LETTER: Hold Advocates ex-director accountable without malice

To Ozaukee Press:

News that the ex-director of Advocates has been charged with stealing from the nonprofit has been painful and troubling. Nonprofit organizations depend on public trust, and funds entrusted to them should serve the people and causes for which they were intended. If these allegations are proven, the conduct deserves appropriate legal consequences and a full accounting to the organization, its donors and the community.

At the same time, accountability does not require malice. I knew this person in a different context, and the charges do not erase every positive quality or contribution I witnessed. This ex-director was passionate about Advocates and providing domestic and sexual violence awareness, advocacy, safety and justice.

Advocates help survivors explore and understand their legal and medical options, as well as provide access to the best resources for an individual’s particular safety and support needs. The ex-director was instrumental in helping this organization grow into the safe space that exists today.

I understand that the charges against this ex-director should not be minimized.  The conduct alleged cannot be justified.  But I want people to know that for years she gave her heart and soul to Advocates.  Saying that she “lost her way” is sad and deeply distressing.

The legal process should now determine the facts. Until it does, we should resist both premature judgment and reflexive defense. We can support transparency, restitution and safeguards for nonprofit resources while recognizing the dignity of everyone involved—including employees, donors, beneficiaries and the accused.

This situation is a reminder that compassion and accountability are not opposites. A community can condemn wrongdoing, insist on justice and still refuse to reduce a human being to the worst thing she is alleged to have done.

Pat Morrissey

Port Washington