Kingston mayor resorts to fear-mongering

Dear Editor,

Let’s call Mayor Steve Noble’s attempt to smear Frank Waters what it is — racist, baseless, petty fear mongering. Noble is using divisive tactics — playing on fear and prejudice rather than actual facts — to bias voters. It is transparently offensive and insulting to all the residents of the City of Kingston, not just registered Democrats. He should be ashamed.

Noble provides no evidence that Waters in any way agreed with, supported, or endorsed Tyrone Wilson’s posts and comments. Instead, Noble is attempting to project guilt by association — an invalid, false type of reasoning (fallacious). And he’s packaging it in the guise of insufficient condemnation. At the same time Noble is desperately trying to link himself to being on the side of “good” by praising County Executive Jen Metzger for swift action. I’m not sure who’s feeding him his talking points, but as those of us who actually read the news articles are aware, Metzger’s action wasn’t swift and was forced by the Times Union’s imminent publication of the story.

As the former executive director of the Jewish Federation of Ulster County, I received several complaints about comments made by Wilson starting in the Fall of 2020. I investigated each and every one (and contrary to Wilson’s assertion, I and others attempted to address our concerns with him directly). As part of those investigations I reviewed Wilson’s FaceBook posts and comments up through the end of 2022. I can state unequivocally that I never saw Waters to have “liked”, commented, or otherwise demonstrated agreement on any of the posts at issue.

I would hope it’s clear that you can’t prove guilt merely by association. If you can project a person’s character and opinions on those with whom they associate, then Noble’s coworkers, friends, and supporters are unethical liars. And unlike Noble, I have the factual evidence to support my characterizations.

— Neil B. Millens, Kingston, N.Y.