Robin Garwood, Policy Aide to Ward 2 Council Member Cam Gordon, posted the
following to Facebook yesterday. It concerns a damaging letter from someone
impersonating Robin and it's about the Defend Glendale campaign.
http://defendglendale.weebly.com/about.html
Robin's post:
following to Facebook yesterday. It concerns a damaging letter from someone
impersonating Robin and it's about the Defend Glendale campaign.
http://defendglendale.weebly.com/about.html
Robin's post:
=====
Today I had one of the strangest experiences I've ever had: someone has
sent an inflammatory, purposely offensive letter to Ward 2 constituents
active in the Defend Glendale campaign, impersonating me.
I don't know who sent the letter or why, though part of the intent is
clearly to damage Cam and me. A few things I do know:
- The letter was in an official City of Minneapolis envelope, but not a
Ward 2 envelope. The room number was blacked out with a marker, but the
letter's recipients backlit it and it appears to be from room 304, which is
the Clerk's Office. (I want to be clear that I don't suspect that anyone
from the Clerk's Office had anything to do with this, it's just where the
envelope was from.)
- The letter uses the Ward 2 office phone number, not my direct line or
cell number. It also doesn't have a signature.
- The letter appears to have been posted from somewhere in the western
suburbs, given that the postmark ZIP code starts with "553."
- Whoever sent the letter has a fairly detailed understanding of a very
local issue in Ward 2.
As I said, someone is clearly trying to damage me, and to damage Cam, in a
deceitful, dishonest, and frankly reprehensible way. I will be filing a
police report and taking whatever other legal actions are available to me.
Whoever did this attributed to me statements that conflict directly with
what I believe. So, for the record: Cam and I care deeply about the people
of Glendale. We do not, and have never, supported demolishing Glendale, and
have worked hard to improve the Glendale building stock (by, for example,
organizing outside resources for weatherization). We welcome the input of
anyone and everyone in Ward 2, very much including Glendale residents, on
any issue that matters to them.
Lastly, on a personal level I have a complicated mix of reactions to this.
I'm offended, outraged, and more than a little creeped out. And I'm not
just disturbed on my own behalf, but on behalf of the people of Glendale. I
can only imagine how concerning and stressful it must have been to get such
a nasty, offensive letter from someone purporting to work for their Council
Member. In a situation in which people have struggled to build trust and
common ground, and in which people are fearing for the future of their
homes, this kind of action is especially toxic and destructive. I have to
assume that's the idea, and that's despicable.
I know there are folks with whom I disagree about various things. I was
pretty sure there were people out there who didn't like me, and even wished
me ill. But this is really going quite a bit too far.
It's hard not to feel a bit paranoid - because it seems that there really
are people who are out to do serious harm to my reputation and that of my
boss, and they're willing to use some really low, appalling, and possibly
illegal tactics to do so.
I doubt that I'll ever learn who did this, but I hope I'm wrong. I'd really
like to see the responsible person held accountable.
====
https://www.facebook.com/robin.garwood.5/posts/10212627791914453
--
Peter Fleck
twitter.com/pfhyper
twitter.com/sewardtweets
Today I had one of the strangest experiences I've ever had: someone has
sent an inflammatory, purposely offensive letter to Ward 2 constituents
active in the Defend Glendale campaign, impersonating me.
I don't know who sent the letter or why, though part of the intent is
clearly to damage Cam and me. A few things I do know:
- The letter was in an official City of Minneapolis envelope, but not a
Ward 2 envelope. The room number was blacked out with a marker, but the
letter's recipients backlit it and it appears to be from room 304, which is
the Clerk's Office. (I want to be clear that I don't suspect that anyone
from the Clerk's Office had anything to do with this, it's just where the
envelope was from.)
- The letter uses the Ward 2 office phone number, not my direct line or
cell number. It also doesn't have a signature.
- The letter appears to have been posted from somewhere in the western
suburbs, given that the postmark ZIP code starts with "553."
- Whoever sent the letter has a fairly detailed understanding of a very
local issue in Ward 2.
As I said, someone is clearly trying to damage me, and to damage Cam, in a
deceitful, dishonest, and frankly reprehensible way. I will be filing a
police report and taking whatever other legal actions are available to me.
Whoever did this attributed to me statements that conflict directly with
what I believe. So, for the record: Cam and I care deeply about the people
of Glendale. We do not, and have never, supported demolishing Glendale, and
have worked hard to improve the Glendale building stock (by, for example,
organizing outside resources for weatherization). We welcome the input of
anyone and everyone in Ward 2, very much including Glendale residents, on
any issue that matters to them.
Lastly, on a personal level I have a complicated mix of reactions to this.
I'm offended, outraged, and more than a little creeped out. And I'm not
just disturbed on my own behalf, but on behalf of the people of Glendale. I
can only imagine how concerning and stressful it must have been to get such
a nasty, offensive letter from someone purporting to work for their Council
Member. In a situation in which people have struggled to build trust and
common ground, and in which people are fearing for the future of their
homes, this kind of action is especially toxic and destructive. I have to
assume that's the idea, and that's despicable.
I know there are folks with whom I disagree about various things. I was
pretty sure there were people out there who didn't like me, and even wished
me ill. But this is really going quite a bit too far.
It's hard not to feel a bit paranoid - because it seems that there really
are people who are out to do serious harm to my reputation and that of my
boss, and they're willing to use some really low, appalling, and possibly
illegal tactics to do so.
I doubt that I'll ever learn who did this, but I hope I'm wrong. I'd really
like to see the responsible person held accountable.
====
https://www.facebook.com/robin.garwood.5/posts/10212627791914453
--
Peter Fleck
twitter.com/pfhyper
twitter.com/sewardtweets