“The end does not justify the means.”
Maria, did you know that the “mid-town site” is a euphemism for Tri-W? Yes, you said you preferred the Tri-W site 14 times. Want me to repeat that? You said you preferred the Tri-W site 14 times. Yes, you were talking about side-by-side comparisons, but you also said the “mid-town site” was more reasonable and cheaper than other sites in comparison. Nobody is contesting the fact that you sought side-by-side comparisons, but you also provided some commentary that shows your leanings and the leanings of your supporters. Why else would they be supporting you?
Look, you’re accusing us of mischaracterizing you in an attempt to justify the means, but let’s look at the facts: you haven’t done anything to prove otherwise. If you were truly independent-minded, I would assume that you would do more to really distance yourself from those who have strongly advocated a gravity collection system at Tri-W. You send out these ambiguously worded mailers that leave the community in the dark about what your true positions are. We only have your words to go by.
Let’s talk about dishonesty for a moment. You want to talk about things that are not true? Let me give you a dose of reality. You say that I don’t want a sewer. That’s an outright lie. I’ve always been for an affordable wastewater treatment facility out of town. I have mentioned this fact publicly, privately to you and The ROCK has indisputably encouraged similar views. Who doesn’t want a sewer?
You said that Karen Venditti supporters want the Reclamator? Think again. Yes, I had a Reclamator “demo” installed on my previous residence, but that’s because AES President Tom Murphy, at the time, legally owned the house. Yes, The ROCK had an article about the Reclamator, but neither The ROCK nor I endorsed the Reclamator. Again, you made an outright lie.
How can the community trust you when you can’t tell the truth?
How can the community trust you when you don’t trust the community by refusing to entrust them with your positions?
“The end does not justify the means.”
And last but not least, you ought to be having a conversation with the community, not the other way around. If you want people to come to you first about their opinions about you, then you don’t qualify as a leader.
If you want fewer misconceptions, you need to go out there and talk about your plans, talk about what makes you stand out from the rest, talk about how you differ from your core base. You don’t send out mailers and say that only you can address the problems that the CSD is having. That’s ignorant and misleading. That tells me that even if you were to have a conversation with the community, you wouldn’t listen.
