Candidate falsely represents herself as reporter from The Summit

By Caleb Tobin

Editor in Chief, The Summit

A Stoughton woman running for election admitted she falsely represented herself as a reporter from The Summit to the Suburban Shopper last week.

Rachel Lazerus, running for a seat on the Stoughton Redevelopment Authority, contacted the Suburban Shopper claiming to be a reporter from The Summit named Rachel Landau.

Text messages shared with The Summit show Lazerus contacted the Suburban Shopper on April 2, saying she was a “journalist working on a story about next week’s municipal election.”

When asked by the Suburban Shopper what organization she was with, Lazerus responded by saying: “I’m Rachel and writing for Stonehill’s The Summit.”

She used a different last name when she contacted the Suburban Shopper but used her own cell phone. The Summit contacted her on that same phone number. An internet check of that number came back to Lazerus.

When asked by The Summit why she falsely represented herself as a reporter from The Summit, Lazerus admitted to her actions and apologized.

“I am so sorry. Yes, I did that and I kind of can explain. I was not in my right mind. I should not have done this in the first place,” Lazerus told The Summit.

Lazerus said there is a heated ballot question campaign going on in town and claimed one side of the campaign was violating rules such as endorsing candidates. She also accused the Suburban Shopper of not giving equal ad space to both sides of the campaign.

The ballot question campaign centers around a proposed Proposition 2 ½ override to fund the construction of a new elementary school in Stoughton.

Lazerus said she thought posing as a reporter from a local student newspaper would get the Suburban Shopper to answer her questions more directly.

“I wasn’t sure if I could trust them [the Suburban Shopper] to answer my questions directly, and that is why I saw that there was a girl named Rachel on The Summit and I figured that would work,” Lazerus said.

The Summit does not currently have any staff members named Rachel.

The Suburban Shopper denied the allegations made by Lazerus.

“Suburban Shopper is an advertising, local community newspaper, [with] equal opportunity where anybody can take out ads at any time they want,” said Ron DiMatteo, a partner at the Suburban Shopper, in a statement to The Summit.

“We have no say in who gets more ads. Ad space is booked on a first-come, first-serve basis,” DiMatteo said. “We’re completely impartial. We are neutral, we don’t take sides. We are an equal opportunity platform. We don’t express views either way.”

Maureen Boyle, The Summit’s advisor, said she was troubled that someone would pose as a student reporter.

"The Summit staff works hard to cover the college community and works daily to maintain the highest level of journalistic ethical standards. It is troubling to receive this report that someone would pose as a member of the staff and try to draw the student newspaper into a municipal political campaign," Boyle said.

The election for the Stoughton Redevelopment Authority, along with numerous other positions, takes place on April 8.