In a radio interview earlier this week with Bob Flaherty on WHMP’s morning news show, Hampshire County sheriff candidate Kavern Lewis asserted the Gazette had misled readers in an Aug. 26 article about his work history.
Chief among Lewis’ on-air claims: that he never told the Gazette he worked two years as a Vermont correctional officer or served as an officer with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department.
The record shows otherwise.
In an Aug. 17 interview with Gazette reporter Michael Majchrowicz — which was recorded with Lewis’ permission — the candidate said he had worked in the Vermont job “just shy of two years.” And when Majchrowicz asked him to confirm his tenure on the D.C. police force, Lewis confirmed his dates of service with what the reporter repeatedly referred to as the Metropolitan Police Department.
As the Gazette’s original story reported, Lewis worked for the Vermont Department of Corrections from May through October 2013. And the Metropolitan Police Department said it had no record of him serving as either a regular officer or, as Lewis claimed, a privately employed “Special Police Officer.”
In the WHMP interview, Lewis also suggested that one of his Democratic opponents in the race, Hampshire Sheriff’s Office veteran Patrick Cahillane, had been a source for the Gazette story.
That is not true. The discrepancies in Lewis’ resume came to light as the newspaper did background checks on all candidates in the race. No problems were found with any of the others, and all of the sources in the story about Lewis are named in the article.
To read the article and listen to excerpts of Lewis’ statements on WHMP and from the Gazette interview, visit gazettenet.com.
Executive Editor Jeffrey Good may be reached at jgood@gazettenet.com.