If you were thinking of re-electing state Senator Greg Ball, 40th District, to a second term next fall, think again.
Rumored to be something of a bully behind closed doors, the Republican state senator’s office clearly followed his lead over the past week when it tried to push around a South Salem resident following some questionable practices the office employed in handling her letter that praised the senator for helping her daughter.
The Ledger, and other news organizations, were sent a letter supposedly from Robyn Fields for print that heaped praise on the senator. After it was published, Ms. Fields and her husband, Robert, were understandably appalled to see such personal medical information about their daughter in print. It was then that The Ledger discovered the senator’s office created an e-mail account in Ms. Fields’ name from which to send the letter to newspapers to make it appear legitimate. Making matters worse for Sen. Ball’s office, the Fieldses adamantly and repeatedly denied ever giving permission for the senator to have the letter sent to the press.
Soon after, Sen. Ball and two of his staffers called and apologized to the Fieldses for having the letter sent out. And that could have been the end of it.
But that’s not Sen. Ball’s style. Rather then admitting any fault, the senator’s office fought back, releasing multiple statements contradicting the Fieldses’ claims. They said they had permission to both send the letter and create an e-mail address in her name.
Their side of the story seemed dubious from the start — and even more so after seeing how distraught Ms. Fields was by having her daughter brought into this situation.
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Surely, the higher-ups at Sen. Ball’s office and the senator himself would privately admit defeat, fire or at least suspend a staffer to take the fall for this one, issue an apologetic statement and move on, right? But no, they continued the fight — amazingly even after it was revealed that a taped phone conversation had a staffer admit multiple times that the senator’s office did not have permission from the Fieldses to do anything with the letter and badgered them to retract their comments from the press in order to “suppress the story,” a request, the staffer said, that came from Sen. Ball himself.
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Their side of the story seemed dubious from the start — and even more so after seeing how distraught Ms. Fields was by having her daughter brought into this situation.
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Surely, the higher-ups at Sen. Ball’s office and the senator himself would privately admit defeat, fire or at least suspend a staffer to take the fall for this one, issue an apologetic statement and move on, right? But no, they continued the fight — amazingly even after it was revealed that a taped phone conversation had a staffer admit multiple times that the senator’s office did not have permission from the Fieldses to do anything with the letter and badgered them to retract their comments from the press in order to “suppress the story,” a request, the staffer said, that came from Sen. Ball himself.
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Read the full editorial at LewisboroLedger.com, Editorial: Foul Ball. A story is in the Southeast-Brewster Patch, Ball Staffer Responds to Letter and Fake Email Dispute and in a blog of the New York Daily News, Report: State Sen. Greg Ball's Office Created Fake Constituent Email Accounts: UPDATED x 2.
Read the full editorial at LewisboroLedger.com, Editorial: Foul Ball. A story is in the Southeast-Brewster Patch, Ball Staffer Responds to Letter and Fake Email Dispute and in a blog of the New York Daily News, Report: State Sen. Greg Ball's Office Created Fake Constituent Email Accounts: UPDATED x 2.
LINKS:
http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/lewisboroledger/opinion/columns/96071-editorial-foul-ball.html
http://southeast.patch.com/articles/ball-staffer-responds-to-letter-and-fake-email-dispute
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2011/06/report-state-sen-greg-balls-office-created-fake-constituent-email-accounts-upd
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