Kildea Library Gift

Jeanette Kildea, the Canterbury woman ACLU-CT helped win a free-speech suit against the Board of Selectmen, has given $5,000 of the court award to the town library.

“This case was never about the money,” Kildea said. “It was always about a citizen’s right to voice their position regarding the government.”When she complained about being unable to speak at several meetings, the Board of Selectmen had banned all public comment.

“The whole idea of it all was free speech, and the library is our holder of that information,” she said.

Kildea was involved in a legal battle with the town for more than a year after then-First Selectmen Neil Dupont Sr. banned public comment at Board of Selectmen meetings.

In March 2007, she complained to the ACLU of Connecticut that she had been barred from speaking at several meetings between November 2005 and September 2007.The ACLU filed suit last summer on Kildea’s behalf, alleging Dupont and Selectmen Christopher Johnson and Paul Santoro were violating state and federal freedom of speech laws.

The suit asked for an acknowledgment of wrongdoing, reinstatement of public participation and other damages, including legal fees in excess of $15,000.When current First Selectman Brian Sear entered office, he reinstated public participation, and the town settled the civil suit with Kildea for $60,000 in mid-April.

Kildea said the $5,000 she gave the library was all the money she received from the settlement after legal fees were deducted.

Read the ACLU’s early account of the settlement: Canterbury settles free-speech case