Bethel

To the editor:

On Tuesday, February 27th the Conservative Party of Sullivan County led by Chairman Ed Magilton endorsed Camille O’Brien for the 100th Assembly seat in the November election. Ed Magilton claimed, and would have you believe, that Ms. O’Brien is the only candidate that got her letter of intent to run for this seat in by his artificial date of February 3rd. I’m sure with print shop he would be able to produce “documentation” that supports this claim, but if you follow the facts it seems like another backroom, dirty deal being foist upon the voters of Sullivan County. We need less wink and nod deals where a handful of people with questionable ethics are choosing our candidates. We need, and deserve, a more open democratic process where the people decide not power grabbing party bosses. 

Maybe Ms O’Brien is the best candidate.  The rank and file Conservatives should be allowed to decide that not one man in a backroom. 

What are the facts? 

- The SC Conservatives have a hard and fast rule of having your letter of intent in by February 3rd.  Magilton claims only Ms O’Brien did so. But did she? 

- By sending in the letter to the conservatives Ms O’Brien is declaring herself a candidate for the 100th Assembly seat. 

- Aileen Gunther the current and  long serving Assemblywoman did not declare she was not running until February 16th. 

- The Orange County Republican convention was on February 15th. They received no letters of intent for the 100th Assembly seat.

If Ms O’Brien was a candidate on February 3rd, as Magilton is asking us to believe,  why didn’t Ms O’Brien submit a letter to the Orange County Republicans before February 15th? The seat was wide open and had no opposition. 

She did not because she wasn’t a candidate at that time, regardless of what Magilton is claiming after the fact. 

Ms O’Brien did not submit letters of intent to the Orange County Republicans or Conservatives or the Sullivan County Republicans until after Mrs. Gunther’s decision to retire from the Assembly. She also did not create and file for her election committee or candidate account until the last week in February (and the deadline.) 

What does this all mean? It means that Ms. O’Brien intended to challenge ten-term incumbent Assemblywoman Gunther with only the endorsement of  one party in one county of the 100th District,  notwithstanding availability for endorsements she did not seek. A mighty feat for an exeperienced politician, and an insurmountable one for a political novice running their first campaign. It is clear that those who cooperate are rewarded by the machine, and those like me, as truthfully stated by Greg Goldstein, who “refuse to cooperate” are silenced and sidelined.