Local Elections

I sent the following letter to the Press & Guide in response to the endorsement made by attorney Morris Goodman, supporting Anthony (Tony) Guerriero for Judge at the 19th District Court in Dearborn.  Unfortunately, I believe once again, politics in Dearborn is rearing its ugly head and the Press & Guide felt it not necessary for the voters of Dearborn to be made aware of the facts of the matter.  Please review so that you may be an informed voter...

March 25, 2014

Press & Guide/The Heritage

One Heritage Drive Suite 100

Southgate, Michigan 48195

Editor in Charge

 Dear Chief Editor,

After reading the Guest Columnist article by Morris Goodman on his enthusiastic endorsement of Anthony (Tony) Guerriero on March 17, 2014, I felt compelled to respond.  To advocate and support Mr. Guerriero would be just another grave error by any public figure, tax payer, or decent human being.  For those whom are not familiar with the politics of Mr. Guerriero, let me give you a few tid bits to chew on. 

During my more than 15 years with the 19th District Court, I did work with Mr Guerriero while he was magistrate there.  He found himself more than once in poor standings with the then Court Clerk, Sharon Langen and Court Administrator, Doyne Jackson.  I will have more on that in a minute. 

Mr Guerriero was appointed District Judge in Allen Parks, 24th District Court by the same governor who appointed Richard Wygonik to the 19th District Court and we all know how that turned out.  Nonetheless, Guerriero was now District Judge and in a position that required residency.  It was easy enough to fool the taxpayers temporarily of his residency since he took on an apartment in Allen Park (apartment building on Allen Rd just east of the Allen Park shopping plaza, on South side of the street) where he occasionally would pop in and turn the lights on and off to appear as if living there, while actually residing with his wife and daughter in Dearborn.  I witnessed this on occasion as a friend lived right next door.  Then the complaints and rumors of sexual harassment started in Allen Park, where upon the first election the taxpayers did not elect him to the bench. 

Now back to my experience with Guerriero.  While he was magistrate at the 19th District, Anthony Guerriero was ordered by Court Administrator Doyne Jackson to no longer enter the Clerks office where he normally would read letters of explanation by defendants.  This order came after I filed a complaint of sexual harassment at the urging of Court Clerk, Sharon Langen (now Court Administrator), Court Administrator Doyne Jackson (now deceased) and two other magistrates for the 19th District Court at that time, Danny Ferrara and Sam Salamey (now deceased and Chief Judge for the 19th District Court respecfully).  One afternoon during business hours, Guerriero brought a friend into the Clerks office.  While walking about the office, he and his friend were speaking loudly in Italian to each other.  As they approached my desk, I told Guerriero it was rude that they were speaking Italian in the office and nobody knew what they were saying.  He replied, “I’ll tell you what we are saying, we are saying we are going to bend you over the desk and do you right here.”  I was shocked and upset.  As he and his friend walked away I began to cry and a coworker went to inform Ms. Langen.  After Ms. Langen took me outside to calm down and tell her what had happen, we immediately went into the Court Administrators office.  Over the next week, I was approached my Judges, Magistrates, co workers and family to file a formal complaint against Mr. Guerriero.  Unfortunately, I only wrote a letter of complaint to be placed in his personnel file, as I did not want to hurt his career, marriage, reputation, or future hopes of running for Judge.  I was foolish enough to believe that this was a one time occurrence and that he just felt a little too comfortable speaking to me in this manner since he knew my husband while working for the Social Security Office.  I thought that he would never speak to women in this manner or demean the integrity of a government entity by derogatory remarks such as this on the job.  I did not listen to others as they told me this will happen again.  I sent a request to the City of Dearborn three weeks ago regarding the Freedom of Information Act to obtain a copy of the original letter I had placed within his file.  However, I have not received a response from the city thus far.  Obviously, I was wrong in not warning and protecting the employees of Allen Park from his exposure, but I now wish to enlighten those in Dearborn before he tries to return.

Some may say I am only a disgruntled past employee that is now making stories up to hurt the campaign efforts of others.  This could not be further from the truth.  I have not worked for the 19th District since September of 2012.  I am employed as a Quality Control Specialist/Team leader.  I have a Masters Degree from the University of Michigan.  I am married and the grandmother of 6.  I am content with where I am and now confident enough to speak out against the erroneous politics that continue in the city of Dearborn.  All that I have said can be confirmed, provided records are made available and parties that were involved speak the truth.  The simplest of research will yield the obvious negative disposition of a man whom now wants to be a District Judge within your community.  He will be the one politician you will most likely come into contact with.  By telling my story, it is my desire that people will look into this poor choice for your community representative and consider those who endorse such a poor man and human being, to also be questionable.  Dearborn has always been a community of heated politics and holds a reputation for mud slinging and jumping fences for personal growth.  Don’t let the taxpayers of Dearborn be fooled again.  Start to clear the community reputation and endorse the experience that Dearborn deserves.   

 Sincerely,

Sheryl Maironis

I will no doubt receive backlash for this letter, but I felt it important for the voters to know some real facts to determine where their vote should go.