By Dan Murphy
Whoops! Many Yorktown residents have received a mailer from Republican Yorktown Supervisor Tom Diana, and the two republican candidates for Town Board, Ed Lachterman and Patrick Murphy, which includes a photo of a brick wall with-Historic Yorktown -1691 -on it. The same photo appears in an advertisement in a local paper.
The Town of Yorktown was founded in 1788; the Town of Yorktown Virginia was founded in 1691.
One resident posted on social media, “So Ed Lachterman, Patrick Murphy, and Tom Diana are all longtime residents of Yorktown, NY. They are running for office….. apparently in Yorktown, Va. , which was founded in 1691. Yorktown, NY was founded in 1788 ( a fact that is readily available on the Town of Yorktown website) . Way to go, guys!!”
Supervisor Diana and Councilman Lachterman have touted their many years of living in Yorktown. One resident posted a photo of their family visiting Yorktown Virginia with the 1691 sign behind them.
Some have called this another example of the board’s “incompetence.” Others are wondering who it was working on the campaign, who made this error. We are in the process of finding out what if any, political strategy firms are working on the campaign.
In the final days of the campaign, this incident is not good news for the Yorktown republicans.
Diana’s flyer and ad, mentions this accomplishment: “Fixed garbage debacle within 72 hours of firing the old contractor.”
A member of the Facebook group Yorktown Trash Talk, wrote, “Fixed garbage debacle within 72 hours of firing the old contractor”. He left out it was after 8 months of contract violations of the old contractor, 8 months of the people saying they need to be fired, and they were only fired because their trucks were repossessed.
We agree that trying to take credit for a fiasco is the height of hypocrisy, but also might not be the best political judgement. Diana has highlighted an issue that many believe was failed leadership and an inability to deliver a quality-of-life service for 8 months to homeowners paying $20,000+ per year in property taxes.
