Guzzardi Responds
In case you missed it -- Joe Guzzardi responded to accusations that he used County email for campaign purposes on the last post -- it's a bit long but I think worth reading considering the anon. allegations leveled against him -- here's what he wrote:
An interesting sideline to the whole Blog issue is how anonymous posters can submit false and misleading statements in the hope that they’re taken as gospel.
I did not use the County email “several times during the campaign to solicit support.” During the protracted endorsement process I made a few attempts to lobby the Local 2046 Executive Board, stewards and representatives. In an effort to make contact, I accessed the Local 2046 firefighters union web site for the various email addresses. My intent was to educate the board members as to my qualifications (assuming they cared) and hopefully gain their support. Many of the union representatives listed their County email addresses on the contact page of the union web site. It is not a violation of any law or policy for a candidate to send an email from a personal email account to a public email address. At no time did I use the County email system to generate campaign messages to other County employees.
If “plenty of people have them in their mailboxes” anyone can also confirm that the box is a County email box, and the originating message is from my own personal account.
Also, I did not go “ballistic during the whole campaign sign fiasco”. For the record, an email was sent from County Fire Station 13 to almost the entire County Fire Department in an effort to communicate that County Fire Station 13 would be used as a staging area for the Janet Wolf campaign. The email stated, “Station 13 will be the hub for the Janet Wolf campaign.” When this email came to my attention, I brought a copy to a high-ranking member of County Fire management and asked that something be done to stop what was obviously an illegal activity. At no time did I go “ballistic” or “protest too much”.
Lastly…for Travis Armstrong to “pretend to be a Wolf supporter” to get his story is no more misleading than for Local 2046 executive board members to pretend to endorse candidates based on a knowledge of and/or commitment to public safety. In shunning a candidate with extensive emergency management experience during their recent endorsement process, some of the 2046 board members shattered their own credibility and brought into question the real meaning of the Local 2046 endorsement. Were they looking to endorse a seasoned champion of public safety issues, or a novice who was simply willing to protect “wages and benefits”?
The good news about this Blog is that folks can engage in interesting and sometimes amusing dialogue. The bad news is that some folks can hide behind their anonymity and spread false and misleading information. I have attached my name to this post because I am proud of the fact that I ran a fair, open and honest campaign. Will my detractors (within or without county government) come out from the shadows, or will they continue to hide and lie? If the 9:08am post is any indication....
P.S. In two separate interviews about this subject, the newspaper failed to report my quote that I did not want to see any firefighters punished for their on-the-job campaigning activities. I simply wanted them to stop. Despite some recent and completely misguided animosity on the part of a few bad apples, I continue to support the mission of our local fire and law enforcement agencies.
posted by Sara De la Guerra | 6/22/2006 10:14:00 PM
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11 Comments:
No Matter how you want to spin it, Joe----you used the almighty taxpayer dollar to further your campaign; sitting at a county computer, on county time, looking up websites to "educate" the union whose endorsement you wanted----just cause Travis has a crush on you and would never call you out on your bad behavior doesn't make it good.
A propos of blogs and the blogosphere, this from The New Republic is relevan - sorry for the length; I have cut it backt:
Lee Siegel on Culture
06.22.06
"BLOG THIS:
...
It's a bizarre phenomenon, the blogosphere. It radiates democracy's dream of full participation but practices democracy's nightmare of populist crudity, character-assassination, and emotional stupefaction. It's hard fascism with a Microsoft face. It puts some people, like me, in the equally bizarre position of wanting desperately for Joe Lieberman to lose the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont so that true liberal values might, maybe, possibly prevail, yet at the same time wanting Lamont, the hero of the blogosphere, to lose so that the fascistic forces ranged against Lieberman might be defeated. (Every critical event in democracy is symbolic of the problem with democracy.)
Even beyond the thuggishness, what I despise about so many blogurus, is the frivolity of their "readers." DailyKos might have hundreds of responses to his posts, but after five or six of them the interminable thread meanders into trivial subjects that have nothing to do with the subject that briefly provoked it. The blogosphere's lack of concentration is even more dangerous than all its rage. In the Middle East, they struggle with belief. In the United States, we struggle with attention. The blogosphere's fanaticism is, in many ways, the triumph of a lack of focus."
The Daily KOS and TNR have a running battle on-going, with TNR having revealed how the Kos is not the vox populi but has distinct and hitherto rather secret tie-ins to the elite.
The big issue, always, is how to keep the watch dogs watching and not feasting at the troughs. It seems to be a contagious - and fatal - disease affecting all public voices, politicians and some of those who report on them, to spend too much looking into their own mirrors.
Reminds a bit of that marvelous "Portrait of Dorian Grey" by Oscar Wilde..., even here in backwater Santa Barbara. From where I sit in the 1st District, Joe Guzzardi is an exception; pity he didn't win.
Joe, your post gives new meaning to the words "sour grapes".
Mike Pinto says..
Because of the underhanded way Joe ran his campaign we have Janet Wolf. A stooge of Towbes Inc. and his fellow travelers. Now Joe try's to cover his tracks by saying everything he did was within the law. Joe, by his own admission, used county material to campaign. He and Wolf should both pay the price. Fake friends of the people like Joe and Janet have no place in the progressive camp.
Joe Guzz gives a good rebuttal. Sending email TO a government email address is not a problem. The anonymous accusation that he used his County email for campaigning was a slime that got caught.
Rumors and gossip are fun and good for Blogabarbara, but disinformation is not.
The jab in the message here (11:12 pm) just perpetuates that, apparently accusing him of spending work time to send the email. Tisk, tisk.
Joe could clear this up real easy himself. Did he ever utilize a computer or telephone at his disposal in the course of his County employment, on or from County property, regardless of what "email account" he may have accessed with it, to engage in any action related to his candidacy--sending or reading emails, websites, etc.
"Mike Pinto" IF THAT IS YOUR REAL NAME, explain what you wrote as: "Joe, by his own admission, used county material to campaign."
What did Joe admit and how did he admit it using "County material"?
What is "County material"?
Political spin and rumors are fun for a blog, but basic reading incomprehension, or disinformation, are not.
Mike Pinto says..
Joe sent campaign e-mails to county accounts. He clearly broke the law in his relentless pursuit to be elected "somebody"
I don't know Joe, maybe the fire guys just don't like you, didn't think you were electable and thats it. They already have the emergency experience, what do they need you for?
Yea Joe I mean by your logic, UAW would only endorse automobile mechanics, SEIU service workers, etc.
You are not really THAT naive, are you? Endorsements are made for candidates for POLITICAL OFFICE...so logically, the endorsers want folks who will be the BEST POLITICAL OFFICEHOLDERS....not the ones who have the most factual knowledge about evacuation drills....
please.
So the "Mike Pinto" rule is that no one can send a political message to a government email address? That must be in his Chairman Mao Little Red Book somewhere.
The June Primary election is over. Move on to shredding the Secord record for the November election. Politics is always about what is Next.
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