Updated: Baltimore Brew has a report on the forum. Quotes in the addendum below.
Bishop Sutton held another public forum last night. According to the local CBS affiliate,
“Obviously there’s a flaw, there are flaws in there,” said Bishop Sutton. Top Bishop Eugene Sutton says they never had details of Cook’s initial DUI. “One of the regrets I have, is we didn’t have all the information we needed,” Bishop Sutton said.
Saying many spoke so highly of her, so they never felt a need to dig deeper. “She had only stellar recommendations,” said Bishop Sutton.
Ritter: “Why didn’t the diocese go after the details?”
“We were told that it was a one off deal not something that was an ongoing problem,” said Dan Webster, Spokesperson for Diocese of Maryland.
But even after that, Bishop Sutton was the one who says Cook was “inebriated” during a private dinner before she was ordained to the high ranking position. “A bishop just can’t get up and stop an election and by the way I have no business to think it should not [*] have been stopped,” said Sutton.
[*] The “not” was probably unintended in this sentence.
Addendum. (Added 2/13/15 at 10:50AM) Extracts from the report by the Baltimore Brew on the forum:
Katharine Jefferts Schori, the presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church, took charge of what Sutton said he believed to be an intervention on behalf of Cook after the September consecration.
“It was in the presiding bishop’s hands,” he said last night. “I made a follow-up call to say, ‘Has that begun?’ and the presiding bishop did say, ‘Yes.’”
…
After Cook officially took up her position in diocesan headquarters in September – separated from Sutton’s office only by an open reception area – Sutton did not pastorally counsel her or apparently broach the topic of alcohol or treatment options.
“It’s thought that the best thing to do is to have the presiding bishop be in charge of that because, guess what, we have a history of problems between bishops diocesan and suffragan bishops, and it can ruin a work relationship and a whole diocese can suffer.”
Posted by John B. Chilton