Jim Masland’s recent letter (“A familiar PR campaign”; Sept. 15) is a desperate attempt to distract from the real issue facing ECFiber customers. Rather than addressing legitimate governance concerns, he resorts to name-calling and false comparisons. He also gets many facts wrong.

Contrary to Masland’s baseless claim, my family is from Vermont, lives in Vermont, and my kids go to school in Vermont. I previously served on the ECFiber Governing Board as a volunteer, just like Masland. My company, Mac Mountain, is not “based in Massachusetts” or a “private equity fund.” It is a Vermont-based broadband investor and partner to municipalities, co-ops, developers and ISPs across the state. I am not a “carpetbagger” and haven’t “bamboozled” anyone. These attacks are irresponsible and baseless.

We invested in GWI to strengthen broadband where we live. GWI has served ECFiber since the beginning and also builds and operates networks for three other CUDs representing nearly a third of Vermont households. Its staff are Vermonters who have delivered reliable service for years. Claims that GWI plans to “outsource jobs” are false. Since Mac Mountain’s investment, GWI has expanded in Vermont and hired more Vermonters.

What Masland ignores is the conflict at the heart of this dispute: several ECFiber board members created a new company, VISPO, to award themselves paid positions. VISPO has no operational track record, no staff of its own, and has resorted to raiding GWI’s workforce. Yet it is being handed responsibility for a network serving thousands of customers. That’s a risky experiment with public infrastructure.

This is not about a “corporate takeover.” It’s about a few insiders prioritizing their own stipends over customer service and reliability. When asked about VISPO’s qualifications and conflicts of interest, they respond with personal attacks.

Vermonters deserve accountability, not self-dealing. Pointing that out isn’t an attack on Vermont — it’s defending it.

Alex Rozek, Woodstock

The writer is a former board member of ECFiber.