Some thoughts on the last few days

Several days ago we ran a post that has received a lot of attention. I wanted to share some thoughts in regards to it. But first, some background.

I posted the original story believing it to be true. Why would I have any doubt? It was from Lee McGroarty's campaign website. Besides I don't have the time to verify every page on his website, that is his campaign's job.

I was made aware there might be a problem when someone posted the following comment claiming to be Lee. "My name is Lee McGroarty. The posting that states that Gayle Pacheco endorsed Lee McGroarty is a complete fabrication. I want to make it very clear that Gayle Pacheco has neither endorsed nor gave any indication that she was supporting our campaign. In fact, she has not. I have personally contacted Gayle Pacheco and expressed my personal apologies."

I replied that I would take the word "endorse" from the story but stand by the post because all of the information was on his website. Gayle Pacheco soon posted a comment stating the quote was a "complete fabrication by the McGroarty campaign."

Later the McGroarty campaign released a statement calling us "a blog purportedly supported by Congressman Gary Miller," and then admitting fault.

So, they admit fault after Lee originally accused me of fabricating the story, but first make a false claim that this blog is "supported" by a U.S. Congressman. I couldn't have been more surprised. I simply ignored the outrageous allegation but some friends thought silence might imply Miller is "supporting" this blog, so now I will respond. I am sure the McGroarty campaign will never believe me, but lets look at some information.

• We have published every press release on McGroarty's website since we began blogging in late September. Yes, that is only one, the Mouzoon release.
• We published a story announcing the only endorsement by a public official of McGroarty that has been verified, Michael Calta.
• In both cases we were the only site, blog, news or otherwise, that covered these stories. I did a google search today to confirm this. Lee never accused us of being "supported" by Miller when we published them. Nor did the Miller campaign accuse us of being supported by McGroarty.
• I posted three endorsement stories, including the Pacheco post, on Tuesday. Why would I post these if we were being "supported" by Miller?
• I obviously didn't know one them was fake until Lee told us. So, I posted the stories announcing this support as a way to hurt McGroarty? How is that logical?

We have had many comments on this story. One suggested that we should stop publishing news from the McGroarty campaign. At this point, I don't plan on doing that. Yes, campaign releases are puff pieces but this blog is about politics in a small area that only has one Congressional district. Plus, the district has a contested primary. Honestly, we need the news. However, I welcome comments on this issue. Lee can make all of the allegations he wants but we plan on continuing to publish stories from both Republican candidates.

I will continue to leave up the two posts regarding Mr. Ronquillo and Ms. Cunningham. The McGroarty campaign, nor the two individuals mentioned, have notified us that these quotes were made up. The campaign's release mentioned that,"Some people on this page did not provide endorsements." We know that Lee has School Board Memeber Michael Calta's support, so it is possible that others on the list have as well. We don't know who has endorsed him and who hasn't. Until we do, the stories remain.

I will close my thoughts with quotes from two comments I received. Both are from Lee McGroarty. The first one appears to be from the Mouzoon press release. The second one claims to be from the Daily Bulletin. These quotes seem contrary to what we have seen from Lee and his campaign this week.

"My campaign believes the American people deserve better from their candidates. These types of drive-by allegations must end and I will commit to never engaging in unsubstantiated allegations toward my opponents. It would be refreshing if other candidates could offer the same respect."

"I'm going to run an honorable campaign," McGroarty said. "I will not lie, and I will not post lies, however I will run a ruthless campaign, I will go after him and I will go after his jugular."

P.S. Congressman Miller or his staff, if you are reading this, I would love to interview him. Just leave a comment with how to contact him and I will do it.