Exchange brings attention to Cedar Rapids library board conflict

Sporting blue-tinted sunglasses, Cedar Rapids library board member Paul Pelletier walked into Thursday's board meeting about 15 minutes late and froze the room.

Board member Joe Lock was giving a finance committee report when Pelletier strode in, caught sight of board member Susan McDermott, and turned on her.

As an audience of about 20 turned its attention from Lock's report to Pelletier, the 43-year-old former Naval officer berated McDermott in a furious whisper, leaning over her shoulder, jabbing his forefinger at her face.

McDermott, 68, the longtime former president of the Cedar Rapids Community school board, leaned in to listen, but soon pulled back, threw up her hands, and said, “Oh Paul!”

Pelletier continued whispering at McDermott and jabbing his finger, and stepped away with an abrupt “Stop it!”

Lock stammered back to the finance report.

“Anyway,” he said, and continued to elucidate the budget, as Pelletier sat down, still wearing sunglasses.

McDermott declined Friday to discuss what Pelletier said.

Pelletier said in an e-mail to The Gazette it was “in the personal realm,” and wouldn't go further, but said such conflict is rooted in philosophical disagreements between him and other board members.

Pelletier said he is the only library board member who cares about taxpayer concerns and “the only remaining bulwark against the ongoing tide for mismanagement of the public's interest.”

Pelletier is a professional fundraiser. He joined the Navy after Sept. 11, 2001, and was injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2006. He toyed with the idea of running for the state Legislature against Democrat Tyler Olson, but didn't, and was appointed to the library board in July 2008.

McDermott, a former dental hygienist, was first elected to the school board in 1985 and stayed on it for 18 years. She was appointed to the library board in 2007, and chairs the policy and personnel committee.