In Beverly, politics and harassment mix

Crude Internet videos. Secretly recorded conversations. Phone threats.

With the rough-and-tumble politics of Beverly, a riverfront city that covers less than a square mile, it was perhaps inevitable that one of the local battles would find its way to court.

Yesterday, Municipal Judge Dennis McInerney stepped into a dispute between the presidents of the school board and City Council.

He found the school board's Robert Thibault guilty of harassing Luis Crespo, a maverick councilman who roiled city politics even before he changed his affiliation to Democrat in the fall. Crespo's switch was significant because with his help, Republicans had gained control of the council, 5-4, for the first time in a half-century.

Crespo had filed charges against Thibault - a former friend and the municipal Republican committee's vice president - in October, five months after a profanity-laced message on his cell phone called him a dead man. In those months, Crespo alleged, Thibault and other Republicans continued tormenting him as political revenge for bucking the party.

Politics has become especially turbulent in Beverly. Two council members quit in January after a bitter election in which Republicans lost bids for all three open seats. Republicans also gained attention when they posted an online spoof called "Night of the Living Democrats," in which they pasted the heads of local Democrats, including Crespo, on zombies and assaulted them with a picture of Ronald Reagan. Crespo has his own Web site with secretly recorded audio clips of his opponents.

"It's an interesting little city," Crespo said. "Do we get along? I'm not going to lie. We don't."

Thibault declined to comment on his harassment conviction, which resulted in a $500 fine but no jail time. It was not clear whether the decision would resolve the turmoil or further fuel it in a year that Burlington County Republicans are saying is important for Beverly because four council seats are up for grabs.

Part of the problem may be Beverly's number of politicians per capita.

There is one elected official - a mayor and nine council members - for every 270 residents. So few people are willing to get into politics here that a husband and wife share the council dais. The wife of a council member who recently resigned sits on the school board even though the City Council appoints school board members.

But some say the problem is Crespo, a broad-shouldered, ponytailed landscaper with a fierce independent streak.

"Things seem to happen wherever he goes," said Councilwoman Leah Arter, a Republican. "I think the Republicans are relieved that he is now the Democrats' problem."

Crespo won election in 2006, the year Republicans won control of the council on the promise Crespo described as breaking up the "good old boys network" that led to poor redevelopment decisions. But he said Republicans had quickly shown an intolerance for different perspectives, and he became a scourge of the GOP after he refused to vote the party line.

His opponents describe him as sneaky and unfair - and perhaps too thin-skinned for elected office.

Arter said Crespo wasn't ashamed that "he carries a pocket recorder and tapes conversations."

"Outside of any professional setting, I don't converse with him for that reason, for my own protection, because you don't know what he's going to tape and cut and go play" for people, said Arter, whose husband, Don, sits on the council and chairs Beverly's Republican committee.

Crespo testified yesterday that he had waited so long to file charges after the message Thibault left in May because his wife worried about retribution. He said he had changed his mind when Thibault kept on with threats and intimidation.

The defense did not dispute that Thibault had made the message played in court; his phone number was recorded on the message. But Thibault's attorney raised questions about why Crespo had sat on the message for months before filing a charge just before a tough election. Much of the dispute also centered on money that both said the other owed for contracting work.

"It's another chapter in this ongoing saga of politics in Beverly," Richard Isolda, the attorney, told the judge.

McInerney had been brought in to avoid a conflict of interest for the city's judge, who is appointed by the council.

Crespo also had filed harassment charges in February against Robert Germer, who resigned from the council three months ago. The charges against Germer, who declined to comment, had been scheduled to be heard yesterday but were postponed after Germer decided to hire a private attorney.

Both political parties agree that nine council members are too many, and council members said they were considering changing the law to reduce the number to five over the next few years.

"You have an argument, you work it out, you go to mediation. You don't waste taxpayers' money," said Councilman Mark Schwedes, whom Republicans appointed to replace Germer. "I don't think it's going to help the hard feelings in some respects."

Crespo, in the second year of his three-year term, said the court decision would probably worsen the hostility. But he appears accustomed to his recent unpopularity.

While Crespo was speaking with a reporter last week at City Hall, Councilman Hal Robertson breezed through the room with his dog in tow. "I just talked to your nemesis," he announced.

Crespo replied: "Which one?"