Last modified: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 1:38 AM EDT After losing Middleboro post, Mansfield manager blasts foes BY TED NESI SUN CHRONICLE STAFF MANSFIELD - The Middleboro Board of Selectmen has passed over Town Manager John D'Agostino and instead chosen a Hingham official to become Middleboro's new town manager - but not before the process brought more acrimony to Mansfield. D'Agostino said Tuesday he accepted the board's decision and was glad to stay with his colleagues at town hall. "I love the people I work with here," he said. "They do a great job and I enjoy working with them." The Middleboro board interviewed D'Agostino publicly at 9 a.m. Saturday in a town hall meeting room there. A number of the questions focused on D'Agostino's role in the employment lawsuit the town lost last August. The town manager defended his actions, although he also acknowledged that he could have done some things differently. Among those who listened to the interview in the crowd were former electric department director Jack Beliveau, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, and controversial local property magnate Karl Clemmey, who is a fierce and caustic critic of D'Agostino. D'Agostino characterized the two men's decision to follow him to Middleboro as evidence that Clemmey, in particular, wants to do more than secure the town manager's removal. "He wants to destroy me. No exaggeration," D'Agostino said. "He would like nothing more than to destroy my career. "And, of course, he's going to deny it," D'Agostino continued. "But what else would motivate you to go down to Middleboro? And why would you do that? What would be the reason?" Clemmey declined to respond to D'Agostino's comments. A woman who answered Clemmey's phone Tuesday said he was not available. "I don't think he wants to speak to you," she said. Beliveau said he attended the interview because he was concerned that D'Agostino would say something negative about him in response to questions about the lawsuit. Beliveau filed a complaint last year with the state anti-discrimination commission to protest what he said were unfair remarks made about his character at a selectmen's meeting last fall. "I had no intention of saying or doing anything" at the interview in Middleboro, Beliveau said Tuesday. "I just sat in the back of the room and spoke with no one." Also in attendance at D'Agostino's interview were Selectman David McCarter, former selectman Michael McCue, Town Moderator Bob Saquet, and D'Agostino's companion, Cathy Ellsworth. McCarter said he "decided to go to give Mr. D'Agostino a little moral support and let the people know, hopefully, that there are some people who support him, and to see how the process would treat him as a result of the incident we had." McCarter said he thought the interview process was fair. He also said he was not surprised that D'Agostino's critics also went to Middleboro. "It's a vendetta," McCarter said. "It's more than getting him out of the town. It's to ruin the guy professionally and personally, if they can do it. That's my opinion." But Beliveau noted D'Agostino's supporters had made the trip, as well. "There were several people there from Mansfield, so there was quite a bit of interest," he said. Still, D'Agostino pointed to comments made about him on the Talk Mansfield blog (talkmansfield.freeforums.org) as evidence of the hostility toward him in parts of the community. "This is how deep it runs here in Mansfield," he said. "It's not a good place to be. It's not a good place to live." Referencing the continued focus on the events that led to the lawsuit, D'Agostino asked: "How would you like to be remembered for the one instance in which it didn't work out?" He added that he hopes citizens will judge his tenure by looking at the sum of his 10 years in Mansfield. TED NESI covers Mansfield for The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at tnesi@thesunchronicle.com or 508-236-0333.