Should Mayor Michael Victorino’s administration be trusted to release accurate news to the public? To the media? Should Maui County citizens be treated respectfully when they contact the mayor’s office?
Maui resident Bennett deBeer found the answer to be a hard “no,” after a provocative, error-riddled news release involving deBeer was disseminated Monday by the Victorino administration and published, unquestioned, by Maui Now, the Maui News, the Honolulu Star Advertiser, Hawaii News Now, Hawaii Public Radio, and others. When deBeer contacted the mayor’s office Tuesday to correct inaccuracies he found in the release, he was subjected to an expletive-peppered lashing by Victorino communications advisor Terilynne Gorman, who told him (among other things), “karma’s a bitch;” that his complaints about errors were “horseshit;” that he had “posted bullshit” on social media, and that his mother should have raised him “with better morals.” Later that same day, however, the mayor’s office issued a correction to the original release.
There’s a lot to unpack here. Let’s start with the Victorino news release, originally posted Monday afternoon under the headline “Mayor Victorino exposed to COVID-19 during meeting with opponents of public health emergency rules.” The release stated that Victorino met last week with three Maui residents opposed to the county’s pandemic mandates, who asked him to hold an in-person town hall meeting on the subject. As instructed by the mayor’s office, the unvaccinated trio had presented proof of negative COVID tests when they arrived for the meeting (and were masked during it). According to the release, “one of the attendees began experiencing symptoms and tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday. Another attendee also tested positive.” Victorino subsequently tested negative.
The mayor learned of one attendee’s COVID diagnosis late Saturday from a venue that clearly upset him. “We only found out about the exposure because of a social media post,” Victorino was quoted as saying in the release. “That was irresponsible.”
Maui Now, as it does with most county communiques, immediately posted the release on its website and on Facebook. It ignited a firestorm of comments (more than 700 at my last count). Vaxxers shamed anti-vaxxers, who condemned them back. Commenters sniped at the mayor, the pandemic, vaccinations, non-vaccinations, mandates, travel rules, the media and Joe Biden. There was grade-school quality name-calling from all sides. Conspiracies abounded. One person suggested that the attendees had deliberately exposed the mayor. Others posted “research” from their favorite medical experts and cures. In short, it was a social media melee and an extremely uncomfortable reflection of what passes for “community interaction” these days.
COVID Journey, Interrupted
Though no names were mentioned in the release, Bennett deBeer knew who Victorino was talking about—he was one of the three anti-mandate advocates at the meeting. The Maui native describes himself as “not anti-vaxx or anti-mask,” but “pro freedom of medical choice.” When deBeer first saw the release Monday, he was at home quarantining with a fever and minor COVID symptoms. In the days prior, deBeer posted videos on social media explaining his circumstances. He began to feel like he was getting a cold on Friday, felt worse on Saturday, did not attend the anti-mandate rally that morning and went for a COVID test instead. The test came back positive for the virus later that day. He planned to take viewers on a “journey” as he worked through the illness and posted an Instagram video Sunday talking about the various health protocols he was following.
That journey detoured with the Victorino news statement. In a video posted late Monday, deBeer vehemently disputed the mayor’s version of events, starting with the assertion that two of the attendees got sick. “That’s a lie. One resident tested positive—me! I just talked to the other two. None of them are sick. None of them have symptoms,” he said in the video. The release also said an attendee tested positive on Friday. DeBeer took issue with that, too: “I was tested Saturday.” He was particularly angry about being called “irresponsible” in the press release (although, to be clear, he wasn’t named). DeBeer explained he wasn’t “going to call an empty office” on Sunday, adding on the video that he had called the mayor’s office Monday morning (four or five hours before the release was issued) and told community liaison Alan Fukuyama about his positive test. “These are lies right here. Lies straight from the county of Maui, press release lies!”
DeBeer was easy to reach via social media. When I called him Monday evening, he expressed frustration with Victorino’s actions. “It’s true I posted on social media Saturday night, but I called the mayor’s office Monday morning. They could have called me back and said, ‘We want to get the facts straight because we’re going to put out a presser [sic] on this.’ But nobody called, nothing. And then it’s on Maui Now.”
“Karma’s a Bitch, My Friend”
Early Tuesday morning, deBeer contacted Maui Now editor Wendy Osher, who to her credit, reacted quickly. She put an editor’s note on top of the initial story, stating that her organization had been notified that there were inaccuracies in the release. She later published a lengthy interview with deBeer and attendee Paul Romero confirming the press release misstatements. Osher also called the mayor’s office and, uncharacteristically, got no response.
In the meantime, deBeer called mayoral communications advisor Teri Gorman to talk about the errors in the release. What happened next left deBeer stunned. The 10-minute conversation did not go well, to put it mildly (you can read the full transcript, or listen to the audio).
“That’s what happens when you get your information from social media,” Gorman told him, seeming to forget that deBeer had spoken to the mayor’s office the morning before. “We wished you would have called us first.”
When deBeer tried to explain the series of events, Gorman cut him off. “I don’t really care exactly what happened,” she told him. “You came to a meeting, you were positive for coronavirus.”
DeBeer protested. “I was negative! I had a negative test result when I walked in that office.”
Gorman responded, “Karma’s a bitch, my friend. It comes back to bite you in the ass.”
When deBeer said he didn’t realize that county contact numbers he had been given belonged to cell phones and not office phones, Gorman exploded. “That’s just weak! That’s just weak. Don’t give me this bullshit. Don’t tell me you didn’t have anybody’s phone number and you needed to wait until Monday. That’s horseshit…I don’t care how much ivermectin you’re taking. It’s horseshit.”
DeBeer asked if that made it okay “to put false statements” in the press release.
“There were no false statements in the press release,” Gorman said. “We are not going to apologize or…make any excuses,” she told him. “Had you done the right thing, the press release would have gone out with the correct information. You chose to post the crap on Instagram. So, karma’s a bitch my friend. Live by social media. Die by social media.”
DeBeer tried to point out the release errors, such as the statement that two people had tested positive for COVID. “One person tested positive—me,” he told her.
Gorman then suggested, “How do you even know it was you, maybe the mayor had another meeting.”
DeBeer was dumbfounded. “Teri, what are you talking about?”
She replied, “No information is in that press release that would identify you as the person who came down with COVID. You’re not even in the story…”
DeBeer said that he didn’t care that his name had emerged, he wanted to talk about the inaccuracies in the release. But Gorman wanted to discuss other matters. “I heard your little rally last weekend was pathetic,” she told him. “I heard there were less than 600 people who showed up. God knows how many of them were from off island….You guys made a lot of noise, hurray for you. That’s great. At the end of the day, Bennett, you got COVID cause you didn’t think it was real. You potentially infected a lot of people in their workplace because you’re pushing a political agenda. I’m sorry. You’re talking to the wrong person. I have zero sympathy for you. Zero. It’s karma, babe. You brought it on yourself and don’t call me saying it was false information.”
DeBeer again asked to speak to the person who wrote the release.
“Well, I’m not going to let you talk to the person who wrote it. How’s that?” Gorman responded.
“As a public servant,” deBeer began.
“I’m not a public servant, I’m a human being,” said Gorman, whose salary is paid with taxpayer dollars. “Don’t play this political horseshit with me.”
Gorman told him, “I’m born and raised on this island, just like you, Bennett. I would think your mother would have raised you with better morals than this.”
DeBeer finally got angry, “You’re going to make this personal? Talking about my dead mother?”
When he started to suggest that not making the corrections would look bad for the mayor’s office, Gorman erupted. “Get out of here with your fake ass threats, Bennett. I don’t care how bad it’s going to look for the office. Quite honestly, you’re the one who looks bad. I have nothing else to say to you.” She quickly ended the conversation.
DeBeer said later that the conversation left him “in disbelief that a public employee would talk like that to a private resident who was requesting a correction to a public statement. It says a lot about the culture on the 9th floor of the County building.”
Later that afternoon, some 24 hours after the initial release, the mayor’s office issued a statement entitled “Correction.” All the factual errors deBeer had pointed out had been changed. “My office is correcting this error because we value accuracy,” Victorino said. The mayor, while still not naming deBeer, added, “…the individual is a shining example that masks work…I wish him a speedy and complete recovery from his illness.”
Maui Now and the Star Advertiser merely updated their digital stories to reflect the corrections; the Maui News ran a small correction in Wednesday’s paper. I couldn’t even find mention of either story anywhere else. The truth wasn’t nearly as sexy as “Mayor finds out about COVID exposure through social media” or, from the Hawaii Free Press: “Anti-vaxxers expose Maui Mayor to COVID.” The initial release also seemed to succeed on another level, at least for a re-election-directed administration: Mayor good; anti-mandate people bad.
Help wanted: Honest Government and Strong Media
There are troubling issues raised by this whole affair. It is yet another example of the Victorino administration playing loose with the truth. Recently, I wrote about the Amala Place homeless evictions. After promising in one news release not to clean up the homeless encampment until all residents had been relocated, the county subsequently acted with many homeless residents still in place. Now this. Is it too naïve to expect accurate, fact-based news information from Maui’s top elected official? As many historians have pointed out in the wake of the turmoil roiling national politics: when the citizens of a country no longer trust or believe in government, democracy begins to crumble.
However the administration may first have learned of Bennett deBeer’s positive test, he confirmed all facts in a phone call to the mayor’s office hours before the release was even concocted. Victorino’s staff had the correct information in hand when they wrote the release. Why was the original press release written so sloppily? It’s hard to believe that county spokesman and former Maui News city editor Brian Perry has forgotten how to fact-check. While the original narrative may have benefitted Michael Victorino in the short run, it won’t help to stabilize residents’ suspicions (especially during the pandemic) that maybe elected officials don’t really want us to know what they’re doing.
During the pandemic, I read several stories about other county employees contracting COVID without the hysteria that accompanied this event. There’s always a delay between exposure, testing and diagnosis. Why did the administration make such a big deal about this one? Particularly when nobody in his office tested positive as a result of the exposure. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated people can get COVID. Why did the mayor’s office decide to make such an example of Bennett deBeer, if not for his politics? Teri Gorman treated him as almost subhuman in her egregious remarks. Part of being a good politician is the ability to manage diverse groups of people and opinions. Victorino gives lip service to it in his printed remarks, but the conduct of at least one of his staff would indicate a “my way or the highway” attitude.
In an emailed statement (printed in full here), Gorman expressed regret for her remarks. “In the 30 years of my international communications career, this is the first and only time I have ever spoken such angry words in a professional setting. I cannot and won’t try to justify the things I said to Mr. deBeer in anger. But I am not a bot and my honest emotional response was made human-to-human.” Gorman added that she was not speaking as a “public servant,” however, her job as a county communications advisor is the reason deBeer called her in the first place.
Another issue involves the media. With staff-decimated newsrooms, it is more and more common these days to see press releases printed verbatim in papers, on websites, and in radio broadcasts. I think the Victorino administration was caught off-guard by Maui Now‘s quick and laudable effort to correct the record. Why else would Gorman’s outrageous stance rejecting any of deBeer’s requests have occurred? It wasn’t until later that day—after Wendy Osher’s interview with deBeer was published—that the correction was issued. A strong press helps hold those in power accountable. It worked here.
Finally, although Bennett deBeer and I hold divergent views on a number of subjects politically, we connected on the topic of honest government and transparency. Watching the Victorino press release act like a lit match on the tinder of community divisiveness, it felt good to discover that bridges can still be built.
Mahalo Deborah! Great article. We need quality local media now more than ever!!
MORE MORE MORE accountability !
Unacceptable behavior by a public servant.
I’ve worked in media relations for more than 30 years and have done my share of yelling at reporters and editors, but going off on a member of the public – no matter how odious or irresponsible you find their politics – is way outside the bounds of what taxpayers should expect from their elected officials and their staff. If you can’t clear that bar of conduct, you really should rethink whether public service is your calling.
Ten years ago, I predicted that the disruption of journalism would eventually usher in a golden age of reporting and news-gathering as journalists found a way to make to make a living disintermediated from the means of production – printing presses, broadcast towers, etc. So far I’ve been WILDLY wrong in this prediction, but Ms. Rybak gives me hope that my dream’s not completely dead. We need more of her, fewer politics taking cheap shots via press release, the transformation of journalism to pass through its destructive phase and begin the rebuilding and – dare I hope – a little more understanding and sympathy from all corners.
Thank you for clear, honest reporting.
Gorman and Victorino both need to be fired… none of this is acceptable
Excellent article. It is really important that the Victorino administration be held accountable. I was in front of the county building when Bennett and Wendall and his wife came down from Victorino’s office and said that he would be doing at Townhall on the mandates. This was over three months ago. Nothing. If a public official cannot meet With his constituents, he has no business being in office.
The list of residents who have been disrespected is way too long. I, too, have experienced unprofessional and hurtful behavior from many in this administration. The line has been crossed and tolerating this is dangerous. Deep gratitude to this platform.
Great writing. Bridges still can be built when everyone is being honest, I’m so tired of on human human cruelty. Thanks for exposing it!
For what? I think she put him in his place
Benito ,. U sir are Da Man 🙂
Shamelessly admitting it’s okay to release false statements and information…. Bravo!!
How exactly? By admitting it’s ok to release false statements?
Really? She’s completely unhinged. She couldn’t even manage a phone call without getting personal. Everything the man said that was true, she said she didn’t even care about. She literally said that they would have put out a story with “the right information” had he acted differently. So basically she admitted to lying bout of spite. How could you possibly think she put him in his place?