To the Editor:
For the past 9 months or so, I have witnessed and read some of the dirtiest political posturing and deception waged by a handful of political operatives I believe the residents of Grafton have ever been subjected to.
The outright lies and innuendos this small group have put forth against the hard working members of our Town Board and its Officials is despicable, and I believe will prove to be a fruitless attempt to advance their political agendas.
The overtone of the comments in the local press and at Town Board meetings towards the honest and hard working Board Members of the Town of Grafton is repulsive and contrary to what I believe the residents of the Town of Grafton want to see waged in a political campaign.
“Parasitic Bodies, Cronies, Corrupt, Snakes” are just a few of the select words used by these political activists against our honorable and hardworking Board Members. It has even gone as far as our Board Members being compared to Al Capone and even Hitler!
Claims of illegal activity by our Board Members and even our Town Clerk are also a favorite theme of this political action group. They freely use these claims, even though under the current Board’s tenure, there has never been a County, State, Federal or even a Judicial agency come forward to investigate or accuse the Board of these unsubstantiated accusations. This political action group simply figures if they make the claim, our residents will believe it without any creditable proof of facts.
The rhetoric from this political action group has spilled over to attacking our appointed officials. Recently a member of their group sent a letter to the local press questioning my positions as Town Bookkeeper and as Party Chairman for my political party. She asked in a recent letter to the Editor of this paper, why “Mr. Sawyer was appointed the Town’s Bookkeeper? Since in this position of Chairman, he has significant influence over whom the Republican Party nominates for the Town Board, and then this very Board names him to the second highest paid position in the Town, is this not at least a major conflict of interest?”
First, she was completely wrong stating the bookkeeper position is the second highest paid position in town, not by a long shot. Second, did she bother to do research first to answer her question…of course not. Had she, she would have discovered that there was already a 1996 opinion from the New York State Attorney General’s Office that clearly stated that there was no conflict of interest between the two positions. It is my opinion that she really didn’t care what the answer was, that this was just another mechanism by this political action group to throw the innuendos out there against the “public wall” to see what sticks. All in hopes to plant a seed in our residents minds that there is “possible” corruption taking place. This is far from the truth …but so what…it is clear that this political action group is not going to let truth get in the way of the political agenda.
In closing, I want to express to the Town Board Members my gratitude for all the hard work and devotion to their jobs they put forth for the residents of the Town of Grafton and to keep their heads high through this unwarranted political smear campaign being waged against them. This political action group is only the “Small Minority” and does not represent the large “Silent Majority” of the residents of the Town of Grafton.
Tyler F. Sawyer
United States Navy (Retired)
Former Town Supervisor
Kelyer Avenue, Grafton
Editor’s Response: After reading this letter and the one by Beth Wagar, I checked our letters to the editor about Grafton for the last year. There are about six, half of which are supportive of the Grafton Town Board. There are many more comments from both sides of the issue, equally passionate, on our web blog where people get to state their opinions. In the past year two derogatory blog comments were made, one used the term “parasitic bodies.” The words crony and corrupt are standard political terms, only slightly more charged than the terms Sawyer uses in his letter here. These words reflect what people feel and are not beyond the pale for a blog site. I do not approve for viewing the comments that are vicious or despicable, and I edit personal attacks in the interest of civility. Never has anyone been compared to Al Capone or Hitler in this publication or on our website. Perhaps Sawyer is talking about that other “local press” organ – the Troy Record? Maybe some accuracy should be striven for in this debate. When these two letter writers (Sawyer and Wagar) imply that this paper has published a constant barrage of attacks against the Grafton Board, they are simply wrong.