Democratic State Committee out of line on Creighton Flyer

Just when I thought the sleaze factor in the campaign for Lehigh County commissioner could get no worse, I received a copy of a flyer sent by the Democratic State Committee.  Make no mistake, it was paid for by Don Cunningham.  The same Don Cunningham who told members of the press that h had not poured $72000 into the campaign, paid for this.  Don was being honest in the same way Bill Clinton was honest about it meaning was "is" is.  Don had not yet spent the $72,000.  That happened after Oct. 19.  More mailers.  More money.

Earlier today, I published Jeanne McNeill's e-mail to me defending her husband's role in government, denying her conflict of interest when she has been bought and paid for by Don Cunningham and accusing Tom Creighton of sleaze because of a campaign contribution he received.  I wish Jeanne had traced the blood money received from Cunningham and how much of his campaign came from no bid contractors and from those who expect favors.

But what really has me totally beside myself and hoping for the miracle of a Scott Ott victory (Don, you have lost my vote) is that they used and abused a story I did to misrepresent facts.  I looked into the Tom Creighton contribution from Roy Stewart.  I talked to Tom and to Roy.  I know them both personally.  There was no fire.  There was barely smoke.  We ran the story and basically let the voters realize for themselves that two very innocent-minded people had been involved in an honest act of friendship and as many people make contributions, Roy Stewart had made one to Creighton.

I have had numerous conversations with Cunningham (who paid for the flyer) and clearly Jeanne McNeill knows my e-mail address but neither one of them thought to check with me.  Had they done so, they would not have used an error of mine to hurt Tom.  You see, my story said that the contribution was made on the date of the May supervisors meeting (which was true) but it was two months after Keystone Engineering had presented.  At that point, the decision to retain them had already been de facto made as the year was half over.  I had my facts wrong because I relied upon the memory of another rather than checking the minutes.  The meetings run together.

Tom Creighton corrected me after the story ran but to save me embarrassment he didn't ask for a retraction.

I am sure that even if McNeill or Cunningham had talked to me that they still would have issued the flyer but maybe the would not have used the erroneous part of the story.

I have tried to remain impartial and fair throughout.  I have given each candidate a forum to the extent they wanted one.  I have treated each fairly in the my newspaper articles.

Now we see the nature of the sleaze we can expect from county government if Don Cunningham succeeds in getting a Democratic majority.  We saw it last week in his IRS letter on Scott Ott and we see it in this false and misleading flyer on Tom Creighton.  Make claims late in the election cycle so nobody can respond.  You need not be correct.  I expect that from politics.  I don't expect to be used in that process, however.

I urge voters in the 1st District to resoundingly support Tom Creighton and to send the message to Don Cunningham that the Raber seat is not something he can buy.  I urge voters in the 5th District as well---keep a Republican check and balance on this man.  He will win but we can't have a county government where nobody questions his actions, as they should have questioned the IRS letter and they should have checked the facts on the Creighton flyer.  If you make mistakes on these things, what mistakes can you make on a $412 million budget.