It has come to my attention that during the week preceding the July 25 Ghent Republican caucus Republicans and Democrats representing Michael Benvenuto for Supervisor were going door to door to urge people to support their candidate. Now this isn’t at all unusual except for one thing. Instead of speaking positively of how good their candidate is they instead spread some ugly lies about me and my character. Evidently Mr. Benvenuto and his supporters can’t find anything positive to say about their candidate so they have to make up disparaging remarks about their opponent. This is the kind of behavior I expect from Democrats. I am speaking of James Bertram, Chuck Wood, Ben Perry Pattie Matheney Schrom and even fellow council members spreading lies that. 1) My son Alex was arrested outside of our house recently and taken away in handcuffs and 2) That I had made rude and disparaging remarks concerning our current supervisor, Larry Andrews. More specifically I was told that I had said in effect, “Why wait for the man to decide if he is running (for another term) or not when we know he will not finish his term?” I would like to respond in public to these allegations. First, my son was not arrested in front of my house or anywhere else. My son is a graduate from RPI with a degree in Business Management. He is a bonded employee with the New York State Thruway and Canal Corp. as a part time toll collector. He is currently seeking employment and is a candidate for a position with a company working closely with the Securities and Exchange Commission. When he was supposedly being taken from my home in handcuffs he was actually with his mother and sister visiting his grandparents in San Diego, California. He was there from June 24 through July 9. I would invite James Bertram or anyone else who spread this false story concerning my son to please provide me a police report of the event, there are others who would also like to see it, please provide it Jimmy. The second lie is so hideous and disgusting in nature I wish it did not merit response however I am forced to respond. First a fact, I was in this race from the start regardless of the decision of Mr. Andrews to run or not. In fact I had already gained the endorsement of the Conservative Party and later the Independence Party. It was Mr. Benvenuto who was awaiting Mr. Andrews’ decision whether to run or no, as he stated he would not run if Larry did. Mr. Andrews’ indecision whether to run for Supervisor or not did not affect me at all. Second, I have the utmost respect and admiration for Mr. Andrews. During the first months of my term as a board member certain community organizers and groups ganged up on me for making the scurrilous statement that Ghent was the perfect place to have a motocross race. As the anger grew to a crescendo Larry Andrews was in my corner, on my side and protected me, politically from the mob. I owe Larry Andrews a great debt of gratitude. Regardless, the statement in question would not be uttered by me towards any human being as I find it disgusting and repugnant. I invite any of those who say I uttered these words to please provide witnesses to my statements, you may need them. I do not know what motivates Mr. Benvenuto or his supporters. I can only say that if the above stories were spread by Chuck Wood, candidate for Town Board, Ben Perry, candidate for Town Highway Super., or Mike Benvenuto, candidate for Town Supervisor or any sitting board members, then they are not fit to serve in office. I have met Mike Benvenuto and we have talked, he is a likeable guy, I do not want to believe that he started this or actually said these things. Hopefully his campaign just got out of his control. Regardless, I am demanding public apologies from all who contributed to defaming my characters with these libelous attacks. In the weeks to come I will be knocking on the doors of Ghent residents in my campaign for Supervisor. I look forward to meeting with all of you to discuss the issues and for you to determine for yourself the content of my character.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 00:44:15 +0000
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