It is a case of the flacks fighting the flak!
Working Families Party operatives and top aides to Public Advocate Letitia James worked together in an attempt to fend off questions about James’ muddled support of a party candidate’s successful assembly bid, an e-mail chain accidentally sent to The Brooklyn Paper revealed.
“Need a coordinated response from Tish’s office,” wrote Working Families Party communications director Nancy Goldstein to party director Bill Lipton in response to query by New York Observer reporter Ross Barkan as to why James’ photo was positioned over the words “Endorsed by leaders and organizations we trust” on a flyer supporters of Diana Richardson handed out despite the fact that James didn’t pick sides in the race. Next to James’ image was the quote “Vote Working Families Party to stand up for tenants and homeowners.”
The question, brought on by the fact that some of competitor Shirley Patterson’s campaign literature incorrectly cited that city Comptroller Scott Stringer had given his endorsement, set off a flurry of e-mails between Goldstein, Lipton, James’ chief of staff Ibrahim Khan, along with James’ communications director Anna Brower and Joe Dinkin, the national communications director for the Working Families Party, wondering how the campaign and James should get the reporter off the trail.
“I think it’s reasonable to suggest to Ross that: 1) The quote from Tish is accurate: ‘Vote Working Families Party to stand up for tenants and homeowners,’ and 2) The palm card clearly lists the seven elected officials who have endorsed in the Richardson race below the line: ‘Endorsed by leaders and organizations we trust,’ ” Goldstein wrote in the e-mail. “In short, nothing to see here, keep moving.”
Goldstein ran her statement by Khan for approval, then told The Observer that James had signed off on the quote “because of her longstanding relationship and support of the WFP,” despite admitting in an initial e-mail to Lipton that she did not know if they had run the materials by James’s office.
“I don’t know the back story here — whether we cleared it with Ibrahim first,” she wrote. It was not clear from the e-mails whether Khan had approved the materials.
Khan consulted with Lipton and Goldstein about a statement from James, but according to The Observer, eventually declined to comment.
A party official said the flyer used James’s likeness and quote with her approval, and made a good faith effort to show which pols had actually endorsed Richardson.
“The palm card shows clear demarcation between the list of endorsers (across the bottom, below the words ‘Endorsed by leaders and organizations we trust’) and above that, Tish voicing her support broadly for the party,” said the spokeswoman.
But the literature was suggestive enough to lead one prominent Richardson supporter to question the integrity of the new assemblywoman.
“The notion that this wasn’t misleading is absurd,” said Greenpoint District Leader Nick Rizzo, who worked on Richardson’s campaign and handed out some of the flyers bearing James’s quote. “I’m proud to have worked on the campaign and I still support Diana, but I wish it had been a little more honest. It is incumbent upon us to campaign cleaner if we want a cleaner government.”
The accidental blind carbon copy by Goldstein was the second such snafu in the past week, coming on the heels of an e-mail Mayor DeBlasio accidentally sent to the New York Times complaining about subway service.
