Connecticut Humane Society: New Britain Woman Is Driving Force Behind Reform Effort

While three fired Connecticut Humane Society workers were in the public spotlight last week describing poor working conditions and raising questions about whether animals there were being unnecessarily euthanized, the person most responsible for this unprecedented attack was quietly working at her job as a teaching assistant in New Britain.

A New Britain native, Cathy DeMarco is the last person that the management at the 129-year-old institution would have suspected as the person who organized the administrative and staff employees to take on Richard Johnston, a former state senator and lawyer who for the past 20 years has run the agency like it was his personal business, and his management team.

DeMarco only worked for a few months at the Newington-based shelter and, unlike most people who leave CHS, she says she left on good terms, quitting last fall when her temporary full-time work ended and only a part-time job was available.

She was a “humane educator,” a job that entailed teaching people about animal care. She has a bachelor of science degree in animal science and pathology from the University of Connecticut and has served as an animal control officer.

DeMarco says she was horrified at how others were treated by the managers at an agency that was founded to foster “humanity” for people and animals. She said several of the managers did not appear to have proper qualifications and some did little work.

In an interview last week, DeMarco said staff that worked downstairs (with the animals) were referred to in derogatory terms publicly by managers and were frequently humiliated in front of others.

“They were referred to as ‘the riffraff, chuckleheads, knuckleheads, dill-holes,'” DeMarco said. “One employee who mentioned that she was thinking of having her hair colored was told she would look like a ‘crack whore'” by one manager.

“The entire downstairs animal care team was frequently spoken about in very derogatory terms, most often with regards to how lazy they all were and how the district manager did not know what to do to get them to be more productive. This sentiment made its way to the upstairs administrative staff.”

DeMarco said that when she had her exit interview, she was repeatedly asked by a manager if she observed anything in the “downstairs” that she might have been concerned about.

“When I finally said that I was concerned because the lack of downstairs staff created a very intense and challenging work environment, (the manager) just rolled her eyes and said ‘they complain about everything. … They are lucky to have jobs.'”

But unbeknown to that the manager and to Johnston, DeMarco had already taken steps to give more voice to the workers in the “downstairs.”

DeMarco said that unlike others who worked there, her livelihood did not depend on the agency and she is not afraid to stand up against authority.

She started meeting with workers outside the facility, at first on a one-on-one basis, telling them that they did not have to accept that kind of treatment. She had to convince them that threats of libel and retaliation from Johnston had little meaning if they banded together.

Many workers told her they were afraid of going public because the institution’s employee handbook – which I have obtained – specifically forbids them from revealing “confidential Society information.” I wonder what “confidential” information Johnston is worried about having in the public’s hands.

Soon, she had enough workers interested in taking some kind of action that they began meeting in groups secretly at a building that DeMarco owns in Berlin.

When enough workers said they were interested in taking on Johnston and the management, DeMarco said, she started calling unions to see if any would help them. The Machinists Union, which represents workers at United Technologies divisions, agreed to help.

In early December, the workers voted 18-15 to organize a union. Johnston challenged the vote and fired three of the union supporters. The union and Johnston are now battling about whether the firings were legal and whether the union should be certified. She also contacted me, asking me to investigate conditions in the facility.

If was after the firings that DeMarco convinced two of the discharged workers to contact me and to provide me with written statements about how Johnston bullied workers, used administrators to care for his daughter during working hours, and used charity funds to pay for personal expenses, including his real estate and attorney annual fees. Johnston has declined to respond to any of the allegations directly. Through a spokeswoman he denied all allegations of wrongdoing, blamed all the accusations on union activities and threatened to sue for libel.

I provided the statements from Maureen Lord, who worked for four years as Johnston’s assistant, and Bridget Karchere, who was a financial assistant, to state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who as the result ordered an investigation into the society’s finances. That investigation is continuing.

To provide the group with more support, DeMarco helped establish the “Coalition for Change,” which now claims to have more than 80 members, including present and former workers, volunteers, donors and animal lovers.

It was the coalition – with the help of former CHS public relations director Cheryl Rice – that conducted Wednesday’s press conference in East Hartford that attracted reporters from newspapers and several television stations, representing the first coverage of the issues by the traditional media. Rice was fired five years ago from CHS.

Workers at CHS even got the nerve to tell me about how Johnston and managers fooled OSHA inspectors who showed up unannounced last September after a complaint was made about a worker who suffered breathing problems from using bleach without safety equipment.

According to the OSHA inspection report I received Friday as the result of an FOI request, two inspectors showed up at the Newington facility shortly before 10:50 a.m. on Sept. 11 and met with Johnston and some managers. Their inspection did not start until 11:15 a.m.

During those 25 minutes, several workers told me, managers hid unlabeled chemical bottles and placed protective gear on counters. According to one account, Johnston and another manager hid chemicals under their clothing while the inspectors were walking around the building and put them in a garage. Scared workers refused to tell the inspectors – in one-on-one meetings – about actual conditions in the facility. OSHA gave the Society a clean bill of health.

However, OSHA inspectors returned Tuesday after reading about my account of the Sept. 11 inspection and after receiving another complaint.

This time, they told workers they would not be fooled. The inspectors talked with all workers who were available and specifically asked them for details about what took place on Sept. 11. Several of the workers, this time, told the coalition that they told inspectors about safety problems.

The assistant OSHA area director, Roman Krochmalnyckyj, according to one worker I talked with, said “I don’t like being played” in response to very obviously planted safety equipment like goggles and gloves.

The media attention last week even drew a response from the CHS board of directors, which insisted that it doesn’t believe that Johnston has done anything wrong, but will look into the complaints. The board refused to respond to questions from the media, and Johnston continued to be unavailable.

The board’s response seems a little hollow, as every board member was picked by Johnston and six of the 12 have received payments for services either they or their companies have provided. In 2007 to the tune of more than $170,000. A good chunk of the money went to the Hartford law firm of Shipman & Goodwin – $68,565 – for legal work. Shipman attorney Robert Cathcart served on the board. Shipman is now representing the society in its legal battles with the union.

While some board members are familiar with the operations of the charity – which has shelters in Newington, Westport and Waterford – others have less knowledge. For instance one longtime board member I talked with privately insisted that the union movement is not an indication of management problems because there are more than 300 full and part time employees. Wrong. More like 50. He also insisted that Cheryl Rice was never public relations director of the society. Guess that comes as a surprise to Cheryl, maybe she just dreamed it.

Rumors were flying Friday that some kind of major management change was in the works. Supposedly Johnston ordered that his name be removed from stationery that lists the board of directors. Employees who have inside information can contact me at George@connecticutwatchdog.com. Let’s see how it plays out.

The thousands of people who have donated their time and money to the society should demand an INDEPENDENT investigation of both the board and Johnston. There are just too many complaints from credible people to ignore.