Part 6. Politics and Government

Chapter 21. Political Intrigue

Remaining neutral in election

Dear Harry,

In the upcoming election we are faced with the best of choices: two well-qualified and capable candidates for the same office.

Speaking for myself, I am faced with the difficult situation of having to choose between two good friends both seeking seats on the board of selectmen.

Therefore, I have decided to remain publicly uncommitted; I would be happy to see either of you win. In fact, I hope whichever of you does not prevail this time will run again next year for the open seat.

I hope you understand my position here. I would rather keep quiet than have to make a public choice between the two of you.

Sincerely,

Mary Ryan

Declining involvement in campaign

Dear Mike,

I received your campaign literature and request for volunteers in support of your upcoming bid for selectmen.

I was proud and honored to work on your successful effort to stop the expansion of the state highway through town and am glad to see that you continue to be interested in public service.

I want you to know that I will be voting for you in November and will do what I can to convince my friends to join me in supporting your candidacy.

At this time, though, family obligations prevent me from devoting time to what I hope is a successful campaign.

I wish you the best of luck.

Sincerely,

Alice Jones

Declining to support candidate

Dear Mike,

Thank you for writing to me about your plans to run for selectman in the upcoming election.

I am very pleased to see several experienced and well-meaning candidates putting themselves forward for this seat. I know you well and am sure you would be an able representative.

However, I have already given my support to Harry Stevens. He and I have worked together on many community boards and special projects in the past decade, and he asked me to endorse him some time ago.

I wish you luck in this election and in future involvement in the community. Although I will be voting for Harry, I would be happy to see either of you on the board of selectmen.

Sincerely,

Sam Miller

Conceding election

To All My Supporters,

The results of yesterday’s election have now been certified, and we came up short by 986 votes, about 2 percent of the electorate.

I want to thank all of you for your help. Together we ran a fair, spirited, issue-oriented campaign. We never descended into personal attacks but kept the focus on matters that directly affected the voters of Rolling Meadow.

I am proud of what we did, and you should be, too.

I have personally congratulated Harry Stevens on his win. I also let him know that I would continue to speak out on behalf of what we stand for, and I intend to continue to be active in the community on those issues and more.

Sincerely,

Mike George

Declaring opposition to school expansion

Dear John,

I have received your letter asking for my support in the upcoming town election for the ballot initiative to borrow funds to pay for a major addition to the high school’s gymnasium.

As you know, I have supported the school district on many projects over the past decade and hope to continue to do so. There is nothing more important than the education of our young people.

And as you also no doubt know, I feel that you are doing an outstanding job as principal.

This time, however, I will not support the borrowing plan for the expansion. The expansion of the gymnasium may be a worthy project but not in these difficult times.

I believe that all of our efforts should be directed toward increasing funding for teacher salaries rather than capital expenses. I would hate to see us with a new gym while teachers were being laid off for lack of funds.

Sincerely,

Mona Franklin

Calling on politician to step aside

Dear Mayor Blanko,

As a concerned citizen of Rolling Meadow, I call upon you to temporarily step aside as mayor until the charges brought against you by the Northfork County Attorney are decided in court.

The allegations of bid rigging are serious, but I agree with your statement to the press that you are entitled to the presumption of innocence and a fair trial.

In the meantime, though, I feel that nothing will be accomplished in town hall while these charges are pending. You can do the most for Rolling Meadow by allowing city council chairman Marvin Mora to temporarily take your office.

Sincerely,

Dan Martin

Calling on politician to resign

Dear Mayor Blanko,

As a voter and former supporter, I am calling upon you to immediately resign your position as mayor of Rolling Meadow.

The recent indictment of your personal secretary and the criminal investigation into the conduct of two town department heads demonstrate a pattern of lawbreaking and a lack of oversight by our chief elected official.

It is already clear that the town council has decided to block any off-budget expenditures and hold up any new contracts until the criminal cases are concluded. There is little chance that this situation will be resolved before the end of your elected term in ten months.

It is with sadness that I join those who have concluded that you have lost the confidence of the citizens of our town.

Janice Sterling

Calling for investigation of politician

Harry Macy, County Attorney

Dear Mr. Macy,

On behalf of Rolling Meadow Citizens for Accountability in Government, we ask the county attorney’s office to begin an immediate investigation of the bidding practices of the office of Mayor Rodney Blanko of Rolling Meadow.

Our own inquiries, as reported by the Rolling Meadow Weekly Inquirer, found a sustained pattern of favoritism and questionable contracts awarded in the past three years. We are sending a copy of this letter to the newspaper as well.

It is our belief that Mayor Blanko has used his office for personal gain or to reward his campaign contributors and political allies with contracts that are not in keeping with prevailing rates. We also uncovered what we believe to be a pattern of appointing friends and relatives to no-show jobs in the parks and public works department.

We stand ready to provide copies of all of the information we have uncovered.

Sincerely,

Wilson Keith

Objecting to public facilities used for political purpose

To the Editor,

This past Tuesday evening the School Tax Override Committee held an organization meeting in the high school cafeteria. This group supports a ballot initiative that would raise taxes to increase funding for our schools.

Regardless of your position on the request for additional taxes to support the school system, I feel it was highly inappropriate—and possibly a violation of law—to allow the use of public facilities by a partisan political organization.

This event is indicative of the poor judgment shown by the school board in their oversight of the district. We should not be in a position where taxpayers are being asked to come up with more and more money each year, and we should not have to consider whether teachers, students, and administrators are using publicly funded facilities for improper purposes.

I call on the voters of Rolling Meadow to reject the tax override and to send a message to the school committee that we do not approve of their stewardship of the school system.

Rhonda Seymour

Objecting to involvement of school employees in ballot issue

Jerome Vickers, Principal

Rolling Meadow High School

Dear Principal Vickers,

I am writing to express my strong objection to the use of school facilities and supplies for the production of political literature in support of the tax override initiative that will appear on this November’s ballot.

While I am a strong supporter of our school system, I do not support raising taxes in these difficult times. We all have had to pull in our belts this year, and the school district should be no exception.

It was wrong to allow school district employees and students to spend time preparing literature about the ballot initiative, and highly improper to use the school’s printing equipment and paper to produce the flyer.

I will also be contacting the town attorney about this matter, asking that he open an investigation into this misuse of public funds.

Sincerely,

Stan Walsh

Asking political mail to stop

Jerry Reynolds

Dear Jerry,

It is very obvious to me that you are someone who feels very strongly about your politics. I do, too, but it seems we lean in very different directions.

You have me included on your list of people receiving political e-mails from you. Thank you for thinking of me, but I have to tell you that I find the messages offensive or uniformed—in my opinion.

I enjoy your company when we talk about things other than politics, and sometimes even when we debate the issues. But I would appreciate it if you would delete me from your list for mailings.

Sincerely,

Ron

Complaint about corporate sponsorship of political organization

Gina Giannopolis, President

Momma Gina’s Pizza

Dear Ms. Giannopolis,

I have been a devoted customer at your pizza restaurants all through the northeast; when traveling with my family we would sometimes go far out of our way just to find one of your shops because we knew the product would be excellent.

I am dismayed, though, to find out that your company has made several major donations to national political parties and to one presidential candidate in particular.

As much as I enjoy your pizza, I find this candidate and his party distasteful.

While I certainly believe citizens have the right to express their views and make contributions to political parties or candidates of their choice, I think you are making a mistake by donating money as a corporation. I do not want to support the candidate you have chosen, and I do not want the money I pay for your products to end up in his campaign.

I have decided that our family will no longer patronize your restaurants, and I will be very active in informing as many people as I can about your corporate support of this politician.

If in the future you make a change to your policies in this regard, I would like to know about it, and I might reconsider my decision at that time.

Sincerely,

Brad Johnson