I hate Luciforo, blogger Dan Valenti!

February 11, 2021

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

I understand that I am not allowed to respond to the posts about "Luciforo" on your awesome blog.  Here are the two posts:

(1) “If a little guy like my dad (or me) spoke out to them, we faced retribution." - Jon Melle

Most parents live the dream of what they wished could have been through their kids, your the kid who lives the dream of what you wished through your dad. Your dad was a great commissioner for the time and believe me he didn’t need your input of you trying to be a political maker which in the end caused trouble for him and yourself.

(2) I don’t think Jon at the time understood the true nature of politics and especially locally where few control the many and how down and dirty it becomes when you challenge the powers that be. The debate over whether or not to abolish county government was a very hot and emotional issue with millions of dollars at stake for GOB/SICs. Jon’s dad fought hard to retain county government and that put him at odds with the powers that be (Including Andy Nuciforo, who championed the abolishment) and put a target on his back (Politically). And it became nasty, which Jon had to witness, as his dad was beaten down. But no one ever lost respect for the man and it was never personal…Just politics. But the ordeal was a traumatic one that has forever tainted Jon’s behavior and view of Berkshire county.

My response to you, blogger Dan Valenti, which I understand I am not allowed to post on your awesome blog is:

Andrea F. Nuciforo's, Jr. systematic, conspiratorially having other people bully and threaten me without "Luciforo" leaving behind his own fingerprints/DNA since the day I first met him when I was all of 20 years old during the Spring of 1996, mean-spirited and vicious rumors, blacklisting me from employment when I lived in the Berkshires as a young man, secretive and false allegations against me that I was making "veiled threats" against him to the Pittsfield Police Department when I was a graduate student at UMass Amherst during the Spring of 1998 when I was 22 years old, and his multiple state "ethics" complaints against my dad to multiple Massachusetts state government agencies when he was a Berkshire County Commissioner (1997 - mid-2000) from the Fall of 1997 - Spring of 1998 to try to get my dad fired from his then state government job in the Pittsfield District Court Probation Office and force his resignation from his elected position on the Berkshire County Commission all felt personal to me.  To be clear, I hate "Luciforo"!  To be honest, I see "Luciforo" as the inbred, dark political Prince of Pittsfield politics whose late father was a Pittsfield State Senator, too, and then a Pittsfield Probate and Family Court Judge, his late Aunt was Pittsfield's first woman Mayor and a career Professor at Berkshire Community College, and his Uncle was a career Pittsfield State Representative.  "Luciforo" had to step down from the Massachusetts State Senate in 2006 because he was illegally in bed with Boston's big banks and insurance companies.  "Luciforo" used his political connections in Pittsfield and Boston to be one of the first owners of his predatory marijuana business named Berkshire Roots.

I have two blog pages where I write about my negative experiences and feelings about "Luciforo":

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

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

-and-

Andrea F Nuciforo Jr aka Luciforo!: Jonathan Melle's stand against Luciforo!

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

In closing, I may be a disabled Veteran, but I am not stupid!  I know what "Luciforo" did to hurt my dad, and why he hurt me over many years of my adult life. I feel like it was not just dirty politics, but it was also personal!

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

Additional comments:

* Good post. The politicians and power people went hard after the commissioner. I believe it did go beyond politics with the personal attacks on the man. Just think about what we ended up with. The power brokers wanted to control government for themselves along with the power and money that goes with it. The commissioner fought against exactly what is going on today.

* Rightly so, it is abuse. Because he is a human being it is personal.

* What is the common thread here…..all…..Democrats & Keep voting that way, what did Einstein say?

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April 6, 2021

Pittsfield politics always has a rubber stamp city council and Mayor who answers to the Democratic Party bosses in Boston who are still in power after their 2020 homophobic and sleazy smear campaign against populist Alex Morse who dared to challenge Richie Neal, who is K Street corporate lobbyists' favorite PAC Man on Capitol Hill.  I have followed Pittsfield politics for decades, and I find it to be totally predictable and very mean-spirited.  Every fiscal year, Pittsfield politics raises spending by around 5%, hikes fees, and borrows at least $10 million or a lot more money to add to its hundreds of millions of dollars in public debts and other hidden liabilities.  Matt Kerwood uses creative accounting schemes to make the Lovely Linda look like she has stabilized city government's financial management, but it is all a house of cards that will most likely collapse into insolvency in the future.  Matt Kerwood is deferring most of Pittsfield's huge municipal debts and other hidden liabilities decades into the far off future.  Matt Kerwood is still building a huge slush fund, which he calls reserve accounts, that is estimated to be around $14 million.  Over the next 2 years, the Lovely Linda and Matt Kerwood will receive $41.6 million in direct aid that I call Biden Buck$.  Will the taxpaying public - the proverbial Kapanski family - be able to have a direct say into how Pittsfield's financial windfall will be spent by City Hall?  I won't be holding my breath.  On the state level, Pittsfield politics has State Representative Tricia Farley Bouvier, who votes herself big pay raises, and collects up to 3 legislative pay raises every two years.  Then there is State Senator Adam Hinds, who also votes himself big pay raises and cashes in with 3 legislative pay raises every two years.  TFB and Hinds both openly support raising state taxes, especially on the wealthy, but they have not offered to sacrifice any of their public pay and perks.  Pittsfield politics is mean-spirited because the ruling elite persecutes and blacklists anyone who doesn't fall in line with their agenda that is destroying the peace of mind and financial security of the proverbial Kapanski family.  Pittsfield politics has an antidemocratic reputation for very low voter turnout and little citizen participation in state and local government.  Pittsfield (Massachusetts) has one of the highest ratios in the state and nation for economic inequality because there are little to no living wage jobs there for the average working family.  The Lovely Linda lives in a wealthy gated community literally feet away from the Hancock border.  Wealthy Ward 4 in Pittsfield always elects the Mayor and the at large City Councilors.  The working class and proverbial Kapanski family have no real voice in Pittsfield politics.  One example of this is the skunk-like odor from a marijuana growing business that stinks up a working class neighborhood in Pittsfield.  People complained, but they still wake up to smelling stinky air.  Pittsfield has been losing population and jobs for decades on end since around the 1980s when GE closed shop and cut thousands of living wage jobs.  It has been over 30 years of a distressed local economy, but Pittsfield politics has done nothing for economic development to grow living wage jobs for all of that time.  I believe that Pittsfield politics did this on purpose because they make more money off of social services dollars and Level 5 inner city public schools than investing in a working class economy - or investing in people.  I call it "Perverse Incentives" where I explain that poverty and economic inequality is Pittsfield's real business.  In closing, Pittsfield politics does one thing successfully year after year, and it is screwing over Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski!

- Jonathan Melle

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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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July 6, 2021

Hello Erin at Act on Mass,

Congratulations on getting your long awaited Massachusetts State House of Representatives vote on House rules with possible House rules reforms on Wednesday afternoon July 7th, 2021 at 1:00 pm.  I admire your idealism and advocacy for the people and taxpayers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  I hope that the Beacon Hill lawmakers will vote for your proposals to: 

1. Make ALL committee votes public

2. Ensure reps and the public have 72 hours to read a bill before a vote

3. Reinstate term limits for the Speaker of the House

I support your political advocacy causes, of course, but I would be very surprised if Beacon Hill lawmakers open up their corrupt sausage making to the Sunlight, public input, and public record.

My dad was a politician - a Berkshire County Commissioner - out in Western Massachusetts over 2 decades ago, and I used to go with my dad to Beacon Hill's legislative hearings about Berkshire County government in the late-1990s.  My dad told Beacon Hill lawmakers back then that Boston's "Big Dig" public works project had recurring multi-billion-dollar cost overruns, yet the state was instead targeting Berkshire County government's $2.5 million per fiscal year budget as inefficient.  Beacon Hill lawmakers abolished Berkshire County government (via a budget rider during the Summer of 1998) effective July 1, 2000, while Boston's "Big Dig" has claimed multiple innocent lives, leaks millions of gallons of dirty water everyday, and cost state taxpayers over $20 billion for tunnels that will only last around 50 years.

Lastly, I am wondering when Beacon Hill lawmakers will pass the already nearly one week late and counting fiscal year 2022 Massachusetts State Budget?  Remember, they have billions of excess slush fund and stimulus fund dollars that they are sitting on instead of helping the people, agencies and businesses throughout Massachusetts.

Best regards,

Jonathan A. Melle

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July 6, 2021

Jonathan,

IT’S HAPPENING. At 1:30pm today, the House announced that the vote on the House Rules will take place tomorrow at 1:00pm - that’s right, with less than 24 hours notice. And the deadline to file amendments? 5:00PM today. Oh yeah, and the Rules package is 115 pages long.

House leadership is doing everything they can to stifle our voices and people power by ramming through their business-as-usual Rules proposal with no major transparency reforms. They want to reduce the number of constituents reps hear from in support of our amendments by giving us hardly any time to organize. But we won’t let that happen.

Email your rep NOW >>>

Ask your rep to support three changes to the House Rules proposal (H.3930):

1. Make ALL committee votes public

2. Ensure reps and the public have 72 hours to read a bill before a vote

3. Reinstate term limits for the Speaker of the House

ASK YOUR REP TO VOTE YES ON THESE AMENDMENTS >>

If you’d rather call your rep (or just check out the script ahead of time) you can find our script here.

The House only votes on their rules once every two years. This is our last chance until 2023 to fix the broken rules that govern how our reps govern. Let’s leave it all on the field.

In order to show Beacon Hill that our movement is watching, join us on the State House steps at 12:30pm tomorrow to rally during the vote!

Join our rally tomorrow at 12:30 on the State House steps >>>

This is what our campaign has been leading up to since October. Let’s make it count.

Honored to be in this fight with you,

Erin

Act on Mass

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July 18, 2021

Hello Patrick Fennell,

Sara Hathaway started her political career working as a legislative aide for Pittsfield State Senator Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior in 1997.  In 2001, Sara Hathaway ran for Mayor of Pittsfield with Nuciforo's blessing, and she served in that elected position for only one two year term before she was ousted by Jimmy Ruberto in 2003.  In the Fall of 1997, I was watching the Fall Foliage Parade in North Adams, and Nuciforo, with Sara Hathaway at his side, darted towards me from his parade route like he wanted to hit or physically assault me.  Sara Hathaway just stood there and watched Nuciforo bully me and she said nothing.  My Uncle from Saratoga Springs, New York and my cousin from North Adams stepped in front of me to protect me from Nuciforo, and then Nuciforo became scared because he was outnumbered and then he and Sara Hathaway walked away from me back to there parade route.  My dad, who was a Berkshire County Commissioner, would call Nuciforo's legislative district office in 1997, and Sara Hathaway would answer the telephone and say to my dad, "What do you want now?"  The two (Nuciforo and Sara Hathaway) were a pair of unprofessional brats who believed they could bully and intimidate anyone and everyone in Pittsfield who dared to question them.  From the Fall of 1997 through the Spring of 1998, Nuciforo filed multiple state "ethics" complaints against my dad in Pittsfield and in Boston to try to get my dad fired from his state job in the Pittsfield District Court Probation Office and his elected position as a Berkshire County Commissioner.  Fortunately, Nuciforo's state "ethics" complaints didn't do in my dad's appointed and elected government careers.  In the Spring of 1998, Nuciforo made false allegations to the Pittsfield Police Department that I was making "veiled threats" against him, and that if I showed up at his legislative district office I would be agitated by his work on Beacon Hill to abolish Berkshire County government and that I was to be immediately arrested.  My dad found out about Nuciforo's secretive plans to put me in then Sheriff Carmen Massimiano's Pittsfield jail, and my dad told me to stay away from Nuciforo.  Fortunately for me, Nuciforo's plot to jail me did not work.  The irony of Nuciforo's false allegations against me to the police was that he was the one harassing my dad and I with his conspiratorial bullying and legal shell games.  The other irony about Nuciforo filing state "ethics" complaints against my dad was that 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 from 1999 - 2006.  Nuciforo used to brag about how he liked to file state "ethics" complaints against state and local government workers in Massachusetts, but he was as corrupt as they come in Massachusetts politics.  Also, I first met Nuciforo in the Spring of 1996 when I was over 20.5 years old during a Democratic Party candidate platform in Dalton, Massachusetts where both he and my dad spoke as political candidates, along with Congressman John W. Olver.  Ever since that day over 25 years ago now, Nuciforo conspiratorially had people associated with his incestuous political network bully, harass and/or threaten me without Nuciforo leaving behind his own proverbial fingerprints and/or proverbial DNA.  Nuciforo comes from a very political Pittsfield family.  Nuciforo's late-father was a Pittsfield State Senator and then a Pittsfield Probate and Family Court Judge.  Nuciforo's late-aunt, Anne Everest Wojtkowski, was Pittsfield's first woman Mayor and a career Professor at Berkshire Community College.  Nuciforo's Uncle, Tom Wojtkowski, was a Pittsfield State Representative.  For years on end, Nuciforo went around the beautiful Berkshires telling everyone he was going to oust Congressman John W. Olver from his elected seat on Capitol Hill.  After stepping down from the State Senate in 2006 due to his unethical ties to Boston's financial district, Nuciforo strong-armed two women named Sara Hathaway, who was a former Pittsfield Mayor by then, and Sharon Henault, who worked in the Pittsfield Registry of Deeds Office, out of the 2006 state "election" for Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds.  Nuciforo used his "no show" plum job to plot his run against Congressman John W. Olver in the 2012 federal election, but Congressional redistricting dropped Olver's legislative district, and then Olver retired from Congress in 2012.  Nuciforo then faced "PAC Man" Richie Neal from Springfield, and Nuciforo lost to Congressman Richie Neal by 40 percentage points in the 2012 primary federal election.  Nuciforo went from a corrupt State Senator in Boston to a "no show" sinecure in Pittsfield to a fringe Congressional candidate, and he knew his political career was over in 2012.  Then, in the late-winter of 2017, Nuciforo was back in Pittsfield to open one of the first marijuana dispensaries in Berkshire County.  Nuciforo, among other politically-connected Massachusetts politicians, wanted to cash in on the new billion dollar marijuana market with their big money political and business backers in Boston.  Nuciforo, in the Summer of 2021 or today (18-July-2021), runs the largest marijuana business in Western Massachusetts and he has a marijuana dispensary in East Boston.  I told my mom that Nuciforo named his marijuana dispensaries "Berkshire Roots", and my mom wasn't surprised by Nuciforo's unscrupulous ways in politics and business.  What Nuciforo could not accomplish in politics, he was able to accomplish in business with his marijuana business via his entrenched political family and political connections in Pittsfield and also on Beacon Hill where he was an illegal double dipper as Chairman of the State Senate Finance Committee and a corporate Attorney for Boston's big banks and insurance companies.  To this day, over for over 24 years now, Sara Hathaway has not denounced Nuciforo for his political corruption and strong arm tactics that led to Nuciforo's downfall in Massachusetts politics back in 2012.  Because of Nuciforo's network in Pittsfield politics, I have been the victim of hurtful and vicious rumors, blacklisted from employment, and threatened by his henchmen and even the Devil himself: LUCIFORO!

In Truth!

Jonathan A. Melle

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August 12, 2021

I (tried to) post the following political letter on the Planet Valenti blog:

Here is how it works, "The school committee", in good old Pittsfield, Massachusetts.  You either have to kiss the dirty behinds of the incestuous Good Old Boys & Girls club who run the show, or you will face mean-spirited RETRIBUTION for participating in Pittsfield politics.  Most local residents know enough to stay silent and fly below the proverbial radar in state and local government so that they can have peace of mind for themselves and their family.  I have been through it for years of my life in Pittsfield politics (as my dad was a state/local politician years ago in the beautiful Berkshires), and even after I moved/relocated with my family to Southern New Hampshire (in 2003/2004), they still said very hurtful things about me, as well as mean-spirited things about my dad in the blogs.  I know it sounds racist to say, but I really do believe that Pittsfield politics is ran more like a 1950s-era Mafia operation than a democratic form of state and local government.  I believe in Human Rights, and I am NOT racist against Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, or any other ethnicity in Pittsfield (or elsewhere), but it doesn't make it untrue about the "All in the Family" political networks that have ran Pittsfield into the proverbial ditch for generations on end.  My brother tells me that every locality has these kind of political insiders who hold onto political power through mean-spirited retribution (or FEAR), but my response to my brother is that while he is probably right, Pittsfield has it in SPADES!!!!  In closing, I wish Pittsfield would finally move on from its old school politics that belongs in one of the trash bins of history, and instead start to allow all local residents to have an equal voice in state and local government without being harassed.

Jonathan A. Melle

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August 14, 2021

Hello, again, blogger Dan Valenti,

I am thankful that someone posted to me on your awesome blog "Planet Valenti" the following message:

Jonathan – just so you know, we heard you. We understand what you say. You & your fam were done wrong & it harmed you. Yes. Sorry that happened.

My response is that when Nuciforo started his conspiratorial political persecution, bullying and threats against me without Nuciforo leaving behind his own proverbial fingerprints/DNA when I first met Nuciforo in the Spring of 1996, I was only over 20.5-years-old, and my dad was campaigning for the elected position of Berkshire County Commissioner as a new resident of Becket, Massachusetts.  My dad and Nuciforo, who ran for Pittsfield State Senator back then, both won their respective elections in November of 1996.  I did not understand what I was facing or up against when I was in my early-20s in the mid-1990s.  People say my behavior was socially inappropriate and that I was an immature young man for my age.  What people do NOT say is that I was living in a decade-plus episode(s) in the proverbial "Twilight Zone" due to that 4 foot tall piece of shit named "Andy" Nuciforo that came from Pittsfield politics' royalty.  It is now the Summer of 2021, and I am 46 years old now, which means I have over 25 years of hindsight about Nuciforo's mean-spirited provincial Pittsfield political network that spans all the way to Boston.  Nuciforo filed multiple state "ethics" complaints against my dad from the Fall of 1997 to the Spring of 1998 to try to ruin both his state government career in the Pittsfield District Court and his elected post on the Berkshire County Commission.  Nuciforo also made false accusations to the Pittsfield Police Department in the Spring of 1998 that I made "veiled threats" against him.  Fortunately, my dad wasn't fired and forced to resign, and I wasn't jailed back in 1998.  Nuciforo blacklisted me from employment in the Pittsfield area.  Nuciforo had his bullying network spread vicious rumors against me all over Pittsfield in the Summer of 2005 when I turned 30 years old back then.  I was told that when people mentioned my name around Nuciforo, he would mockingly laugh.  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 as a corporate Attorney at a Boston Law Firm from 1999-2006, according to the Boston Globe, while at the same time, Nuciforo chaired the State Senate Finance Committee in Boston's historic Statehouse.  Nuciforo never faced state charges for his illegal double dipping, but he had to step down from the Massachusetts State Senate in 2006.  Nuciforo strong-armed 2 women candidates (Sara Hathaway - a former Pittsfield Mayor - and also Sharon Henault - a Pittsfield Registry of Deeds worker/administrator) from the 2006 state government so-called election to Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds, where he spent 6 years at his "no show" sinecure plotting a 2012 campaign for U.S. House of Representatives against then Congressman John W. Olver, but due to redistricting Nuciforo ultimately faced PAC Man Richie Neal, and Nuciforo lost to Congressman Richard E. Neal by 40 percentage points.  The Berkshire Eagle wrote in 2012 that Nuciforo became a fringe politician.  In early-March of 2017, Nuciforo cofounded his Marijuana company by unethically using his political connections in both Pittsfield and Boston, which the Boston Globe published news articles and editorials about over the past couple of years.  Nuciforo is now making millions of dollars off of his Marijuana company named "Berkshire Roots", which is unfairly stinking up working class residential neighborhoods behind Dalton Avenue in Pittsfield with marijuana "skunk odors".  Nuciforo still practices law, focusing on Boston's financial district, in Boston, as well as his Pittsfield law firm where he focuses on the state's new marijuana industry laws.  How Nuciforo has gotten away with being so corrupt in Pittsfield politics and in Beacon Hill's State Senate is beyond me, but I understand all to well that Nuciforo is well protected by his powerful political and legal networks.  In closing, I have dealt with many hurtful enemies in my life, but Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior takes the cake!  I hope that Nuciforo is NOT proud of himself.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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August 22, 2021

Hello Berkshire Eagle,

What about me?  I understand that the Boston state Democratic Party Officials hurt Alex Morse with conspiratorial, homophobic, sleazy, and the like, attacks when he challenged PAC Man Richie Neal a year ago in 2020, and that the Boston state Dems are all still in power a year later in 2021.  For years and decades, I have written to the Berkshire Eagle and other news outlets throughout Massachusetts about how Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior used similar attacks against me and my family, specifically my dad, Bob, who was a Berkshire County Commissioner from 1997 - mid-2000, since the Spring of 1996 (or for over 25 years now). The Nuciforo network attacked me for many years after my dad was no longer a politician, and even after I moved away from the beautiful Berkshires to live with my relocated family in southern New Hampshire during the early-Spring of 2004 where I still live in 2021.

I feel that Nuciforo gets away with everything under the Sun in Pittsfield politics and also in Boston.  Nuciforo hurt me and my family - specifically my dad, Bob - for many years; when he was in the Massachusetts State Senator from 1997 - 2006, the Boston Globe reported that Nuciforo was in bed with Boston's big banks and insurance companies from 1999 - 2006 with his illegal double dipping for which Nuciforo was never charged, but it was the reason why Nuciforo had to step down from the State Senate in 2006; Nuciforo strong-armed 2 women candidates - former Pittsfield Mayor Sara Hathaway and Registry of Deeds administrative worker Sharon Henault out of the 2006 to anoint himself to the "elected" position for 6 years as Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds while he plotted a 2012 run for U.S. House of Representatives against then Congressman John W. Olver, who was redistricted out of office in 2012, and then Nuciforo lost to PAC Man Richie Neal in 2012 by a whopping 40 point margin; and lastly, the Boston Globe reported and wrote editorials about how Nuciforo used his political connections and deep pockets in both Pittsfield politics and Boston to open up his multimillion dollar marijuana business in early-March 2017, which is causing skunk-like odors in working class Pittsfield neighborhoods behind his Dalton Avenue growing building, while Pittsfield City Hall does nothing about it because they all still fear Nuciforo's political power.

It amazes me how the Berkshire Eagle writes news articles and editorials against the Boston state Democratic Party Officials who engaged in dirty politics against Alex Morse, but Nuciforo is and always will be the Eagle's "Golden Boy" who is predicted to run for PAC Man Richie Neal's Western Massachusetts Congressional seat in the future when PAC Man Richie Neal retires or dies in office.  I wish to let the Berkshire Eagle know that I feel that I went through far worse political abuse than Alex Morse at the hands of Nuciforo.  I request that the Berkshire Eagle and/or any other news media outlet to publish my email letter(s) about Nuciforo's dirty politics against me and my family - specifically my dad, Bob, but I know that I don't count in the Eagle's biased newspaper reporting.

In Truth!

Jonathan A. Melle

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"Nearly a year on, Berkshire Democrats continue push for Massachusetts Democratic Party to address complaints"

By Danny Jin, The Berkshire Eagle, August 21, 2021

Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman Gus Bickford has apologized for the “pain” his actions caused “to many members of the LGBTQI+ community” but has disputed a finding from an independent investigator that he violated a party bylaw by becoming involved in a contested primary. Some Berkshire County Democrats who made complaints about Bickford say they feel their concerns have yet to be adequately addressed.

Nearly a year ago, hundreds of Democrats lodged complaints against state party leaders for their involvement in the 2020 Democratic primary between U.S. Rep. Richard Neal and then-Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse.

After the party’s rules committee dismissed those complaints, several Berkshire County Democrats have continued to call for Massachusetts Democratic Party leaders to apologize for actions that a party-ordered investigation found violated one of its bylaws.

The steering committee of the Berkshire Democratic Brigades, the county’s official branch of the state party, sent a letter to Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman Gus Bickford in May requesting that party leaders send Morse, who lost the primary by a 59-41 percent margin, “a formal, written apology.” And members of the People for Democratic Party Reform coalition plan to demonstrate during the party’s Sept. 25 platform convention and call for Bickford’s removal.

'The damage was already done': Some LGBTQ advocates say misconduct claims doomed Morse's bid to upset Neal

NORTH ADAMS — Although a group that accused Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse of inappropriate behavior with college students later apologized for their role in aiding "homophobic attacks," for some …

Shortly before the Sept. 1 primary, a group of students with the University of Massachusetts Amherst College Democrats circulated a letter raising concerns about Morse, who previously served as an adjunct instructor at the university. Subsequent reports from The Intercept suggested that political motivations played a role for some students involved and showed that state party members provided advice to the students.

Attorney and former state Sen. Cheryl Jacques concluded in an independent investigation, sent to party members on Nov. 5, that Bickford violated a party bylaw when he provided advice to students on their communications with a political reporter. Party bylaws say that staff members cannot “endorse or participate in any contested Democratic Primary campaign.”

Jacques found that while the party “did not initiate or plant” the idea for the college Democrats to send a letter, Bickford admitted that he told students that Politico reporter Alex Thompson was “a trusted source” and that “if you don’t go on the record with him, he won’t write the story.” Those statements, Jacques concludes, show that Bickford “was encouraging the students to talk to the reporter on the record and to do so prior to the election.”

Bickford previously had discouraged Morse from running in an early 2019 meeting and “may very well have violated the spirit” of a bylaw at that time, Jacques said, but did not violate the bylaw itself because Morse had not yet declared his candidacy.

“Regardless of their motives, Democratic Party officials should have pulled back as soon as it became clear that the students were seeking advice about their relationship with a primary candidate in the upcoming election,” the Berkshire Democratic Brigades said in the letter sent to party leaders on May 12. 

“Whether or not they suggested the eventual leak, by continuing these conversations the officials broke an important MDP bylaw that proscribes their interference in a contested primary.”

Without a written apology to Morse and a reply to party members who lodged complaints, the letter says, the committee “would support the official censure” of Bickford, Executive Director Veronica Martinez and Jim Roosevelt, a longtime party member who also serves as its volunteer attorney.

Bickford, who was reelected in November by 63 percent of state party members who voted, has apologized for “the pain caused to many members of the LGBTQI+ community” but has disputed Jacques’ finding that his advice violated the bylaw.

“I was just stating something that I have been taught and learned from 30 years of being in politics,” Bickford wrote to Berkshire Democratic Brigades steering committee members in a May 3 response to the Brigades’ draft letter. He reiterated that his intention was to “provide assistance” to the students as best he could.

“Attorney Jacques felt as though my answer inserted myself into the primary race by taking sides, however, I know I was not trying to do that and the Rules Committee agreed with me,” Bickford wrote.

The party’s rules committee considered the complaints in two meetings after Jacques completed her investigation, Allison Mitchell, the party’s communications director, told The Eagle.

“In consultation with the deputy legal counsel, the Rules Committee found that the complaints did not have merit, or were ‘frivolous’ as defined in the process outlined in the Charter,” Mitchell said in an email. “ ‘Frivolous’ in no way reflects the sentiment in which the complaints were handled.”

Sonya Bykofsky, who last September sent the party complaints signed by more than 500 members, said she did not receive a response regarding the outcome of the complaints. Bykofsky, who recently became state director of People for Democratic Party Reform, said the planned demonstration during the September party convention is “an action in need of taking at this point because everything we’ve attempted to this point has been ignored.”

“It is completely appropriate to ask why a person in a leadership position violated our own bylaws,” said Bykofsky, who also chairs the Lenox town Democratic committee and sits on the steering committee of the Berkshire Democratic Brigades. “Ignoring your own party’s corruption is condoning it, and many of us are not OK with that.”

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Bickford, in his reply to the Brigades, said he has conducted listening sessions and has worked with the party’s LGBTQ+ and Affirmative Action Outreach committees, in addition to “launching a vigorous Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training series.” During Bickford’s 2020 reelection campaign, two challengers had said they would do more than Bickford has done to diversify the party.

But, Cheryl Rose of Dalton, another steering committee member, said the issue the Brigades raised was a matter of party rules rather than of prejudice. And the party has not acknowledged that its actions, she said, “clearly helped Neal.”

Addressing the fallout from the primary, the letter from the Brigades says, is a necessary step for the party to rebuild trust as it pursues its goals, such as unseating Republican Gov. Charlie Baker in 2022.

“We need unity, and the party needs the energy and commitment of those who have disengaged as a result of these events,” the letter states. “To win them back, we need State Party leaders to conduct themselves in a transparent manner, embodying integrity.”

Morse said Friday that he has not received an apology from Bickford.

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August 28, 2021

For years of my adult life, I tried to work, but I faced so many unfair obstacles.  When I was in my early-20s (1996) to mid-20s (2000), my dad was a Pittsfield area politician who, along with myself, was conspiratorially politically persecuted by a four foot tall Pittsfield State Senator [Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior] I am not allowed to name on the Planet Valenti blog.  I chose to exercise my free speech, and defend my good name, and all I received in return was retribution for a decade (1996 - 2005) and beyond of my life.  If I didn't receive VA disability benefits, I would be at risk of homelessness and a financial burden on my family; my parents are now in their mid-70s now in 2021.  I don't ever want to go back on square one and live my life in a state of mental illness like I did many years ago.  I want peace of mind for me and my elderly parents.  Lastly, I must ask, "What the Hell do you want me - Jon Melle - to do about it all?"  I did not choose to come from Pittsfield!!!!

Jonathan A. Melle

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September 25, 2021

On the Planet Valenti blog, posters blamed me and my mental health and related behavioral issues for Nuciforo's many years of conspiratorial bullying of me and my dad since the Spring of 1996 when I was only 20 years old back then.  I responded that what happened to my dad and I was not the fault of my mental health and behavioral issues.

The following are the blog comment postings:

A blog commenter posted: I’m starting to believe you twisted out of context what you say certain politicians and others did to you and about you when you were here [Berkshire County, Massachusetts]. Like your doing now with your rant.

I (Jonathan Melle) responded in the blog commenting feed: My dad was a politician [Berkshire County Commissioner] and I was a target of retribution in Pittsfield politics for many years of my then young adult life. You and others can believe whatever the hell you want to think about it all. “All in the Family” incestuous Pittsfield politics stinks more that the dead skunk odor plaguing the working class neighborhood behind the Dalton Avenue Pittsfield marijuana cultivation buildings. So take your views about my negative experiences with Pittsfield politics decades ago and stuff it!

The same blog commenter then posted again: It wasn’t retribution, It was an intervention of sorts because of the concerns they had with your behavior you were displaying which became even more of a concern for them, when the situation escalated to where some felt it was growing more into a threatening level in your behavior towards certain people. Some were in fear for your well being and themselves.

I (Jonathan Melle) responded in the blog commenting feed: The mental health and behavioral concerns do NOT explain everything that happened to me and my dad back then.

For many years now, I have written political emails and posted on my blog my negative experiences and reactions to the abuse from the Nuciforo network of conspiratorial bullies.  Nuciforo conspiratorially had people associated with his Pittsfield politics network bully and threaten me without Nuciforo leaving behind his own proverbial fingerprints/DNA since my dad campaigned for (and then won) the elected office of Berkshire County Commissioner starting in the Spring of 1996 when I was only 20 years old.  Nuciforo's conspiratorial bullying of me went on for well over one decade - or through most of my 20s and then some of my 30s when I no longer lived in the beautiful Berkshires and relocated with my family to southern New Hampshire.  When my dad was a Berkshire County Commissioner decades ago now, Nuciforo filed multiple state "ethics" complaints against my dad to multiple Massachusetts state agencies to try to get my dad fired from his then state government job in the Pittsfield District Court Probation Office and force my dad to resign his elected seat on the Berkshire County Commission.  This occurred from the Fall of 1997 - Spring of 1998  Fortunately, Nuciforo's state "ethics" complaints against my dad didn't ruin my dad's career and end him serving in his elected seat.  During the Spring of 1998, Nuciforo made secretive and false allegations to the Pittsfield Police Department that I was making "veiled threats" against him and that if I stopped by his legislative district office on North Street the police would be immediately called and I was to be arrested.  My dad found out about it, and my dad told me to stay away from Nuciforo.  The irony of Nuciforo's actions against me is that in the Summer of 1997 at a promotion for Judge Francis Spina I attended with my dad, Nuciforo gave me a very threatening stare, and a few months later when I watched in Fall Foliage Parade in North Adams in 1997, Nuciforo broke from his parade route with Sara Hathaway at his side to threaten to assault me, but my Uncle from Saratoga Springs NY and my cousin from North Adams stepped in, which scared Nuciforo and made him walk away back to his parade route with Sara Hathaway.  Nuciforo blacklisted me from employment in Berkshire County, and he had his network of conspiratorial bullies spread mean-spirited and vicious rumors against me all over Pittsfield Massachusetts.  In 2006, Nuciforo had to step down from the Massachusetts State Senate because he was illegally double dipping as Chairman of the State Senate Finance Committee while at the same time he was working for a Boston Law Firm named "Berman & Dowell" as a corporate Attorney for Boston's big banks and insurance companies from 1999 - 2006, according to the Boston Globe.  Nuciforo is well protected through his political connections in Pittsfield and Boston alike, and he never faced any state charges for his unethical conflict of interests between state government and Boston's financial district.  Nuciforo went after someone like my dad with state "ethics" complaints, and Nuciforo tried to jail me when I was 22 years old, yet Nuciforo was always the unethical bully all along, despite him being only "4 feet tall".  After having to step down from the State Senate in 2006, Nuciforo strong-armed two women (Sharon Henault and Sara Hathaway) out of the 2006 Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds state government "election" to anoint himself to a 6 year term, which many saw as his sinecure.  In early-2007, the Boston Globe reported that Nuciforo lobbied the new Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, to be named Commissioner of Insurance, despite Nuciforo's years of illegal double dipping with Boston's big banks and insurance companies.  Nuciforo was not appointed to the office of Commissioner of Insurance by Governor Deval Patrick, and Nuciforo remained at the Pittsfield Registrar of Deeds until 2012, when he launched his long predicted campaign for U.S. Congress against Congressman John W. Olver.  After being redistricted out of his Congressional seat, Olver retired, which left Nuciforo to face Congressman Richie Neal in the Democratic Party primary election in 2012.  "PAC Man" Richie Neal soundly defeated Nuciforo by a net 40 percentage points, and Nuciforo was proven to be a fringe politician whose political career was over.  Then in March of 2017, Nuciforo started his now multimillion dollar marijuana business by using his political connections in both Pittsfield and Boston.  Nuciforo's marijuana business is named "Berkshire Roots" and it is the largest marijuana cultivation business in Western Massachusetts with stores on Dalton Avenue in Pittsfield and East Boston.  Nuciforo's law firm uses his political connections to serve unethical bankers and insurance salesmen who screw little old ladies out of their life savings.  Nuciforo is a predatory politician, lawyer and marijuana businessman.  It is predicted that Nuciforo is going to use his multimillion dollar fortune to launch a future campaign for U.S. Congress after Richie Neal retires from his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Nuciforo and then billionaire U.S. Senator John Kerry once cohosted a fancy fundraiser many years ago now with Boston's big banks and insurance company executives with John Kerry and Nuciforo wore matching tuxedoes to impress their financial elite donors.  Nuciforo wins at any cost and his predatory politics only worships the Almighty Dollar.

This is what I have had to figure out and deal with since I was only 20 years old - or for 25.5 years now in 2021.  I faced many other difficult problems in my life over that time period, but Nuciforo takes the proverbial cake as the biggest bully so far in my life of 46 years and counting up.  I do NOT believe it is fair or even reasonable for someone to say that everything that Nuciforo did was out of concern for my mental health and behavioral issues since the Spring of 1996 - early-Fall of 2021.  In fact, Nuciforo's years of abuse against me most likely made my mental health and behavioral issues worse.  In closing, my mental health and behavioral issue, which I take seriously, do NOT explain everything that happened to me and my dad back then.

Jonathan A. Melle

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September 26, 2021

Re: Additional blog postings about Nuciforo's history of persecuting me in Pittsfield politics

A blog commenter posted [on the Planet Valenti blog]: So move on already. It happened to you and your dad decades ago Jon. Reread that, decades ago. That means more than twenty years ago. People have had children who are now of legal drinking age when all of that happened.

Not to say anything mean about your family, but you really should have been treated medically a long time ago.

Your harboring hatred this long, is frankly scary. Your like the guy who still wants revenge on his high school girlfriend who broke up with him 25+ years ago.

Move on.

I (Jonathan Melle) responded in the blog commenting feed: I will move on from it when everyone else stops being mean to me about it. It is hard to break abusive cycles, including in Pittsfield politics.

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