I had a good chuckle when I read the Editorial that appeared on-line and in the Wednesday edition of the paper. I wanted to share it with you, and also provide my comments, so here it is:
Letter leads to more cynicism
The letter at the centre of the Leitch-Patterson controversy has done more than damage the reputations of two politicians.
It has left in its wake a riding where voters should be even more disillusioned by politics.
An endorsement letter went out last month from federal Conservative candidate Kellie Leitch's campaign office, signed by Simcoe County Warden and Wasaga Beach Mayor Cal Patterson.
It turns out Patterson says he didn't write the letter and didn't approve it before it was sent out.
Really, Patterson did not approve the letter, yet the Enterprise Bulletin in Collingwood did their research and obtained from the Leitch camp a series of e-mails that actually show that Cal Patterson the Warden of Simcoe, and the Mayor of Wasaga Beach did in fact offer his endorsement and approve the use of his name and signature.
Leitch said the letter was mailed without Patterson's approval as a result of a miscommunication.
This is a serious error on the part of Leitch's campaign.
Given the fact that the Leitch team needs the support of a person like Cal Patterson, I'm sure that it was part of an agreement between Patterson and Leitch that Leitch would take the fall for this and save Patterson's reputation.
Regardless of how the campaign received the digital signature and regardless of what Patterson may have agreed to in advance, it was his fundamental right to see the letter and approve it, or make changes before it was mailed out.
Ok, the only way for the Leitch camp to get Cal Patterson's digital signature was by either Cal sending it, or Cal approving one of his staff at the County to send it. One would think that a signature just does not sit around for anybody to send or use. I still feel, and so do many people in our riding that Patterson knew what was in the letter and approved it.
He said he never intended his name and political titles to be attached to a letter urging people to sign up for a Conservative Party membership and vote for Leitch as candidate for the riding in the way it was presented.
Really, so how was his name and title to be used, and why was his digital signature sent to the Leitch camp if it was never to be used??
Leitch told The Sun last week she had apologized to Patterson for the error.
Of course she did, she needs his support, and the last thing we all need is for Former Mayor of Collingwood Chris Carrier to win the nomination. Thinking about it that might not be a bad thing as it will give the other parties a good chance of breaking the Conservative hold on this riding.
So why not apologize publicly and retract the letter, as Patterson has requested?
Because she did not do anything wrong it was Patterson, not Leitch!!
The whole thing should leave a bad taste in the mouths of voters.
Only in the eyes of Conservative voters as the rest of us don't care about it leaving a bad taste in our mouths as we don't drink the Conservative Kool-Aid.
As voters we want to believe that if someone endorses a politician it is genuine and personal. We want to believe that person sat down and wrote that letter or composed a certain quote.
This issue is clear-cut.
Again, Really!! The issue is clear -cut because if your newspaper did the research like the Enterprise Bulletin did, and got the proof like they did it will show that Cal Patterson the Warden of Simcoe County, and the Mayor of Wasaga Beach did in fact endorse Dr. Kellie Leitch, and did in fact approve the endorsement letter.
An endorsement letter was written by someone other than Patterson, his signature was attached to it and it was mailed without his approval.
I'll give you the part that Patterson did not actually write the letter, but he did approve the content, he did approve the use of his signature, and was fully aware that it was going to be mailed out to Conservative party members in Simcoe-Grey
Patterson said he didn't even know who it had been mailed to because he did not approve the mailing list either.
Gee, does Patterson really think the people in Simcoe-Grey are that stupid. You endorse a candidate who's seeking to win the nomination of the political party that YOU support, and that person was not going to mail it out to members of YOUR party.
More should have been done to correct the damage, mainly to the public perception of politics.
A public apology and a retraction would have put the story to rest last week. Maybe then Leitch's campaign could have gotten back on track.
From what I hear, the Leitch campaign is just doing fine, and the only person who looks really bad is Cal Patterson for making such a mess out of this whole issue. With a Provincial Election in the Fall, good luck Cal in getting anything from the Liberals at Queens Park. Everyone knows you are a Conservative, but now that it's in the open, the Liberals won't have anything to do with you, and it's not just because of this letter mess, but the fact that you've gone on record hoping that the PC's win in October so you can get what you want from Jim Wilson.
Finally Cal you might not want to go around being grumpy as it makes you look really bad in the eyes of all residents of Simcoe-Grey.
Until next time!
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