Ricchiuti campaign / supporter making physical threats
I posted a simple, really not negative (as negative goes) story on Lenny Ricchiuti’s campaign the other day. I got a call at my office phone. A robocall. Only person who uses that number for political stuff is Jerry Jennings and his endorsees. It’s not a leap to think that Jerry is quietly endorsing Mr. Ricchiuti. Jennings knows that a public endorsement from him often proves poisonous to a campaign.
So I find this comment waiting for approval on the Albany Observer:
If I catch anyone stepping foot on my property distributing the type of “TRASH” I found on my steps two days ago, I’ll break their/your legs! If I don’t catch them, I’ll blame you.
It was a comment in response to the Ricchiuti / phone number story.
First, I rarely distribute political literature. I get one of the kids to do it. If I drop it, it’s positive and of someone I admire. Here in Albany, as you can imagine, that is a rare event.
Clearly, this is a Ricchuiti campaign person because, frankly, no one else would care. Was there a negative piece of literature? Maybe. I have no clue. If they want to scan a copy and send it to the Albany Observer, we’ll take a look.
Now what I’m trying to decide is if I should send the whole thing to the police /DA. What do you think?
You see, the Internet, with all it’s seeming anonymity, isn’t. Do I know who wrote that? No. Can it be found out fairly easily? Yes. Everyone leaves a footprint when they visit a website.
What do I know? I know that the person used an aol email address, but they weren’t using AOL as their ISP, nope. They were on Verizon. I know the time. I know all of that. Law enforcement and people like that can trace a post right to your computer.
“GiffGerl”, here’s your identifying information. I’d like an apology and an assurance that you’re not going to assault me, with a real name.
- Visit type: Logged-in user – GiffGerl
- IP: 96.236.9.237
- Hostname: pool-96-236-9-237.albyny.east.verizon.net
- Url Requested: /wp-comments-post.php
- User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; GTB6; Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1) ; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
- Referrer: http://www.albanyobserver.com/?p=758&_login=aac41d4e4a/
- OS: WinXP
- Browser: IE 7
- Locale/Language: us
- Wassup ID: eb3e43cb211399e2ea97350d0b6e029c
- End timestamp: 2009-09-11 17:49:53 ( 1252691393 )
September 12th, 2009 at 3:27 PM
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by The Albany Observer. The Albany Observer said: Ricchiuti campaign passing from negative into threats http://tinyurl.com/q4hpfw [...]
September 12th, 2009 at 5:38 PM
I just got a nasty robo-call from Ricchutti’s wife telling me that “they” are maligning her husband. Nonsense.
September 12th, 2009 at 6:01 PM
This is your apology, of sorts. You obviously know the piece of “TRASH”, that was distributed, to my house. I never mentioned which candidate I support, & I can’t even vote in the upcoming primary. My point is this, if anybody dropped something so unfounded, unproven & damaging about anyone else on my steps (including Mr. Ricchiuti) he/she & I’d have a major problem. What I said was someone seemingly associated with this blog is making unfounded accusations affecting many innocent peoples personal lives, beyond the political realm. If it’s not you, I apoligize, but judging from your posts, it’s @ least someone “behind it” is getting their information here. The cover page actually says “Observer”, & goes on to mention a TU article (with a copy of it) that you have copied on this blog. Distributing actual campaign literature is one thing, but smearing anyone like this is unacceptable to me, & I reserve the right to not allow it on my personal property, & yes I’m angry about it.
Here’s the irony of this; whoever was behind this got @ least 5 previously undecided votes for Mr. Ricchuiti, because they didn’t like finding that “TRASH”, on their steps/porches. Like I said there are no shared lists, or resources of any kind, between the two candidates you’re alleging. I know this, because I’m a member of 2 organizations endorsing both, & we’re not able to use common lit, lists, & it would sure would be easier, if they would. As a matter of fact, if I found out they were sharing resources, & not sharing with us, I’d try to pull their support, @ least in the organization I have the power to do so. I’ve only once seen the two of them share an audience, of any kind. I’ve seen no indication, @ all, of any link between these two candidates, or their campaigns.
Again, if you’re not responsible for the aforementioned “TRASH”, I apoligize! There may be someone out there, making it look that way.
September 12th, 2009 at 6:22 PM
You responded to the article about Ricchiuti. It didn’t take rocket science to know what you’re referring to. Now, all that’s left is, who are you? Otherwise, this is going to the authorities. Then we’ll be cleared away. I have no idea what you’re referring to regarding “Trash”. Grow up.
September 12th, 2009 at 6:38 PM
PS can you scan that and send it to observer@albanyobserver.com. Would like to see it.
PS if I WAS going to put out a piece of “TRASH” I don’t think I’d associate it with this blog or anything.
September 12th, 2009 at 6:39 PM
Yes, the robocall sounded like one of those deadly country songs.
September 12th, 2009 at 9:01 PM
actually, it’s not so ‘obviously’ the Ricchiuitti campaign, because many people object to and get offended by the nasty stuff that happens during campaign season who have nothing at all to do with the campaigns, so you really should stop making assumptions like that. The individual can be identified thru the IP address of their computer. You’re right about that. Whomever it is, obviously wrote it in a fit of anger and clearly didn’t mean it and has apologized. Let it go. A lot of people say shit they shouldn’t in the midst of campaigns, like whomever was responsible for the ‘trash’ in question. We could say that was “obviously” from the McLauglin campaign and a really low blow since those allegations were investigated and found to have no credibility, buu that didn’t stop them from using it. Anyway… can we move on and discuss real issues here? I enjoy healthy, open, honest debate… not this garbage
September 12th, 2009 at 11:16 PM
There’s a lot to that message that I did not make public that makes it obviously the campaign.
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ’0 which is not a hashcash value.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:51 PM
oh, I am not familiar with how blogs work, it seems instead of one conversation going here, each topic is a separate thread> i can’t keep up wiht it all nor do I have any desire to.
What racist mailing? I’d like to see it.
and as for your comment about the robocall from Lenny’s wife… if the attack was political he could handle it. it was personal, and I can tell you his family and children especially were deeply offended and angered by it. the McLaughlin campaign sunk to an all new low with that one. but what else is new.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:52 PM
oh, and the twittering idea is brilliant. wish I knew how to do it. would love to hear about all the usual goings on. it gets very interesting in the lower wards.
September 14th, 2009 at 11:21 PM
You will find that a gut reaction of some people was “whoa” when they saw that last piece. A candidate doesn’t put his/her opponent’s name on their material usually, nor their picture. In this case he put Carolyn McLaughlin on there in Black and White vs his color photo. Impression that “hey she’s not very Irish.” Also made it look like a mug shot.
The Twittering is a great idea. It will be interesting to see how it works.