Other YCFE supporters speak

I received this very interesting email exchange in my inbox last evening. My neighbors and fellow supporters of the YCFE, Barbara Zmich and Celeste McClellan, are none too pleased with the endorsement letter that I posted on last week. On their own initiative, they asked for the mailing list used by the defunct organization's co-chairs. Unfortunately, the "keepers of the information" have declined to provide it to them as evidenced by the exchange below (the email addresses have all been omitted): Dear Steve and Lois, Last Friday, July 21, we e-mailed former co-chairs of the dissolved Ypsilanti Campaign for Equality Beth Bashert and Lisa Zuber, copied to Paul Schreiber, the letter below. As you'll read, we were hoping that in the interest of fairness they would send us the list of YCFE supporters they used to send their letter of July 1, 2006, which we believe misrepresented your past and/or current views and actions regarding the Ypsilanti Human Rights Ordinance. Our intention was that if you wished you could use that list to contact the supporters of the defunct YCFE, just as the Schreiber campaign paid for the July 1 letter, which appeared under the YCFE letterhead. Also copied below, you'll see that Beth Bashert responded almost immediately, with the single word "No." We received no response from Lisa Zuber or from Paul Schreiber. As you know, we were not solicited by either of you to undertake this effort. For the sake of full disclosure, please be advised that we are Pierce supporters. But please also know we only made that decision after receiving the "YCFE" letter, which for us tilted the scales far away from the Schreiber candidacy. Please feel free to use our names and/or anything contained in this e-mail when contacting voters about this issue. We are copying this e-mail to ypsidixit.com and trustygetto.com so that as many Ypsilanti residents as possible may hear in a timely manner of our correspondence. Best of luck to the both of you. Sincerely, Barbara Zmich Celeste McClellan From: Beth Bashert (e-address deleted) Subject: Re: Schreiber endorsement letter Date: July 21, 2006 3:07:03 PM EDT To: Barbara Zmich/Celeste McClellan (e-address deleted) Reply-To: Beth Bashert (e-address deleted) No. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -----Original Message----- From: Barbara Zmich/Celeste McClellan (e-address deleted) Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2006 14:50:09 To: Beth Bashert (e-address deleted), Lisa Zuber (e-address deleted) Cc: Paul Schreiber (e-address deleted) ,Barbara Zmich/Celeste McClellan (e-address deleted) Subject: Schreiber endorsement letter Dear Lisa and Beth, We read with dismay and concern the extremely misleading letter you sent out on July 1 to supporters of the now-defunct Ypsilanti Campaign for Equality. In that letter, you use the letterhead of the now defunct YCFE and your titles of that dissolved organization to endorse Paul Schreiber for mayor of Ypsilanti. Among the most egregious omissions is the fact that Lisa Zuber is co-chair of the Schreiber for Mayor campaign. Setting aside the politics involved, we feel that as the former co-chairs of YCFE, you misused the organization's name, issuing your endorsement without authorization by YCFE supporters. The implications, misstatements and omissions in the letter are at the least, in our opinion, unethical, and for us have cast a dark shadow over both the Schreiber campaign and your own personal credibility. Since we were also contributors to the Ypsilanti Campaign for Equality, we believe we are on an equal footing to you with regard to the use of the information generated during the campaign. In the interest of fairness we ask you to email us by the end of the day Sunday, July 23, 2006 the list you used for that mailing so that we may pass it on to both the Steve Pierce for Mayor campaign and the Lois Richardson campaign. They both deserve the opportunity, if they wish to do so, to point out to the supporters of the YCFE the omissions and misstatements contained in your letter. Sincerely, Barbara Zmich Celeste McClellan I guess the question on everyone's mind is, why not provide the list? Scared of the truth if it gets out? Though I was initially outraged, at this point, I'm just puzzled and disappointed. Most people I deal with are quick to correct their errors once they are pointed out. But actions speak louder than words. If this is how Schreiber intends to handle future missteps -- denial -- then it is obvious he doesn't fully understand what it means to serve the public and to ask voters to place their trust in him. For those of you just now coming to this issue, you can read more about it here, here and here. UPDATE: A reader informed me of a letter to the editor on this very issue, published just yesterday.