The top flier sent to local voters is from a special interest group that has taken great pains to remain anonymous. It's a near replica to the one below it, sent a week earlier.
The backside of both mailers also featured near-identical design, including the Manchester town seal. But the content couldn't be more different.
Last week, more than 2,500 homes and businesses in Manchester received a large, glossy, two-sided postcard from what appeared to be the Town of Manchester. It featured the official Manchester town seal, its colors and fonts, and it urged voters to block the Planning Board’s zoning recodification articles scheduled for consideration at the Special Town Meeting on November 14.
Many residents were confused, and with good reason. The mailer was nearly identical to an official Town informational mailer sent the week about Town Meeting and the proposed zoning change articles, which are endorsed by the Select Board.
The original mailer was official. The second was not, sent by a local special interest group called “Manchester Matters” that has taken great pains to remain anonymous. The postcard contained misleading and incorrect information and featured a link to a private Facebook group that is administered by what appears to be a fake account.
The Town of Manchester quickly issued a statement denouncing the mailer. “Residents should be aware that this recent mailing was not Town sponsored despite its resemblance and use of the Town seal,” it read.
By Friday, the Manchester Post Office said it was investigating the mailer, which was distributed by a US Postal Service product called “Every Door Direct.” Because it’s designed to deceive recipients by adopting municipal features, graphics and colors, the Manchester Matters postcard is what the US Postal Service calls a “government look-alike mailer,” which under the federal agency’s regulations, is not allowed and, under some circumstances, is illegal.
Also, according to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, unauthorized use of any official municipal town seal is illegal under Massachusetts state law (ch. 268 sec. 35).
Manchester Matters also sent a one-page flier in an envelope, and together, the group’s mailers cost approximately $3,000 to produce and mass distribute. The only contact detail for either mailer was the link to the Facebook group and a Manchester post office box—number 221.
Manchester Town Administrator Greg Federspiel said the town is weighing its options on how to proceed.
“It’s disappointing that a group chose to send out an anonymous mailer instead of engaging in a dialogue,” he said.
The Manchester Matters postcard isn’t just similar to the town’s mailer. It’s nearly an exact replica. It uses the same layout design, format, color palate, and wording. And it features a digital “QR” code that links via a smartphone to a website.
The town mailer’s headline, for instance, was, “How do I learn more about the proposed zoning changes?” The look-alike mailer’s headline is, “How do I protect my home from the proposed zoning changes?”
The QR code on the Town of Manchester’s mailer links to all the Planning Board’s information detailing the proposed updates to the zoning bylaw and the documents its three years of work on recodification. The look-alike mailer’s QR code links to the Manchester Matters Facebook group.
On Friday, the Cricket reached out to Facebook to determine the identity of the Manchester Matters Facebook group administrator, a “Katherine Merck,” that appears to be an alias whose Facebook profile has no friends, no photos, no videos or check-ins, no personal information and whose only two actions have been to, 1) create an event for Manchester’s Special Town Meeting, and, 2) to serve as administrator to the Manchester Matters FB group. By Monday, the Manchester Matters Facebook group linked to the mailer had been removed.
Later that day, the newspaper filed a formal request to secure the identity of the person or persons who paid for the look-alike mailer and the person associated with PO Box 221, the Manchester Matters local mailbox.
Originally Manchester Matters was formed to advocate against Manchester’s move to regional public safety dispatch, a contentious public issue earlier this year. It recently expanded to include fighting changes to zoning as part of the town’s updating of the Manchester comprehensive bylaw. According to one Manchester resident who associates with the group but was not involved with the mailer, Manchester Matters has remained anonymous because it includes “a couple of folks currently sitting on town boards.”
MBTS Select Board Chair Becky Jaques said those serving on boards are required to operate with total transparency (Open Meeting Law). She said she is shocked by the reported involvement of two sitting board members with the anonymous mailer.
“I would like to see the Town and the Board pursue this, especially in light of the illegal use of the official Manchester Town seal,” Jaques said.
