Anti-Bias Task Force liaison, former chairperson clash over group’s role

Council Member Denise Merrifield on Thursday publicly defended her handling of the Riverhead Anti-Bias Task Force by casting the group as one of many advisory committees with no independent authority to act on behalf of the town. 

Merrifield also accused the task force’s former chairperson Mark McLaughlin of seeking power that the task force doesn’t have to advance his own “political agenda.”

In prepared remarks read during the April 2 Town Board work session, Merrifield, who said she was responding to recent news articles and also to emails sent out by Mark McLaughlin, who resigned from the task force in February.

“It comes down to a very simple issue. It’s not about bias, it’s not about prejudice, it’s not about silencing. It’s about power,” Merrifield said.

McLaughlin “wants the task force to be empowered to listen, respond and lead without limitation,” Merrifield said. “That is not the role of town committees. The committees have limitations…They are advisory in nature, making recommendations to the Town Board. When or if the committee agrees to make a recommendation to the Town Board, it does so through the committee’s liaison,” she said. 

Merrifield currently serves as the board’s liaison to the Anti-Bias Task Force.  

“The Town Board will approve or disapprove of any recommendations. All town committees, including the Anti-Bias Task Force, have no independent authority to act under the color of the town. All committees need Town Board approval for activities they seek on behalf of the town,” Merrifield said.

But the task force’s mission statement, bylaws and Town Board resolutions describe a broader role — one that goes beyond merely advising the Town Board to include education, outreach and proactive efforts to address bias in the community.

A 2021 Town Board resolution tightened board oversight by requiring the task force to submit in writing all recommendations for events, programs, co-sponsored activities, publications, announcements, policies and funding requests to the Town Board for review and approval before taking action.

Merrifield said McLaughlin resigned from the Anti-Bias Task Force “after not being able to promote his political agenda under the banner of the Town of Riverhead.”

Merrifield did not directly respond to several specific questions emailed on March 25 by RiverheadLOCAL about the role and function of the task force. She also did not address criticism by several task force members of restrictions they said have been placed on the group’s activities and discussions. 

Instead, on March 26, the councilwoman emailed a statement expressing appreciation for “all the members of the community who volunteer their time and energy to sit on our town committees.” Merrifield said the task force has been “a positive influence on the community” during her time as liaison. She pointed in particular to the support it provided to “to the children in the Butterfly Effect who were subjected to on line horrible remarks.” 

McLaughlin said he was taken aback by Merrifield’s comments at Thursday’s work session.  He emailed the Town Board on Friday to say Merrifield had mischaracterized both his actions and the dispute itself.

“To be clear, I never asked the Riverhead Anti-Bias Task Force to organize or participate in any rally involving President Trump,” McLaughlin wrote, responding to Merrifield’s claim that he wanted anti-bias task forces across Suffolk County to join together to oppose Trump over his moves to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

“The idea of bringing different Anti-Bias Task Forces together actually came from our liaison, Dr. James Banks, who successfully organized a regional gathering across the East End,” McLaughlin wrote. “After seeing that success, I simply wanted to build on that momentum by creating more opportunities like it across Suffolk County.”

McLaughlin also disputed Merrifield’s account of an LGBTQ-related issue she raised in her statement at the work session.

Merrifield told the Town Board McLaughlin had wanted the task force to support the LGBTQ community at the Mosaic Festival by allowing an LGBTQ group to perform on the town showmobile and said some committee members did not want to appear to be promoting “a particular group.”

McLaughlin said that was not what happened.

“As for the LGBT matter, I never asked to ‘allow’ any group to perform,” he wrote. “The Mosaic Festival is not organized or run by the Anti-Bias Task Force, so that was never within our authority to decide.”

He said he had simply brought to the committee a request from the festival organizer for the task force to attend and support the event by staffing an informational table during the LGBTQ performance segment.

“When I presented that to the committee, the Council Member stated in front of everyone, ‘We don’t support that,’” he wrote.

McLaughlin likewise rejected Merrifield’s description of his raising community concerns about ICE activity as political advocacy.

Merrifield said at the work session that McLaughlin had asked the committee to consider its response and advice to the Hispanic community regarding ICE and that she told the committee “deportation is not discrimination,” while reading a press release from then-Supervisor Tim Hubbard stating the town would not interfere with federal immigration enforcement.

She also said McLaughlin’s request was political in nature because of his support for state legislation limiting local law enforcement cooperation with ICE.

McLaughlin said residents had brought concerns to him and that he believed the task force should at least have been allowed to discuss how to respond.

“When members of the community came to me with questions about ICE and asked that those concerns be brought to our committee, I did exactly that,” he wrote. “Being told to remain silent instead of having an open conversation is what I consider a culture of silence.”

“At the very least, our committee should have had a discussion on how to responsibly address those concerns,” he wrote. “Instead, we were instructed by the council member to stay ‘silent.’”

In her April 2 statement, Merrifield said McLaughlin “did not want to teach and educate” but instead “wanted to advocate without limitation,” which she said “is not the mission of the anti-bias task force.”

Merrifield’s statement was the clearest public articulation yet of a view several task force members have said was being imposed on the group behind the scenes: that the Anti-Bias Task Force is a constrained advisory body, not an independent forum for addressing bias-related concerns raised by residents.