The treasurer, Misha Fredericks, announced her resignation in a letter to campaign staffers and to some newspapers, explaining, "I didn't want to be investigated for embezzlement, so I wrote this to cover my but [sic]." Responding in an email, which is quoted in full in the Capital Confidential post, Tyner called Fredericks' action a "blatant attempt at political sabotage," commenting "funny little thing about truth though--has a way of getting out."
Tyner has called a press conference for 10:30 this morning in front of Rhinebeck Town Hall, 80 Market Street in the village of Rhinebeck, "to hold my former campaign treasurer Misha Fredericks accountable for the lies she sent out. . . ."
Blogger is giving commenters a hard time. Here's a comment that Sam Pratt tried in vain to post, so I am posting it for him:
ReplyDeleteIf Mendolia were acting as a careful, objective reader of the Times-Union (rather than merely as a partisan doing the bidding of the DCCC) he might have also alerted Gossips to these items which can be found in the same newspaper:
* Fredericks admits in the Times-Union article that she recently sent Tyner a semi-nude photograph of herself, later spinning it as a “joke” meant for fundraising. (Tyner has further alleged that she propositioned him at a recent campaign event.)
* Just four days earlier, Fredericks told the Times-Union that “at least Joel Tyner’s Treasurer (yours truly) filed the Pre-Primary FEC report which Schriebman never did. His FEC reports are for a nonexistant District 0.” So, she changed her mind in just four days?
* Fredericks also announced that she made these allegations because she didn’t like Tyner's debate performance and wanted to distance herself from the campaign. So if Tyner had performed to her expectations, was she going to stay silent? These leaves the strong sense that personal animus, not principle, was the motivation here.
Sounds like if Tyner can be faulted for anything, it is for hiring this person (who lists her profession as pet-sitter, and has posted about her aim to “abolish money”) in the first place.
Mendolia also neglects to mention that the Columbia County Democrats had been embracing Tyner as their candidate, before outside groups stepped on their neck and foisted Schreibman on the county committees. But no one should be surprised any longer by spineless behavior from the CCDC chairs.
--S.
A comment to Sam--I did read the Capitol Confidential post before providing the link but trusted Gossips readers to read the piece themselves to learn the sordid details of the circumstances surrounding the accusation.
DeleteAs usual Sam Pratt ascribes conspiracy theories to the Columbia County Democrats endorsement rather than relying on facts. It is true that many on the Committee were originally supporting Mr. Tyner. But the facts are that over the time leading up to the endorsement Mr. Tyner melted down and showed himself to be not up to running a professional campaign.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, Tyner received only two votes on the endorsement. The rest of the committee voted for Mr. Schreibman. Not because outside groups "stepped on their necks". But rather because Julian Schreibman is the better candidate and Joel had shown himself unfit for the role he was seeking.
It's both amusing and intellectually dishonest of Victor Mendolia to accuse me of ascribing "conspiracies" to the Columbia County Democrats, especially when my sources include members of that Committee.
ReplyDeleteIf Victor actually believed that, then why has he on numerous occasions begged for me to publicize his various press releases? If he truly thought I were an unreliable source, he would not have asked for my help on countless public and private occasions.
Topics that Victor has sought my help on range from getting the word out about fire company resoures being used to endorse Senator Saland, asking me to appear on his radio show to talk about South Bay or Eric Galloway, or even needing me to run labels for a mailing (since he's never managed to get together a database for the Democratic Committee in Hudson).
Victor has also asked me in the past for professional recommendations on a social networking site, among other favors. Strange attitude if you actually think someone is a conspiracy theorist.
Victor's real problem here is that he cannot abide having the truth spoken to power unless that truth happens to coincide with his short-term ambitions, which shift regularly. (Today he hates my blog, and runs to Gossips to launder information; not so long ago he was furious with Gossips and was running to me.) It has yet to dawn on him that some of us publish only accurate information that can be readily verified, not just partisan puffery.
--S.
P.S. Here is a link to the Poughkeepsie Journal's coverage of Tyner's press conference today:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20120620/NEWS01/120620010/Tyner-defends-himself-against-accustions-mishandling-campaign-finances?odyssey=nav|head
Note that his accuser did not return calls or email from the paper. (That's rarely a sign of a clean conscience.)
--S.
Have I ever worked with Sam Pratt on issues? Yes. But the more I did, the more I realized that he only ascribes to the politics of destruction. It is not enough to win an argument for him, he must also destroy his opponent. It is uncivil and unhealthy for a community. And a terrible waste of intellect and time.
ReplyDeleteIt's useful to have such disingenousness on public display. And it's always interesting to be lectured about politics by a Democratic chair who can't even remember to file necessary paperwork to get his top candidate on the ballot.
ReplyDeleteIn review: Victor, you began this thread by pushing Gossips to spread a smear about a Democratic candidate; then feebly attempted to smear me as a conspiracy theorist; and now hypocritically posture about the politics of destruction -- having just launched a series of personal attacks. Physician, heal thyself.
By the way, it was Victor Mendolia who very recently approached me asked me to sign Schreibman's petition, which I did. And it was just recently that Victor asked me again to come on his program. So if he had any "realization," it was extremely recent... No doubt at about the time that I called him out for his cynical endorsement of Cheryl Roberts.
But never fear -- as my email records amply demonstrate, Victor has screamed and yelled and stamped his foot at me before, then come back for help when he needed it.
--S.