{"id":2049,"date":"2019-06-13T13:42:01","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T18:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=2049"},"modified":"2019-06-13T13:57:28","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T18:57:28","slug":"setting-the-record-straight-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=2049","title":{"rendered":"Setting The Record Straight: The TRUTH"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Setting The Record Straight: The TRUTH
About Appropriate Political Expenditures
By Susan M. Halpern
Former Addison Councilmember (1992-1999)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly before the May\n2019 election, the Texas Ethics Commission (\u201cTEC\u201d) dismissed out-of-hand the\nmisguided and incorrect claims made by the negatives and naysayers regarding\nMayor Joe Chow\u2019s political expenditures. Confirming what I had written about\nMayor Chow\u2019s appropriate expenditures, the TEC found the allegations made by the\nnegatives\u2019 designated complainant wholly without merit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was yet another brazen\neffort by the negatives and naysayers to influence Addison voters with false\nand misleading information.  It was the\nsame tactic employed by the negatives during the 2017 mayoral election, when\nMayor Chow defeated the same negative candidate.  The timing of these attacks \u2013 on the eve of\nearly voting \u2013 was very much by design.  This\nleft Mayor Chow with precious little time to correct the record before Addison\nvoters headed to the polls.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most incredibly, as\nwith the 2017 election, this year the negatives and naysayers knew they were\nwrong in advance of the election.  But as\nthey did in 2017, the negatives and naysayers once again withheld the TRUTH\nfrom Addison voters, continuing their shameful legacy of deceit.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve waited to address\nthis and other issues to see whether the negatives and naysayers would do the\nright thing and correct the record.  And,\napologize to Addison voters for misleading them.  But that hasn\u2019t happened.  Nor have they apologized to Mayor Chow for\nattacking him without any basis for doing so. \nNor to me for falsely claiming that I condoned Election Code \u201cviolations,\u201d\nwhen in TRUTH and fact, my analysis was 100% correct, as subsequently confirmed\nby the TEC.  Given their recalcitrance,\nit is up to us to correct the record and discuss the TRUTH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start here.  The negatives\u2019 first blog on this issue was\npublished on April 17, 2019, a mere five days before early voting began.  The negatives\u2019 designated bloggers claimed that\nMayor Chow\u2019s campaign expenditures were improper, based on their (incorrect)\nviews of the requirements of the Election Code. \nThese misguided bloggers then claimed that it had \u201ccome to their\nattention\u201d that an ethics complaint had been filed against Mayor Chow, and they\nproceeded to discuss the content of this alleged complaint in detail.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was just one\nproblem: As of April 17, 2019, no complaint had been filed.  And that\u2019s an important fact, because it\nconfirms that these negatives are all coordinating their efforts.  Far from being some clever news \u201cscoop,\u201d this\nwas a coordinated attack on Mayor Chow\u2019s candidacy.  Which provides us with yet another\nconfirmation that far from being a journalistic endeavor, the negative blog is\nnothing more than the propaganda arm of the negatives and naysayers.  It is all about spin, misinformation and\ndeceit.  And most certainly not about\nTRUTH.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to our story.  Later in the day on April 17, 2017, I wrote about the TEC\u2019s 2013 Resolution that condemns publicizing the filing of an ethics complaint so as to attack a candidate for office. (http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?<\/a>page_id=1969<\/a>).  The TEC\u2019s Resolution explains that anyone can file a complaint and that the TEC investigates all complaints, so the mere filing of a complaint does not establish a violation.  Therefore, publicizing the filing of a complaint \u201cprovides no meaningful information to the voting public,\u201d and is an \u201cimproper attempt to mislead the public\u201d and \u201can unfair practice.\u201d The TEC\u2019s Resolution specifically condemns the use of statements like, \u201cthe Ethics Commission is investigating a complaint,\u201d or \u201ca sworn complaint has been filed\u201d against a candidate, the latter being almost word for word what the negative bloggers wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the TEC\nResolution forcefully condemns exactly what the negative bloggers did on the\neve of the election.  And that\u2019s before\nyou consider the fact that they violated the TEC Resolution before any\ncomplaint had actually been filed.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My article about the\nTEC Resolution gave the negatives an opportunity to retract their inappropriate\nblog.  But they didn\u2019t.  Instead, they doubled down.  On April 19th<\/sup>, their blog repeated\ntheir meritless accusations against Mayor Chow, now using the fake question and\nanswer format so often used by the toxic ex-mayor.  They made the inexplicable argument that the\nTEC Resolution didn\u2019t apply to them because their blog wasn\u2019t a \u201ccampaign\ncommunication.\u201d  How absurd.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about it this\nway.  The point of the TEC Resolution is\nthat publicizing the mere filing of a complaint to disparage a candidate is\nwrongful because its misleading.  That\u2019s\nsolid logic, and it should apply to anyone trying to influence voters. That the\nnegatives and their bloggers see it differently speaks volumes.  And, it confirms that their tactics are not\ngrounded in decency or TRUTH.  So, I\nguess we should not be surprised that their response was to claim that it is\ntheir birthright to mislead Addison voters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later on April 19th<\/sup>, I wrote another article (http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=198<\/a>9<\/a>) addressing the substance of the meritless expenditure allegations.\u00a0 Among other things, I pointed out that they were citing a non-existent statute, and that the quote they included in support of their contentions didn\u2019t even appear in the correct statute.\u00a0 I (correctly) concluded that their allegations were meritless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three days later, on\nApril 22, 2019, the TEC received a complaint against Mayor Joe Chow.  This was five days after the negatives\u2019\nblogger first claimed that one had already been filed.  Then on April 24, 2019, the negatives\u2019\ndesignated bloggers took an interesting position.  They accused me of being a hypocrite because\nI (correctly) argued that their accusations against Mayor Chow were wrong.  They accused me of defending \u201cone candidate\u2019s\nviolation,\u201d which effectively restated their (incorrect) accusations, thereby misleading\nAddison voters for a third time.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That brings us to April\n29, 2019, when the TEC notified the negatives\u2019 designated complainant of its rejection\nof his allegations relating to campaign expenditures. Most notably, this\nincluded confirmation that Mayor Chow\u2019s use of May Dragon for campaign events\nwas appropriate.  It also confirmed my analysis,\nand my conclusion that the negatives and their designated complainant had\ngrossly misread the law.  Mayor Chow was\nvindicated.  Truth in Addison was vindicated.  TRUTH was vindicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, in the end, these\nnegative tactics didn\u2019t work.  Addison\nvoters reelected Mayor Chow and Councilmembers Ward, Braun and Hughes.  These elected officials have proved to be\ntrustworthy and earnest in embracing the Addison Way and moving our town in a\npositive direction.  That we have another\ntwo years with them is a true blessing for our Town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TRUTH has indeed\nset us free, and Addison is moving on, distancing itself from these tactics and\nthe toxicity of the negatives and naysayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Addison Way\ncontinues!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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