Assumption About Transparency Merits Retraction of Blog Story

The Fact of The Matter has retracted a blog story recently published, after additional information was obtained that supports the integrity of Westfield Mayor Shelley Brindle’s administration, regarding the transparency of information disseminated in the wake of Westfield police chief David Wayman’s sudden resignation. 

TFoTM questioned the administration’s lack of transparency for failing to communicate, to the public, intimate details of the circumstances surrounding the resignation.

State law prohibits the administration from disclosing the circumstances surrounding the administration’s decision to enter into a settlement with the disgraced police chief, ultimately facilitating his resignation. 

Wayman resigned abruptly on August 1, 2018 in the wake of a Union County Prosecutor’s office investigation.  

The investigation into the police chief’s alleged misconduct, including a “hit & run” accident at the Westfield conservation center on Lamberts Mill Rd., commenced after TFoTM exposed Wayman’s alleged cover-up, of the accident, to town officials. 

TFoTM’s decision to retract the original story that questioned the transparency of the Brindle administration’s decision to remain silent on the details of the Wayman resignation, was made to reflect the facts and not an opinion.