Retraction, Apologies Owed to Township Administrator

To the Editor:

I was disturbed to read the character assassination letters written by local Democrats Keith Richmond and Thuy Anh Le, attacking the conduct of Township Administrator Anthony Ferrera.  Both did this by deliberately distorting a paragraph in an article on the open space referendum posted on mycentraljersey.com (on-line Courier-News) on Sept. 13.

The paragraph read as follows: 

The main speakers at Thursday’s form, Ferrera noted, are not Hillsborough residents. The speakers, Montgomery Friends of Open Space chairman Clem Fiori and Montgomery Friends of Open Space President Mary Penney, also are registered Democrats.

In their attack letters, both Mr. Richmond and Ms. Le claimed that Mr. Ferrera was the one identifying both Montgomery residents as Democrats.  I was present at the interview with the Courier-News writer, Sergio Bichao, and Mr. Ferrera said no such thing.  He only mentioned that both Mr. Fiori and Ms. Penney were not Hillsborough residents.  

And that is exactly what the first sentence of that paragraph says.  

The second sentence of that same paragraph is not being attributed to Mr. Ferrera. Rather, the fact that Mr. Fiori and Ms. Penney are registered Democrats is a piece of information of that is being provided by the writer of the article, Mr. Bichao, not by Mr. Ferrera.  This fact has been confirmed by both Mr. Bichao, and the Courier News Editor Paul Grzella.  I will not speculate as to the motivations of Mr. Richmond and Ms. Le in immediately assuming the worst in their interpretation of the paragraph.  However, I expect that they should be clear on the facts before leveling false accusations against a dedicated and highly effective public servant.  

As an elected member of the Board of Education, Ms. Le should certainly know better than to launch a cynical and reckless political attack against a loyal township employee without bothering to check the facts.  

I recognize we are in campaign season, and the opposition party will use any means to try to discredit me, my Township Committee colleagues, or our administration.  However, their accusations against Mr. Ferrera are false and unfair. I demand written public retractions and apologies to Mr. Ferrera from both Mr. Richmond and Ms. Le, though I don’t hold out much hope that such will be forthcoming.  For my part, I will continue to speak the truth about Hillsborough and the open space referendum, and I look forward to the voters making well-informed decisions on Nov. 5.

Frank DelCore

Mayor of Hillsborough