A Strange Coincidence

To the Editor:

I know that Mr LaRocque wants us to move on from petty “stuff” like honesty, integrity, and trust and concentrate on the issues, and I was ready to agree. Then I had a strange sense of déjà vu while reading the letters to The Bee last week. I read Carol Mattegat’s letter [of endorsement] and thought it sounded eerily familiar. Sure enough, after checking the previous week’s Bee it was word for word the same exact letter as Barbara O’Connor’s from that previous issue.

Although it is not unusual to have similar letters of endorsement for candidates or for a budget, etc, they are usually somewhat generic, “please join me in supporting …, please vote yes ….” However, two identical letters that relay personal, specific events, “I don’t usually write letters to the editor, but as I was out and about on Saturday, I saw Chris LaRocque walking the streets in Newtown,” is very unusual. At least they didn’t add some pure fiction cliché like “One dark and stormy night.” Were Barbara and Carol out and about together? Did they write the letter together? Did they forget which one of them was supposed to send it?

I know that Mr LaRocque says he is a man of integrity so he couldn’t have had anything to do with this strange coincidence. It was probably another over-eager, misinformed operative, similar to the campaign “misunderstanding.” Or, maybe it was the same poor operative that Mr LaRocque had already thrown under the bus who had been reassigned to soliciting letters when it was discovered soliciting contributions was not his forte. Either way, Mr LaRocque has already made it clear that he doesn’t think we Newtown voters are very bright and we don’t understand this complicated campaign “stuff.” Maybe he thinks we’ll accept this as a mere coincidence. I don’t think so!

John Voket and Curtiss Clark will probably buy it though, if Mr LaRocque just sends another apology to The Bee in a press release and points out how cruel it is of me to point out this coincidence. The Bee will put it on the front page and by editorializing on the release, not only point out that I am a friend of Representative Lyddy and his campaign manager’s father, but that these are probably the only reasons I noticed this strange coincidence.

Now let’s talk about some issues.

Joe Hemingway

10 Overlook Knoll, Sandy Hook                             September 1, 2010