I was surprised to see this comment on Yolanda Cookson’s blog, under the item I wrote about here about nastiness. It came from clerk-recorder candidate Barry Pruett: “I just get people twisting facts on blogs, but you get true nastiness. I am impressed.”
Here’s why I was surprised at Barry making such allegations. He’s being accused of the very same approach, according to some people have received this email from his clerk-recorder campaign:
“Dear Friends:
“As you probably read in The Union this morning, Gregory Diaz, our appointed clerk-recorder, was sued in federal court last week for giving the trade secrets of one of our own Nevada County tech firms to its Florida competitor.
http://www.theunion.com/article/20100206/NEWS/100209822/1066&ParentProfile=1053
“Greg’s actions are a violation of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
“In January 2009 and after giving the Florida company unfettered access to the Nevada County tech firm’s software, Greg Diaz also convinced the board of supervisors to ratify an indemnification agreement between the county and the Florida company. This agreement means that the Nevada County tax payers will be on the hook for all attorney fees and damages incurred by the Florida company!
“This is one of the many reasons that I decided to run for this position. Together, we are going to end the drama once and for all.
“Please write letters to the editor about how you feel about this issue. We need to keep the pressure up! Thank you for your support!
“Letters to the Editor should be sent by email to adiaz@theunion.com. Because Angela Diaz is Greg Diaz’ daughter, you should also copy jeffa@theunion.com. You will likely need to follow up to make sure that Ms. Diaz actually gets your letter into the paper.
“Barry Pruett
Candidate for Clerk-Recorder
Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now.”
Some observations I’ve received from people who have read this email, including one who was mad enough to drop her support for Pruett for Diaz.
•Though Barry is a lawyer, he declined to use the word “alleged” violations. As of earlier this week, Diaz hadn’t been served with the lawsuit, either.
•There’s some implication that Diaz’ daughter might somehow not do her job, according to some people who read this email. That’s not very nice.
•The request for a letter writing campaign to “keep the pressure up” is a tactic many people find uncool.
As one person who received the email charged: “The local Republican machine does not know when to quit — or at the very least, when to take the high road. I have asked Mr. Pruett to take me off his mailing list and I am going to call Greg’s campaign and volunteer.”
Filed under: Uncategorized
It’s 100% clear that Pruett has no shame and will do anything he can to try and get elected… which will not happen.
Anyone who has been following the Pruitt campaign, especially Dave Moehler’s well-researched news story in The Union, and all the comments posted on The Union blog, will see the negative intent behind Pruitt’s P R efforts. “Nasty” is an understatement in describing what is going on. I do not believe anyone other than the lunatic fringe of the conservative element in Nevada County, Which includes, in my experience, many who like to call themselves Tea Party “patriots,” and who unfortunately, for her at least, think they have found a home on Yolanda’s blog, will accept anything this man has to offer, which isn’t much anyway if you look at his background and motives. Having been around this county a while, and served on committees which monitored vote county during Jewitt-Burdick’s, Kathleen Smith’s, and Greg Diaz’ tenure in the Elections Office, I can tell you we need a person of Diaz’ professionalism, integrity, and political independence in that office. We do not need another inexperienced, partisan with debts to pay, person like the last one who was fired by the Supervisors for moolighting and drawing down 2 salaries, or in other words, another crook.
Mr. Pruett,
There are elements of the AtPac lawsuit that we are only reading about here for the first time. And yet you are adamant that you are not connected to the lawsuit.
Your entire campaign is built upon the alleged harm to AtPac. But you claim that you are merely an outsider, seeking the greater good of removing Mr. Diaz because he is guilty of a federal crime that you just read about in the newspaper.
The only drama I see is coming from you, Mr. Pruett. Some people are calling for you to remove yourself from the race. I am not one of those people, for 2 reasons:
1. You have every right to run.
2. Your breath-takingly poor political skills are making transparent the political machine’s desire to turn this into a partisan office.
If I was in your shoes, Mr. Pruett, I wouldn’t make a peep until the actual lawsuit had been served.
Michael