Responding to ‘Where is Pone?’

Just a note to clarify the recent call about me, and more disappointing, your interpretation of my quote. For the caller, I don’t “run” the Republican Party, I am the chairman of the Hamilton Republican Committee. My main duty is to manage the Hamilton convention which will nominate a mayor and two council persons for the regular republican line for the June Primary. We have been working very hard toward that goal. Assembly candidates would fall more under the purview of the county chair, Lisa Richford.

As for you, Ed, my quote states “I will spend no time with people who ADMITTEDLY ARE WORKING AGAINST OUR CURRENT REPUBLICAN MAYOR.” That is vastly different than your conclusion of “including only the folks who agree with the party leadership.” I talk with people almost every day who don’t always agree with the party leadership but are ultimately supportive.

On another note, I feel it was unfair to have put the Mayor’s reelection article at the bottom of page 5, while her opponent’s was front page. Thank you for your time. — Dennis Pone

I’m not trying to be a jerk here, but I still read that quote as not trying to unite the party. I’ll take your word that you work with people who disagree with Yaede, but THAT QUOTE specifically sounds like “if you’re not with Yaede, you’re against the Republicans.” Who decides who is “working against” the mayor and who is just voicing opposing views? I’m not Republican or Democrat and I always saw Republicans as more accepting of opposition within the party, pushing out party members who oppose your candidate sounds like a Democrat tactic.

To your last point, Yaede’s campaign didn’t invite the press (or at least us) to come, so we had to cover the announcement via her livestream and we didn’t exactly feel comfortable blowing that up huge on the front page with a pixelated screengrab from the Facebook Live broadcast. Note to all campaigns, if you don’t tell the newspaper about your event, it makes it hard for us to cover your event. — Ed Note

Got something you want to get off your chest? To contribute to Back Talk, call Ed at 609-3580861 or email him at EdNote@ Trentonian.com.