July 25. 2007 12:00AM
Feud keeps HQ closed
Tenant spat diverts campaign
By M. Elizabeth Roman TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
eroman@telegram.com
Mr. DeSalvatore
FITCHBURG— City Councilor and mayoral candidate Ted E. DeSalvatore said he’s never backed down from a fight.
Even when the fight is with an eBay retailer, John Westlake, who shares a common area with Mr. DeSalvatore’s new campaign headquarters at 147 Main St.
Because of the continuing feud, Mr. DeSalvatore said, he will delay opening his doors to voters until Mr. Westlake is evicted.
“He’s trying to provoke me into a fight,” Mr. DeSalvatore said. “He’s unpredictable. He wants conflict. I will not put people in harm’s way.”
The awkward rental space at 147 Main St. is divided into four parts. Three storefront spaces have double doors on each connecting wall, creating a pass-through from one space to the next. One of Mr. Westlake’s areas, where he photographs and organizes eBay items, sits directly behind Mr. DeSalvatore’s campaign headquarters and is separated by a white cloth that hangs from a rope attached to the walls.
About once a week Mr. Westlake uses a large wooden cart to transport items from his staging area through the double doors connecting Mr. DeSalvatore’s space to a storefront office leased by Mr. Westlake.
Mr. DeSalvatore said Mr. Westlake is a nuisance who passes through the double doors just to antagonize campaign workers.
“I taped it (the double doors) shut. I tried to come to a truce … but now he will have to go through the back,” Mr. DeSalvatore said.
However, Mr. Westlake paints a different picture of the feud, saying that an initial disagreement has escalated into a full-scale sabotage of his business. And he points to a tape-recorded interchange with Mr. DeSalavtore as proof that he’s the victim of harassment from the public official.
Mr. Westlake, of Westminster, warehouses hundreds of eclectic items at the location — statuettes of knights in suits of armor, ceramic figurines, pottery and a slot machine — that he sells online through his wife’s business, Lucy’s Online Collectibles, better known to eBay users by the seller handle bargintwister.
Mr. Westlake became tearful when describing the problems he said began a few weeks ago with an unauthorized entry into his business and placement of campaign signs in his storefront windows. Mr. Westlake said he keeps the windows covered with white paper so that passers-by are not tempted to steal his valuable inventory and computer.
“When I took down those signs, I gained an enemy,” said Mr. Westlake, a disabled Air Force veteran who said he takes medication for post-traumatic stress disorder. “He says he’s for small business, but he violated my rights. He’s willing to step on anyone to become mayor.”
Mr. DeSalvatore agreed that their problems began with the signs. He said he thought he had permission to put up the signs, so he got a janitor to let him in when Mr. Westlake was not there. Since the incident, he said, Mr. Westlake has been trying to make his life miserable.
Janitor Charlene Mann said she was “hoodwinked” into letting Mr. DeSalvatore in to Mr. Westlake’s business. She also said she witnessed the tape-recorded interchange on Sunday between the pair.
“It was classic bully power moves,” Ms. Mann said of Mr. DeSalvatore’s behavior. “John tried to negotiate the peace, but (Mr. DeSalvatore) didn’t want that peace.”
Ms. Mann said at one point Mr. Westlake kneeled and begged Mr. DeSalvatore to leave him alone.
On the tape, Mr. DeSalvatore is heard saying, “It’s too late. You pushed my buttons.”
Mr. Westlake contacted police on Sunday claiming that Mr. DeSalvatore was bullying him, according to the police log. Mr. Westlake said the confrontation with Mr. DeSalvatore Sunday may keep him from coming back to his business.
“I don’t know what to do,” Mr. Westlake said. He said he contacted a criminal investigator at the state attorney general’s office Monday about the incident. A spokeswoman said the office does not confirm nor deny if an investigation is being pursued.
“When Ted said he was going to drive the bad elements out of Fitchburg, I didn’t think I was part of that. I’m not the poster child for Main Street. But I still have dreams. How can this be right?” Mr. Westlake said.
Mr. DeSalvatore said he is working with the landlord, Gerald Martel, to get Mr. Westlake evicted. Then he added that he chose the site to make a point.
“I represent the middle ground. I don’t shy away from street trash,” he said.
© 2007 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp.
The Sentinel and Enterprise, a day late and a dollar short as usual, is still focused on yesterday's - no make that day BEFORE yesterday's news.
