James Freed sent a polite, professional letter to the ICMA ethics director in 2018. Little did he know that that letter would haunt him for the next five years as rogue staff members from the International City/County Managers Association (ICMA) would wage a campaign to ruin his career, destroy his professional reputation, and deprive him of his ability to feed for his wife and children.

Freed noticed that Martha Perego, the ICMA ethics guru, used the organization's twitter handle @ICMAethics to engage in anti-Republican and anti-conservative political activity. He simply asked her to change her handle or to refrain from such activity.

Freed, an ICMA member since he was in college, cherished the organization and valued its mission statement which prohibited partisan political activity -- something Perego, the "ethics guru", knew all too well.

The retaliation was immediate and sustained. Eventually, Perego and her subordinate, Jessica Cowles, would manufacture a case against him ultimately leading to his public censure and the stripping of his certified manager credential. 

He fought back and filed an anti-defamation lawsuit.

This is his shocking story.

SHOW NOTES:

James Freed Letter to Martha Perego

ICMA CEO Marc Ott letter to Freed Announcing Discipline of Perego

Port Huron City Council Letter Rebuking the ICMA

James Freed Response to ICMA Censure

James Freed Lawsuit Filing

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