hostilely walked up to my face. Sara Hathaway was at “Luciforo’s” side. I looked down in panic and then both my Uncle and my cousin stepped in front of me. “Luciforo” then looked at the three of us, assessed the situation, and quickly walked away with his legislative aide.

While attending U Mass Amherst, I was daily harassed by “Luciforo’s” counterpart’s, State Senator Stanley C. Rosenberg’s, two legislative aides who were my also my classmates. They taunted me with what Pittsfield’s powerbrokers were doing to my dad. They shouted out “Berkshire County” when I expressed my views. They even brought up that they worked for Stan Rosenberg’s district office in Northampton, Massachusetts. They knew my dad was in trouble via political persecution by the powerbrokers. They knew of the fate I was to face back in the Berkshires. They taunted me with all of it, and gloated about my family’s demise. Stan Rosenberg, like “Luciforo”, sent messages of power, aggression, fear, hate and bullying to me while I attended my graduate level classes.

In May of 1998, “Luciforo” made false accusations against me to the Pittsfield Police Department. After “Luciforo” threatened me twice previously, he reported to the Pittsfield Police Department that I was threatening him. If I was to visit his Pittsfield District Office, I would be deemed a threat and the police were on notice to arrest me. “Luciforo” knew that I would be back in the Berkshires during my summer break from U Mass Amherst. “Luciforo” set me up with the Pittsfield Police Department without apprising any of my family members. My dad found out about “Luciforo’s” plans for me to spend time in Berkshire County Sheriff Carmen C. Massimiano’s County Jail, and I was apprised to stay away from “Luciforo” and his Pittsfield District Office.

At this point, in the Summer of 1998, I had watched an entire year go by where I fled my family home and my conflictual mother and others, was threatened twice by “Luciforo”, saw my dad almost lose his state job and elected position because he was quoted in a local news article about Courthouse rent public policy issues, endured daily harassment by Stan Rosenberg’s two legislative interns in my graduate level classes at U Mass Amherst, and then was forewarned that “Luciforo” wanted to put me behind bars at his “good old boy” friend’s, Carmen’s, County Jail for a crime “Luciforo” committed against me, not the other way around.

In July of 1998, State Senator Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., and State Representative Daniel E. Bosley, both abolished Berkshire County Government as a secret rider to the FY1999 Massachusetts State Budget. “Luciforo” and “Bureaucrat” Bosley held no public hearings, gave no forewarnings, and secretly abolished Berkshire County Government and transferred all assets from the county to the state. “Luciforo” and “Bureaucrat” Bosley had no comprehensive plan in place on how the state would effectively administer all of the county’s assets. Pontoosuc Lake in Pittsfield and Lanesborough was placed in a state accounting agency for several consecutive years, and the lake became weed infested and almost died. A dam in Hancock became irreparable due to many years of neglect under state government control. To this day, Berkshire County has no regional political representation.

In the Fall of 1998, I went back to U Mass for my final academic year of college. I did not have to go to Carmen’s County Jail. Stan Rosenberg’s interns backed off of me after they successfully abolished Berkshire County Government during the Summer of 1998. My dad won his Ethics case and was able to keep his state job and elected position on the condition that he not talk about what had happened. Please note that my writings on these aforementioned matters does not include my dad disclosing the utter corruption and persecuting abuses of power of Pittsfield, Amherst, Boston, Massachusetts politics.

Some interesting things in Massachusetts State Government were going on during this time. During my Fall 1998 semester, I attended a U Mass Amherst gubernatorial debate between Paul Cellucci and Scott Harshbarger. Acting Governor Cellucci kept stating that the “Big Dig” was “on budget, on time.” Governor Cellucci went on to win the election and went from “Acting” Governor to “Elected” Governor. By the Spring of 2000, Paul Cellucci’s “on budget, on time” administration of the “Big Dig” saw a $2 Billion cost overrun! By the next year, Governor Cellucci resigned his office and fled to Canada with President George W. Bush’s blessing. “Acting” Governor Jane Swift then took over the reigns of power, where she oversaw the darkest period of the “Big Dig” project. I went on to graduate from U Mass Amherst in May 1999, and by the Fall of 1999, I enlisted in the U.S. Army to repay my student loans and honorably serve my country. After enduring inhumane duty shifts and having to disobey illegal orders in order to protect human life overseas, I had a mental breakdown. I was honorably discharged during the Summer of 2001—two month prior to September 11th, 2001.

During the Summer of 2004, which was the first summer I spend as a citizen of New Hampshire, U.S. President George W. Bush ordered me an appeal hearing one block from the White House so I may receive VA Benefits. The president sent me his regards for my honorable military service. My VA case is still ongoing nearly 6.5 years later. The federal government is very unfair and inefficient at granting benefits to Veterans!

When I got back from my hearing, I attended a Denis Guyer campaign event at my late-political friend’s home in Becket, Massachusetts. During the Summer of 2004, Denis E. Guyer did not acknowledge me, hardly made eye contact, and then used the word “Pussy” against me in front of women and children. The next year, on July 23, 2005, at the state Democratic Party convention held at the Bosquet Ski Area in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Denis E. Guyer went onto to slander my name by publicly stating the “I think Jonathan Melle belongs in a psychiatric institution. I don’t believe Jonathan Melle deserves Veterans Benefits. I cannot believe the President wants to give everything to him. I mean, after all, all Jonathan Melle did was stalk a Jewish woman from Otis, Massachusetts!” Then, a year later in September 2006, at a John Forbes Kerry event at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Denis E. Guyer’s campaign worker, Pittsfield City Councilor Peter Marchetti went around the room and told everyone that “Jonathan Melle’s plan was to live with his maternal grandmother at her Pittsfield home, but that Jonathan was asked to leave by his grandmother.”

Let us go down the list of Denis E. Guyer’s slander of me.

The Jewish woman from Otis whom I allegedly stalked was in actuality a woman from Becket whom I worked together with a State Park during the Summer of 1996. She had invited me to her family’s summer cottage in Otis where I was made to feel threatened and very uncomfortable by her father, who abusively mistreated me. I was physically unable to leave this woman’s summer cottage home because another state park co-worker was insulting, threatening, and abusing me and he blocked my car in with his car and would not move his car after I repeatedly asked him to, when the woman pressured me to let it go. I believe this woman had me kidnapped for an entire evening, knowing her father and my other co-worker were to have abused me. This woman then pressured me to go out to a bar with her and my other co-worker. This woman flirted with me constantly. One day at work, this woman said to me, “You know what my mother and I did on my day off yesterday?” I replied, “What did you do?” The woman replied to me, “My mother and I drove by your old Pittsfield home.” Her father constantly threatened me. This woman apprised me that her father had plans to assault me. She then put her arm around me and pressured me to keep in touch with her. When I was at the bank, her father acted very hostilely towards me. Her father would always point his finger at me and speak in a threatening tone, usually insulting me with his body language and demeaning words. This woman then sent me love notes and a Valentine’s Card. This woman then went around telling people insulting things about me, such as that I am a nice guy who will finish last in life, I wanted her, I followed her home, I was stalking her, and the like. In the Fall of 1999, I finally got the courage to break my silence against this woman and her father, and I explained the situation to the Massachusetts State Police. The Massachusetts State Police Officers told the woman’s father that he cannot assault me, and the woman’s father sarcastically replied, “Why not?” They also told the woman that if anything ever happens to me then they are going to go after her. The female Massachusetts Police Officer told the woman that if she ever ruins it for me then she is going to do everything in her power to ruin it for her. The female Massachusetts State Police Officer told the woman that she met women like her and that she related to nice guys like me only to threaten nice guys like me. At any rate, it is grossly unfair for Denis E. Guyer to say what he has said without including the rest of the story: I was kidnapped, stalked, threatened, coerced and pressured, and verbally abused. Moreover, Denis E. Guyer doesn’t ever explain that in the face of all of this HARASSMENT, I never threatened or harmed this woman or her family. Denis Guyer does not explain that this woman was married in the Summer of 2002.

Conspiratorially, I mostly blame this woman’s father for this entirely abusive situation. This woman’s father was a professor at Berkshire Community College in PITTSFIELD! Nuciforo’s maternal side of his family ran BCC, including Anne E. Wojtkowski, who is “Luciforo’s” Aunt and a former Mayor of Pittsfield. I believe someone connected to Nuciforo in PITTSFIELD may have very well put this woman’s father up to harassing me. If this conspiracy is true, it fits into all of the other negative Pittsfield scenarios.

Denis Guyer stated that I believe in a psychiatric institution and that I should not be entitled to my VA benefits. While I was in the U.S. Army, a soldier lower than rank held a steel bar to my head to threaten me in recurring episodes of him bullying me. When I reported it through my chain of support and command, my Sergeant and Staff Sergeant chastised me and told me that only I was to be written up for telling my fellow soldier to “go to hell” as he was holding a steel bar to my head. My Staff Sergeant then made me pull several consecutive 24-hour duty shifts with no sleep, despite the Army regulation stating that in the field (non-combat zone), a soldier is to be granted a minimum of 4-hours sleep or rest. Then, with at least 10 other well rested soldiers in my platoon, my Staff Sergeant gave me the illegal order to drive a 5-ton-military-truck through icy, winter weather conditioned German civilian roads, despite two other Army regulations prohibiting me from doing so: (a) certification to operate said vehicle, and (b) a minimum of 6-hours of sleep to operate said vehicle (field training, non-combat zone). I had neither the certification nor the required sleep. I disobeyed the illegal order. I was commended for my good deeds by the sitting U.S. President and ordered a hearing for my VA benefits by the White House. In short, all that I did was not what Denis E. Guyer falsely told the people of the Pittsfield area was all that I did.

In response to Denis Guyer’s campaign worker, Peter Marchetti’s slander of me concerning my maternal grandmother. In the late winter, early-Spring of 2004, I answered my grandma’s telephone and a nurse apprised me that my grandmother’s diabetic blood sugar level as above a 600 level reading. Normal blood sugar ranges between 60 – 120. If my grandmother’s blood sugar went any higher, then she would suffer health complications, including possible death. I told my then 94-year-old grandmother I had to take her to the hospital to save her life. She ran to her room. I called my Aunts in neighboring Lanesboro and left a message explaining the situation. My estranged Aunt from Connecticut rudely came to the house, and we put aside our differences, and I helped get me grandmother into my Aunt’s car, and my Aunt took my Grandmother to the hospital. My grandmother’s diabetes was regulated, and she is now a healthy 98-year-old woman living with my Uncle in Rhode Island. Denis Guyer left out the piece of me saving my grandmother’s life, of course. After my grandmother wanted her independence back after I helped her recover from her illnesses, she asked me to leave. I had the option of living in the Berkshires, but I chose instead to live with my family in New Hampshire from April 7, 2004 through present day 2008.

Looking back on things now, I see that I was not meant to live in or around Berkshire County. I have too many political enemies there. I am happy to be able to write about these events, however, because I don’t believe people should get away with making someone out to be a bad person without filling in the picture with the rest of the story. I hope my dad is not retaliated against again by Pittsfield’s powerbrokers. That is not my intent. If I left out what they tried to do against me dad, how would I be able to tell my story about what they tried to do against me? Without the full context, people would only say, this guy seeks abuse, or the like. But, now the whole story is told, and I am happy to tell it! Please don’t hurt my dad anymore. Please stop slandering me.

In Truth,
Jonathan A. Melle

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January 5, 2008

Dear Glenn Heller, the People, the News Media, & Pols:

I do see Glenn Heller's point, below, on the connection between the Democrat Party and the caliber of politicians that party attracts!

It has been made clear to me over the past decade that powerful people in Massachusetts Politics want to HURT me!

Glenn Heller is correct to state that all of the people whom I write about are in fact "Liberal" DEMOCRATS who are all very entrenched in political power in Massachusetts.

It is like me waking up this morning and seeing a big zit on my face. That was not something I wanted to look at, but it was there.

I don't know what to do, Glenn!

Carmen C. Massimiano, Jr. told me not to feel safe in NH after I left the Pittsfield area. Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. wants to run for U.S. Congress without my interference. Denis E. Guyer wants people to believe his slander against me, such as that I belong in a psychiatric institution, and that I am some sort of a threat to women and society.

I have even been told that I will never find a job in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

I am a MISFIT! I am a politically persecuted man! I am a contradiction in terms!

Best regards,
Jonathan Alan Melle

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Date: Friday, January 4, 2008
From: Glenn M. Heller

Mr. Melle,

You continually claim that you and members of your family have suffered, or fear suffering, at the hands of a whole list of State and local elected officials. I don't doubt your version of events, but I cannot help but observe that all these people you rail against are self-professed Liberal Democrats. Every single politician about whom you complain is a loyal member of the Democrat Party power apparatus that runs Massachusetts and that for decades has been entrenched in power.

Therefore, why do you continue to support the party (and its professed 'principles') of people that hurt and harass you and your family?

Don't you see the connection between the Democrat Party and the caliber of politicians that party attracts?

Yours truly,
Glenn M. Heller, editor

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Date: February 8, 2008
To: Denis E. Guyer
From: Jonathan A. Melle
Re: Will I take the bait? Am I the bait? NO!Re: Will I take the bait? Am I the bait? NO!
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2/8/2008
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Dear Denis E. Guyer:

This is the last email I will ever send you.

I understand that I am supposed to react to all of the dirty politics of Andrea Nuciforo II, and the like. I understand that the rumors you spread about me are to bait me into reacting to the layers of bullying placed upon me since I have been nearly 21-years-old in May of 1996 when I first met "Luciforo" when my dad successfully ran for Berkshire County Commissioner. I understand what I am expected to do with all of this.

I have learned whom not to be in my life of 32.5 years and counting. I am not going to take the bait you and those you have colluded with against me by telling people such terrible things about me. The things you have said have gotten to me and the dirty politics have taken its toll on me. However, my response is to live at my own level of dignity and be myself, not someone else.

I am not a pawn in a chess board. I am not the bait. You have lost!

In eternal silence to you forever more,
Jonathan A. Melle

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2/12/2008

Dear News Media, Pols, & the People:

Denis Guyer is, INDEED, part of a group of people who have persecuted me, along with my dad, for participating in local (Western Massachusetts) and state (Beacon Hill) politics. He colluded with Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., and others like him to spread TERRIBLE, slanderous rumors about me to the people of the Pittsfield area.

Denis Guyer's July 23, 2005, publicly stated slanderous rumor against me that "All Jonathan Melle ever did was stalk a Jewish Woman from Otis [Massachusetts]" may very well have been a set up from the get go. I worked with a then young-woman from Becket at a Massachusetts State Park during the Summer of 1996. This woman's father was a professor at Berkshire Community College, which Nuciforo's maternal side of the family ran: The Wojtkowski's. Former-Pittsfield Mayor Anne E. Wojtkowski is Andrea Nuciforo's Aunt. Someone close to these corrupt career Pittsfield politicians put this woman's father up to harassing me through his daughter. My relationship with this woman was a manipulation and by the design of the Nuciforo's and their political machine. This woman's father got job security in exchange for bullying me.

Finally, in late-September through early-October of 1999, the dispute between this woman with her abusive father and I went before the Massachusetts State Police at the Berkshire County District Attorney's Office, after I apprised authorities of the problematic and long-standing situation. An investigation was done, and the resolve was that if they contacted me they would be arrested and vice-versa. However, no one ever suspected foul play by dirty politics. The day after I met with the Massachusetts State Police, I enlisted in the U.S. Army and honorably served our nation, resulting in President George W. Bush ordering me a hearing before the Board of Veterans Appeals one city block from The White House on July 19, 2004. I protected human lives in the U.S. Army by disobeying illegal and immoral orders. My VA case is still pending going on nearly 7-years. In mid-July 2002, the woman I worked with 6 summers prior was married. I have not heard anything about her since, other than her mother retired from teaching in June 2004, and her younger sister was married later that summer of 2004, by which I have had moved to Southern New Hampshire to live with my family. I still live in Southern NH today.

Between my summer job with the Becket woman and the termination of our difficult relationship, Nuciforo, et al, tried to get my dad in big trouble by taking a news article published in October 1997 in The North Adams Transcript newspaper and using it to (a) complain to my dad's boss in Boston that he was insubordinate, and (b) issue a formal complaint against my dad to the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission. My dad would have (a) lost his state job -and thereby state pension- that he worked in since December 1970, and (b) been forced to resign his elected position as Berkshire County Commissioner. During this same time period -the Spring of 1998-, Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., set up secretive plans with the Pittsfield Police Department to have me arrested on the false pretenses that I was threatening him after Nuciforo had previously threatened me twice.

It was during the Spring of 1998 -nearly ten years ago- that I have been having struggles with Anxiety and its related symptoms of depression. At that time, I almost failed out of graduate school at U Mass Amherst, where Nuciforo's ally State Senator Stan Rosenberg had two of his legislative interns harass me (sounds familiar?). At any rate, as time progressed, the picture became bigger, wider and clearer: Nuciforo was trying to hurt me through a manipulated system designed on layered bullying.

When Denis E. Guyer thought he could be the next in line to harass me and bring up to a wide Pittsfield audience a woman whom I had a friendship-only past relationship with, the response was predictable. Everyone was to believe that I am a disturbed, abusive and dangerous man, and stalking someone is just something that "Jon Melle" would do. The interesting thing, sort of like when the media attacks Chelsea Clinton, is that people defended me instead of the powerful interests. People saw me as young, as I was only 20 when I met this woman in 1996. People saw me as vulnerable. People told me that Denis E. Guyer was TERRIBLE and they were troubled as to why he would do this sort of thing.

I have been through "Hell" because of Nuciforo and his fellow powerbrokers in local and state government politics. Things could have been tragic for me and my family. It has been this way for me since I first met Nuciforo in May 1996 at a Democratic Party forum where my dad spoke with Congressman Olver, Nuciforo, Ed Reilly, Pat Carlino, and other candidates. I should not be held to Denis E. Guyer's criticisms of me, especially when he is just an opportunist who centers his life around MONEY and POWER.

I am glad my dad was both able to stay in his elected office and never fired from his state job and retired with a full pension in early-2002. I am happy for my woman-friend from the summer of 1996 for getting married in the summer of 2002. I hope she is living a happy and healthy life with her partner. I am happy I pulled my grades back up at U Mass and received my Master's Degree in Public Administration after graduating cum laude from Siena College with a B.A. in Political Science. I am happy I served my nation with honor, received ribbons and other awards, and the U.S. President sent me his regards with an order for me to receive my Veterans Benefits.

I HAVE A LOT TO BE PROUD OF IN MY LIFE. My dad is doing well. My mom is recovering well. My family is healthy and happy. I have accomplished many positive achievements. I am respected!

In Truth,
Jonathan A. Melle

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Representative Guyer wrote:

Dear Jonathan,

You will be back.

You sent a similar "last email" about four years ago to me. I think it was six months before you were writing about me again. Not that you will believe this, but I actually go months and months without thinking about you. These periods are only broken when someone sends me your latest wild, paranoid bloggings about me. I sort of laugh about them( you should know-EVERYONE laughs about them) and go back to what I was doing again- not thinking about you- and working for the people who elected me.

I think you see yourself as more significant in my life (and the lives of others) than you are, or ever could be. I mean, ask yourself...why would I, or anyone else for that matter spend any free time even thinking about you? I have better things to do with my time.

I hope you are moving on with your life, but I realy doubt that you can-or you will allow yourself to. You have been (by your own admission) fighting this imaginary fight since you were twenty-one and you are now "32.5".That's a long time to be caught up in a fantasy. Good luck trying to break the 11.5 year habit, I don't think you can and 32.5 will become 42.5 and then 52.5 and on and on.Someday you will look back on your life realizing you accomplished little else than putting together a really nasty blog about some people who could've cared less about you. Now there's something to be proud of!

Your rantings about me and others is what makes you feel self important and must give you a great deal of satisfaction.
Imagine my satisfaction though in knowing that your efforts, blogging about me, have actually resulted in more traffic to my website and even a donation to my campaign fund!! What a wonderful irony.

Anyway, I would say goodbye, but I somehow think Jonathan that I will be hearing from you again......and soon.

Get A Life,
Denis

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www.iberkshires.com/images/site_images/stories/25612.jpg
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"Ruberto Details Plans for Success", By Jen Thomas -iBerkshires.com-, January 07, 2008
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Mayor James M. Ruberto is sworn in by Register of Deeds Andrea Nuciforo as City Councilors Matthew Kerwood and Michael Ward look on at Monday's inaugural ceremony.
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www.iberkshires.com/story.php?story_id=25612
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JONATHAN MELLE's STAND AGAINST NUCIFORO
Written on September 27, 2004

My story about Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., (Luciforo), which I hope to tell for years upon years, decades upon decades, and I hope someday will be told for eternity, is that during the Spring of 1998 he secretly tried to have me arrested by the Pittsfield Police without Nuciforo telling either me or my father, with whom he had communicated with at that time on an almost weekly basis. Nuciforo lied to the police by telling them that I was threatening him.

At the North Adams, Massachusetts, Fall Foliage Parade, it was Nuciforo (with his then-legislative aide Sara Hathaway at his side) who confronted me in a hostile manner in the Fall of 1997. Luckily, I had my cousin and Uncle, the latter of whom was visiting North Adams from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., at my two sides and after he sized the three (3) of us up (even though I looked down at the ground in panic), he with Hathaway quickly walked away from us in fear for himself (as my family members protected me against Nuciforo by stepping in front of me. I felt like I was the President with Secret Service protection). I could not believe what had taken place. Here, the Berkshire State Senator was marching in a parade with many potential witnesses, and he tried to get in my face without cause.

At this point in the story, I think it is important to note that my dad, Bob Melle of Becket, was elected to the then Berkshire County Commission along side with then Berkshire County Commissioners William “Smitty” Pignatelli of Lenox and Ronald Kitterman of Pittsfield. My dad and I, among others, took a stand against then Governor William F. Weld’s ultimately successful proposal to abolish Berkshire County Government and for the state to take over its functions under the premise that centralization in big government or big business makes for a bigger economy of scale, reduces waste and increases economic efficiency. Nuciforo, as state Senator, concurred with then Governor Weld’s arguments that economic efficiency under the model of corporate governance is the end all of big government initiatives and that an abolished rural county government under the administrative prowess of the state would serve the People best as a “1-800” number to the citizens instead of actual human beings and representatives. Indeed, centralized bureaucracy won the day under Bill Weld, Andrea Nuciforo and other top-down state government officials. My dad and I, together and respectively, had a more organic view of government. We believed that we are a government “Of the People, By the People and For the People.” We believed that this process needed to include a lot more input by Berkshire County residents and the thirty-two (32) cities and towns. My dad and I wanted more representation, not less, and we did not want government in any way, shape or form that represented “bureaucracy” in the form of a “1-800” number in the name of corporate styled economic efficiency model. I still believe in the position that my dad and I took. Now, back to the story at hand…

Earlier that summer in August of 1997, I attended a promotional ceremony at the Berkshire County Court-House for now Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) Justice Francis X. Spina, who is a native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts (like my dad and I and many other proud Pittsfield natives). My dad and I were socializing with the public after the ceremony, and Nuciforo looked over at me with a stare that would have intimidated the President himself, nonetheless myself.

But little did Nuciforo know during those times that I have the deepest love of my country and devotion to God, and Nuciforo also did not know that I do know and believe that I am an American Citizen with U.S. Constitutional Rights and Civil Liberties and that I will always speak my good conscience as long as I live: GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!

At the time, Nuciforo thought that there were coercive ways that he could intimidate me. But because of my strong beliefs in the USA (my country), Freedom and Liberty, I would not respond in kind to his intimidation. Therefore, Nuciforo decided that he would get to me through the system. Nuciforo decided to bad mouth me to other politicians, namely U.S. Congressman John Olver, State Senator Stan Rosenberg, State Representatives Dan Bosley and Peter Larkin, among others, including North Adams Mayor John Barrett III, who told me that people said that I am “flaky” and that I did not have what it takes to make it in the real world (I still think Mayor Barrett is a good man, however). Most importantly, Nuciforo tried to get to me through the system via false reports to the police, which I understand made him look real bad to the police.

Nuciforo tries to act cocky around me when I see him at events. But what Nuciforo may not yet realize is that I do indeed love my country and I believe in God. No amount of coercion, ostracism, money or false morality will change my views, beliefs or actions. I know who I am and whom I support.

I attended Dawn Taylor Thompson’s two (2) political events in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on Thursday, September 23rd, 2004. I was impressed by her advocacy for public safety and the guest speaker’s similar comments. As a long-term vocal critic of state Senator Andrea F. Nuciforo II, I must disagree with the UNETHICAL eight (8) year Boston corporate banking lawyer/lobbyist’s – under the false pretense of a Berkshire Senator — negating criticisms of his opponent’s efficacious advocacy for public safety and likewise criticism of Nuciforo’s poor record on these life and death issues.

Dawn’s accurate criticisms of Nuciforo’s sole opposition to the all felon DNA Database in the Spring and Summer of 2003 must be put in the framework of a human perspective on the issue. A young 16-year old woman named Molly Bish was brutally raped and murdered in late June 2000. Her grieving parents went to Beacon Hill in the name of their late daughter and other victimized youth to ask lawmakers to put into law the proper public safety apparatuses to catch rapist, murders and perpetrators of violence against our youth, especially young woman.

In the midst of the Bish family’s requests for legal reforms for public safety, there was an inhumane state Senator from nowhere else than Pittsfield, Massachusetts who stood up against their every request. This person was none other than Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. While other lawmakers rushed to the Bish family’s side, including Pittsfield State Rep. Peter Larkin and newly elected Lenox State Rep. “Smitty” Pignatelli, Nuciforo decided to make a stand for “civil liberties” without apologies or any empathy whatsoever to the Bish family.

On public safety, I do know and believe that she would have taken a human look at the issues the Bish family was fighting for last year. Dawn would have told Molly Bish’s parents, siblings and community members that she cares about their situation and is sorry that such a crime took place against a 16-year old girl with her whole life still ahead of her. Dawn may have taken alternative points of view different from the Bish’s, but I know Dawn and I know she would have done so with compassion and for the public good.

While I agree with Nuciforo that we live in the age of a FASCIST U.S. Attorney General (John Ashcroft) who has nullified the U.S. Constitution in terms of the First Amendment’s Freedoms of Speech and Religion and also the Double Jeopardy clause in the same Bill of Rights, I personally have been a victim of Nuciforo’s own authoritarian actions (and so has my father).

Given the situations that I have been through with Nuciforo and the unspoken ones only I know that my father has been through with him where I will say both our rights and civil liberties were respectively nullified via Nuciforo’s intimidation and corruption of the system against my dad and I during the same time period, I see Nuciforo as disingenuous, malicious and unfair.

Artificial and banal politicians such as Nuciforo and states such as the former-U.S.S.R. do not last forever. Alluding to John Ashcroft is a point where I am in concurrence with Nuciforo, but that is where we meet and diverge. For Nuciforo is just as fake as Ashcroft, and the more and more the People see authoritarian politicians and states that corrupt other people and systems, the weaker and weaker those bad guys and evil states become.

I believe that someday that Stan Rosenberg and I will have a beer together. That Denis Guyer and I will work for forward looking reforms together. That Mayor Barrett and I will celebrate North Adams together. But I know that that day will come when Nuciforo is a private citizen and no longer exercises his all-or-nothing corrupting influence for his own UNETHICAL personal gain.

When the time is right, I will work to solidly oppose Nuciforo and other corrupt politicians and immoral states like him. I will work in an ETHICAL way with the People, News Media and Politicians for the good goals of truth, justice and the American way! My work will not be for my own personal gain, but as a member of team that collectively works under Liberty and God for the common good of humanity.

-Jonathan A. Melle
~Former lifelong resident of Berkshire County, Massachusetts~

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October 9, 2008

Re: The terrible truth about "Luciforo" & Denis E "Golddigger" Guyer!

Denis E Guyer is part of a network of Pittsfield area politicians and cronies who have used me as bait to get to my father for his then-outspoken voice in state and local politics in Pittsfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. The events Denis Guyer refers to were ALL manipulated by this "local political network" from day one. The episodes of the "Jewish woman from Otis" and her (BCC professor) father's abusive threats against me were ALL manipulations by Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., et al, via his maternal side of the family who ran Berkshire Community College.

Conspiratorially, I blame "Luciforo" for coercing the "Jewish woman’s" father for this entirely abusive situation. This woman’s father was a professor at Berkshire Community College in PITTSFIELD! Nuciforo’s maternal side of his family ran BCC, including Anne E. Wojtkowski, who is “Luciforo’s” Aunt and a former Mayor of Pittsfield. I believe someone connected to Nuciforo in PITTSFIELD put this woman’s father up to harassing me. If this conspiracy is true, it fits into all of the other negative Pittsfield scenarios. To be clear, the BCC professor's job security at BCC directly related to his abusive mistreatment of me!

-Jonathan Melle

P.S. "Luciforo's" M.O. is manipulating negative events without leaving his finger-prints behind so there is no evidence of his evil political deeds.

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October 9, 2008

Re: Denis E Guyer: True or FALSE!

Hi, Denis E Guyer!

You are such a nice guy! You have said such nice things about me over the past 4+ years! You took the time to respond to the letter my mother sent to you about how you have been towards me. You declined to be part of "Luciforo's" political network of mean-spiritedness, corruption and special interests. AND... You never took your two pay raises in your past two terms as Dalton's State Representative on Beacon Hill's State House! AND, of course, Pigs also have wings and fly, unicorns dance around the fields of plentiful harvests, and Santa Claus is hard at work preparing for Christmas because so many people are out of luck.

-Jonathan Melle

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October 9, 2008

Re: Denis E Guyer: ALL LIES!

Oh, please! I am taking the low road. The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it! That is pure propaganda! DENIS E GUYER has done nothing more than SLANDER me with the most vicious, hate-filled, racists, mean-spirited rumors for the past 4+ years now. He has used terrible words that have demeaned women, ethnic minorities --especially the Jewish people, and my family. Now he is saying that I want him to take the low road. That is so dishonest of Denis E Guyer! Furthermore, Denis E Guyer knows that the Lt Governor called him today because he is married to the Billionaire Crane Family that hosts campaign parties for John Forbes Kerry and Deval Patrick with contributions that total more than the average families home value. You Denis Guyer apologists are either FOOLS or totally snowed in!

-Jonathan Melle

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October 9, 2008

Re: Denis E Guyer: "Luciforo!"

Denis! We were FRIENDS! We attended political events together. We talked on the telephone. We signed each others nomination papers. We shared laughs and hand-shakes. You affirmed me by telling me to give "Luciforo", Larkin and Shaun Kelly hell for their terrible leadership in state and local government. THEN, YOU TURNED ON ME, Denis, NOT the other way around. You joined "Luciforo's" evil network of mean-spiritedness, corruption and special interests and you proved yourself to "Luciforo" by SLANDERING me with vicious, hate-filled, untrue rumors that have HURT PEOPLE, including my family. Should NOT you want to make a truce with me, at least for your own sake. We should apologize to each other and resolve this destructive conflict between us by calling a spade a spade and telling the World how evil and manipulative Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., was, is and always will be towards me, my dad, my family and friends -- past and present. Denis, please go back to the good man you once were and put "Luciforo" into his place for the sake of being a good man, which is something "Luciforo" will never be. Come back to me, Denis, if for nothing else, your own good, self-respect and peace of mind.

-Jonathan Melle

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October 9, 2008

Re: Denis E Guyer: Persecutor!

Denis! I have been through this persecution via "Luciforo's" layered bullying of me for nearly 12.5-years now. What you don't understand is when the same small-town network does what you did, indeed, do to me, it has become completely predictable and obvious to me after so many painful years of this mean-spiritedness. Redundantly writing, "Luciforo" tried to have my dad fired from his then-job of several dedicated decades, while at the same time trying to Jail me based on false police reports (Spring 1998). "Luciforo" has used a then-BCC professor and his young woman daughter -- whom I once had feelings for (Summer 1996) -- to entrap me into an abusive situation in return for this man's job security at BCC, which "Luciforo's" maternal side of the family ran: Wojtkowski's. "Luciforo's" insidious network blacklisted me, terminated my employment opportunities, and entrapped me into a Twilight Zone world where people think I am insane or paranoid. Denis, you were just the next guy in a long, long line of "Luciforo's" persecutors.

-Jonathan Melle

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October 9, 2008

Re: Denis E Guyer: The Man!

I am signing off for the rest of the day today (10/9/2008). In my closing for today, I choose to state:

THAT IS YOUR STATE & LOCAL GOVERNMENT AT YOUR DISSERVICE! POLITICIANS WITH NO INTEGRITY HURTING PEOPLE & MAKING YOUR LIFE and SOCIETY WORSE & WORSE OFF WHILE A FEW ELITE POWERBROKER POLS AND FAT-CATS LAUGH AT OUR EXPENSE (or misery). NO THANK YOU, DENIS E GUYER, FOR ALL OF YOUR ABUSE AGAINST ME AND SARCASTIC RESPONSES TO MY POSTINGS! I HOPE IT IS WORTH IT FOR YOU. YOU NOT ARE MY HERO, DENIS!

-Jonathan Melle

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October 11, 2008

Re: Is Jonathan Melle insane? Here is my answer...

Re: "just noticed": "Is Melle insane?" -

The questioning of my mental health is exactly what the political conspiracy is. I have been living with this conspiratorial entrapment for about the past 12.5-years of my life due to a terrible conspiracy orchestrated by Pittsfield area politicians all connected to Andrea F. Nuciforo II's (aka "Luciforo") local political network. Denis E Guyer is only the last in a long, long, long line of "Luciforo's" layered bullying of me. If I am still sane after all of the abuse I have witnessed and taken then I must be very resilient.

-Jonathan Melle

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http://www.topix.com/forum/source/berkshire-eagle/TO5AFH1JH4R3N1TLR
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October 11, 2008

Re: How "Luciforo's" insidious entrapment of me is going to go down...

When "Luciforo" makes a run for U.S. Congress in Western Massachusetts (U.S. Representative John W. Olver' current reshaped sprawling legislative district), he is going to have a group of state and local politicians, whom I have written against via email, letters and blog postings, sue me for libel and other false charges in court. I have no doubt about my projection. "Luciforo", who already unsuccessfully tried to jail me while at the same time launching multiple "ethics" investigations against my dad to attempt to ruin his career (Spring 1998), will use Denis E Guyer and the like (definitely Carmen Massimiano, and possibly Daniel Bosley or Stan Rosenberg -- if Stan defers to "Luciforo", et al) to take me to court for my writings against all of them. Remember please, when it comes to politics, the courts are often predetermined in favor of the powerful and against the powerless. That means that I am in a grace period where I am able to seem "unstable" or "insane" to the average observer, while those who care about me can sharpen their focus and they will be prepared for the inevitable PERSECUTION of me so that "Luciforo" can represent his insurance company friends and lobbyists on Capitol Hill in U.S. Congress and reward all of his minions with political plums and campaign donations and the like. Boy, I cannot wait for this day to come so that the good people, such as my FAVORITE journalist EVER, Mary E Carey, can defend me and tell the World about what Pittsfield's political prince of darkness has done, is doing, and will do to me for the politics of corruption and special interests.

-Jonathan Melle

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Re: The "Luciforo" conspiracy...Starring Denis E Guyer...

11/1/2008

Don't you get it? I was/am the bait for "Luciforo" to ruin my dad's life. When "Luciforo" began his layered bullying of me in May 1996, I was only secondary to "Luciforo's" persecution of my dad via his multiple ethics complaints against my dad two years later. This is all a CONSPIRACY! I am NOT insane. I, like you, believe my dad is a good man. I tell my dad that he is a good man, while I also tell my dad that "Luciforo" is a bad man for what he did to both of us. I just wish you would wrap your collective heads around this complex situation where I am a victim of "Luciforo's" dirty politics. All that I want from Denis E Guyer is (a) to admit to the terrible things he said about me and that he will change from his fascist ideology to believing in Human Rights for ALL, and Peoples (b) to please admit that "Luciforo" and his warped political network put him, along with the many other "Luciforo" henchmen, up to slandering me with vicious, anti-semetic, hate-filled and discriminatory rumors that could have incited violence, harm and other damages, if I was not such a good person and chose to handle this situation, among related events, differently. I am the one who is choosing peace and justice!

- Jonathan Melle

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http://www.topix.net/forum/source/berkshire-eagle/TO5AFH1JH4R3N1TLR/p9
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The Massachusetts State Ethics Commission: A Kangaroo Court!
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"A nightmarish future: Judge Luciforo!...Jonathan Melle in Hell!"
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www.topix.net/forum/state/ma/TEAD5CPNHN94U6OQC
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Lindsay Thompson, left, and Edith Nanfuma, right, help Natasha Wallace fit her mortarboard for graduation from Berkshire Community College at Tanglewood in Lenox. They are all nursing students. (Ben Garver / Berkshire Eagle Staff)
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"BCC grads look ahead"
By Benning W. De La Mater, Berkshire Eagle Staff, Saturday, May 30, 2009

LENOX — Maybe it's not the best time to be entering the workforce, but tough times call for creative thinkers.

That was the message to the graduating class of Berkshire Community College during Friday's 49th commencement ceremony inside the Serge Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood.

State Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, an alumnus of the two-year school, said the 255 degree and 55 certificate recipients should feel lucky to be finishing their BCC education amid the current recession and with unemployment spiking. These are the times when innovators make their mark.

"The old ways of doing business are being questioned," Downing said. "You all have the opportunity to contribute new ideas. You have the ability to shape and change your communities."

Most of the graduates, a mix of 146 associates of science and 109 associates of art, will go on to four-year schools. Jeff Doscher, dean of institutional advancement at BCC, said the three most popular schools favored by BCC students are University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Westfield State College.

The majority of the grads majored in business, nursing, criminal justice and liberal arts.

While this year's graduating class is average in size, Doscher said there is a 20 percent increase in applications for the fall, a jump that school officials believe is due to increases made to the Pell Grant system.

"With the economy the way it is and the rising cost of private colleges, students and parents are looking at the state colleges more often," Doscher said.

Mayor James M. Ruberto called on the graduates to be "engaged citizens."

"You are the heroes of the day," he said. "The best educational experience is the one you already received."

Keynote speaker Dr. Marcella Wojtkowski Bradway, a 1985 BCC grad, was recently hired by Berkshire Medical Center. She is the first woman to join the hospital's Surgery Department.

Her father, Thomas Wojtkowski, was a state politician and crafted legislation that created the state's community college system. Her mother, Anne E. Wojtkowksi, was a longtime BCC professor and became the city's first woman mayor in 1987.

Bradway told the crowd that she used to take naps in her mother's office. When she first took classes at BCC, she had no idea what she wanted to do.

"Don't let the fear of change paralyze you," she said. "Be open to the possibilities. The details? You'll figure those out along the way."

Co-valedictorian Kimberly A. Gritman, a Taconic High School graduate and a theater major, told her fellow grads that curiosity is one of human kind's greatest traits.

"You should have a whole catalogue to draw upon," she said.

Co-valedictorian Michelle M. Loubert, 51, of Great Barrington, went back to school to get an associates in liberal arts. She said working alongside her younger peers during all-night study sessions, she learned that "Red Bull really does give you wings."

"I represent the timelessness factor of education," she said. "There's always room to learn more. Personal growth is not stamped with an expiration date."
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To reach Benning W. De La Mater: bdelamater@berkshireeagle.com, (413) 496-6243.
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www.topix.net/forum/source/berkshire-eagle/TCARQ4RH5H72KHV3T
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On May 31, 2009, Jonathan Melle wrote:

RE: "Her father, Thomas Wojtkowski, was a state politician and crafted legislation that created the state's community college system. Her mother, Anne E. Wojtkowksi, was a longtime BCC professor and became the city's first woman mayor in 1987."

Tom is "Luciforo's" uncle and Anne is his aunt-in-law. Via "Luciforo" & the Wojtkowski's Pittsfield political family, I was victimized by many years of layered bullying and persecutions of my family.
BCC is only about these guys, NOT higher eduction!

- Jonathan Melle

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May 20, 2010

Re: Nuciforo tried to jail me 12 years ago today

May 20, 1998 was the day Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. tried to have me arrested by making secret plans with the Pittsfield Police Department to have me arrested if I stopped by his district office in downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts, so that I would be sent to Carmen C. Massimiano, Jr.'s jail to be abused for speaking out against "Luciforo" -- one of the most corrupt, dirty, insidious and conspiratorial politicians. Indeed, Nuciforo tried to jail me 12 years ago today when I was only 22 years old while attending graduate school at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

As well, this Spring represents to me 14 years of "Luciforo's" layered bullying of me and persecution of my family. Starting when I was 20 years old, Nuciforo has conspiratorially used many people connected to his political network to harass me and persecute my family. During the Summer of 1996, Nuciforo secretly used a Becket family whose father worked as a professor at Berkshire Community College to threaten and harass me. I worked with the BCC/Becket man's adult daughter that summer at a state park in Sandisfield State Forest, who went onto claim that I stalked her while she flirted with me, sent me love notes and a Valentine card, and who had several different men threaten and harass me at the behest of her father who worked with Nuciforo's Aunt named Anne E. Wojtkowski, who was a former Mayor of Pittsfield in the late-1980's, and Nuciforo's Uncle named Tom Wojtkowski, who was a former Pittsfield State Representative. When I complained to the Massachusetts State Police at the Berkshire District Attorney's Office that the Becket man was threatening and harassing me, Nuciforo's name kept coming up by the BCC/Becket family. They did not want me to run against Nuciforo. The connections and network was evident of the conspiracies I endured as a young adult.

During the Spring of 1998, Nuciforo filed multiple "ethics" complaints against my dad, Bob Melle, who was an Assistant Chief Probation Officer at the Pittsfield District Court and an elected Berkshire County Commissioner. He filed complaints to the state "ethics" commission and my Dad's chief Judge in Boston. Nuciforo tried to get my Dad fired from his courthouse job and force him to resign his elected post, too. My dad would've lost the state pension he collects today, and the healthcare plan that helped my mom receive medical treatment for breast cancer would've been lost. If Nuciforo's persecution of my family was successful 12 years ago, I would have been put in Carmen Massimiano's Pittsfield jail to be abused, my dad would be a poverty stricken senior citizen, and my mom would have died of breast cancer.

I do NOT like Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. He has been terrible to my family. When I turned 30 on July 23, 2005, that very same day, Nuciforo had Denis E. Guyer publicly stated at the Massachusetts State Democratic Convention at Bosquet in Pittsfield, "All Jonathan Melle ever did was stalk a Jewish woman from Otis. I believe Jonathan Melle belongs in a pyschiatric institution. President Bush ordered Jonathan Melle a VA Hearing and they're willing to give Jonathan Melle everything. I hope he gets nothing." It was like clock work that Nuciforo would insidiously deploy the conspiratorial situation he put me in as a young man nearly a decade later to discredit and provoke me.

Predictably, Nuciforo is planning a run for U.S. Congress to oust Representative John W. Olver in 2012. I feel bad for Mr. Olver because he does not know "Luciforo" like I do. Nuciforo will use any means no matter how unconscionable to attack John Olver without leaving behind any of his own finger-prints by layering his bullying, harassment and threats via using other people to act out his conspiratorial persecutions of people.

I wonder how any person is able to manipulate people like Nuciforo has done to me via Nuciforo using his political network to persecute people like me and my family. Why do people do these kinds of things to other people? What benefit did these people get out of harassing me as a young 20 year old man and continuing their attacks on me and my family over the years? Why do people believe it is O.K. to hurt people if they don't leave their own finger-prints behind?

I cannot believe that I have lived the last 14 years of my adult life defending myself against the Nuciforo network. When I talk to my friends, family, mental health providers, and others, no one really gets what has been done to me and my family by Nuciforo. Am I really a paranoid and disturbed man who sees all of what I have witnessed as something it is not? Were all of these incidents and events just random and coincidental? Were all of these layered bullies, threats, harassments, blacklistings, etcetera, tangentially connected to Nuciforo and his political network? I don't believe so anyways. I believe I am a victim of the Nuciforo network. I believe I put the big picture together on what has happened over the adult years of my life. I am grateful that Nuciforo did not succeed in destroying me and my family. I don't believe that this melodrama is over. I believe I have to be on constant alert to Nuciforo's dirty politics. I feel bad for Congressman Olver and those connected to him over the next several years. I hope they will be strong.

In Truth!
Jonathan Melle

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NOTE: Denis Guyer & I reached an understanding on 1/31/2011 that we are not trying to politically hurt each other and that Denis Guyer may not have spread any rumors against me. I deleted all my negative Blog postings on Denis Guyer today.
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February 1, 2011

Re: a conspiratorial network

I don't know what to believe anymore. Since I was 20-years-old in the Spring of 1996, I have been manipulated by a conspiratorial network that centers around Andrea Nuciforo II. Back then, my Dad was a probation officer who was campaigning for a seat on the Berkshire County Commission. My Dad and Nuciforo, who was campaigning for Berkshire State Senator, spoke at many of the same Democratic Party candidates forums. I worked a summer job with a then-23-year-old woman from Becket, where my family lived, and she ended up abusing me at the behest of her father, who worked as an environmental professor at Berkshire Community College, where Nuciforo's Aunt (former Pittsfield Mayor Anne E. Wojtkowski) worked. The Becket man did nothing but abuse, threaten, and harass me. In the Fall of 1999, I filed a letter of complaint against the Becket man and indirectly his adult daughter for their abuses against me. I met with the Masssachusetts State Police Officers at the Berkshire District Attorney's Office. No charges were filed on either side, but we left as estranged parties. The conspiracy was that the Becket man and his daughter's abuses against me were manipulated by a political network for power over my family. It was all done for political reasons! Now, I recently corresponded with Denis Guyer, who explained to me that our respective enemies are pushing our buttons like when I lived in Becket when I was a young man confused about why the Becket man and his daughter were being my enemies. I am supposed to engage people in interpersonal conflicts to hurt people and get hurt by people while the same political network manipulates me from the time I was 20-years-old. The Becket man and his daughter looked bad, and I looked bad; and now, Denis Guyer looked bad, and I looked bad, again. All the while, a conspiratorial network sits in some sort of schadenfreude, manipulating me year after year after year...of my adult life. Just who in the hell do these people who conspire for Andrea Nuciforo II think they are to mess with someone's personal life like this? Why do people do these sort of things to each other? I am not paranoid, here. This conspiracy is real! Nuciforo wants political power so badly that he has been using a political network to conspiratorially manipulate people's personal lives. Denis Guyer wished me well in my ongoing treatment for my mental illnesses that I go to counseling and take medications for in order to recover from my traumas. He is a good man. I feel that some of my mental health issues have been exacerbated by the actions of the conspiratorial political network that centers around Nuciforo. Denis Guyer has offered me a channel of communication to affirm that he is not hurting me and that I am not hurting him. Denis Guyer and I will not be manipulated in a wheel inside another wheel spun around and around by political conspirators. My experiences in politics have led me to believe that politics is a bad business that is about power, control and vested interests instead of truth, justice and democracy. People are afraid to lose their jobs, status, reputations, and peace of mind so they fearfully follow politicians like Andrea Nuciforo II and his political network of family and supporters. People get burned, manipulated, hurt, and misled, while politicians collude, look like good guys when they are really the trouble-makers, and sit in positions of power enjoying their conspiratorial shadenfreude. I think Andrea Nuciforo II deserves the evil name "Luciforo" and his political network of family and supporters are mean-spirited. It is sad to see someone like "Luciforo" vie for a seat in U.S. Congress because he all about power and money for all the wrong reasons that I have just written about.

- Jonathan Melle

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August 24, 2012

Re: How I feel about Pittsfield

Sometimes, I miss living in the City of Pittsfield, which is where I was born and grew up. I miss the Good Old Days of my youth. But, I don't miss the Good Old Boys, especially those who have ruled Pittsfield politics for over a generation. I don't miss people like Carmen Massimiano. I don't miss Andrea Nuciforo. And, I don't miss Jimmy Ruberto. I am happy that I did not end up on North Street. There are a lot of good people in Pittsfield. I feel that they are kept down by the Pittsfield political machine that consists of local families who share a shallow gene pool. If you are related to Carmen Massimiano, you will find a good job in Pittsfield. If you are Andrea Nuciforo, your dad was a Judge, your Aunt was a Mayor, and your Uncle was a state Representative. If you are Jimmy Ruberto, your late-brother was a District Attorney and then a Judge. I feel that the Good Old Boy network and politicians like Carmen Massimiano, Andrea Nuciforo, and Jimmy Ruberto control Pittsfield for their own interests. They don't care about the people. They serve themselves and do only for their own kind. They expect people to kiss their behinds if they want anything in Pittsfield. I see the Good Old Boys for the phony's that they really and truly are. Jimmy Ruberto wrote to me that Pittsfield is a negative place for me. I disagree with him. I love my native hometown. I am not fooled by the economically dying community ran by Good Old Boy politicians who run the Pittsfield political machine for their own benefit. They have played dirty politics against me and my family. Nuciforo's network has used people to do his dirty work against me in and around Pittsfield. I had to complain to the Massachusetts State Police at the Berkshire County District Attorney's Office about a Becket man who worked at Berkshire Community College as an Environmental Science faculty member and his adult daughter who were threatening and harassing me for several years when I was in my early-20's. They were just pawns creating conflict and fear on behalf of Nuciforo's network. Nuciforo's Aunt ran the politics at BCC and they had these people be abusive against me. It was all dirty politics. Nuciforo's network tried to get my dad fired from his then-state government job at the Pittsfield Courthouse by filing "ethics" complaints against him when I was in my early-20's, too. Nuciforo set up these conspiratorial situations against me and my family and then went onto have people slander me for the negative situations they put me and my family in. Nuciforo is all about power, and not for the right reasons. I feel that people like Carmen Massimiano, Andrea Nuciforo, and Jimmy Ruberto would be nobodies if they weren't in Pittsfield and part of the Good Old Boy network of local families who share a low gene pool. I refuse to kiss their behinds. I am proud to stand up against these people in my writings and blogs. I believe that Nuciforo will lose his campaign to be elected to U.S. Congress in 2012. He struck out by plagiarizing policy issues on his web-site. Nuciforo made a lot of enemies when he wanted to oust Congressman John W. Olver without showing any class and decency about it. I believe Nuciforo has a big ego because he is part of Pittsfield's corrupt and insider political network by birth like many of the other Good Old Boy politicians. Nuciforo also strong-armed 2 women candidates out the election in 2006 for Pittsfield Registry of Deeds. The names of the 2 women are Sara Hathaway, who is a former Pittsfield Mayor, and Sharon Henault. Nuciforo anointed himself to the state government sinecure in order to plot his run for higher political office. Nuciforo abuses his power in Pittsfield and is a prime example of the Good Old Boy network who run the Pittsfield political machine. I miss Pittsfield, but I am glad I don't have to live there anymore. Moreover, there are so many social problems, such as the high annual teen pregnancy rates.

- Jonathan Melle

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January 30, 2013

Re: The dark-side of Pittsfield politics

Pittsfield politics has been a point of real frustration to me. I am a citizen who speaks out about the role of government in society. We need a sustainable economy with middle class families who have job security and a living wage. Children should be safe, and go to good public schools. Politicians should be honest and welcome feedback. My experience in Pittsfield is that of being black-listed from the "real world", meaning I could not get a job or retain employment because I upset politicians like Andrea Nuciforo and Carmen Massimiano. What was worse, even when I moved away from the area, the Pittsfield political area made sure to slander me with one-sided accusations that I wanted to somehow hurt a woman from Becket, which is where my family lived from 1996 - 2003. It didn't matter that I never hurt this person. It didn't matter that she was married in 2002. It didn't matter that I resolved our domestic dispute through the police. That is how I was treated for caring about my native community of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, which is where I grew up and lived for a majority of my life. Pittsfield is a small-town with many small people who run the political system. Like most bureaucracies, they want control and not dissent or feedback. I am glad I moved away from Pittsfield as an adult entering my middle age years. I would be too humiliated to live in Pittsfield anymore. I don't know if I can psychologically take it anymore. At least Dan Valenti speaks for many of the people like me.

- Jonathan Melle

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May 20, 2013

Re: Andrea Nuciforo tried to jail me 15 years ago

On May 20, 1998, when I was 22-years-old, Andrea Nuciforo tried to put me in jail by making secret plans with the Pittsfield Police Department to have me arrested by falsely alleging that I threatened him. Prior to Nuciforo's attempt to jail me, Andrea Nuciforo tried to get my dad fired from his state government job at the Pittsfield Courthouse by filing multiple "ethics" complaints against my dad. Fortunately for my dad and me, Nuciforo's attempts to legally hurt us were unsuccessful. Since I was 20-years-old when I first met Andrea Nuciforo back in May 1996, Andrea Nuciforo has been conspiratorially manipulating people to bully me without leaving behind his own finger-prints. I was happy that Andrea Nuciforo lost his campaign for U.S. Congress in 2012 by 40-points to U.S. Representative Richard Neal. I really dislike Andrea Nuciforo!

- Jonathan Melle

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May 31, 2013

Re: Discrimination is Wrong!

I remember when Pittsfield politics was discriminatory to Police Officer Walter Powell, who is a black man, and he made out with a one million dollar settlement from the taxpayers.

There was a theory that Pittsfield has 2 high schools for racist (and classist) reasons. The privileged white students went to Pittsfield High School. The disadvantaged black students went to Taconic High School. Now that Pittsfield has lost over 20,000 people who have moved away and many others to school choice, does Pittsfield still need 2 high schools?

I think Mayor Dan Bianchi is a good man. I don't know the facts of his case, however. He seems to think that Doreen Wade is out to get him. Does she have good reason? Per black and other minority personnel in City Hall, I would ask how many minorities work for the Pittsfield city government? The City of Pittsfield is the single largest employer in Pittsfield. How many minorities work for the city government, including the school department?

When I a Soldier was in the U.S. Army, my Sergeant and Staff Sergeant were both black and they did not treat me fairly. I endured a lot of abuse from them. I always wondered if it was reverse racism. I am a Disabled Veteran now. I served our nation Honorably. There were racial conflicts in my Army unit. Some of the black Sergeants told me they did not believe I was treated fairly by my black Staff Sergeant. Some of my fellow black Soldiers advocated for me and protected me from bullying. There were white Soldiers who made racist conflict against the black Soldiers. I didn't like that. I thought that we should all get along and serve together as one unit.

When I worked at a bank in Pittsfield, my branch manager used the racist word "wop" against me because my last name is Italian-American. When I complained to the bank management and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, my Branch Manager who had me fired denied all of his behavior and words. The bank managment and MCAD did nothing for me. I got screwed once again by discrimination after my experience in the service.

In Pittsfield politics, the Nuciforo network made it a point to spread false rumors againt me that I "stalked a Jewish woman from Otis" (she is from Becket, but lives close to Otis, Massachusetts). Since May 1996, when I first met Nuciforo, he had this family bully me on his behalf without Nuciforo leaving behind his own finger-prints. Nuciforo conspiratorially set up the whole manipulated conflict between my family, who lived in Becket at the time, and this family, and then he deployed the vicious rumor underlined with racism against me. The Nuciforo network never told Pittsfield that we resolved our conflict peacefully with the police and that this woman was married in 2002. I was a victim of discrimination once again after the military and the bank.

I don't like racism or discrimination. It seems to be about power and abuse. It is also very hurtful. I think that Dan Valenti should be careful about pursuing this story (concerning Doreen Wade's allegations of racism against Mayor Dan Bianchi).

- Jonathan Melle

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September 1, 2013

Re: Andrea Nuciforo tried to jail me 15 years ago

The reason I follow Luciforo in politics is because he was very conspiratorial and mean-spirited to me and my family. Since I first met Andrea Nuciforo, Jr. in May 1996, when I was 20 years old, he had people bully me on his behalf without leaving behind his own fingerprints. Whenever the Nuciforo network had a chance to bully me, they took it. I was threatened by people. The Nuciforo network blacklisted me from getting and keeping a job in the Pittsfield area. In May 1998, Andrea Nuciforo tried to put me in the Pittsfield jail where his close friend Carmen Massimiano, Jr. would have had me abused (beaten up) by his jailer staff and inmate prisoners. Prior to Nuciforo trying to jail me when I was 22 years old, Nuciforo tried to get my dad fired from his state government job at the Pittsfield courthouse by filing multiple "ethics" complaints against him in both Pittsfield and Boston. Nuciforo is a corrupt and dirty politician, and it is my right to write about his public record in Pittsfield politics. I believe Nuciforo is using his political connections to try to open up a medical marijuana dispensary in Amherst, Massachusetts, to sell pot to college kids. Nuciforo is not a medical doctor, nor a mental health provider. Nuciforo is a dirty politician/lawyer who applied for a pot permit because he wants to make money. Nuciforo will use all of the money he would make off of medical marijuana for his future political campaign for U.S. Congress someday in the future.

- Jonathan Melle

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/pittsfield-ma/TJ30KUNRFQQVI8SF7

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November 8, 2013

Re: The dark side of Pittsfield politics

If you speak out against the Good Old Boy network in Pittsfield politics, you get blacklisted. My own experience includes Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. falsely alleging that I threatened him to the Pittsfield Police Department in the Spring and Summer of 1998 so that I would be arrested and sent to Nuciforo's close friend Carmen Massimiano, Jr.'s Pittsfield jail. Prior to Nuciforo trying to jail me, Nuciforo filed "ethics" complaints against my dad in the Fall of 1997 though the Spring of 1998 to try to get my dad fired from his state government job at the Pittsfield courthouse. Fortunately for me and my family, Nuciforo was unsuccessful in trying to get my dad fired and putting me in Carmen Massimiano's Pittsfield jail. Over a decade ago from the Spring of 2002 to the early-Summer of 2003, I looked for a job for over one year of my adult life in Pittsfield without anyone in Pittsfield hiring me for employment. I was blacklisted from finding a job in Pittsfield by the Good Old Boy network. Pittsfield politics is vindictive and retaliatory, as well as conspiratorial!

- Jonathan Melle

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January 27, 2014

My negative experiences in Pittsfield:
* From late-May 2002 through mid-June 2003, or for over one year of my adult life, I looked for a job – any job – in Pittsfield, but no one offered me employment.
* I was blacklisted from finding a job in Pittsfield by the Nuciforo network. I sent Sheriff Carmen Massimiano a letter, and I heard he threw it in the trash.
* Pittsfield politics made a statement that no one was going to offer me a job in Pittsfield.
* I felt I had a better chance winning the Massachusetts State Lottery than finding employment in Pittsfield.
* I feel that if I lived anywhere else but Pittsfield, I would have been able to find a job.
* When I was collecting nomination signatures in early-2004, not one of the Pittsfield politicians would sign my papers, including Carmen Massimiano, Peter Larkin, William “Smitty” Pignatelli, and Daniel Bosley of North Adams.
* On an intellectual level, I found my experiences in Pittsfield interesting. I was blacklisted from employment, and the top-down Pittsfield politicians hated me.
* Now I read Dan Valenti’s blog, and I read about Pittsfield politics. Pittsfield has one of the worst local economies in the nation, and its political system is corrupt.
* I am very happy I don’t live in Pittsfield anymore!

- Jonathan Melle

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May 3, 2014

Re: carmen massimiano - hall of SHAME!

Former Berkshire County Sheriff Carmen Massimiano Jr. is going to be inducted to the Catholic Schools Hall of Fame. I must register my dissent!

Since the Spring of 1996, when I was only 20 years old, Andrea Nuciforo Jr. began conspiratorially bullying me without leaving behind his own finger-prints/dna. To be clear, Nuciforo had other people bully me on his behalf for over one decade of my young adult life. One of Nuciforo's bullying henchmen was his close friend Carmen Massimiano. During the Spring of 1998, when I was only 22 years old, Nuciforo falsely reported me to the Pittsfield Police Department that I allegedly threatened him. If I was to show up at Nuciforo's legislative district office on North Street, Pittsfield, the police were to be immediately called and I was to be arrested. The point of Nuciforo's plan was to send me to his close friend Carmen Massimiano's Pittsfield jail where Carmen Massimiano and his jailer staff were to have abused me. I was never more scared than when I learned of Nuciforo and Massimiano's plot to have me arrested and sent to Carmen Massimiano's jail. Years later, when I moved to Amherst, NH, from Pittsfield, Mass., over one decade ago in 2004, I was in Pittsfield to see non-Veteran Jack Downing's new homeless shelter for Veterans -- as I am a 100 percent service connected Disabled Veteran who served our nation Honorably in the U.S. Army -- when Carmen Massimiano approached me and told me that I should not feel safe because I moved away from Pittsfield and that he knew that I knew what they did to me in Pittsfield and not to tell anyone about it. Carmen Massimiano did not apologize to me. Rather, Carmen Massimiano mocked me and tried to intimidate me.

Like I told Nuciforo over the years: "I will always speak my good conscience as long as I live!"

Nuciforo and Carmen Massimiano co-hosted political events together over the years. Nuciforo bragged to the news media that he would be a Member of U.S. Congress from Pittsfield. Nuciforo and Carmen Massimiano symbolizes the worst that Pittsfield politics has to offer!

- Jonathan Melle

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May 20, 2014

Re: Nuciforo tried to jail me 16 years ago today

Since the Spring of 1996, when I was only 20 years old, Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. and his political network began bullying me and my family for over one decade of my life. Nuciforo bullied me without leaving behind his own finger-prints/dna. Nuciforo conspiratorially had other people bully me on his behalf. On May 20, 1998 - 16 years ago today - when I was only 22 years old, Nuciforo made false reports to the Pittsfield Police Department that I allegedly threatened him. Nuciforo would have had me arrested if I showed up at his legislative district office on North Street, Pittsfield. Nuciforo would have had me sent to his close friend's - named Carmen Massimiano - Pittsfield jail where Carmen Massimiano and his jailer staff were to have abused me. I was very scared back then. Since then, I decided to write about it via emails to the news media and on my blog.

- Jonathan Melle

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September 19, 2014

Re: Pittsfield sucks!

In the Spring of 2002, when I was 26 years old, I was terminated from my job as a bank teller because I complained about my branch manager discriminating against me by using the racist term “wop” against me. For over one year of my adult life, I looked for a job in Pittsfield. No one in Pittsfield would hire me for over one year of my adult life. I found a job in the Summer of 2003, working at a Massachusetts State Park. I heard my branch manager bad-mouthed me to prospective employers. I felt black-listed by the Good Old Boy network because I spoke out about state and local politics, and Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. was my political enemy. By the Spring of 2004, I moved to Souther New Hampshire, where I have lived for the past decade. Since I moved away from Pittsfield, I was slandered by the Nuciforo network, who spread the false rumor that I “stalked a Jewish woman from Otis.” Denis Guyer denies taking part in this. I worked part-time at a store in NH. I ended up on welfare. Eventually, I won my Veterans case and I am a 100 percent disabled Veteran who served our nation Honorably. I am o.k. now, but it was a rough ride. I feel that if I came from anywhere except Pittsfield, I would have done much better in my adult life. Pittsfield is a conspiratorial and mean-spirited community that I hope to never return to for the rest of my life. The same group of people pull the same crap in Pittsfield over the years. Unless you are related to one of their low-gene pool, interrelated, multigenerational families, or unless you kiss their corrupt behinds, you end up like I did. I am happy I live in Southern New Hampshire now.

- Jonathan Melle

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"Anne Wojtkowski dies; engineer, educator and Pittsfield's first woman mayor"
By Jim Therrien and Dick Lindsay, Berkshire Eagle Staff, 10/13/2014

PITTSFIELD -- There were few glass ceilings in Berkshire County that Anne Everest Wojtkowski didn't smash through.

Wojtkowski, who died Monday at 79, was the first woman to serve as mayor of Pittsfield (from 1988-92), championed equal pay for female college faculty, spearhead early childhood education, all while being dedicated to her family.

"My brother [Tom] and I were the most important to her," said daughter, Dr. Marcella Bradway. "She gave up plenty of opportunities to go elsewhere."

Instead, Wojtkowski chose her native Pittsfield to make her mark in public education and politics.

An engineer by trade -- the first woman in her class at Boston University -- the Pittsfield High School alum returned to the city in the 1960s from the Boston area with her husband, Thomas, and two young children. She would embark on a 35-year career as a professor of mathematics and engineering at Berkshire Community College, retiring from BCC in 2004.

Her first taste of a mayoral campaign was in 1981, when she ran for mayor and lost in the preliminary election. Six years later she successfully won the first of two consecutive two-year mayoral terms, breaking the gender barrier in the corner office at City Hall.

"Clearly she was a trailblazer for women in politics," said state Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox. "She not only cracked the glass ceiling, but she broke through it for other females to follow."

Former state Sen. Andrea Nuciforo Jr., Wojtkowski's nephew, said his aunt wasn't about being first, but what's best for her hometown.

"Anne got into public service for the same reason she got into education -- she wanted to make a difference," Nuciforo said. "She entered city government during a difficult time: GE was pulling out, PCBs was becoming a hot topic and the economy was in a downt[ur]n."

At times, Wojtkowski butted heads with the City Council, only because she was adamant about getting things done, according to her daughter.

"It bothered her that she was misunderstood [as mayor,]" Bradway said. "She was contentious with the City Council, but if she had a point to make, she stuck with it."

Wojtkowski's re-election bid felt short in 1991, losing in the preliminary to her eventual successor, Edward Reilly.

The former city solicitor lauded Wojtkowski for being gracious in defeat and helping him transition into the mayor's job before he was sworn in January of 1992.

"When I got elected, she gave me all the ins and outs of the office," he said. "Even some of the people loyal to her stayed on during my first term."

Reilly also praised Wojtkowski for being among active supporters of the efforts that led to a $16 million restoration of the Colonial Theatre a decade ago. She also helped the city buy and convert the old Capitol Theatre and movie house into the present-day senior center on North Street, which opened after Reilly became the city's chief executive.

Wojtkowski's mayoral career was sandwiched between her being a pioneer for the Pittsfield Public Schools and a trendsetter for higher education.

In 1967 at the age of 32, Wojtkowski won her first election as the city's top vote-getter, winning a four-year term on the School Committee.

"There isn't a good reason in the world why the Pittsfield school system can't be one of the top systems, not only in the state but in the country," she said in one of her first public statements after the election that year.

Wojtkowski went on to call for "an orderly reorganization of the [school] department along the lines recommended by [a consulting firm]."

Between the mid-1960s and early 1980s, she also served as the chairwoman of the School Building Needs Commission that oversaw a $9 million modernization project at Pittsfield High, completed in 1977.

Seven years earlier in 1970, she helped the city school system establish one of the nation's first early childhood education programs, still in existence today.

"She was most proud of that," Bradway said. "The kids were the most important to her; she was a very nurturing person."

And persistent.

In 1983, she and another female professor initiated a lawsuit against BCC over an alleged lack of promotional and pay equity. The Massachusetts Teachers Association joined in the legal action and expanded it to include female educators and professionals at all state community colleges. Nine years later, the suit was settled for $10.6 million, considered the largest of its kind in Massachusetts and a springboard for the national movement for equal pay.

After taking a four-year hiatus from BCC to be mayor, Wojtkowski returned to the West Street campus, devoted to higher education and helping rebuild the local economy through the community college.

"I know we have engineers in Berkshire County and beyond who credit Anne with providing them with a top notch education," said BCC President Ellen Kennedy. "They have successful careers because of Anne's teaching."

Wojtkowski also co-founded Berkshire Enterprises, an entrepreneurial program that has trained hundreds of Berkshirites to start their own businesses and create more than 1,100 jobs.

"We are a better community for her leadership and innovation," Kennedy said.

In later years, Wojtkowski was an author, writing "Porcelain and Pottery Shoes," and other books. She was a collector of souvenir china, past president of the Berkshire Historical Society and considered one of the best ever to sail on Pontoosuc Lake, The Eagle reported, sharing a love of sailing with her father, A. Walter Everest.

"She also made a killer chocolate cake," Nuciforo said. "If people knew she was coming to an event bringing a cake, they would show up."

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"Pittsfield's First Female Mayor, Long-Time Educator Dies At 79"
By Jim Levulis - WAMC - October 14, 2014

The first female mayor of Pittsfield, Massachusetts died Monday at the age of 79. She’s remembered as having touched many lives through her work in education, public service and politics.

In 1988 Anne Everest Wojtkowski became the first woman to lead Pittsfield as mayor, an office she held for two terms until 1992. The Pittsfield native was an engineer by trade, becoming a professor of mathematics and engineering at Berkshire Community College for 35 years along with serving on the city’s school committee. Former State Senator Andrea Nuciforo remembers his aunt as a confident and committed person.

“She came into office as mayor at a time that was very difficult for the city, but she believed in the city, she believed in the promise of the people that live here and she was confident that she could make a difference,” said Nuciforo.

Wojtkowski led efforts to renovate the Colonial Theatre, convert the Capitol Theatre to the senior center on North Street and modernize Pittsfield High School.

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"In the first wave"
Berkshire Eagle, Editorial, 10/15/2014

Details of the life of former Mayor Anne Everest Wojtkowski, who died Monday at 79, recall the days when women were rarely taken seriously in the business world, in academia or in politics.

The former mayor was a woman who never seemed concerned whether a woman’s place should only be in the home -- she knew that wasn’t the case.

Anne Everest was born in 1935 and graduated from Pittsfield High School in 1952. It was the era dominated by the image of June Clever, the television sitcom stay-at-home mother, but Anne wanted to become an engineer. She was one of the first women to enroll in that major in college, no doubt having to prove herself to male students and professors alike. Eventually, she became the first woman engineer hired by a prestigious Cambridge consulting firm.

Having married former state Rep. Thomas Wojtkowski during the early 1960s, she returned to Pittsfield and the couple began a family, raising a son and daughter.

Mrs. Wojtkowski, who was known for having boundless energy, went on to serve on the city Planning Board, the School Committee and the School Building Needs Commission, which oversaw a major rehabilitation project at PHS during the 1970s.

And she taught more than two dozen mathematics, physics, computer and engineering courses at Berkshire Community College over more than three decades. At one point, she joined other women faculty in a successful fight for equal pay and consideration for promotions.

Of course, she also became the first female mayor of Pittsfield -- elected twice, in 1987 and 1989. Everyone who remembers that era will have an understanding of how difficult such breakthroughs can be on the person at the vortex of significant change.

Those who came later should never forget the women who were the first to prove themselves in what was very much a man’s world.

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December 9, 2014

Re: Luciforo's conspiratorial bullying network

As I have written many times since I was 20 years old in the Spring of 1996, I will state for the record once again: Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. and his political network has been bullying me for the past 18-plus years and counting without apology. Nuciforo conspiratorially had people associated with him threaten me and try to do harm to my family. I am supposed to be very angry at all of the abuse I took from Nuciforo's network of bullying henchmen. I am supposed to do something so that Nuciforo's network of bullies can call the police on me and have me arrested. I will not respond to Nuciforo's tactics in a way that will place me in trouble with the law. That would give Nuciforo power and legitimacy over what he has done to me. I am not being irrational. Nuciforo is evil and he deserves the name Luciforo!

- Jonathan A. Melle

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December 17, 2014

The #1 asset in a community is the people who live there. If you are a local politician, you would want to treat the local people like gold. The people in Pittsfield are moving away and dying off by the thousands every decade since the 1970's. There are no full time, living wage jobs for Pittsfield's youth. If a young adult or family stays in Pittsfield, they end up being either working poor or living in poverty receiving welfare benefits. In fact, outside people, such as big business, sees Pittsfield as a place with high per capita welfare caseloads where teen pregnancies double the statewide average. When a middle class family looks at Pittsfield, they see poorly performing public schools with hundreds of local students choicing out of Pittsfield public schools to neighboring towns such as Lenox. Pittsfield's downtown, which received tens of millions of public dollars for a so-called revitalization, is still known as Social Services Alley by day, and a place most people avoid for their own personal safety by night due to crime, violence, drugs, and gangs. Pittsfield and the Berkshire County region was cited as the #1 place in Massachusetts for job loss. Pittsfield politics is totally corrupt, and run by the Good Old Boy network, which is made up of insider groups of multi-generational, interrelated families. An example of a Good Old Boy Pittsfield politician is my enemy in my adult life, Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. Nuciforo's late-father was a Pittsfield State Senator and then a Pittsfield Probate Court Judge. Nuciforo's late-Aunt was a former Pittsfield Mayor and Berkshire Community College Professor. Nuciforo's Uncle was a Pittsfield State Representative. Like his late-father, Nuciforo served as a Pittsfield State Senator. Then, Nuciforo strong-armed 2 women candidates named Sharon Henault and Sara Hathaway out of a 2006 state government election for Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds to anoint himself to the 6-year, one-term sinecure while he plotted a failed 2012 run for U.S. Congress against Springfield Congressman Richie Neal. Nuciforo only received about 25 percent of the vote in the September 2012 federal election. Nuciforo proved the point that he was a big fish in Pittsfield politics, but a big flop outside of Pittsfield. Pittsfield State Senator Ben Downing's dad was the late-Gerry Downing, who was both a corrupt Pittsfield prosecutor who withheld tape recordings that would have exonerated the persecuted homosexual Bernard Baran and then a Berkshire District Attorney. Former Pittsfield Mayor Jimmy Ruberto's late-brother Anthony was a Berkshire District Attorney and then a Judge. Lenox State Representative Smitty Pignatelli's father, like my dad, was a Berkshire County Commissioner. Pittsfield Clerk of Courts and former Pittsfield State Representative Chris Speranzo's grandfather Nick was active in Democratic Party Union Pittsfield politics. The list goes on and on with Pittsfield politics' Good Old Boys club! The problem with Pittsfield politics is that the Good Old Boys club takes care of each other like the old time mafia. Outside voices are not only not listened to in Pittsfield politics, they are suppressed through blacklisting and intimidation. I grew up and Pittsfield and I spoke out against the corruption there as a young man. In return, Nuciforo had people associated with him bully me without leaving behind his own fingerprints/DNA since the Spring of 1996 when I was only 20 years old, and Nuciforo tried to jail me when I was only 22 years old in the Spring and Summer of 1998, and the Nuciforo network spread untrue, slanderous rumors against me in Pittsfield, specifically that "Jonathan Melle stalked a Jewish woman from Otis [Massachusetts]". This woman's father, who was a BCC Professor at the time of the mid-to-late-1990s, was one of the people Nuciforo conspiratorially had bully me and threaten to assault me. This woman sent me love notes and a Valentine's Day card. This woman was married in the Summer of 2002. I never harmed this woman. I will never hurt this woman. I resolved the conflict with this woman and her father/one of Nuciforo's bullying henchman against me with the police. We are at peace. In the Spring of 2004, I moved away from Pittsfield to Southern New Hampshire, where I have lived for over one decade now. Nuciforo's manipulative bullying of me without apology and accountability has not stopped. This is what it is was like to have grown up and lived in Pittsfield. That is why thousands of people have and are continuing to move away from Pittsfield. Pittsfield is full of vindictive, small town people like Nuciforo with huge ego's that rationalize hurting people like me.

- Jonathan Melle

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February 18, 2015

Re: Pittsfield politics suppresses free speech

I read Dan Valenti's blog today about how no one in Pittsfield is willing to speak up against the corruption in Pittsfield politics. The reason why no one is willing to speak is because they will lose their job and be blacklisted from future employment in and around Pittsfield. My dad was a Berkshire County Commissioner who spoke out about the issues facing Pittsfield and the Berkshire region. In return, the Nuciforo network filed "ethics" complaints against him to try to get my dad fired from his probation position in the Pittsfield district courthouse from the Fall of 1997 - the Spring of 1998. Moreover, the Nuciforo network had people threaten and bully me on Nuciforo's behalf since the time I was 20 years old starting in the Spring of 1996. Nuciforo even made secretive plans with the Pittsfield Police Department to have me arrested by falsely alleging that I threatened him when I was 22 years old in the Spring of 1998. In 2005, after I moved away from the Berkshires to Southern New Hampshire, the Nuciforo network spread false rumors about me that "All Jonathan Melle ever did was stalk a Jewish woman from Otis." The Nuciforo network spread rumors that my mental health disabilities from my honorable military service in the U.S. Army was really all about my love for a Jewish woman I would do anything for. It is now mid-February of 2015, and after nearly 2 decades of Nuciforo's bullying of me, I have never once received any kind of an apology from any of people associated with the Nuciforo network. This is my experience with Pittsfield. It is a negative one. I hope to never return to my native hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. I feel that if I came from any other place than Pittsfield, I would have done much better in my adult life.

- Jonathan Melle

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February 23, 2015

Re: Pittsfield politics is a China-communist-like one party system

Pittsfield politics raises taxes and spends money in excess, while thousands of people have fled the Pittsfield area. Those middle class families that remain in Pittsfield use school choice to send their children to neighboring communities. The people in Pittsfield are politically suppressed from participating in their state and local government by the Good Old Boy network of Democratic Party political hacks who blacklist anyone who exposes their insider politics and blatant corruption. If a Pittsfield resident spoke out about the sad realities Pittsfield politics is facing, he or she would lose their job and never work in Pittsfield again. When my dad was a Pittsfield area politician in the late-1990's, Pittsfield politicians filed "ethics" complaints against him to try to get him fired from his job at the Pittsfield courthouse. Pittsfield politicians, in this case Nuciforo, tried to jail me by making false accusations against me to the Pittsfield police Department during the Spring and Summer of 1998 when I was 22 years old. When I was 27 years old starting in late-May 2002, I looked for a job in Pittsfield for over one year of my life and no one offered me employment. I was blacklisted. The reason why I write about my experiences in Pittsfield politics is to illustrate why the people are afraid to speak out against the China-communist-like one party system that dominates Pittsfield politics. In 2014, not one Pittsfield politician faced political opposition in the state and federal election. From the Congressman from Springfield, Richie Neal, to the Pittsfield State Senator, Ben Downing, to the Berkshire District Attorney, David Capeless, to the Pittsfield State Representative, Tricia Farley-Bouvier, they all ran unopposed in 2014. There is no democracy in Pittsfield politics. The Good Old Boy network in Pittsfield politics consists of multigenerational, interrelated, low gene pool families. Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. is the son of a Pittsfield State Senator and Judge, the nephew of a Pittsfield Mayor, and the nephew of a Pittsfield State Representative. Ben Downing is the son of a Berkshire County District Attorney. Jimmy Ruberto's late-brother was a Berkshire District Attorney and Judge. Smitty Pignatelli's dad was a Berkshire County Commissioner. David Capeless' dad was a Pittsfield Mayor. If you are not part of the Good Old Boy network in Pittsfield politics, you will have a tough time succeeding in Pittsfield depressed economy, meaning you will not find a full time, living wage job in Pittsfield. I am happy I moved away from my native hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, over a decade ago. It does not surprise me to continue to read about Pittsfield politics' downward spiral.

- Jonathan Melle

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“A high school worthy of city's young people”
The Berkshire Eagle, Letter, March 28, 2015

To the editor:

The Pittsfield City Council is about to make an important decision relating to the new Taconic High School. The School Building Needs Commission has done a thorough study and its recommendation should be widely distributed and considered by the people.

The basic issue is whether we should keep sinking additional local taxpayer funds into a seriously outdated and problem-riddled building or move forward with state financial support to build a modern, state-of-the-art high school that will serve both vocational-technical and college-bound students — an institution that will be worthy of our promising young students and future citizens.

The economics of the project are of concern to many of our citizens, but we should regard this issue as a sound, long-term investment. Investments in people do not show immediate results and profits, but in the years to come, this project will profoundly affect the lives and fortunes of our young people.

Please contact your councilor and ask him or her to support the bond issue when it comes up for a vote by the City Council on April 14 [2015].

Thomas C. Wojtkowski
Pittsfield

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May 20, 2015

Re: Nuciforo tried to jail me 17 years ago today

When I was 22 years old during the Spring of 1998, then Pittsfield State Senator Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. tried to send me to the Pittsfield jail. 17 years has gone by now since Nuciforo’s false complaints against me to the Pittsfield Police Department that I allegedly threatened him. Nuciforo tried to send me to his close political friend Berkshire Sheriff Carmen Massimiano, Jr.’s Pittsfield jail where Carmen Massimiano and his jailer staff would have abused me. But today’s anniversary is only the tip of the iceberg between Nuciforo and myself.

I first met Nuciforo when I was 20 years old during the Spring of 1996 at a Democratic Party event in Dalton, Massachusetts where then Congressman John Olver, Nuciforo, and my dad, who was running for Berkshire County Commissioner, all spoke. I had just returned from my college semester at American University in Washington, D.C. After I first met Nuciforo 19 years ago, things began to change for me. People associated with Nuciforo began to conspiratorially bully or harass and threaten me without Nuciforo leaving behind his own fingerprints.

To understand how Nuciforo pulled this off, one has to understand that Nuciforo is like a prince of Pittsfield politics. Nuciforo’s late-father was a Pittsfield State Senator and then a Probate Court Judge in Pittsfield. Nuciforo’s uncle was a Pittsfield State Representative. Nuciforo’s late-aunt was a Pittsfield Mayor and Berkshire Community College professor. Nuciforo used all of his family’s local political connections to start a political career in Pittsfield politics as a Pittsfield State Senator. Nuciforo also used this same apparatus to conspiratorially have people abuse me.

In the Spring of 1996, my family moved from Pittsfield to Becket, Massachusetts. Nuciforo had a Becket man who was a Berkshire Community College environmental science professor bully or harass and threaten to assault me. The Becket man made his adult daughter mistreat me. After three years, we resolved our conflict with the Massachusetts State Police at the Berkshire County District Attorney’s Pittsfield office. In 2002, the Becket man’s adult daughter was married. In 2003, my family moved from Becket to Amherst, NH. In 2005, the Nuciforo network spread a false and vicious rumor around Pittsfield that I stalked a Jewish woman from Otis. Nuciforo conspiratorially set the whole thing up, and then he deployed the slander.

From the Fall of 1997 to the Spring of 1998, Nuciforo filed multiple state government “ethics” complaints against me dad to try to get him fired from his then state government Pittsfield courthouse job. Nuciforo did not just try to hurt me, but also my family.

Nuciforo is nicknamed “Luciforo” because he is mean-spirited and vindictive. To this day, no one from the Nuciforo network apologized to me. No one from the Nuciforo network apologized to my family either. I made a blog page, below my name, explaining what Nuciforo did to me over the past 19 years.

People believed in Nuciforo until he strong-armed two women candidates (Sara Hathaway, Sharon Henault) out of a 2006 state government election for Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds to unilaterally anoint himself into his six year sinecure while plotted a failed run for U.S. Congress in 2012.

Nuciforo also made political enemies when he targeted then Congressman John Olver by opposing Olver for U.S. Congress in 2012. People saw Nuciforo going after a respected public servant for his own gain. When Olver retired from U.S. Congress, Olver endorsed Congressman Richard Neal for election. Nuciforo lost the election to Congressman Neal by 40 points.

Nuciforo’s public record is one of representing the financial industry, especially wealthy insurance companies. Nuciforo is a Democrat, but is known as a fiscal conservative like former Governor Mitt Romney. Nuciforo’s goal is to be a future Member of U.S. Congress, but he does not currently hold any political office.

If I had political power, I would use my power to help people instead of hurt people. I would not use fear, mean-spiritedness, or vindictiveness to achieve my career goals. I do not take any joy or schadenfreude by writing about my enemy number one and what he did to my family and me over the past 19 years. I want people to understand who Nuciforo really is so he won’t manipulate them anymore. I am happy that people have seen what Nuciforo is all about in politics and that he now has a failed political career.

I will always speak my good conscience as long as I live. I will always stand up against people like Andrea Nuciforo, Jr. I will always stand for truth and justice.

- Jonathan A. Melle

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June 7, 2015

Re: Pittsfield politics is very corrupted

I still love my native hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. However, I had some negative experiences when I lived in the Pittsfield area, which are mostly attributable to my enemy #1 named Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. Since I was 20 years old in the Spring of 1996, Nuciforo had people bully me on his behalf without Nuciforo leaving behind his own fingerprints. Nuciforo had a man from Becket, who worked in Pittsfield as an Environmental Science professor at Berkshire Community College, verbally assualt and criminally threaten to assault me. Nuciforo tried to put me in his close friend's then Pittsfield Sheriff Carmen Massimiano's Pittsfield jail in the Spring and Summer of 1998 by filing false complaints to the Pittsfield Police Department that I allegedly threatened him. Nuciforo also filed "ethics" complaints against my dad to try to get my dad fired from his state government job at the Pittsfield courthouse. When I was a young man in the Spring of 2002, I was blacklisted from finding a job in Pittsfield for over one year of my life by the Nuciforo network. In 2005, after I moved away from Pittsfield to Southern NH, the Nuciforo network spread vicious, false rumors and slander against me.

Pittsfield politics raises it taxes and fees by millions of dollars each and every year, while its tax base shrinks with thousands of people moving out of Pittsfield, job loss, and poverty. The only way this can happen is for Pittsfield politics to be totally corrupt! Pittsfield politics did not even allow a vote for a new Taconic High School. Another example of corruption in Pittsfield politics is the Consent Decree signed by Jack Welch and Gerry Doyle 15 years ago in the year 2000. There are no more GE jobs in Pittsfield, while GE left behind toxic waste cancer causing chemicals called PCBs in Pittsfield. Thousands of people have suffered from and died of cancer in Pittsfield. The Consent Decree did not clean up a majority of PCBs in Pittsfield. Also, when Gerry Doyle was Mayor of Pittsfield, the city lost millions of taxpayer dollars that are still unaccounted for through present day. The municipality went into state government receivership. Ever since Pittsfield's financial insolvency, Pittsfield politics has raised taxes and fees, increased spending, and added millions of dollars to its huge debt load it will never be able to repay. Pittsfield's finances are unsustainable, and everyone knows it. I predict Pittsfield will end up in bankruptcy court in the coming decades. Pittsfield politics is ran by the Good Old Boys club, which are low gene pool, interrelated families whose offspring have assumed political office. To illustrate, Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr.'s late-father was a Pittsfield State Senator and then a Pittsfield Judge. Nuciforo's late-Aunt was a Pittsfield Mayor and BCC professor. Nuciforo's Uncle was a Pittsfield State Representative. Nuciforo was a Pittsfield State Senator, Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds, and a failed candidate for U.S. Congress. In order to find a good job in Pittsfield, one has to kiss the behinds of these people. If one speaks out against someone like Nuciforo, then he or she will lose their job in Pittsfield faster than one can snap their fingers. That is what happened to me from the time I was 20 years old in the Spring of 1996 when I still lived in the Pittsfield area. The Nuciforo network ran Pittsfield politics, and they let me know they did not like me. They were conspiratorial, mean-spirited, bullying, and manipulative.

I may write the same things over and over again, but Pittsfield's politics problems are also recurringly negative. The Good Old Boys club families that have ran Pittsfield into the ground for their own money, power, and benefit are to blame for Pittsfield's plight!

- Jonathan Melle

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January 3, 2016

Re: Eagle Editors don't understand what it really like for young people in Pittsfield and North Adams!

Dear Berkshire Eagle Editors:

I understand what it is like for young adults to try to find a living wage job with good benefits in Pittsfield and North Adams. When I was 26 years old in the Fall of 2001 through the Spring of 2002, I worked at a bank in Pittsfield for a little over 8 months. People in Pittsfield came up to my bank’s branch manager and said disparaging things about me from the time I was a toddler in around 1978 through my then current age. My Irish-American branch manager used the racist word “wop” against me because I have an Italian-American last name. When I complained, my employment at the bank in Pittsfield was terminated. I, among others who worked that bank, filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination in Springfield from the Spring of 2002 through the Summer of 2003. MCAD ruled in the bank’s favor each and every time. From the mid-Spring of 2002 through late-Spring of 2003, I walked around the Pittsfield area looking for a job with no success. I spent over one year of my young adult life looking for a job in Pittsfield with no success! I feel I was blacklisted from employment in Pittsfield because I had political enemies in Pittsfield, especially with then Pittsfield State Senator Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr.

The back story with Nuciforo is that he is the consummate Pittsfield political prince. Nuciforo’s late-father was a Pittsfield State Senator and then a Pittsfield Probate Court Judge. Nuciforo’s Uncle, Tom Wojtkowski, was a Pittsfield State Representative. Nuciforo’s late-Aunt, Anne E. Wojtkowski, was a Pittsfield Mayor and a Berkshire Community College Professor. Since the first time I met Nuciforo is the Spring of 1996, when I was 20 years old, Nuciforo used his political network in Pittsfield to have people bully me, including a Becket man who was an Environmental Science Professor at BCC. The Becket man would viciously point his finger at me while verbally assaulting me. The Becket man even threatened to assault me. The Becket man made his adult daughter emotionally abuse me. In the Fall of 1999, the Massachusetts State Police at the Pittsfield Berkshire County District Attorney’s Office handled the case. Since then, the Nuciforo network spread vicious rumors against me to the people of Pittsfield that I stalked a Jewish woman from Otis. Nuciforo set the whole conflict in place, then he deployed the rumor against me. But, Nuciforo doesn’t leave behind his own fingerprints. Rather, Nuciforo is a mean-spirited conspiratorial bully who used his henchmen to manipulate people and situations. Nuciforo also went after my father. My dad worked at the Pittsfield courthouse and was a Berkshire County Commissioner during the period of the Fall of 1997 through the Spring of 1998. Nuciforo filed multiple state government “ethics” complaints against my dad that were submitted to state government officials in Pittsfield and Boston. Nuciforo tried to get my dad fired from his state government job at the Pittsfield courthouse. After Nuciforo failed to destroy my dad’s career and possibly his life, Nuciforo went after me from the Spring through Summer of 1998 when I was 22 years old. Nuciforo filed complaints with the Pittsfield Police Department that I threatened him and that I was to be arrested if I entered his Pittsfield legislative office. Nuciforo did so without apprising either my father or myself. Nuciforo’s end goal was to send me to his close political friend’s, then Sheriff Carmen Massimiano’s, Pittsfield jail where I was to be abused.

What is my point? It is that if you are a Good Old Boy like Nuciforo, Pittsfield will offer you living wage and above opportunities, but if you are someone like me, the best option was for me to move out of the Pittsfield area! Multigenerational, interrelated families run Pittsfield like the one Nuciforo comes from. If you are not a Good Old Boy or you stand up to them, you better prepare yourself to be bullied or leave the area.

The Berkshire Eagle never once stood up to Pittsfield’s Good Old Boy’s club that ran Pittsfield into the proverbial ditch over the past several generations. Even The Boston Globe ran a news story back in January of 2007 about Nuciforo’s blatant political corruption and abuses of power, including strong-arming two women out of a Massachusetts state government “election” to anoint himself to his sinecure at the Pittsfield Registry of Deeds while he lobbied the then new Governor, Deval Patrick’s administration, for a post as Commissioner of Insurance, which he had a conflict of interest in as a corporate Attorney for a Boston law firm that represented Insurance companies. The Berkshire Eagle did not publish a word about Nuciforo’s political scandals that give government and business a bad name!

- Jonathan Melle

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“Invitation, challenge to young residents”
The Berkshire Eagle, Editorial, January 3, 2016

North Adams faces daunting challenges, many of which are shared by other Berkshire communities. That includes the need for a youth infusion.

At his swearing-in ceremony New Year's Day at City Hall, Mayor Richard Alcombright, who is now beginning his fourth two-year term, made the point that between he and John Barrett III, the city has been led by two people for 34 years. North Adams, it seemed to the mayor, had "skipped a generation of leaders." (Eagle, January 2).

The mayor's perceptive comments speak to the Berkshires' severe demographic problem. The population is aging while the younger generations go elsewhere in pursuit of the good jobs that are not available here in sufficient number. This is particularly the case for county students who go away to college and find that they can't come back to the Berkshires even if that is their goal.

The county must continue to attract new business, which is difficult, while making it easier for local businesses to grow. Most of the Berkshires' top employers over the generations had roots here and did not move in from elsewhere. The schools, in particular Berkshire Community College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, must continue their efforts to prepare students for good-paying jobs, which in this day and age require specific, technology-based skill sets.

At Friday's ceremony, Mayor Alcombright spoke of the economic progress the city had made on several fronts and of the projects that could pay dividends in the months and years ahead. Challenges aside, there is reason for optimism in North Adams as the year begins. To help assure that progress is made, we encourage young people in North Adams to answer the mayor's invitation and challenge "to get involved in leadership roles, elected and appointed." That applies to every Berkshire community, but for it to be realized, the county must do what it can to keep its young people in the Berkshires and attract young people from elsewhere.

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January 5, 2016

Re: Why I left Pittsfield

I left Pittsfield because my family moved to southern New Hampshire in the Autumn of 2003. I left Pittsfield because I was politically persecuted and blacklisted by the Good Old Boys club, especially by Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., who at one time tried to jail me, had local people associated with his political network bully me, including threatening to assault me, spread vicious rumors against me, made sure I would never find a living wage job in Pittsfield, and filed multiple "ethics" complaints against my dad to try to get him fired from his job at the Pittsfield courthouse. I know what Pittsfield politics is all about! It is about power, money, control, the Good Old Boys, and local gossip, rumors, and mudslinging. In Pittsfield you either have to be part of the inside group or you are an outsider. The lovely Linda Tyer is the new leader of the Pittsfield political insiders. She is promising to change Pittsfield from insider politics to an open municipal government, but all of her supporters are the same group of insiders that have run Pittsfield (into the proverbial ditch) for several generations. Pittsfield is in a downward spiral. There are no living wage jobs, 70% of local residents live in poverty and are dependent on welfare and social services, thousands of people have moved away, including me, from Pittsfield, thousands of jobs have been lost and they are not coming back in our lifetimes, municipal finances are tightly constrained and near insolvency with the property tax levy ceiling being reached within the next 3 to 4 fiscal years, opeb debts hover in the one-half billion dollar range and will never be paid back in our lifetimes, Pittsfield faces the possibility of future bankruptcy and another round of state government receivership, Pittsfield public schools are underperforming with over 650 students per year choicing out to neighboring communities, there are violent crimes, shootings, and murders in Pittsfield, PCBs and cancer patients are still a problem in Pittsfield, the Consent Decree is a fraudulent legal document because PCBs still pollute the community, and the like.

- Jonathan Melle

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January 30, 2016

Re: Political bullying is scary!

Adolf Hitler is a model of racist, violent, and dictatorial government leadership. He persecuted peoples, especially the Jewish people, and used fear to usurp political power.

When I think of myself versus the system, my biggest nightmare would be to face the proverbial Hitler figure whereby power is absolute over my humanity, rights, and basic fairness.

I also fear the people I do not see or know about how have power over me versus the system. For a number of years of my young adult life, I was persecuted by Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. and his political network without being able to see or know who was behind the threats, bullying, and ostracism. Since the Spring of 1996 when I was 20 years old going on 21 that Summer of 1996, Nuciforo had people associated with him threaten to assault me, bully me, make fun of me, and make my life as difficult as possible. I started to fall to mental illness as a way to cope or deal with the harsh realities I faced in my young adult life. As time wore on over the past nearly 2 decades, I began to notice a trend that a lot of the people who used their hate against me (and my family) were associated with Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. Looking back on all of my negative experiences, I was able to be like Superman with X-ray vision and see Nuciforo behind the proverbial curtain manipulating people, events and myself and trying get me in legal trouble. Due to my mental illness, people thought I was paranoid or schizophrenic, but it was all real!

My mom told me she thinks Nuciforo is an immoral, unethical, and unconscionable man who went after me and my family without leaving behind his own fingerprints. That scares me. I wish I never knew about Pittsfield and Nuciforo's Pittsfield politics! I am happy I moved to southern New Hampshire in the Spring of 2004. I am not captive to Nuciforo's conspiratorial bullying political network anymore!

- Jonathan Melle

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ADD #3

Re: Open letter to Luciforo

Dear Luciforo!

On May 20th, 1998, which is 18 years ago today (May 20th, 2016), you made secretive plans with the Pittsfield Police Department to have me arrested by making false allegations that I made veiled threats against you. As Pittsfield State Senator, you led the cause to abolish Berkshire County Government. You claim that I became agitated with you. If I were to enter your legislative office in the Onota Building on North Street, the police would be called and I would be arrested.

Back then, you and my dad, who was a Berkshire County Commissioner, were in daily communication, and you did not communicate to him your feelings against me. That meant that you were setting me up to go to the Pittsfield jail. I was only 22 years old, and I was never more scared than being incarcerated as a political dissident against your (third-rate) political network.

You are close friends with Carmen C. Massimiano, Jr., who was the long serving Berkshire County Sheriff who ran the Pittsfield jail. You and Carmen Massimiano co-hosted Democratic Party political events together in Pittsfield. Your attempt to send me to his jail meant that I would have been bullied and abused.

After I moved to southern New Hampshire in 2004, I came back to Pittsfield to see the opening of a homeless shelter for disabled Veterans. I am a disabled Veteran who served our nation honorably in the U.S. Army, and I supported this effort to help my peers. Carmen Massimiano approached me and told me not to feel safe because I moved away. He told me that he knows that I know what you did to me, and not write about it. He was trying to protect your reputation.

Then in the Summer of 2005 at a Massachusetts State Democratic Party event in Pittsfield, I was apprised that it was publicly stated, allegedly by Denis E. Guyer, who denies it, that I belong in a psychiatric institution because all I ever did was stalk a Jewish woman from Otis. It was publicly stated that my mental health disability from my military service was really all about my love for a Jewish woman.

My mom wrote Denis E. Guyer a letter telling him she was concerned about the public statements made against me to the Massachusetts State Democratic Party members in Pittsfield. Denis E. Guyer never responded to my mother’s letter to him. Denis E. Guyer and I later agreed we would not say or write hurtful things about each other anymore.

I believe you manipulated me with the aforementioned woman who lives near Otis in Becket because her father worked with your late Aunt, Anne E. Wojtkowski, as a then professor at Berkshire Community College. Your political network had this Becket man viciously point his finger at me, verbally assault me, and threaten to physically assault me. The Becket man bullied me because that was part of his job security at BCC due to your abuse of power. Like you had the Becket man bully me, the Becket man made his adult daughter emotionally mistreat me. After over 3 years of this manipulated social situation, during the Autumn of 1999, she couldn’t go through with emotionally hurting me anymore. She moved on with her life, and she was married in the Summer of 2002.

You had multiple people bully me over the years, starting when I first met you at a Massachusetts Democratic Party event in Dalton during the Spring of 1996 when I was only 20 years old. You run a mean-spirited and conspiratorial (third-rate) political network based on your late Father’s political legacy in Pittsfield politics.

From the Autumn of 1997 through the Spring of 1998, you filed multiple “ethics” complaints against my Father, who was an Assistant Chief Probation Officer at the Pittsfield District Court. You filed one “ethics” complaint to the state Ethics Commission. You filed another “ethics” complaint to the then Chief Trial Court Judge in Boston. You tried to get my dad fired from his state government job. He would have lost his state pension, his healthcare insurance plan, which helped pay for my surviving Mother’s breast cancer treatments in Boston, and his quality of life as a Senior Citizen.

You tried to destroy my family and me. You tried to take everything away from us. Your modus operandi is to hurt people like me and my family by being conspiratorial, by manipulating both people and social situations, and by not leaving behind you own fingerprints and/or DNA. But, I know it was you who caused me emotional traumas over the past 20 years.

Despite Carmen Massimiano’s warning to me, I will not stay quiet about what you have done to my family and me. You are wrong. You cannot manipulate me anymore. You have nowhere to hide the truth about what kind of terrible person you really are. Your mean-spirited bullying has backfired on you.

I will always speak my good conscience as long as I live. I am not afraid you and your political network of bullies anymore. In the two decades that have passed us by since we first met in Dalton, no one from your political network has apologized to me. I would not expect any form of decency from you and the people you associate with.

In Truth!

Jonathan A. Melle

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ADD #2

On this 18th terrible anniversary of Nuciforo’s attempt to jail me on May 20th, 1998 when I was 22 years of age, I have been reflecting on how I would be different than a corrupt, insider, strong-arm, conspiratorial, bullying third-rate politician who rules by fear like Luciforo.

For the past 20 years, since I was 20 years of age in the Spring of 1996, Nuciforo and his political network has been conspiratorially using people to threaten to assault me, harass and bully me, spread vicious and false rumors against me, blacklist me from employment, put me manipulated social situations, and ultimately put me in the Pittsfield jail.

Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. is Pittsfield politics’ dark, inbred political prince. Nuciforo’s late-father was a Pittsfield State Senator and then a Pittsfield Probate Court Judge. Nuciforo’s Uncle, Tom Wojtkowski, was a Pittsfield State Representative. Nuciforo’s late Aunt, Anne E. Wojtkowski, was a Pittsfield Mayor and longtime Professor at Berkshire Community College. Nuciforo followed his family’s political history in Pittsfield politics by being elected to Pittsfield State Senator for one decade and then being anointed to the Pittsfield Registry of Deeds post for six years while he plotted a failed campaign for U.S. Congress.

If I had Nuciforo’s political power, I would do things very differently than my enemy #1. I would advocate for my legislative district by working for social and economic justice for my constituents. I would be a voice for the poor and struggling middle class families on Beacon Hill. I would help people and the communities they live in. I would fight political corruption that plagues Massachusetts politics. And, I would never do to someone what Nuciforo and his political network did against me for the past 20 years!

- Jonathan Melle

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ADD #1

On this 20 year anniversary month of May 2016 of me dealing with Nuciforo’s network of conspiratorial bullying of me since I was 20 years old during the Spring of 1996, I have been reflecting on the good people who showed concern for me. The first person I think about is journalist and blogger Mary E. Carey of Amherst, Massachusetts. She talked with me on the telephone, emailed me back, and chatted with me on facebook. She also posted some of my writings on her blog pages. When I was a graduate student at U Mass Amherst, there was a professor who questioned Nuciforo about what he was doing to me. There are many mental health professionals from my time at U Mass Amherst through my current sessions at the VA Medical Center in Manchester, NH, who have shared skills with me to cope with conflicts, stressors, and my lifelong recovery. Alan Chartock has shown concern for me and told me I may keep him in the know. Alan Chartock is a good man who advocates for mental health political science and stands for Human Rights. There is my family, who were also hurt by Nuciforo’s mean-spiritedness, who have advocated for me, including my mother writing a letter to Denis E. Guyer, who never bothered to respond. However, Denis E. Guyer and I came to an understanding that we would stop our conflict and no longer hurt each other anymore. I also remember people standing up for my dad when Nuciforo filed multiple “ethics” complaints against him from the Fall of 1997 through the Spring of 1998. My dad has told me that there are good people who stood up to Nuciforo’s persecution of me and my family. When I spoke to people about Nuciforo, they responded that they did not like him, but they feared him and if they spoke out against him, they would lose their jobs. At times, I felt like I was the only person on the Planet Earth who stood up to Nuciforo, but I now realize that there were others who did not silently stand by while he acted with malicious intentions.

If I were to draw a line of human behavior, at one end would be the most vile and mean-spirited forms of the human condition, while at the other end would be the most good and altruistic forms of human nature. I believe that most people participate in our society somewhere in the middle of this figurative line. We try to live each day as productive and functional members of society. We hope for the best, but we know the worst can happen to us. I did not choose for Nuciforo to target me with his conspiratorial bullying network for the past 2 decades of my 40-plus years of life. But, I have seen a continuum of human behaviors from the bad to good side. I hope the next 2 decades of my life will not only show Nuciforo’s poor character, but also, people, like myself, will learn from what has happened to me and we will all be stronger as time progresses. I am very proud of myself for standing up to Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. and his third-rate political network!

- Jonathan Melle

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May 20, 2016

Re: Nuciforo tried to jail me 18 years ago today

On May 20, 1998, when I was only 22 years of age, then state Senator Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior (a.k.a. “Luciforo”) set up secretive plans with the Pittsfield Police Department to have me arrested because he (falsely and hypocritically) claimed that I made “veiled threats” against him. If I entered his then Pittsfield legislative office at the Onota Building on North Street, the Police were to be immediately called and I was to be sent to his close friend’s, then Berkshire County Sheriff Carmen C. Massimiano, Jr., Pittsfield jail where I was to be abused.

This incident is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. I first met “Luciforo” in the Spring of 1996 when I was only 20 years of age. Ever since I met “Luciforo”, many people associated with his political network conspiratorially began to bully me, included threats to assault me, verbal assaults, vicious finger pointing and abusive stares, blacklisting me from employment, harassing me with mean-spirited rumors, and putting me in manipulated social situations.

For the past 20 years, no one from “the Nuciforo network” ever once apologized to me for the harm and trauma they caused in my adult life. Instead, they all deny their abusive behaviors against me. However, everything I have written about on my blog page is true and really did happen!

This is my blog page against what the Nuciforo network did to me.

I believe that Nuciforo is a monster! “Luciforo” is an evil sociopath! Why would he want to do this to me? My answer to “Andy” Nuciforo is that “I will always speak my good conscience as long as I live!” I will always write about what “Luciforo” did to me and my family in Pittsfield. I hope that Nuciforo and his insidious network of bullies will someday realize they will not intimidate me, and that they messed with the wrong person because I will always continue to stand up to them forever!

- Jonathan Melle

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August 12, 2016

Re: mean-spiritedness & forgiveness

Thank you, Pat, with citing my writings in my blog about what was done to me many years ago in this city of Pittsfield (politics). I never wanted to be a target of political persecution. I live in southern NH now. I survived it. My family is doing well, too. I believe in forgiveness and seek forgiveness for those who wronged me and those whom I wronged in my life. I wish I never was born and grew up in Pittsfield, but my native hometown community is a big part of my life. I agree with what you are writing about. Indeed, there are some really nasty people in charge of Pittsfield politics. There are people behind the scenes pulling the strings who are the nasty ones!

- Jonathan Melle

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September 10, 2016

Re: Open letter to UMass Amherst administrators

Dear UMass Amherst administrators:

As a graduate school alumnus, MPA 1999, from UMass Amherst, I am writing to voice my support for Eve Weinbaum. In the Fall of 1998, she was my Professor in a labor studies class. She is a very intelligent and fair educator. I learned a lot in her class, and her values of fighting for the working people inspire my own beliefs for bottom up public policies.

I am completely opposed to Eve Weinbaum not being the Director of the Labor Center at UMass Amherst. I respectfully request that she be quickly reinstated to her former position with the full time status and pay she has previously received prior to the administration’s cuts in her contract.

John Hird is an impressive Professor and Administrator. He has a long list of academic accomplishments. He also was one of my Professors at UMass Amherst in the Spring of 1998, which was one of the most difficult periods of my then young adult life. My dad had “ethics” complaints filed against him and then Pittsfield State Senator Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. tried to have me arrested, in addition to multiple personal and political conflicts I endured.

While I had a lot of difficulties back then, I believe John Hird cared about me. He is a compassionate person. However, my public policy beliefs align more with those of Eve Weinbaum than those of John Hird. I believe in helping people who are in need of public policy advocacy. There are enough corporate elite lobbyists on K Street, but there aren’t enough people like Eve Weinbaum fighting for working people on Main Street.

I am writing to voice my support for Eve Weinbaum. I hope the UMass Amherst administration listens to my concerns. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Jonathan A. Melle
UMass Amherst, MPA, 1999

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November 11, 2016

Denis Guyer is a powerful person in Pittsfield politics. He was married to Allison Crane and served as a Dalton Selectman and then as Dalton's State Representative. Denis Guyer and Allison Crane divorced, and Denis Guyer was remarried to another woman. He worked for Iredale Cosmetics for a while and moved to Pittsfield where he supported the lovely Linda Tyer for Mayor in 2015. Mayor Linda Tyer appointed Denis Guyer to the position of Director of Maintenance.

Denis Guyer and I were in a 6 year conflict from 2004 - 2010. He allegedly spread vicious and false rumors about me all around Pittsfield's political groups. Denis Guyer allegedly said that I belong in a psychiatric institution and that my mental illness during my honorable military service in the U.S. Army is all about my love for a Jewish woman from Otis. Denis Guyer allegedly publicly stated on July 23, 2005 at the Massachusetts Democratic Party meeting a Bousquet in Pittsfield that "all Jonathan Melle ever did was stalk a Jewish woman from Otis." Peter Marchetti, who is a close ally to Denis Guyer, allegedly told people at a Pittsfield political event honoring John Forbes Kerry in 2006 that when I lived with his great Aunt, my late maternal Grandmother, that she asked me to leave, but my plan was to live in her Pittsfield home. All of these mean-spirited gossip and rumors were relayed to me after I moved to southern New Hampshire to live with my family.

It must be nice to be in politics and use your influence to bad-mouth someone such as myself. Denis Guyer was a close ally to Nuciforo when the two served in the State Legislature on Beacon Hill's State House and Senate, respectively. Nuciforo has been using people to bully me since the Spring of 1996 when I was only 20 years old without Nuciforo leaving behind his own finger-prints. This is why both Pittsfield and politics sucks!

- Jonathan Melle

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November 16, 2016

Denis Guyer recently resigned his position of Director of Maintenance due to the toxic way Pittsfield politics operates. Everyone who participates in Pittsfield politics is supposedly a bad person and everyone has dirt on each other. Denis Guyer’s mother passed away and his staff’s response was to stab him in the back with allegations of inappropriate language.

For over a decade, I heard that Denis Guyer allegedly said mean-spirited things about me. On July 23, 2005 at Bousquet during the Massachusetts Democratic Party meeting, I was told that Denis Guyer allegedly said that I belong in a psychiatric institution and that my mental illness during my honorable military service in the U.S. Army was all about my love for a Jewish woman from Otis. I was told that Denis Guyer publicly stated that: “All Jonathan Melle ever did was stalk a Jewish woman from Otis”.

It wasn’t until 2011 that Denis Guyer told me he would stop spreading vicious and untrue rumors against me to the people in Pittsfield. Denis Guyer and I were in a 6 year conflict from 2004 – 2010!

As for Denis Guyer using the hateful words “Seig Heil” on his facebook page several years ago, it must be condemned in the strongest terms. Denis Guyer served in many public offices, and he should come out against his alleged hateful speech.

We must all fight anti-Semitism and all other forms of hate. I hope Denis Guyer stops using hateful language, specifically against the Jewish people.

- Jonathan Melle

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Denis Guyer

"Guyer out as Pittsfield DPW"
By Larry Parnass, The Berkshire Eagle, November 16, 2016

PITTSFIELD - Denis Guyer, the city's director of maintenance, has left his job after 10 months.

Guyer, 50, a former state representative who backed Mayor Linda M. Tyer's campaign in 2015, submitted his resignation Nov. 3.

"Denis is no longer working for the city," Tyer said Wednesday.

She declined to say why Guyer left his job, saying it is her policy not to comment on personnel issues.

Attempts to reach Guyer for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful.

After Tyer won office, she identified Guyer as one of her campaign's strongest and earliest supporters. He contributed $100 to her election effort, according to election finance records.

"He was most definitely a part of the core group of supporters," Tyer said Wednesday when asked about Guyer's role in her campaign.

But the mayor labeled as unwarranted any suggestion that Guyer was a political appointee unqualified for the job he took, citing his experience in construction.

Guyer previously served as operations manager with Iredale Mineral Cosmetics when that company renovated the former Bryant Elementary School in Great Barrington as its headquarters.

The job of director of maintenance entails oversight of all city structures in Pittsfield, including school buildings. The director manages a department with an allocation this year of $1.8 million, according to budget documents.

The director oversees a staff of 18 to 20 full-time employees, prepares the department budget, handles design specifications for renovations or new construction and plays a role in the bidding and procurement process, Tyer said.

Guyer earned $67,264 a year.

INTERIM LEADER

Tyer said she has appointed the assistant director of maintenance, Brian Filiault, as acting director.

Meanwhile, she said she is undertaking a review of the job, in consultation with Personnel Director Michael Taylor. She said they will examine the job requirements and look at qualifications in job descriptions used by other municipalities.

When the City Council unanimously confirmed Guyer's appointment last January, three councilors raised questions about his candidacy.

Councilor Christopher Connell said at the time he believed the director should hold a general contractor's license, a credential Guyer did not possess. Tyer said then that obtaining the license could be discussed after hiring.

Tyer said Wednesday that the issue of the contractor's license will be one of the qualifications under review.

Councilor Melissa Mazzeo said in January that the contractor's license ought to be considered mandatory for the post and should be added as a requirement in the future.

The review of the job description by Tyer and Taylor will not increase the pay level, the mayor said.

"We may not make any changes at all," Tyer said of the position.

After the review is complete, likely within 10 days, the job will be posted under the same title, Tyer said.

The city charter allows 90-day temporary appointments, with two 30-day extensions.

Along with his time in the Legislature, representing the Second Berkshire District, Guyer served on the Dalton Select Board from 2001 to 2004. He worked for 12 years for Crane & Co.

Reach staff writer Larry Parnass at 413-496-6214 or @larryparnass.

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November 18, 2016

Denis Guyer is a politician who is known to hurt people with gossip, rumors, inappropriate language, and anti-Semitic remarks. I was told that Denis Guyer said mean-spirited and spread vicious rumors against me over the years. He allegedly said that my mental illness is due to my love for a Jewish woman from Otis, and that all I ever did was stalk her. Denis Guyer did not tell people that the woman, who lived in Becket, was married in 2002, and that I agreed to never contact her again after the matter was resolved at the Berkshire County District Attorney's Office in the Fall of 1999 when I was 24 years old. I will never harm this woman or any other person. I never hurt this woman or any other person. Denis Guyer made me out to be a monster. I believe that Denis Guyer was one of Luciforo's many bullies who have hurt me since I was 20 years old in the Spring of 1996. Nuciforo hurts people by conspiratorially using other people's fingerprints without leaving behind his own fingerprints. For over 2 decades, Nuciforo has used people to hurt me and my family, while no one has apologized to me during all of the time that has passed. Nuciforo is the inbred, dark prince of Pittsfield politics. His late-Aunt, Anne Everest Wojtkowski, was a former Pittsfield Mayor and BCC Professor. Nuciforo's late Uncle, Tom Wojtkowksi, was a Pittsfield State Rep. Luciforo's late-father, was a former Pittsfield State Senator and Probate Court Judge. Nuciforo used his political power to hurt people like me and my family instead of helping people. Nuciforo got into trouble for his conflict of interest with big banks and wealthy Boston area insurance companies. Nuciforo wanted to oust Congressman John Olver to be the financial lobby's special interest Congressman from Pittsfield. He ended up losing to Congressman Richie Neal, who also collects a lot of lobbyist money from the financial industry. But that is Northeast politics: Wall Street, big banks, wealthy insurance companies, and other financial interests. The irony is that most of the area doesn't benefit from the Haves profiting while the have-nots pound sand.

- Jonathan Melle

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March 6, 2017

Nuciforo has a law office in Boston where he serves big banks and insurance companies.

Nuciforo has a law office in Pittsfield where he serves marijuana applicants and put $475,000 of his own cash into the "pot".

Nuciforo is the dark, inbred Prince of Pittsfield politics. His late-father was a Pittsfield State Senator and then a Probate Court Judge in Pittsfield. His late-Aunt, Anne E. Wojtkowski, was a Pittsfield Mayor and a long-time Berkshire Community College Professor. His Uncle Tom Wojtkowski was a long-time Pittsfield State Representative. Nuciforo followed in his late-father's footsteps and served as a Pittsfield State Senator. He then served as a Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds while plotted a failed run for U.S. Congress in 2012.

Nuciforo's public service in the Statehouse became linked to wealthy financial institutions in Boston. He received many thousands of dollars from big banks and insurance companies during his decade as a State Senator on Beacon Hill. Critics believe he was corrupt and violated "conflict of interests" laws. The Boston Globe in January of 2007 reported that Nuciforo lobbied to have the then new Governor, Deval Patrick, nominate him to be Commissioner of Insurance, but Judge Nonnie Burnes received the nod instead of Nuciforo.

In my personal experience with Nuciforo, he tried to jail me in the Spring of 1998 when I was 22 years old. Prior to his criminal complaints against me, Nuciforo filed multiple "ethics" complaints against my dad from the Fall of 1997 through the Spring of 1998. Nuciforo wanted to get my dad fired from his state government job at the Pittsfield court system. Fortunately, I didn't have to go to Carmen Massimiano's jail, and my dad wasn't fired from his job.

Nuciforo also strong-armed 2 women candidates (Sharon Henault, Sara Hathaway) out of the 2006 state government "election" for Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds!

Nuciforo also plagiarized his policy platforms for U.S. Congress in his campaign web-site.

In closing, I believe Nuciforo is only after money! It is evident by his corrupt connections to the wealthy financial industry in Boston. It is evident by his repeated investments in trying to open a medical marijuana dispensary in Pittsfield. Nuciforo represents politics and government at its worst!

- Jonathan Melle

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March 17, 2017

Pittsfield politics is a top-down government controlled by the vested interests who vote for the Democratic Party candidates. In fact, I would go so far as to state that one could not get elected in Pittsfield without being a "Democrat".

There is no wiggle room for real change. Every year, the same two groups or factions of Good Old Boys select their political hacks to do their bidding. Blogger Dan Valenti pointed out that there are 2 factions within Pittsfield Politics. One faction featured Gerry Doyle, Jimmy Ruberto, and the lovely Linda Tyer. The other faction featured the late Anne E. Wojtkowski, Sara Hathaway, and Dan Bianchi. Both factions answer to the same political bosses.

In order to participate in Pittsfield politics, you have to kiss the behinds of the Good Old Boys order. If you speak out against the negative outcomes that Pittsfield politics has produced over the past 4 decades, you become an outsider. You will lose your job and never find work again in the Pittsfield area. You will eventually have to move away from Pittsfield.

Pittsfield politics is all in the family. The Good Old Boys come from multi-generational and low gene pool local families that have held political office for generations. My favorite example of this is Nuciforo. His late-father was a Pittsfield State Senator and then a Probate Court Judge. His late-Aunt, Anne E. Wojtkowski, was a Pittsfield Mayor and a long-serving Berkshire Community College Professor. His Uncle, Tom Wojtkowksi, was a Pittsfield State Representative. Now, Nuciforo is using his family's Pittsfield political connections to make a financial killing on a "not-for-profit" medical marijuana dispensary on Dalton Avenue in Pittsfield.

Pittsfield politics runs like the mafia. If you don't kiss these inbred family's behinds, they will retaliate against you and your family. The Good Old Boys run the show! They have complete control over their community. They can be openly and outrageously corrupt, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

My own personal experience in Pittsfield politics was Nuciforo trying to send me to Carmen Massimiano's jail in the Spring and Summer of 1998. Nuciforo also filed multiple "ethics" complaints against my dad from the Fall of 1997 - Spring of 1998. From the Summer of 2005 through present, the Good Old Boys spread vicious rumors against me that all I ever did was stalk a Jewish woman from Otis and that I belong in a psychiatric institution. I have heard other mean-spirited things said against me over the years.

It is hopeless and futile to try to change Pittsfield politics for the better! Pittsfield politics is a top-down, Good Old Boy order, and controlled system of government. There is no wiggle room. You either conform or you lose. It is the worst kind of politics that mocks democracy and suppresses freedom. Pittsfield politics is a banality!

- Jonathan Melle

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May 20, 2017

Re: Nuciforo tried to jail me 19 years ago today

On May 20, 1998, then State Senator set up secret plans against me with the Pittsfield Police Department to have me arrested based on his false and hypocritical allegations that I threatened him. During this time of my young adult life, I was 22 years old. Prior to Nuciforo plans to send me to his close ally, then Berkshire County Sheriff Carmen Massimiano, Jr.’ Pittsfield jail, Nuciforo tried to get my dad fired from his then state government job as an Assistant Chief Probation Officer in the Pittsfield District Court system by filing multiple “ethics” complaints against him from the Fall of 1997 through the Spring of 1998.

Nuciforo is insidious and the way he operates is by having other people do his dirty work without leaving behind his own fingerprints or DNA. Since I first met Nuciforo when I was 20 years old in the month of May of 1996, Nuciforo has conspiratorially had many people associated with him bully me without Nuciforo’s own fingerprints left behind as evidence, but I have long realized that Nuciforo was behind it all. I believe Nuciforo’s layered bullying of me and my family shows him to be unconscionably evil!

Nuciforo is the product of a multigenerational, low-gene pool Pittsfield political family. Nuciforo’s late-father was also a State Senator and then a Probate Court Judge. Nuciforo’s late-Aunt, Anne E. Wojtkowski, was a long-serving Berkshire Community College Professor and a two-term Pittsfield Mayor. Nuciforo’s Uncle, Tom Wojtkowski, was a long-serving Pittsfield State Representative. Nuciforo is Pittsfield politics’ inbred, dark political prince, who ruled Pittsfield politics through a network of Good Old Boys, fear, and corruption.

Anyone, especially myself, who opposed Nuciforo in Pittsfield politics was retaliated against by his (third-rate) political network. Nuciforo’s network would blacklist people such as myself from employment in Berkshire County, and also spread vicious and hurtful rumors against people such as myself. Nuciforo’s network would file “ethics” and/or criminal complaints against people who spoke out against him.

Nuciforo went on to be an unethical State Senator on Beacon Hill by chairing the state Senate Financial Committees while also working as a private, corporate Attorney for big banks and insurance companies. After he stepped down from the State Senate in 2006, Nuciforo lobbied then Governor Deval Patrick to be named Commissioner of Insurance in Boston. This was after Nuciforo strong-armed two women candidates out of the 2006 state government “election” for Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds, which many observers saw as Nuciforo’s sinecure.

In 2009, Nuciforo used his sinecure as launching pad to launch a 2012 campaign for U.S. Congress against then Congressman John Olver. Nuciforo lied to many important people in Massachusetts politics by telling them that Olver gave Nuciforo his blessing to run because Olver was going to retire after the redistricting. That never happened!

In 2012, Nuciforo plagiarized his campaign policy essays on his campaign web-site. Outgoing Congressman John Olver endorsed Congressman Richie Neal over Nuciforo. Even Nuciforo’s hometown newspaper, The Berkshire Eagle, endorsed Richie Neal for U.S. Congress over Nuciforo!

I am 41-years-old now, which means for the past 21 years, I have been the long-time victim of Nuciforo’s mean-spirited, dirty politics. Throughout all of this time of my adult life, not one person from Nuciforo’s network of political hacks and henchmen have apologized to me for their years of bullying me with threats, vicious rumors, blacklisting me from employment, trying to ruin my life and trying to hurt my family, and causing me a lot of emotional pain and suffering.

I know why they call Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. the name “Luciforo”!

- Jonathan Melle

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A post by "Eric", on August 22, 2008:

"The problem with local politics isn't partisanship. We have a mayor [Jimmy Ruberto] whose brother was DA [the late-Anthony Ruberto]. We have a DA [David Capeless] whose father was Mayor. How many votes did Jerry Doyle Sr. buy [Mayor] Jerry Doyle Jr. with driveway aprons and apartments in public housing? [William] Smitty Pignatelli's father was County Commissioner. [Chris] Speranzo's grandfather was a Democrat mover and shaker and union [boss]. Ben Downing's father [Gerard Downing] was DA and his father enough of a political hack to have an industrial park named after him. [Andrea] Nuciforo's [II] [late] father [Andrea Nuciforo I] was a [State] Senator [and then a Judge], Uncle [Tom Wojtkowski] was a State Rep and Aunt a Mayor [Anne E. Wojtkowski]. [Kevin] Sherman's mother is a Del Gallo. The problem around here isn't partisanship so much as nepotism and incest."

September 10, 2017

The following is my, Jonathan Melle’s, opinions about Pittsfield politics:

Dan Valenti stated that there are two political factions in Pittsfield politics. The first political faction is the “Del Gallo” faction. It is named after former Mayor Remo Del Gallo. His proteges include Mayors Gerry Doyle, Jimmy Ruberto, and the Lovely Linda Tyer. The second political faction is the “Wojtkowski” faction, which is named after Pittsfield’s first woman Mayor, Anne Everest Wojtkowski. Her proteges include Mayors Sara Hathaway and Dan Bianchi. Both the “Del Gallo” and “Wojtkowski” political factions serve the same political bosses in Democratic Party controlled Boston or Beacon Hill politics. The rub is that the two Pittsfield politics factions immensely dislike each other. They undermine each other’s mayoral administrations to gain political power in Pittsfield politics.

All of these Pittsfield politicians, except Sara Hathaway, are from multi-generational, low gene pool, inbred families who see Pittsfield as their political fiefdom. They all say they are “Democrats”, but some of them are nothing of the sort. In order to be elected to local, state, and federal political office in Berkshire County, you have to be a registered Democrat or else you don’t stand a chance. Peter J. Larkin is my favorite example. He served multiple terms as a Pittsfield State Representative as a Democrat. But then he went onto become a GE Lobbyist! Nothing is more Republican Party than being a GE Lobbyist! Peter Larkin even told the news media that he couldn’t raise his family on a public salary as a Massachusetts State Representative!

My experience in Pittsfield politics is that it is a China-like one political party system controlled by the two-headed factions who demand loyalty above integrity. To illustrate, if I wanted a full time, living wage job in Pittsfield / Berkshire County, I would have to kiss the Good Old Boys’ dirty behinds, remain silent about all of the machine politics and corruption, and be a pawn in their provincial politics. If I spoke out about what really went on in City Hall or Beacon Hill, I would lose my job in a New York minute. I would be blacklisted from employment, and they would spread vicious rumors against me. Well, that is what happened to me in Pittsfield politics. They can have it because I see it for what it really is!

- Jonathan Melle

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Re: My response to Chris Canning Wilson’s email

October 9, 2017

Hello Chris,

Thank you for reading my blog. I posted news stories about Carmen Massimiano and Angelo Stracuzzi respective scandals alleging their sexual deviancy with boys. I never understood why Carmen and Angelo never married each other because they have so much in common. As for Nuciforo, he is the bane of my adult life existence. I have spent many hours writing, emailing, and posting on my blog, my negative experiences with him. The most frustrating part of my history with Nuciforo is that he is conspiratorial and doesn’t leave behind his own fingerprints/DNA. To be clear, Nuciforo has other people do his dirty work for him. Nuciforo went from his third-rate career in Pittsfield politics to the medical marijuana “non-profit” business. Many other former politicians in Massachusetts have done the same when it comes to selling medical marijuana. As for John Barrett III, he is a Good Old Boy who Jimmy Ruberto took under his wing. When I think of former Mayor John Barrett, I think of the entrenched political establishment, see “Berkshire Brigades”, who ran Berkshire County’s already depressed local economy into the proverbial ditch! As for Alf Barbalunga, I believe he is a Chief of Probation in one of the Berkshire’s district courts. His father is a retired Pittsfield district court Judge. Unlike the Barbalunga’s cousin, Carmen Massimiano, or Nuciforo, I think highly of the Barbalunga family in Pittsfield. Alf’s sister, Andrea, graduated with me in 1993 from Pittsfield High School. She was my class President. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck in your political career. I admire your independence streak in state politics!

Best wishes,
Jonathan [Melle]

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March 9, 2018

The reasons why I hate Luciforo are:

* Nuciforo conspiratorially had people bully me since I was 20 years old during the Spring of 1996. In over 21-plus years, no one from Nuciforo's network who has harmed me has apologized to me for bullying me on Nuciforo's behalf without Nuciforo leaving behind his own fingerprints/DNA.

* Nuciforo filed multiple "ethics" complaints against my dad from the Fall of 1997 - Spring of 1998. During the Spring of 1998, Nuciforo set up secretive plans with the Pittsfield Police Department to have me arrested by falsely telling them that I made "veiled threats" against him. Nuciforo was upset that my dad, who was a Berkshire County Commissioner, and myself opposed his push to abolish Berkshire County Government, which was abolished on July 1, 2000.

* Nuciforo served as a corporate Attorney for a private Boston law firm serving big banks and insurance companies, while he chaired the state Senate Finance Committee from 1999 - 2006. In early-2007, Nuciforo lobbied then-Governor Deval Patrick to name him state Commissioner of Insurance.

* Nuciforo strong-armed two women candidates - Sara Hathaway and Sharon Henault - for a state government political office: Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds, in the Spring of 2006. He anointed himself to a sinecure to plot a failed run for U.S. Congress in 2012.

* From the Summer of 2005 to present, Nuciforo's network spread vicious rumors against me to the people of the Pittsfield area. The specific rumor that I "stalked a Jewish woman from Otis" was actually part of Nuciforo having people associated with his political network conspiratorial bullying of me in 1996 when I was 20 then 21 years old that yesteryear.

* Nuciforo has invested hundreds of thousands of his own dollars into a not-for-profit marijuana dispensary in Pittsfield. I suspect he is using his political connections to sell marijuana.

* Nuciforo is the inbred, dark Prince of Pittsfield politics. His late-father was a state Senator and then a Judge. His late-aunt was Pittsfield's first woman Mayor and a long-time Berkshire Community College Professor. His uncle was a Pittsfield state Representative. Nuciforo believes he owns Pittsfield politics and that people should either bend to his will or fear his reprisals. I long told Nuciforo that he doesn't scare me. I long told Nuciforo that "I will always speak my good conscience as long as I live"!

- Jonathan Melle

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March 27, 2018

I like to read blogs, especially Planet Valenti, where someone recently wrote that I “cannot stand luciforo”. Why wouldn’t anyone not understand my reasons why my negative feelings against Nuciforo are strong. Since I met him during the Spring of 1996 when I was only 20-years-old, Nuciforo conspiratorially had people bully me on his behalf without Nuciforo leaving behind his own fingerprints/DNA. It took my years to realize what was going on, but over the years, I was able to put together the pieces of the puzzle.

Nuciforo and his bullying hench-people have caused me a lot of emotional pain and mental health suffering over most of my adult life. I feel like I was put in a disturbing episode of the “Twilight Zone”. Nuciforo manipulated me by putting my family and me in interpersonal conflicts and legal situations. Nuciforo had people spread vicious rumors against me based on the situations he manufactured. I was even told not to speak out about Nuciforo’s mean-spirited methods he used against me for years.

The following is a list of what Nuciforo did to me:

* Since I was 20 years old in the Spring of 1996, when I first met him, Nuciforo conspiratorially had people bully me on his behalf without leaving behind his own fingerprints/DNA

* During the Summer of 1996, I worked with a then young woman from Becket whose father was an environmental science professor at Berkshire Community College. The Becket woman flirted with me, while her father would verbally assaulted me, viciously pointed his finger at me, and openly threatened to physically assault me. At the end of the Summer of 1996, her father did all those violent and criminal things to me at a Pittsfield bank, where I left feeling threatened for my life. This was all done on Nuciforo’s behalf. Nuciforo’s family members worked at BCC back then. From 1996 through present time, not one of Nuciforo henchmen ever apologized to me.

* Nuciforo filed multiple “ethics” complaints against me dad, Bob Melle, who back in 1997, 1998, worked as an Assistant Chief Probation Officer for the commonwealth and was serving one term as a Berkshire County Commissioner. Nuciforo tried to ruin our family by trying to get my dad in legal trouble, which could have resulted in him losing his job(s), thereby losing his benefits, including the state pension he collects today. If Nuciforo had his way, my dad would be living in poverty and my family would have been financially ruined. During this time period, I was a first-year graduate student at U Mass Amherst, where Stan Rosenberg’s two legislative interns harassed me and enjoyed with schadenfreude my family’s possible demise in Massachusetts. As a side note, it is interesting to watch Stan Rosenberg’s current ethics investigation that forced him to step down as state Senate President. Oh, how the tables have turned!

* During the Spring and Summer of 1998, when I came home from my first year graduate program at U Mass Amherst, Nuciforo set up secretive plans by the Pittsfield Police Department to have me arrested by Nuciforo falsely alleging that I made “veiled threats” against him. Nuciforo, who was in daily communication with my dad back then, did not tell my dad what was happening. Nearly 20 years ago, Nuciforo tried to jail me when I was 22 years old going on 23 years old that Summer of 1998.

* During the Summer of 2005, Nuciforo had people, possibly Denis E. Guyer, who was a Dalton State Representative back then, spread vicious rumors against me to the people of the Pittsfield area connected to the state Democratic Party. Nuciforo’s network told people that all I “ever did was stalk a Jewish woman from Otis”, who was the Becket woman I worked with at a state park during the Summer of 1996. Nucifor’s network left out the fact that she was married during the Summer of 2002, among other facts about the situation Nuciforo put me in when I was a young man.

In closing, Nuciforo thinks he can live a life without consequences in Pittsfield politics because he is the dark, inbred Prince of Pittsfield. His late-father was a state Senator and Judge, his late-aunt was Pittsfield’s first woman Mayor and long-time BCC Professor, and his uncle was a Pittsfield State Representative. Nuciforo believes he can hurt people like my family and me without anyone being able to do anything about it. Well, I am doing something about it my speaking out against Nuciforo! And, I will always speak my good conscience as long as I live!

- Jonathan Melle

*

March 28, 2018

Thank you, Lenny. I participate in mental health treatment at the VA hospital and I have a positive outlook on life.

When people, such as my family and me, participate in politics, there are always those insiders who treat people like me unfairly. Being a political activist comes with a price. If we want a voice in our government and community, we have to endure the reprisals of Good Old Boys like Luciforo and his network of bullying henchmen.

Per Planet Valenti's commentary on the youth's march for gun control for school safety, I was disappointed that Donald Trump chose to play golf in Florida instead of stand with the protesters.

- Jonathan Melle

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May 4, 2018

Re: Scary Stan Rosenberg resigns!

I read some of the news articles about Stan Rosenberg's resignation. The bottom line is that many people were afraid of him and because of that people did not feel safe around him. I felt that way about him and Nuciforo way back when my dad was a Berkshire County Commissioner. I felt that Nuciforo and Rosenberg were very intimidating to me and my family. It negatively affected my mental health, along with other problems and issues I faced back then from 1996 - 2000.

I don't understand why politicians are so scary! When someone like me spoke out against them, they would retaliate against me, such as having people bully me, putting me in legal situations, taking away my job(s), blacklisting me from employment opportunities, and spreading vicious rumors about me to the community. People like Stan Rosenberg and Nuciforo wanted people to be their sheep or take the path of least resistance against them.

I am happy that Stan Rosenberg resigned at 5 pm today, Friday, May 4, 2018, after 31 years of public service on Beacon Hill. I know that he will collect a big state pension for approximately the next 2 decades. I hope his resignation will change the way politicians operate or do business, but I am not that naive. Another politician(s) will replace him, and be just as scary as Stan Rosenberg!

- Jonathan Melle

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May 20, 2018

Re: Luciforo tried to jail me 20 years ago today

On May 20, 1998, when I was only 22 years old, Nuciforo made secretive plans with the Pittsfield Police Department to have me arrested under his false complaint that I made veiled threats against him, and that if I stopped by his downtown Pittsfield legislative office, the police would be called and I would be arrested. Nuciforo did not tell my dad or anyone else about his secretive plans to jail me. Prior to Nuciforo trying to jail me, he filed multiple "ethics" complaints against my dad from the Fall of 1997 - Spring of 1998. Prior to Nuciforo's "ethics" charges against my dad, Nuciforo had people bully me since the Spring of 1996, including a then BCC environmental science professor who lived in Becket who threatened to physically assault me, while he would viciously point his finger at me and verbally abuse and verbally assault me with insult after insult. Indeed, Nuciforo had many people bully me on his behalf without him leaving behind his own fingerprints. Then, in the Summer of 2005, possibly Denis E. Guyer spread vicious rumors against me to the people of the Pittsfield area that all I ever did was "stalk a Jewish woman from Otis" and that my mental health or mental illness was a result of my love for a Jewish woman. The woman possibly Denis E. Guyer referred to was the BCC Becket man's adult daughter who I worked with during the Summer of 1996 when I was 20 and then 21 years old. Possibly Denis E. Guyer did not tell the people that this woman was married during the Summer of 2002.

Nuciforo is Pittsfield's inbred political prince whose late-father was a State Senator and then a Judge, his late-Aunt was Pittsfield's first woman Mayor and longtime BCC professor, and his uncle was a Pittsfield State Representative. Nuciforo is one of the top "Good Old Boys" who run Pittsfield politics. He hurts people like me, my dad, and others, and there is nothing anyone can do about it because he is so powerful in Pittsfield. The G.O.B. runs the show in Pittsfield politics by fear and retaliations against anyone who speaks out against their hegemonic powers that rival an authoritarian country like Russia or China. All these years later, Nuciforo got to be the first medical marijuana and soon to be retail marijuana dispensary in Pittsfield. It is no wonder how Nuciforo got first dibs on selling marijuana in Pittsfield! In fact, it all fits and make sense to me!

- Jonathan Melle

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June 6, 2018

Re: I will always speak out against Luciforo!

Since I was 20 years old when I first met Luciforo in May of 1996, Luciforo conspiratorially had people associated with his third-rate political network bully me on his behalf without Luciforo leaving behind his own fingerprints or DNA. When I was 22 years old from the Fall of 1997 - Spring of 1998, Nuciforo tried to get my dad fired from his state government position at the Pittsfield District Courthouse by filing multiple "ethics" complaints against him. Then, during the Spring of 1998, Nuciforo filed secretive complaints against me that I made "veiled threats" against him. Nuciforo tried to jail me, where his close political ally then-Berkshire County Sheriff Carmen Massimiano would have had his staff abuse me. Then, during the Summer of 2005, Nuciforo had possibly Denis E. Guyer spread vicious rumors against me that I "stalked a Jewish woman from Otis" to the people of Pittsfield. The woman's father was one of Nuciforo's bullying henchmen who verbally assaulted or verbally abused me with insult after insult as the then-BCC environmental science professor/Becket man would viciously point his finger at me each and every time I would encounter him. This man even threatened to physically assault me. So yes, I will always speak my good conscience as long as I live against the likes of Luciforo!

- Jonathan Melle

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June 11, 2018

I am not crucifying Luciforo or anyone else for that matter! Nuciforo victimized me and my family since the Spring of 1996. In all of the time that has passed by, no one from the Nuciforo network ever once apologized to me and my family. Nuciforo is a very mean-spirited person who manipulates people in conspiratorial situations! He is the dark, inbred prince of Pittsfield politics who local people fear.

- Jonathan Melle

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June 12, 2018

@GMHeller- As I have written to you many times before, I have criticized or spoken out against Democrats and Republicans! However, I refuse to group all "Dems" in the same basket because of one or two bad apples. I agree with you that Bill Clinton is a case study in "bad boy behavior". Everyone knew about Bill Clinton prior to his 1992 campaign for U.S. President. It is disingenuous for people to link Bill Clinton's "bad boy" past to today's #MeToo movement. I agree with you about Ted Kennedy's cover-up of Mary Jo Kopechne drowning. It was wrong and a tragedy!

As for Luciforo, from the Spring of 1996 through present day, some people still post their writings that I am "crucifying" him, and the like. What am I supposed to do about that? If I don't respond, it makes people feel that Luciforo is the victim. When I do respond, people like you get frustrated with me.

As I have stated many times before, since I first met Luciforo at a Dalton Democratic platform in the Spring of 1996, Luciforo conspiratorially had people bully me on his behalf without Luciforo leaving behind his own fingerprints or DNA. Luciforo filed multiple "ethics" complaints against my dad from the Fall of 1997 - Spring of 1998. Luciforo filed secretive complaints against me to the Pittsfield Police Department during the Spring of 1998 to try to send me to Carmen Massimiano's Pittsfield jail. Luciforo had possibly Denis E. Guyer spread vicious rumors against me during the Summer of 2005 that I "stalked a Jewish woman from Otis" to the people of the Pittsfield area. The woman's father was one of Luciforo's bullying henchmen.

I am not "crucifying" Luciforo! I am defending myself by telling people the truth about Luciforo's mean-spirited harassment of me and my family over the past 22 years!

- Jonathan Melle

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February 23, 2019

My terrible true story of my negative experiences with Luciforo are told on my blog page.

I did not ask for Nuciforo's abuses against my and my family since I was 20 years old in the Spring of 1996. For nearly 23 years now, neither Nuciforo nor his network of bullies has apologized to me. To be clear, Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. has been a dangerous person in my adult life! I will always stand up to Luciforo by always speaking my good conscience as long as I live!

- Jonathan Melle

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March 13, 2019

Re: Nuciforo’s mistreatment of me and my family

In response to blogger Dan Valenti’s supportive comments of Andrea Francesco Nuciforo, Junior on his blog comment section today, I believe that Nuciforo should own up to his mistreatment of me and my family since the Spring of 1996 when I first met him when I was 20 years old at a Democratic Party forum in Dalton, Massachusetts. In brief, neither Nuciforo nor any one associated with him has apologized to me and my family.

I was 20 years old when I first met Nuciforo, who was running for State Senator to replace outgoing State Senator Jane Swift. After I met Nuciforo, things changed for me in the Pittsfield area. The reason being was because Nuciforo had people associated with him bully me without Nuciforo leaving behind his own fingerprints/DNA. I was caught in a mean-spirited and conspiratorial Twilight Zone situation. At the time, I did not understand why this was happening to me, but as the years went on, I was able to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

The same year of 1996 that Nuciforo first ran for State Senator, my dad ran for Berkshire County Commissioner. In 1997, which was Nuciforo’s first year in office, Nuciforo led a campaign to abolish Berkshire County government because he saw it as inefficient. My dad opposed Nuciforo’s legislation. My dad pointed out that Boston’s Big Dig project was the single most expensive public works project in U.S. history with a price tag of over $10 billion at the time. The Big Dig had many billion dollar cost overruns, while Berkshire County government ran a budget surplus. Nuciforo’s response was to file multiple “ethics” complaints against my dad from the Fall of 1997 – Spring of 1998 to try to get him fired from his then job at the Pittsfield District Court Probation Office and have him resign from his elected position on the Berkshire County Commission. So much for freedom of speech? When Nuciforo’s “ethics” complaints didn’t work, Nuciforo set up secretive plans with the Pittsfield Police Department in the Spring of 1998 to have me arrested and jailed by falsely alleging that I made veiled threats against him. Fortunately for me, I did not get arrested and jailed when I was 22 years old. During the Summer of 1998, Nuciforo, along with North Adams state Rep. Daniel Bosley, filed a rider to the fiscal year 1999 state budget to abolish Berkshire County government with the termination date of July 1, 2000.

In 2005, Nuciforo long wanted to oust then Congressman John W. Olver, but he knew I did not stay quiet about what he did to me and my family years earlier. Nuciforo wanted me out of the way, so Nuciforo had people associated with him spread vicious rumors against me to the people of the Pittsfield area. Nuciforo’s network told people that “all Jonathan Melle ever did was stalk a Jewish woman from Otis”, and that “Jonathan Melle belongs in a psychiatric institution”. At that time, I had already moved to southern New Hampshire over one year ago during the Spring of 2004. I replied to Nuciforo and his associates of bullies that I would never be quiet, and that I will support Congressman John W. Olver against Nuciforo. In 2012, Olver retired from U.S. Congress, and he was replaced in Berkshire County by Congressman Richard Neal, who defeated Nuciforo by 40 percentage points.

- Jonathan Melle

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March 31, 2019

Dear Chris Canning Wilson,

You, Chris Canning Wilson, emailed me about Pittsfield politics’ Good Old Boy network. You asked me about my knowledge and experiences with Cliff Nilan, Angelo Stacuzzi, Carmen Massimiano, the late-Jim Mooney, and journalist Conner Barry’s coverage of the many allegations against Carmen Massimiano’s sexual deviancy and sexual abuse towards boys when he was a camp counselor at the Boys Club’s Camp Russell and at the Pittsfield Boys Club. You are writing a book.

My knowledge and experiences with the aforementioned Good Old Boys is connected to my father’s past decades of courthouse work and community involvement in Pittsfield politics. Cliff Nilan was friendly with my family, but he could not always be trusted because his loyalty was to the Good Old Boys, especially Carmen Massimiano. I liked Cliff Nilan and always thought he meant well, but his connections weighed him down.

Carmen Massimiano was very scary and intimidating towards me. My enemy number one in life, Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., who caused a lot of pain and abuse, mistreatment and bullying of me and my family, was always protected by Carmen. Nuciforo’s late-father was a Pittsfield State Senator then Probate Judge, his late-Aunt was Pittsfield’s first woman Mayor and a career Professor at Berkshire Community College, and his Uncle Tom was a Pittsfield State Representative. While the Good Old Boys are from interrelated Pittsfield families, Nuciforo misused his connections to hurt people, like me, who he didn’t like and stood in his way!

Carmen Massimiano approached me in Pittsfield shortly after I moved to Southern NH from Pittsfield many years ago, and he told me that he knows that I knew what he and Nuciforo tried to do to me, and for me not to speak out about it, and for me not to feel safe now that I don’t live in Pittsfield anymore. Well, I will always speak my good conscience as long as I live! I disobeyed Carmen, and I wrote and blogged against Nuciforo and Carmen Massimiano! Nuciforo’s retaliation was to spread vicious rumors against me to the people who lived in Pittsfield. However, I was not intimidated by them, and I continue to speak out and blog.

Per Carmen Massimiano’s reputation as an alleged sexual deviant and alleged sexual abuser towards boys, I read that he allegedly sexually abused boys at both Camp Russell and the Boys Club when he was teenager through his 20’s – and possibly beyond. I even read a blog post that a man allegedly took his own life to suicide based on Carmen’s alleged sexual abuse because the man couldn’t safely seek help and/or justice against Carmen in Pittsfield.

Jimmy Mooney was always friendly towards me. I knew him as a child in the 1980’s when I went to the Pittsfield Boys Club. I worked for him when he ran the grounds at Tanglewood in the mid-1990’s. I sat with him at Carmen’s Sheriff picnic at Camp Russell during the Summer of 2002. I believe Jimmy Mooney meant well at the Boys Club, including Camp Russell, and he was always nice to me. I understand that Carmen was close friends with Jimmy Mooney, and I heard rumors that they allegedly shared hidden secrets concerning Carmen’s alleged sexual deviancy and alleged sexual abuse towards boys.

Angelo Stracuzzi was President of the Pittsfield City Council and worked his way up to run Greylock Credit Federal Union. But he got in legal trouble in Maine trying to sexually abuse teenage boys. Cliff Nilan and Angelo had to step down from their post a GFCU. From what I understand, Cliff Nilan was Angelo’s probation officer, but Cliff may not have ensured Angelo received the mandated two years of pyschological counseling for Angelo’s sexual deviancy. Cliff was reprimanded by the court, but he got to keep his job. Angelo Stracuzzi moved from his Pittsfield home to New Jersey.

As a side note, I never understood why Carmen and Angelo never got married to each other.

Journalist Conner Barry worked at the Berkshire Eagle and published a news story about Carmen Massimiano’s alleged sexual deviancy and alleged sexual abuse of a then-seven year old boy at the Pittsfield Boys Club. Carmen denied the Eagle’s allegations, and threatened to sue all involved. Carmen published a page wide article denying the Eagle’s allegations against him. Carmen then decided to retire as Sheriff after 30 years of service. Carmen now collects a 6-figure state pension, and he serves as the Chairman of Pittsfield’s Licensing Board.

In conclusion, the Good Old Boys are self-serving and intimidating in Pittsfield politics. They protect each other whether they are right or wrong. They still run the show in Pittsfield through this present day. They ran Pittsfield into the proverbial ditch with major losses in population and jobs, while municipal taxes/fees and debts hugely increased.

To illustrate the Good Old Boys influence, Nuciforo was the first person in Pittsfield to be granted a permit to sell marijuana at his business on Dalton Avenue. There was no coincidence! The Good Old Boys club is ran like a Mafia. If you don’t kiss their dirty behinds, they retaliate against you like Nuciforo did to me and my family. When you speak out about the corruption in Pittsfield politics, you lose your job in “a NY minute”. If you continue to protest, they make false allegations and spread vicious rumors against you.

Sincerely,

Jonathan A. Melle

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May 6, 2019

Re: Bullying

I don't care who you are or where you come from, everyone has experienced bullying! Moreover, everyone has been a bully, and everyone has been bullied. It is a right of passage.

I think one of the answers to bullying is to be an emotionally supportive person to your friends and loved ones. Also, you eventually learn who not to be in your life. If a bully hurt you, then you learn not to be like them.

When confronting a bully, not only stand up to their repugnant behavior, but also let them know they can and should change their ways.

If you are feeling depressed or suicidal from someone's abuse, then seek help and take care of yourself and others being victimized.

- Jonathan Melle

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May 18, 2019

Re: Nuciforo’ mistreatment of me over the past 23 years

As the May 20, 1998 – May 20, 2019 anniversary of Nuciforo’s attempt to jail me approaches this Monday, I reflect on how mean-spirited and conspiratorial Nuciforo was against me over the past 23 years since the Spring of 1996 when I was 20 years old.

When I was 22 years old on May 20, 2019 - nearly 21 years ago, Nuciforo made false complaints against me to the Pittsfield Police Department that I made “veiled threats” against him and that if I entered his legislative office in the Onota Building on North Street in Pittsfield, the police would be called and I was to be arrested. Nuciforo’s attempt to jail me was done in secret without my knowledge. My dad found out about what Nuciforo did, and he warned me to stay away from Nuciforo.

But that terrible incident was only one of many of Nuciforo’s mistreatment of me over the past 23 years. During the month of May in 1996, I first met Nuciforo at a Democratic forum in Dalton, Massachusetts, where my dad spoke as a candidate for Berkshire County Commissioner. Ever since that fateful day in my life, Nuciforo conspiratorially had people associated with his political network bully me without Nuciforo leaving behind his own fingerprints/DNA. At that time 23 years ago, I did not understand what was happening, but as events progressed over the years, I realized that Nuciforo was conspiratorially persecuting me and hurting my family.

In the Fall of 1996 election, Nuciforo won his campaign for Pittsfield State Senator, while my dad won his campaign for Berkshire County Commissioner. The following year in 1997, Nuciforo led a campaign to abolish Berkshire County government, which my father opposed. During the Summer of 1997, Nuciforo failed to abolish Berkshire County government because the state House of Representatives pulled his rider from the fiscal year 1998 state budget. Then, from the Fall of 1997 – Spring of 1998, Nuciforo filed multiple state “ethics” complaints against my dad to try to get my father fired from his state government job in the Pittsfield District Court Probation Office and force my dad to resign from his elected post on the Berkshire County Commission. Fortunately, Nuciforo was unsuccessful in getting my dad fired and forcing my dad to resign.

In the Summer of 1998, Nuciforo refiled his rider to the fiscal year 1999 state budget to abolish Berkshire County government. This time, Nuciforo was assisted by North Adams state Representative Daniel Bosley. Nuciforo’s rider passed, and Berkshire County government was abolished with a termination date of July 1, 2000.

During the Summer of 2005, when I turned 30 years old, Nuciforo’s network had his bullies spread vicious and hurtful rumors against me to the Pittsfield area that “All Jonathan Melle did was stalk a Jewish woman from Otis”, and that “Jonathan Melle belongs in a psychiatric institution”. Remember, I explained that Nuciforo conspiratorially had people bully me since I was 20 years old during the Spring of 1996. The woman, who is from Becket, was the daughter of a then faculty member at Berkshire Community College, who was one of Nuciforo’s bullies against me. The Becket woman’s father would always viciously point his finger at me in a threatening manner and then verbally assault me with hurtful insults and abusive looks, and he even threatened to physically assault me. From the Summer of 1996 – Fall of 1999, or for over 3 years, I experienced this domestic dispute compounded by many more of Nuciforo’s bullies who were hurtful towards me. During the Fall of 1999, I went to the Berkshire County District Attorney’s Office where the Massachusetts State Police unit resolved the domestic dispute Nuciforo orchestrated between me and the Becket woman and her abusive father. Please note, the Becket woman was married during the Summer of 2002.

When I look back at Nuciforo’s persecution of me, I see that I was bullied for years on end by Nuciforo’s conspiratorial network, I experienced a 3 year domestic dispute, my dad could have lost his career and financial security if Nuciforo succeeded with his state “ethics” complaints against him. I would have ended up in the Pittsfield jail if Nuciforo succeeded in having me arrested. I was the target of vicious rumors in the Pittsfield area. I also see that Nuciforo does not leave behind his own fingerprints or DNA. Nuciforo has other people do his dirty work on his behalf. But, as time went by, it became clear that Nuciforo was behind all of it.

I ask, why me? Out of all of the people who lived in Berkshire County, why did Nuciforo target me with his political persecution? I wonder if Nuciforo is just mean-spirited, or if he has a power complex. Also, I find it interesting that people, including myself, have been manipulated of fooled by Nuciforo. Like Hitler, how come so many people followed Nuciforo’s horrible orders. How come so many people feared Hitler, and how come so many people fear Nuciforo? Am I the only person who will stand up to evil people like Nuciforo (aka “Luciforo”)?

- Jonathan Melle

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May 20, 2019

Re: Nuciforo tried to jail me 21 years ago today 20May2019

Nuciforo set up secretive plans with the Pittsfield Police Department (PPD) to have me arrested 21 years ago today, which was May 20, 1998 when I was 22 years old. Nuciforo falsely told the PPD that I made “veiled threats” against him and that if I entered his legislative district office in the Onota Building on North Street, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the police would be called and I would be arrested. Nuciforo did this without contacting either my family or me. However, my dad, who was a Berkshire County Commissioner at that time, found out about Nuciforo’s plans to jail me, and my dad told me to stay away from Nuciforo.

Nuciforo is Pittsfield’s inbred political prince, who rules Pittsfield politics through power and fear. Nuciforo is part of Pittsfield politics’ “Good Old Boys” (GOB) club. What is the GOB? The answer is the GOB is a group of inbred, interrelated Pittsfield families that have run Pittsfield politics for generations. Nuciforo’s late father was a Pittsfield State Senator and then a Pittsfield Probate Court Judge. Nuciforo’s late aunt was Pittsfield’s first woman Mayor and a career Professor at Berkshire Community College. Nuciforo’s uncle was a Pittsfield State Representative. Nuciforo comes from a political family, and he served one decade in the State Senate like his late father, and then he served a one term, 6 year term as Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds where he plotted a failed fun for U.S. Congress in 2012. Nuciforo then co-founded a marijuana dispensary called “Berkshire Roots” that operates on Dalton Avenue in Pittsfield and is trying to open another branch in East Boston.

Pittsfield politics is ran by the Good Old Boys. The GOB runs the show through corruption and fear. If one speaks out about the way Pittsfield politics operates, the consequences are retaliations! The GOB will take away your job. The GOB will blacklist you from finding a job. The GOB will spread vicious rumors against you. The GOB will make false complaints against you to the police. In short, the GOB will bully you. The outcome is low voter turnout, civic apathy, and insider, handpicked candidates winning pre-determined so-called “elections”. In short, you have the same group of political hacks who become entitled career politicians in state and local government.

If one has ideals about democracy, freedom of speech, competitive elections, inclusiveness and diversity in Pittsfield politics, you will be run out of town. To be clear, the fix is always in! When Nuciforo targeted my family and me with his years of mistreatment, there was no way to stop him. Indeed, it has been 23 years since I first met Nuciforo during the Spring of 1996 when I was 20 years old, which meant 23 years of Nuciforo having his people conspiratorially bully me without Nuciforo leaving behind his own fingerprints/DNA. In all of this time, neither Nuciforo nor any of his bullying henchmen have apologized to my family or me for their abuses.

In closing, Nuciforo is one of those privileged people who can do anything he wants, no matter how abusive and corrupt, without consequences. For years, I have written about Nuciforo’s abuses and corruption in government, while most people still fear him and defer to him in state and local politics. It doesn’t matter to most people how much pain, anxiety, and fear I felt from Nuciforo’s persecution and conspiratorial bullying of me. I feel like I know why so many people are negative about politics, and the answer is corrupt and abusive politicians like Andrea Francesco Nuciforo, Junior!

- Jonathan Melle

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October 20, 2019

My father, Bob Melle, was a Pittsfield area politician when I was 20 – nearly 25-years-old from the Spring of 1996 through July 1, 2000. I am now 44-years-old during the Autumn of 2019. When my dad was elected as a Berkshire County Commissioner from Becket, Massachusetts in November of 1996, then-Governor Bill Weld proposed to abolish all 14 county governments in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (7 county governments still stand, and other regional entities also still operate in Massachusetts). My dad explained to the voters and citizens that Governor Bill Weld mismanaged Boston’s “Big Dig”, which doubled in cost from around over $5 billion to over $11 billion during his administration. My dad told the voters and citizens that he could run Berkshire County government for over 5,000 years with all of the cost overruns incurred by Weld’s mismanagement of Boston’s “Big Dig”. My dad’s political activism for the people of Berkshire County led to retaliations by Beacon Hill powerbrokers. The then-Pittsfield State Senator, who I am not allowed to name on Dan Valenti’s blog [his name is Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior aka “Luciforo”], tried to hurt my dad by filing multiple “ethics” complaints against him from the Fall of 1997 – the Spring of 1998. The then-Pittsfield State Senator’s intent was to get my dad fired from his two government positions, which were my dad’s then-state government job at the Pittsfield District Court Probation Department and my dad’s then-elected position as Berkshire County Commissioner. Thankfully, my dad didn’t lose his two jobs. But the then-Pittsfield State Senator made false criminal complaints against me, during the Spring of 1998, to the Pittsfield Police Department that I allegedly made veiled threats against him. Thankfully, my dad found out about this negative situation, and he told me to stay away from the then-Pittsfield State Senator. Then, over 7 years later, during the Summer of 2005, the then-Pittsfield State Senator’s conspiratorial network had vicious rumors spread against me to the people of the Pittsfield area that “all Jonathan Melle ever did was stalk a Jewish woman from Otis” (she was married during the Summer of 2002), and that “Jonathan Melle belongs in a psychiatric institution”. All these years later, I read blog posts about how I was mistreated by those Pittsfield politicians I have written about in my emails and blog posts. Lastly, I am a 100% service connected disabled Veteran who served our country honorably in the U.S. Army. I go to the Manchester VA Hospital for my healthcare. I am thankful that I am well, and my family is doing well, too. It has all been a lot for me to go through over the past 23.5-years!

- Jonathan Melle

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January 10, 2020

Re: Conspiratorial Nuciforo is my enemy #1

There was yet another mention of my dislike for former Pittsfield State Senator Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior on Dan Valenti’s awesome blog yesterday, January 9, 2020. Once again, I want the people to know that I have good reason to dislike Nuciforo.

During the Spring of 1996, when I was 20 years old, I accompanied my dad, Bob Melle, at a Democratic Party forum in Dalton, Massachusetts. My dad was running for Berkshire County Commissioner, and he gave a political speech, along with other candidates for elected office, including Mayor Ed Reilly, Andrea Nuciforo, Jr., and Congressman John Olver. Ever since that beautiful Spring day nearly 24-years-ago, Nuciforo conspiratorially had people associated with his political network bully me without Nuciforo leaving behind his own fingerprints. Nuciforo’s mean-spirited persecution of me and my family went on for many years.

During the Fall of 1997 – Spring of 1998, State Senator Nuciforo filed multiple state “ethics” complaints against my dad, who was serving two public service roles: (a) Assistant Chief Probation Officer in the Pittsfield District Courthouse, and (b) Berkshire County Commissioner. Nuciforo sent his “ethics” complaints to Boston officials in the state court system and to the state Ethics Commission. Nuciforo tried to get my dad fired from his state job as a Probation Officer, and force my dad to resign from the Berkshire County Commission. If Nuciforo was successful, my dad would have lost everything. He would have lost his job, income, healthcare insurance, and the state pension he collects today. That would have had a huge impact on my mom, who had breast cancer in 2006 – 2007. Without my dad’s state healthcare insurance, my mom would have died of breast cancer because she would not have access to affordable healthcare.

During the Spring of 1998 – Summer of 1998, when I was 22 going on 23 years old, Nuciforo filed false complaints against me to the Pittsfield Police Department that I was making “veiled threats” against him. Nuciforo ordered the police to immediately arrest me if I entered his legislative district office at the Onota Building on North Street in Pittsfield. Nuciforo wanted to send me to his close ally’s, Sheriff Carmen Massimiano’s, Pittsfield Jail where I would be abused. My dad found out about this insidious plot, and my dad told me to stay away from Nuciforo.

During the Summer of 2005, when I turned 30 years old, Nuciforo had people associated with his political network spread vicious rumors against me to the people of the Pittsfield area. These mean-spirited rumors persisted for many years. It was very hurtful to me to have Nuciforo’s network going around badmouthing me with half-truths, false information, and negativity.

I did not ask for any of this. I understand who Nuciforo is in Pittsfield politics. Nuciforo’s father was a Pittsfield State Senator and then a Probate Court Judge. Nuciforo’s aunt was Pittsfield’s first woman Mayor and a career professor at Berkshire Community College. Nuciforo’s uncle was a Pittsfield State Representative. Nuciforo is Pittsfield’s inbred dark political Prince. Nuciforo is untouchable. Nuciforo can be in bed with big banks and especially INSURANCE companies without being cited for his illegal double dipping. Nuciforo can get away with his mean-spirited and bullying persecutions of people like me and my dad. Nuciforo can cultivate and sell marijuana to people in Pittsfield and East Boston. Nuciforo can do whatever the hell he wants, and there is nothing anybody can do about it. I am not afraid of Nuciforo! I will speak, write, and blog against Nuciforo for as long as I live.

In Truth,

Jonathan A. Melle

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January 24, 2020

Re: Sorry for what happened....

In response to a posting on Dan Valenti’s awesome blog: “Jon, I feel bad about what happened. Your dad is a good man.”

I am very thankful for the people who helped my dad and me when my father was a Pittsfield area politician from 1996 – mid-2000. Mary E. Carey, Alan Chartock, and other civic-minded journalists let me know they were on my side, and to let them know what happened, and to always keep them posted.

They had people conspiratorially bullied me, they filed multiple “ethics” complaints against my dad for exercising “Freedom of Speech”, they tried to have me arrested and jailed, they blacklisted me from employment, and they spread vicious rumors about me.

Nearly 24 years later, not one of these conspiratorial Pittsfield political area bullies ever apologized to my dad and/or me. It makes me wonder what politics is really all about. They make wonderful speeches to get elected, but then they love to dish out retribution and pain on common people like my dad and me.

- Jonathan Melle

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January 31, 2020

Pittsfield is a dynamic and vibrant community. Just don’t oppose Tyer/Marchetti if you don’t want to face retribution.

I was thinking about buying a 1/2-million dollar condo in Lenox so I could be neighbors with you know who [former Pittsfield Mayor Jimmy Ruberto]. But I don’t have the money to live the high life in the beautiful Berkshires. Rather, I’d end up living near North Street where I would get mugged and assaulted. Ergo, I am staying put in Amherst, NH.

It is what it is. I have real political enemies in Pittsfield. They have figuratively burned me over and over again. However, I do, indeed, support the lovely Linda. Also, I like reading Dan Valenti’s awesome blog because he speaks for Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski.

If you give them big dollars, then they will be friendly. If you stand up to them, then they will be hostile on many levels. That is why thousands of people have moved away from of Pittsfield, Mass., over the years. Lucky for me, I don’t live there anymore either.

- Jonathan Melle

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March 14, 2020

I disagree that the Lovely Linda Tyer is a failed Mayor of Pittsfield. She cares about poor neighborhoods. She speaks for Human Rights. She is very intelligent. She was elected to a 2nd term. I admire her progressive views.

Pittsfield politics is toxic. Everyone is out to get everyone else. When you stand up against the big wheels, you always lose. My experiences of retribution since my dad was a Pittsfield area politician included being bullied, threatened, my dad getting mistreated and having multiple "ethics" complaints filed against him, false reports against me to the police and trying to have me jailed, being blacklisted from employment, and having vicious rumors spread against me. The thing I don't understand is that with all of the problems Pittsfield faces, why did Pittsfield politics persecute me and my dad over the years?

I have a Master of Public Administration degree from U Mass Amherst. A community is supposed to invest in their people because the people are the community's most valuable resource. The reason for that is that the people who live in a community pay municipal taxes, invest in their property, shop at local businesses, and communicate with their elected officials to have safe streets, good public schools, and a nice quality of life.

However, Pittsfield politics does the opposite. The people who live in Pittsfield live in fear of their politicians. If they speak out about the issues and problems facing Pittsfield, then they will face retribution like me and my dad did. They will lose their job, they will be blacklisted, they will face "ethics" complaints and/or false reports to the police, and they will have vicious rumors spread against them.

In closing, Pittsfield politics is toxic. The Lovely Linda Tyer is a good Mayor of Pittsfield who cares about all of the people and her economically distressed and hard hit community.

- Jonathan Melle

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March 29, 2020

Re: I wish I never met or knew of the "4 foot tall piece of crap" named Nuciforo

I support the lovely Linda Tyer's progressive politics and compassionate leadership. I do believe I was persecuted by a former Pittsfield State Senator and current marijuana drug dealer (who I promised Dan Valenti I would not name on his awesome blog) [named Nuciforo] from the time I was 20 years old in the Spring of 1996 when my dad begun his campaign for Berkshire County Commissioner. He conspiratorially had people bully and threaten me for a number of years without leaving behind his own fingerprints/DNA, and I am still picked on in Pittsfield (Mass.) through today. He filed multiple state "ethics" complaints against my dad from the Fall of 1997 - Spring of 1998 to try to get me dad fired from his state job at the Pittsfield courthouse and his elected position on the County Commission. He tried to jail me by making false allegations against me to the PPD in the Spring of 1998 without communicating with my dad, who he had weekly contacts with at that time. He blacklisted me from employment in Pittsfield. He conspiratorially had people spread vicious rumors against me for a number of years. When I hold up a mirror, I see more than my own self reflection! I did not ask for any of this abuse for the past nearly 24 years of my adult life. In fact, I just want it all to be over and finally end. I dislike politics because of my decades of painful experiences from my native hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. I wish all of this never happened to me and my dad. I wish I never met or knew of the aforementioned "4 foot tall piece of crap" who thinks he is the Napoleon of Pittsfield politics.

- Jonathan Melle

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Re: Nuciforo nightmares!

May 18, 2020

To commemorate the forthcoming 22nd anniversary on May 20th, 2020, when then Pittsfield (Mass.) State Senator Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. tried to jail me when I was 22 years old on May 20th, 1998, I present his list of lowlights:

I first met Nuciforo when I was 20 years old in the Spring of 1996 when I attended a Democratic Party candidate forum in Dalton (Mass.). My dad, Bob Melle, was running for Berkshire County Commissioner and he and other candidates spoke to the voters.

Ever since that otherwise beautiful Spring day 24 years ago, Nuciforo conspiratorially had people associated with his fourth-rate political network bully, harass, and threaten me without Nuciforo leaving behind his own proverbial fingerprints/DNA. I was the bait for Nuciforo to hurt my dad in Pittsfield politics.

From the Fall of 1997 – Spring of 1998, Nuciforo filed multiple state “ethics” complaints against my dad to try to get my dad fired from his state government job at the Pittsfield courthouse and force my dad to resign from his elected position on the Berkshire County Commission. Fortunately, my dad wasn’t fired and forced to resign.

As I previously mentioned, on May 20, 1998, Nuciforo made false allegations against me to the Pittsfield Police Department to try to get me arrested and jailed. Nuciforo told the PPD that I was making “veiled threats” against him and that I was agitated with him for trying to abolish Berkshire County Government. Nuciforo told the police that if entered his local legislative office in Pittsfield, his staff would immediately call the police. Fortunately, my dad found out about it, and I wasn’t arrested and/or jailed.

In the Summer of 1998, Nuciforo along with North Adams State Representative Daniel Bosley abolished Berkshire County Government effective July 1, 2000, by attaching a rider to the fiscal year 1999 Massachusetts State Budget. Their sloppy work left Pontoosuc Lake in both Pittsfield and Lanesborough to choke with weed for two years in a state accounting agency.

When I graduated from U Mass Amherst with a Master of Public Administration degree in the Spring of 1999, Nuciforo used his political clout to blacklist me from getting a job in Western Massachusetts. In the Fall of 1999, I enlisted in the U.S. Army where I served Honorably for 1 year and 9 months in Germany. I am now a 100% service connected disabled Veteran.

When I came home from my military service in Germany, I found a job at a bank in Pittsfield, but my branch manager was a Dalton politician who was an ally of Nuciforo. My job at the bank was terminated after a little over 8 months. I felt my branch manager discriminated against me, but he denied his misconduct, while I admitted to my misconduct.

I walked around Pittsfield (Mass.) for over one year of my adult life from the Spring of 2002 – the beginning of Summer 2003 unsuccessfully looking for a job. I felt Nuciforo blacklisted me from employment.

I the early Spring of 2004, I moved to southern New Hampshire to live with my family after they relocated to Amherst, NH. Over one year later, Nuciforo had his bullies spread vicious rumors against me to the people in the Pittsfield area. No one admits to it, but my name was slandered all over the town I grew up in.

After serving one decade in the Massachusetts State Senate, Nuciforo stepped down after getting in trouble for being in bed with Boston area big banks and insurance companies. Nuciforo used his political clout to strong-arm two woman – named former Pittsfield Mayor Sara Hathaway and Registrar of Deeds staff member Sharon Henault – out of the 2006 state “election” for Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds. Nuciforo used his sinecure to plot a failed 2012 run for U.S. Congress that he lost by 40 percentage points to U.S. Congressman Richard Neal.

Nuciforo worked at his law offices in Pittsfield and Boston where he served as legal counsel for the same Boston area big banks and insurance companies he unethically served as a State Senator. A few later, Nuciforo invested hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money into a marijuana dispensary in Pittsfield, and then another one in East Boston.

In closing, after 24 years of being conspiratorially bullied, harassed, and threatened by Nuciforo without him leaving behind his own proverbial fingerprints/DNA, not one person has had the decency to apologize or own up to their criminal behavior. I am happy that my dad’s political and courthouse careers went well in the end, but I certainly am left damaged by it all.

In Truth!

Jonathan Melle

P.S. There are more email letters about this to come tomorrow and again on Wednesday, 5/20/2020.

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May 19, 2020

Re: Nuciforo was vindictive and very hypocritical

In the Fall of 2004, Nuciforo said at a political debate against Republican candidate for Berkshire based State Senator that he has been known to file a few state “ethics” complaints against state and local public officials and workers. I was told that Nuciforo even chuckled about it.

After I was apprised of his underhanded and vindictive remark, I thought to myself that Nuciforo’s retaliatory uses of state “ethics” complaints as political retribution were hypocritical given his corrupt public record in the Massachusetts State Senate and government.

Nuciforo always ran for public office as a Democrat, but even his hometown newspaper, The Berkshire Eagle, said that he was really a fiscal conservative who is pro-business. During most of his decade in the State Senate, Nuciforo was an unethical double dipper who did the bidding of Boston area big banks and insurance companies. Nuciforo served two roles in the State Senate from 1999 –2006 where he took in many thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the Boston area’s financial lobbyists.

Nuciforo chaired the State Senate Finance Committee, while he served as legal counsel for a corporate law firm called “Berman and Dowell” in Boston that served Boston area’s big banks and insurance companies. In 2006, Nuciforo got into trouble for his double dipping, and he had to step down from Beacon Hill politics.

What Nuciforo did next was unbelievable. In 2006, he strong-armed two woman political candidates out of a state government “election” for Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds. I couldn’t believe Nuciforo was not in jail for his aforementioned illegal double dipping, but then he was getting away with a sexist power grab for a sinecure.

In January of 2007, Deval Patrick was sworn in as the first African-American Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Boston Globe published a new article that Nuciforo petitioned Governor Patrick to appoint him to the state government position of Commissioner of Insurance. Again, I couldn’t believe it.

Nuciforo had to step down from being a State Senator for his double dipping with Boston area Insurance companies, and now he wanted the then new governor to appoint him to be Commissioner of Insurance within weeks of him being sworn in as the Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds after he used his political clout to strong-arm two women candidates out of the race less than a year earlier.

Nuciforo said that he liked to file retaliatory state “ethics” complaints against unsuspecting state and local government officials and workers, while he himself was always in bed with Boston area big banks and insurance companies. He also said he was always registered as a Democrat, but he was really a fiscal conservative who favored big banks and insurance companies. Nuciforo was vindictive and very hypocritical during his 16 year run in Massachusetts State government politics.

In Truth!

Jonathan Melle

P.S. There will be a final email letter about Nuciforo’s abuses of political power tomorrow on Wednesday, 5/20/2020.

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May 20, 2020

Re: Nuciforo tried to jail me 22 years ago today

Every May the 20th, I mark the date of May 20, 1998 when I was 22 years old, as the day when then Pittsfield State Senator Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior made false accusations to the Pittsfield Police Department that I made “veiled threats” against him because he was sponsoring legislation to abolish Berkshire County government. My father, Bob Melle, was one of three elected Berkshire County Commissioners.

I have been a mental health outpatient for over 22 years now. Over the decades and years since the Spring of 1998, I have explained to my mental health providers that I am a persecuted person. My mental health providers have replied to me that “You believe that you are a persecuted person.”

The thing is that Nuciforo has been conspiratorially and politically bullying (my dad and) me since the Spring of 1996 when I was 20 years old. I first met candidate for Berkshire State Senator Andrea Nuciforo, Jr. then at a Democratic Party candidate forum in Dalton (Mass.) where my dad spoke, as well as Congressman John Olver. Ever since that otherwise beautiful Spring day 24 years ago, Nuciforo conspiratorially had people connected to his political network bully and threaten to physically assault me without Nuciforo leaving behind his own proverbial fingerprints/DNA.

To understand Nuciforo, one has to understand Pittsfield politics. Pittsfield is ran by the Good Old Boys club, which is made up of multigenerational and interrelated politically incestuous families. Nuciforo is the dark, inbred Prince of Pittsfield politics. His late father, Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Senior, was a Pittsfield State Senator and then a Probate and Family Court Judge. His late Aunt, Anne Everest Wojtkowski, was Pittsfield’s first woman Mayor and a career science Professor at Berkshire Community College. His Uncle, Tom Wojtowski, was a career Pittsfield State Representative. Nuciforo followed in his late father’s footsteps and served one decade as a Pittsfield State Senator. He went on to serve one six year term as Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds, where he plotted a failed campaign for U.S. Congress he lost by 40 points to Congressman Richard Neal of Springfield. Nuciforo is now a legal drug dealer of recreational and medical marijuana in Pittsfield and East Boston.

When I talked to people when I lived in Pittsfield many years ago about Nuciforo, most of them said that they did not like him, but that they feared him. Pittsfield residents told me that if they spoke out about how corrupt and mean-spirited Nuciforo was in politics, then they would lose their job(s). When Nuciforo campaigned for U.S. Congress, even the Springfield Republican newspaper Editorial said he was mean-spirited.

When I was 20 during the Spring of 1996, I returned home to Berkshire County from my semester at American University in Washington, D.C. My dad once was a Pittsfield School Committee member who served with Nuciforo’s late Aunt Anne Wojtkowski in the 1970’s. My dad was even friends with Nuciforo’s late father when they worked together in the Pittsfield Courthouse. For whatever reason, Nuciforo disliked my dad and he used me as bait to try to ruin my dad’s career at the Pittsfield Courthouse and his elected position on the County Commission.

I grew up in Pittsfield, but that Spring (1996), my parents bought a home in rural Becket. I worked at a State Park with a then young woman. We developed a friendship, but her father was one of Nuciforo’s bullies. The Becket man also worked with Professor Anne Wojtkowski at BCC as an Environmental Science Professor. The woman’s father always viciously pointed his finger at me and made a scary face and then verbally assaulted me with mean-spirited insults, including against my mother. He even threatened to physically assault and batter me. At the end of the Summer of 1996, the then young woman told me she wanted to pursue a relationship with me after our Summer jobs at the State Park ended. She sent me a love note and Valentine’s Day card. But, her father hated me and continued to threaten to physically assault me. I did not understand why at that time in my life. I never hurt her and I tried the best I could to deal with the situation without hurting anybody.

In the Fall of 1997, I went to graduate school at U Mass Amherst to study public administration. Amherst State Senator Stan Rosenberg had two interns in my academic program. They were also mean-spirited and bullies, one of whom acted similar to the Becket man who was threatening me. I did not understand why at the time, but as time progressed I saw what was happening to my dad in toxic Pittsfield politics.

From the Fall of 1997 – Spring of 1998, Nuciforo filed multiple Massachusetts state “ethics” complaints against my dad to try to get my father fired from his state government job at the Pittsfield Courthouse and force him to resign his elected position on the Berkshire County Commission. Then, when I returned to Berkshire County from U Mass Amherst graduate school in the Spring of 1998, Nuciforo tried to jail me to send me to his close political ally then Berkshire County Sheriff Carmen Massimiano’s Pittsfield jail. That Summer of 1998, Nuciforo, with the assistance of then North Adams State Representative Daniel Bosley, successfully abolished Berkshire County government by attaching their bill as a rider to the fiscal year 1999 Massachusetts State budget. Please note that Pontoosuc Lake sat weed infested in a state accounting agency for two whole years as a result of Nuciforo and “Bureaucrat” Bosley’s sloppy legislation.

However, it did not end there. I graduated from U Mass Amherst with a Master of Public Administration degree in the Spring of 1999. I returned home to Berkshire County, and I found out the hard way that Nuciforo used his political clout to blacklist me from finding a job. In October of 1999, I enlisted in the U.S. Army where I served Honorably for 1 year and 9 months in Germany. I received a mental health Honorable Discharge. I am now a 100% service connected disabled Veteran for a psychiatric condition.

On the day I turned 30 in the Summer of 2005, I had been living in Southern New Hampshire for over one year. There was a Massachusetts State Democratic Party convention at Bousquet in Pittsfield. I received news that then Dalton State Representative named Denis E. Guyer, who was married at that time to multi-millionaire Allison Crane of the two century old Crane and Company in Dalton, publicly stated to the audience that “all Jonathan Melle ever did was stalk a Jewish woman from Otis”. (She was married during the Summer of 2002). She was the woman I worked with during the Summer of 1996, whose father was one of Nuciforo’s bullies. I was told that Denis Guyer publicly told people that my mental health problems started with my “love of a Jewish woman who I would do anything for”. I was told that Denis Guyer said, “Jonathan Melle belongs in a psychiatric institution”.

In 2011, I chatted with Denis Guyer on my then Facebook account. Denis Guyer denied that he said those things, and that he has political enemies in Pittsfield like I do. We agreed to stop berating each other after over five years of verbal conflict over the blogs. Denis Guyer is an Air Force Veteran. He and Allison Crane had divorced, and Denis Guyer remarried. People told me that Denis Guyer is a good man and for me to lay off of him. I do not know who said what, but it was explained to me that vicious rumors were spread against me all over Pittsfield, and that I should be careful if I ever go back to the town I grew up in because I have enemies there. I haven’t been back since 2005, or for over +14-years.

Like the Becket man and Stan Rosenberg’s legislative interns and Carmen Massimiano, I felt that Denis Guyer was another one of Nuciforo’s bullies who hurt my dad and me. Nuciforo and all of his bullies never once apologized to me for their hurtful actions. No one admits to being a bully when I inquire about these horrible events over the past 24 years of my adult life, but these terrible things did happen to me.

In closing, I feel fortunate that my dad was able to survive Nuciforo’s “ethics” complaints, that I did not get jailed by Nuciforo, that I survived Nuciforo’s conspiratorial bullying and threats, and that I know what happened, and that I can still write about it now.

In Truth!

Jonathan Alan Melle

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Enclosed: My Blog pages against Nuciforo!

https://jonathanmelleonpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/05/andrea-nuciforo-jonathan-melle-month-of.html

-and-

https://luciforo.blogspot.com/2009/07/jonathan-melles-stand-against-luciforo.html

-

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September 4, 2020

Re: What about happened to me, Berkshire Eagle?

Hello Dirty Bird (The Berkshire Eagle),

I feel bad that Alex Morse was a target of homophobic dirty politics in the recent 2020 Democratic Primary for U.S. Congress against career politician Richard Neal.  The Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) is right to question how this horrible conspiracy played out similar to "the October Surprise" in a presidential election.

I guess I do not count!  The Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) never publishes my letters.  For over 24 years, I was the target of Nuciforo's conspiratorial bullying since I first met Nuciforo when I was 20 years old during the Spring of 1996; I am now 45 years old.  I have explained the "Hell" Nuciforo's network put me through for most of my adult life.  Please read my blog pages about it.

https://jonathanmelleonpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/05/andrea-nuciforo-jonathan-melle-month-of.html

-and-

https://luciforo.blogspot.com/2009/07/jonathan-melles-stand-against-luciforo.html

In closing, Alex Morse had to deal with homophobic dirty politics for a short period of time, while it has been the nightmarish story of the last over 24 years of my adult life.

In Truth!

Jonathan Melle

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Our Opinion: "Massachusetts Democratic Party has some questions to answer"

The Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle), Editorial, September 4, 2020

"This is exactly what turns people away from politics."

That statement came from Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse during a debate with U.S. Rep. Richard Neal as they battled for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. While the primary is now over, some bitterness that originated in the final stretch lingers beyond the finish line from a scandal that leaves more questions than answers about the Massachusetts Democratic Party's involvement.

In a convoluted plot that reached its zenith near the primary's conclusion, members of the University of Massachusetts Amherst chapter of the College Democrats sought to implicate Mayor Morse and "sink his campaign" with allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct, according to the group's internal communications.

The explosive story was initially spurred on by a letter from the College Democrats of Massachusetts that publicly accused Mayor Morse of ill-defined improprieties, which was first published in the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. It was later revealed that this letter was crafted with the aid of attorney Jim Roosevelt after state party officials referred the scheming students to the Democratic Party-linked lawyer for free legal counsel.

The state party has some explaining to do. Is it normal for the state party to receive these sorts of complaints against Democratic primary candidates and refer them not to police nor other authorities but instead to pro bono legal counsel? If so, is it usual for that attorney to be a high-powered state party affiliate like Mr. Roosevelt? Were members of party leadership that referred the scheming students to Mr. Roosevelt aware of the unsubstantiated nature and political motivations of the allegations? Did the state party's participation violate its own neutrality rules that bar interference in primaries?

So far, the party has only anemically addressed this mess. When the connection to party leadership was brought to light, they announced an internal probe into the origins of the College Democrats letter — a move that essentially entails the Massachusetts Democratic Party investigating itself. While we hope this probe addresses the above questions, an independent investigation, as Mayor Morse has called for, would be a more reassuring step for constituents who want answers.

No evidence has surfaced that links Rep. Neal to the College Democrats' smear effort, and the incumbent has broadly denounced the specter of homophobia that looms over this sort of salacious scrutiny of a gay candidate's dating life. It might behoove the congressman to join his former opponent in publicly pressuring the state Democrats for more transparency on the party's involvement.  Further, it behooves all of us to learn an overdue lesson — that it's unequivocally wrong to hurl baseless and vague accusations as political artillery — and refrain from pointing conspiratorial fingers at the incumbent in absence of any proof.

Whatever the ground truth, it's certainly not a good look for the state party, and slow-playing transparency hasn't helped those optics. More alarmingly, sources within the state party recently told The Intercept that the party's executive director told leaders of the College Democrats to delete records of communication between the students and party leadership.

What we do know is that vague and unsubstantiated allegations derailed a congressional primary, unfairly forcing the challenger to talk about his dating life when voters preferred to hear both candidates discuss issues facing the district.

Last week, student leaders of the UMass Amherst chapter of the College Democrats apologized to Mayor Morse, acknowledging that their letter played into "homophobic stereotypes" in its attempt to malign him. It is shameful, especially in a supposedly progressive bastion like Massachusetts, that this sort of harmful innuendo continues to be weaponized against queer political figures.

Now, it's the state party's turn for accountability. Was its leadership duped into unwittingly amplifying a politically motivated hit-job hatched by a handful of overly ambitious college students? Or did they knowingly facilitate the lowest kind of realpolitik in a bid to put a finger on the scales of a decisive primary for the 1st District?

This race, its candidates and the voters deserved far better than this. What they deserve now is timely transparency from the Massachusetts Democratic Party. We hope the investigation's conclusion gets as much ink as the initial allegations.

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September 13, 2020

I went through a lot worse than Barry Clairmont when and many years after my dad, Bob, was a politician (a Berkshire County Commissioner from Becket) in Pittsfield politics (Spring of 1996 - mid-2000).  I believe it is part of the reason I am officially disabled.  I never want to go through being persecuted by corrupt and mean-spirited state and local politicians ever again in my life.  I am still coping with what happened.  There is nothing I can do about it in a Court of Law.  However, I still write email letters and blog about it all all of these years/decades later.  All I can say to Barry Clairmont is that Pittsfield politics is toxic.  My brother tells me that it is the same everywhere else, but I reply to my brother that he is probably right, but Pittsfield politics has it in spades!

- Jonathan Melle

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https://planetvalenti.com/2020/09/planet-exclusive-full-text-of-clairmonts-lawsuit-against-mazzeo/

-----

https://jonathanmelleonpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/05/andrea-nuciforo-jonathan-melle-month-of.html

-----

https://luciforo.blogspot.com/2009/07/jonathan-melles-stand-against-luciforo.html

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September 28, 2020

Re: Paranoid Schizophrenia

In my mental health group today, we discussed the mental health topic of Paranoid Schizophrenia, which is delusional and twisted thinking where one believes things that are untrue with false beliefs and unrealistic fears. I said that I was thought by people in my life in my early-20's from the Spring of 1996 - Summer of 2000 (and years beyond 2000) when my dad, Bob, was a politician who campaigned and served as a Berkshire County Commissioner.  I explained that I, now 45-years-old in the Fall of 2020, was the victim of being a politician's son in Berkshire County many years ago.  I was persecuted by the conspiratorial Nuciforo network back then where I was bullied, threatened, and faced years of abuses.  Nuciforo conspiratorially had many people associated with his then political network hurt me for many years of my then young adult life without Nuciforo leaving behind his own fingerprints/DNA.  Nuciforo filed multiple state "ethics" complaints to multiple Massachusetts State Government Agencies against my dad from the Fall of 1997 - Spring of 1998.  On May 20, 1998, when I was 22-years-old and halfway through my graduate school program at UMass Amherst, Nuciforo set up secretive plans with the Pittsfield Police Department to have me arrested without telling my dad, who he was in weekly contact with at that time.  My dad found out about it, and he told me to stay away from Nuciforo.  On my 30th birthday on July 23, 2005, Nuciforo's network allegedly had then Dalton State Representative Denis E. Guyer, who denied it, spread vicious rumors against me in Pittsfield over one year after I relocated to Southern New Hampshire to live with my family that "All Jonathan Melle ever did was stalk a Jewish Woman from Otis" and that "Jonathan Melle belongs in a psychiatric institution". After over 24 years of Nuciforo's mean-spirited and vindictive political mudslinging and bullying, no one ever once apologized to me for hurting me.  Who, other than me, had to endure all of this while being seen as a paranoid schizophrenic as a then young man when everything that happened to me really did occur?  I am a 100 percent service connected disabled U.S. Army Veteran for a psychiatric condition, and I recognize I live a life as a person who is treated for mental illness, but I am not delusional about my negative experiences with Nuciforo's Pittsfield politics!  It all really did happen, and I am writing the truth.

- Jonathan A. Melle

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October 21, 2020

Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior is spreading his "dead skunk odor" of marijuana around Pittsfield's working class neighborhoods from his Dalton Avenue marijuana growing operations.  Local Pittsfield residents have written letters to the editor of "The Dirty Bird" (Berkshire Eagle) for over a year that Nuciforo's Berkshire Roots pot business is consistently producing a strong smell that affects the people who live near there.

They don't call him "Luciforo" for nothing!  Nuciforo's political family dominated Pittsfield politics for generations.  Nuciforo's late-father was a Pittsfield State Senator and a Probate Court Judge.  Nuciforo's late-aunt was Pittsfield's first woman mayor and a career professor at Berkshire Community College.  Nuciforo's uncle was a Pittsfield State Representative.  Nuciforo and his Wojtkowski side of his family are still very involved and invested in Pittsfield politics.

Nuciforo used his political connections from his decade as a Pittsfield State Senator to Boston's Statehouse to start his marijuana empire after he became a fringe politician for trying to oust Congressman John W. Olver and then Congressman Richard E. Neal.  The Boston Globe and other newspapers wrote that Nuciforo used his political connections and deep pockets in Boston to open his Berkshire Roots marijuana dispensary in East Boston.

Nuciforo's political career is the textbook case for corruption.  Nuciforo had to step down from the Massachusetts State Senate in 2006 because he was in bed with Boston's big banks and insurance companies.  Nuciforo illegally served as both Chairman of the State Senate Finance Committee and a Corporate Attorney for the law firm named Berman and Dowell in Boston.  The Boston Globe said he was an illegal double dipper from 1999 - 2006.  The Boston Globe reported in early-2007 that Nuciforo lobbied the then newly elected Governor Deval Patrick to name him Commissioner of Insurance.  This was after Nuciforo strong-armed two women candidates out of the 2006 state government so-called "election" for Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds.

My personal experience with "Luciforo" started when I first met him in the Spring of 1996 when I was 20 years old when he first ran for Berkshire-based State Senator and my dad ran for Berkshire County Commissioner back in the days when there were still county governments in Western Massachusetts.  Ever since I first met "Luciforo", he had people associated with his mean-spirited "Nuciforo network" conspiratorially bully and threaten me without "Luciforo" leaving behind his own fingerprints and DNA.

From the Fall of 1997 - Spring of 1998, "Luciforo" filed multiple state "ethics" complaints against my dad to multiple Massachusetts state government agencies to try to get my dad fired from my dad's then state government job at the Pittsfield Courthouse and force my dad to resign from his elected post on the Berkshire County Commissioner.  During the Spring of 1998, Nuciforo made false complaints to the Pittsfield Police Department that I was threatening him, but the truth was that Nuciforo was bullying and threatening me.  My dad found out about it, and my dad told me to stay away from Nuciforo.  Nuciforo, along with the assistance of Daniel "Bureaucrat" Bosley (who is now a Boston Statehouse lobbyist), succeeded in abolishing Berkshire County Government through a budget rider attached to the fiscal year 1999 state budget.

When I lived in Pittsfield, I gathered nomination signatures in early-2004 to try to challenge Nuciforo in the state government election for State Senator.  When I talked to people in Pittsfield, many local residents feared him and said that if they signed my nomination papers, they would lose their respective jobs.  That is how powerful and intimidating Nuciforo and his family's political network was (and still is) in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Also, Berkshire area State Representatives Smitty Pignatelli, Peter Larkin (who is also now a Boston Statehouse lobbyist), and Dan Bosley all declined to sign my nomination papers.  I dropped out of the race, and moved to southern New Hampshire to live with my family who all relocated there.

I followed Nuciforo's careers in politics, law, him serving Boston's big banks and insurance companies, and his over three year old marijuana business over the years.  In short, Nuciforo used his family's political domination over Pittsfield to enrich himself by royally screwing over anyone who stood in his way, including me, to cash in on state government, law, double dipping with Boston's financial district, and growing, distributing and selling pot.

In Truth!

Jonathan Melle

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January 28, 2021

Hello Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) Editors,

I believe that I have been through for decades what Alex Morse went through last year (2020).  My dad was a Berkshire County Commissioner (candidate Spring 1996; elected Fall 1996; served 1997 - mid-2000).  When my dad was a candidate in the Spring of 1996, I was 20 years old.  Ever since then (Spring of 1996), Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior, who served as a Pittsfield State Senator from 1997 -2006, and his political network from Pittsfield to Boston conspiratorially had people bully me, and file state "ethics" complaints against my dad, and they even try to jail me.  I have been the subject of vicious rumors over the years, too.  When I lived in the Pittsfield area until the early-Spring of 2004, I was blacklisted from employment.  They screwed with me, and screwed me over every chance they had.  I was told that when my name is mentioned in Pittsfield, they mockingly laugh at me.

I am 45.5 years old now, and I hope I am now mature enough to finally cope with it all.  Then I read Dirty Bird (Eagle) editorials and letters to the editor about what "PAC-Man" Richie Neal and the state Democratic Party leaders in Boston did during their smear campaign against Alex Morse, who is a young man and a homosexual.  All I can say is that I have been through it, too, and politics is conspiratorial and mean-spirited to those who stand in the way of the establishment politicians.  You cannot tell me that Congressman Richie Neal had nothing to do with the conspiratorial orchestrated smear campaign against his challenger Alex Morse in 2020.  You cannot tell me that what the Nuciforo network did to me and my dad decades ago was not conspiratorial and mean-spirited.  Establishment politicians play with peoples' lives like we are pieces on their Chess boards.  I feel like I when I was a young man in my early-20s, I was manipulated and abused for many years of my adult life because my dad was a politician who Nuciforo wanted to hurt in Pittsfield politics to further his own political career.

There have been books (Kafka) and TV shows (Twilight Zone) and the like about politics and bureaucracy being conspiratorial and mean-spirited so that evil and power hungry establishment politicians can divide and conquer to enrich themselves while exploiting others.  No one is going to stand up to Richard E. Neal and the state Democratic Party leaders in Boston, who are all still in power, because they fear the kind of retribution and abuse that I went through, that my dad went through, and now what Alex Morse recently went through.

Richard Neal raises millions of dollars from K Street's corporate lobbyist firms each and every year.  The state Democratic Party leaders in Boston raise millions of dollars from special interests each and every year, too.  They are all still in power after their homophobic smear campaign against Alex Morse in 2020.  They rule by money, retribution, fear, and being mean-spirited to intimidate anyone from standing up to them.

In Truth!

Jonathan Melle

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"Institutional bigotry in the state Democratic Party"

The Berkshire Eagle, January 28, 2021

To the editor: The Massachusetts Democratic Party keeps reminding us that its leadership, particularly Democratic State Committee Chairman Gus Bickford and DSC attorney Jim Roosevelt, needs to go.

A number of factions within our state Democratic party have been trying for months to remove Bickford and Roosevelt after their involvement in the homophobic smear campaign against Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse became public knowledge.

For those who are unfamiliar with the story, Bickford counseled Alex Morse to wait his turn rather than challenge Rep. Richard Neal during the 2020 Democratic Primary in Massachusetts. Thereafter, the UMass Amherst College Democrats said that Roosevelt advised them to leak a letter to the press claiming that Morse, who is openly gay and taught a course on government at the school as an adjunct professor, had made students at the university “uncomfortable” and barring him from future group events. The UMass College Dems subsequently publicly apologized to Morse.

Nevertheless, the leaked letter emerged in mid-August just as mail-in voting for the 1st Congressional District primary was getting underway. The latest chapter of this sorry tale occurred earlier this month, during a meeting of Democratic State Committee members in Cambridge.

On Jan. 13, the Ward 3 Democratic Committee in that city submitted a resolution calling for the removal of Gus Bickford from his leadership role in the Democratic State Committee and a vote of no confidence in his leadership. Using parliamentary tactics, Bickford’s supporters, including Cambridge resident Jim Roosevelt, submitted an alternative resolution at the last minute that omitted any mention of Bickford and the DSC’s wrongdoing. During the vote tally during the Zoom meeting, George Goverman, a protege of Bickford’s and Roosevelt’s and a lifetime member of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee called Dan Totten, a representative of Cambridge’s Ward 3, a homophobic slur.

It is long past time for Berkshire County’s Democratic State Committee members, including Sherwood Guernsey, Lee Harrison, state Sen. Adam Hinds and Pittsfield City Councilor Helen Moon, to go on the record here. Silence is no longer an option.

Steve Dew, Williamstown

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January 30, 2021

Hello again, Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) Editors,

The Massachusetts State Democratic Party's orchestrated homophobic smear campaign against Alex Morse's challenge of over 3 decade long career "K Street PAC-Man" Richie Neal did not have the Congressman's fingerprints/DNA on it, but it was very conspiratorial and mean-spirited that was meant to sink the Morse campaign in favor of the career politician incumbent.

As I recently wrote, I believe I went through a similar painful experience in Pittsfield politics at the hands of Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior beginning during the Spring of 1996 when I was all of 20 years old when my dad was a Democratic Party candidate for Berkshire County Commissioner, who served in that now abolished elected office from 1997 - mid-2000.  For many years of my adult life, I have been the target of conspiratorial and mean-spirited political bullying from Pittsfield through Boston without Nuciforo and other establishment politicians leaving behind their own fingerprints/DNA.

I am 45.5-years old now in late-January of 2021, and I still have negative feelings against state and local politicians from Pittsfield through Boston because they were very hurtful and retaliatory against my dad and me.  In closing, it is always the same powerful political establishment people playing the same dirty and nasty games against the little guys who stand up to the political establishment where the powerbroker politicians never leave behind their own fingerprints/DNA, but we all know they were the ones behind it all.

In Truth!

Jonathan Melle

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Our Opinion: "Cleanup time for Mass Dems"

The Berkshire Eagle, Editorial, January 29, 2021

The Massachusetts Democrats’ link to a student group’s smear against Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse raised serious concerns about the state party’s behavior amid an important election for the 1st Congressional District.

An internal report demanded by some party members has corroborated those concerns, and now begs the question of what the state party will do to repair and maintain its integrity.

Less than a month before last year’s Democratic primary in which Mr. Morse was challenging incumbent Rep. Richard Neal, the race was rocked by allegations of sexual misconduct against Mr. Morse. The accusations were leveled by students within the University of Massachusetts Amherst chapter of the College Democrats of Massachusetts. Reporting by The Intercept soon revealed, however, that the allegations were part of a year-old plan hatched by the student group to “sink his campaign.” There has been no evidence linking Rep. Neal or his campaign to the students’ plot or the allegations.

Follow-up reporting by both The Intercept and The Berkshire Eagle subsequently revealed the involvement of Massachusetts Democratic Party leadership in conversation with the student group about dissemination of a letter written by the College Democrats detailing their unsupported allegations that the student group then sent to several news media outlets as well as Mr. Morse.

The letter had its drafters’ desired effect, roiling the race just ahead of the first debate and weeks before Election Day. It was only afterward that the UMass Amherst Democrats apologized to Mr. Morse, an openly gay man, for directing the campaign’s spotlight onto his sex life based on salacious and baseless accusations. Furthermore, an internal investigation at UMass Amherst, where Mr. Morse was an adjunct professor, determined that he did not, despite the letter’s intimations, violate university policy regarding teacher-student relations.

Unresolved issues remain, however, within Massachusetts Democratic Party leadership, as pointed out by an internal report from attorney Cheryl Jacques, a former Democratic state senator. The mountain of evidence in the report is damning. State party leadership helped along the letter that sought to malign a congressional candidate against the advice of an attorney they consulted, who suggested the letter’s claims were shaky at best. Party officials referred the College Democrats to party-connected lawyer Jim Roosevelt for counsel, who made some minor edits to their letter. Ms. Jacques noted in her report that two College Democrats corroborated each other’s account that Mr. Roosevelt then told the students to leak the letter. Mr. Roosevelt denies this. Eventually the letter was leaked to several media outlets.

The internal report also found that state party leadership was dishonest about ongoing contact with the College Democrats in the wake of the letter’s release and the ensuing news media firestorm. Party leadership lied when it claimed “no further involvement” with the College Democrats once the students were referred to legal counsel. Democratic State Committee Executive Victoria Martinez also lied when she publicly denied instructing students to destroy evidence of communications with the state party.

Furthermore, Ms. Jacques’ report suggests that Democratic State Committee Chairman Gus Bickford violated the party’s own bylaws in communications with the students: “Gus’s admission ... indicates to me that he was encouraging the students to talk to the reporter on the record and to do so prior to the election,” read the internal report’s key findings. “I conclude that Gus’s actions violated DSC Bylaw section 2(d) which prohibits staff of the DSC from participating in a contested Democratic Primary campaign.”

While Mr. Bickford handily won reelection as party chairman shortly after the internal report’s commission, some within the party understandably seek a reckoning. State party officials would hopefully agree that their own rules exist for a reason. They should see that those who break them — even their most powerful members — are held responsible.

If Mr. Bickford has any respect for the integrity of his party as a democratic institution, he should resign.

Further, the party’s leadership should acknowledge its significant missteps here and demonstrate what they’re doing to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

A contentious election season has just reminded us how important — and delicate — some of our democratic frameworks are. They require vigilant protection, and that means holding accountable those at the top. That’s as true at the state level as it is at the federal level.

The Massachusetts Democrats’ party leadership owe a lot more to the constituents they lied to and the democratic process they apparently helped to undermine.

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May 20, 2021

Re: Nuciforo tried to jail me 23 years ago today

On May 20th, 1998, then Pittsfield (Massachusetts) State Senator Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior (aka Luciforo) set up secretive plans with the Pittsfield Police Department to have me arrested if I stopped by his state legislative district office on North Street to protest his role in abolishing Berkshire County Government.  Nuciforo falsely alleged to the police that I was making veiled threats against him and that I was agitated and upset with him for opposing my dad, who was a Berkshire County Commissioner, on county government.  Prior to Nuciforo's plans to jail me, Nuciforo filed multiple state "ethics" complaints against my dad, Bob Melle, to multiple Massachusetts state agencies.  Nuciforo tried to get my dad fired from his state government job as an Assistant Chief Probation Officer in the Pittsfield District Court and force my dad to resign his elected position as a Berkshire County Commissioner. Fortunately, Nuciforo did not succeed in putting me in jail.  Fortunately, Nuciforo did not succeed in getting my dad fired and forcing him to resign.

Since I first met Nuciforo in the Spring of 1996 - when I was only 20 years old - at a political candidate forum in Dalton (Massachusetts) where both he and my dad spoke as political candidates, Nuciforo conspiratorially had many people associated with his political network bully and threaten me on his behalf for many years of my young adult life without Nuciforo leaving behind his own proverbial fingerprints/DNA.  Nuciforo had his network of political operatives spread false and vicious rumors against me throughout the years in the Pittsfield area.  Nuciforo blacklisted me from receiving employment in the Pittsfield area when I was a young man.  I find it interesting that Nuciforo used to brag about filing state "ethics" complaints against people he didn't like when Nuciforo himself had to step down from the Massachusetts State Senate because he was illegally double dipping as Chair of the State Senate Finance Committee in Boston and also working as a corporate Attorney for Boston's big banks and insurance companies for the Boston law firm Berman and Dowell.  After Nuciforo had to leave his decade-long post in the Massachusetts State Senate, he anointed himself to the 6-year-long sinecure as Pittsfield's Registrar of Deeds by strong arming two women candidates named Sharon Henault and former Pittsfield Mayor Sara Hathaway out the 2006 state government "election".  In early-2007, the Boston Globe reported that Nuciforo wanted the then newly elected Governor of Massachusetts named Deval Patrick to appoint him to the post of Commissioner of Insurance, despite his illegal double dipping with Boston's insurance companies.  Nuciforo was passed over for that post.  Nuciforo used his anointed sinecure at the Pittsfield Registry of Deeds to plot a failed run for U.S. Congress in 2012 against "PAC Man" Richie Neal.  Nuciforo lost that election by 40 points.

Nuciforo comes from a political family who goes back many years in Pittsfield politics.  Nuciforo's late father was a Pittsfield State Senator and then a Pittsfield Probate Court Judge.  Nuciforo's late aunt was the first woman Mayor of Pittsfield and a longtime career professor at Berkshire Community College.  Nuciforo uncle was a career Pittsfield State Representative on Beacon Hill.  Nuciforo now owns Berkshire Roots, which is marijuana business in Pittsfield with an outlet in East Boston.  Nuciforo still practices law in both Pittsfield and Boston.  In closing, Nuciforo is a mean-spirited and vindictive little man who used his political connections to hurt people, such as my father and myself, while being a corrupt political insider who unethically enriched himself in government and practicing law.

In Truth!

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "North Adams' issues underscore struggles of small communities"

The Berkshire Eagle, April 4, 2023

To the editor: A third city clerk in a year has resigned in North Adams ("North Adams City Clerk Joshua Vallieres resigns," Eagle, March 31).

Our police chief is out ("Mayor Jennifer Macksey says 'domestic incident' involving former Police Chief Jason Wood was not the reason Wood was relieved of duty," Eagle, March 27). Our City Council meetings are "testy," and the Massachusetts Supreme Court says people have a legal right to be rude in meetings, so here we are.

As I've said before, I think North Adams city government, and most other Berkshire governments, are trying to do too much for too few people. These municipalities all over the Berkshires are best thought of as neighborhoods for purposes of most services. A county with fewer than 150,000 people needs lots and lots of consolidation of services.

The notion that there need to be all of these separate police and fire and road and water services, just for a start, is a prescription for overwork and overspending. Generations of "public servants" grow up with the notion that they are entitled to a town job. Tax burdens grow and grow.

The notion that every one of these services needs a fancy facility within its own micro-local area rather than, for example, a precinct house and central dispatch, is wildly off-base. I know "Bill Weld eliminated counties." He was wrong. It is time to take another look.

Barbara Alexander, North Adams

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May 20, 2024

Good old Massachusetts has one of the highest prices for groceries in the U.S.A.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13438583/State-inflation-grocery-prices-meat.html

Billionaire John Forbes Kerry's HOT AIR is NOT helping the fictional Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski working-class family who lives in Pittsfield and has working-class cousins in Boston be able to afford to buy groceries in Massachusetts.

Jon Melle

Post Script: Nuciforo tried to jail me 26 years ago on May 20th, 1998:

May 20, 2024

26 years ago today, then Pittsfield (Massachusetts) State Senator and now a disgraced former politician who newspapers have called FRINGE, MEAN-SPIRITED, and alleged has deep pocket unknown investors in his marijuana business named "Berkshire Roots" tried to put me - Jon Melle - in jail.  Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior - aka LUCIFORO; aka Pittsfield's Pot King (of lawsuits) - told the Pittsfield Police Department FALSE allegations that I was making "veiled" threats towards him.  In fact, it was "Luciforo" who was the one who was conspiratorially and directly bullying and threatening me for 2 years back then.  Prior to this event when I was 22 years old, Nuciforo filed multiple state "ethics" complaints - THE IRONY of Nuciforo filing state "ethics" complaints: given that Nuciforo ended up being an allegedly illegal double dipper as Chair of the State Senate Finance Committee while at the same time serving as counsel to Boston's big banks and insurance companies from 1999 - 2006, according to the Boston Globe's news article in early-2007 - against my dad, Bob (who will turn 80 years old this Summer 2024), when my dad, Bob, served as an elected Berkshire County Commissioner (1997 - mid-2000) and was an Assistant Chief Probation Officer (1970 - 2002) in the Pittsfield District Courthouse.  Nuciforo tried to get me dad fired from his courthouse position and force his resignation from the Berkshire County Commission, but fortunately for my dad, Bob, and I, Nuciforo's persecutions of us were ineffective.

Nuciforo had to resign from his elected position in the State Senate in 2006 due to his alleged illegal double dipping.  In 2006, Nuciforo strong-armed two women candidates - Sharon Henault and Sara Hathaway (who was a former Pittsfield Mayor by then; and she was a former aide to Nuciforo, too) - out of the state government so-called election to anoint himself Pittsfield Registrar of Deed, which as a no-show state plum that he served in for 6 years until 2012.  In 2012, Nuciforo campaign for the elected position of U.S. House of Representatives to oust the now-late Congressman John W. Olver, who ended up retiring due to redistricting back then.  Nuciforo challenged Congressman - aka PAC Man - Richie Neal in 2012, but Nuciforo lost to Richie Neal by 40 percentage points in the 2012 Democratic Party primary election back then.  Nuciforo's disgraced political career was finally over - THANK GOD!

In March 2017, Nuciforo started his marijuana business named "Berkshire Roots"  Nuciforo used his political connections in both Pittsfield and Boston, along with the deep pockets of unknown investors, to be one of the first people to receive pot permits in Massachusetts new marijuana industry.  Nuciforo's Pittsfield Pot Kingdom on Dalton Avenue in Pittsfield stinks up nearby residential neighborhoods with dead-skunk-like odors on a daily basis.  Nuciforo himself does not live near his Dalton Avenue Pittsfield Pot Kingdom, but instead, Nuciforo lives in a mansion in Pittsfield's elitist Gated Community neighborhood west of Berkshire Community College.  Last Summer 2023, Nuciforo filed a lawsuit in Pittsfield's Superior Court suing the City of Pittsfield over the $440,000 in HCAs fees he paid for his pot permits.  Nuciforo recently filed a second pot lawsuit in Boston's Superior Court to challenge state law in favor of marijuana workers' right to be in unions in Massachusetts.  Nuciforo has made many millions of dollars from his marijuana businesses, but he is so greedy that he is suing the City of Pittsfield over his HCAs payments for pot permits from many years ago now, along with him trying to bust unions in the state's marijuana workforce.

In closing, let us all remember the date of May 20th, 1998, when Nuciforo tried to jail me - Jon Melle - as an event that symbolizes the EVIL person that "Luciforo" truly is!

Jonathan Alan Melle

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May 20th, 2024

My ideas of celebrating the day - May 20th, 1998 - that Nuciforo lied to the Pittsfield Police Department about me to try to have me arrested and jailed:

Please put this FRAUDSTER in prison for all of his alleged wrongdoings over all of these years.

Please tell the Massachusetts Superior Court Chief Justice all about "Luciforo" when his two respective lawsuits are heard in Pittsfield and Boston.  Why isn't the Boston Globe, Boston Herald west to The Berkshire Eagle newspapers reporting on Nuciforo's two pot lawsuits?

Please shut down his Berkshire Roots' "largest in the region" marijuana growing operation on Dalton Avenue in Pittsfield (Massachusetts) for stinking up the nearby residential neighborhoods with his unpleasant pot growing odors.

Please read all of my blogs postings about how mean-spirited, conspiratorial and abusive Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior was to me since I was 20 years old when I first met him during the Spring 1996 when my dad, Bob, began his successful campaign for Berkshire County Commissioner back then.

Please understand that I have heard for many years of my adult life that many people are on my side, but I was told that they live in fear of Nuciforo's influential power in Pittsfield politics, whose other name is RETRIBUTION!

Jon Melle

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