An open letter to Mayor Herrington:
Over the past months your Flower Hill Party has waged one of the most dishonest and immoral campaigns in New York state. You and your cohorts, not only comprising the fellow members of your ticket but also political insiders and out of village interests who have funneled thousands of dollars into your campaign, have engaged in an organized harassment campaign against my mom and village trustee Kate Hirsch.
Trustee Hirsch initially entered the race under the Liberty Party banner because she felt that her ideas were ignored by her fellow members of the board. Her ideas like cutting costs through voluntary attrition were flat out ignored and she was even belittled on several occasions for daring to question what work was done during hours billed by contractors.
The first signals that you were running a dirty campaign were in the form of petty measures. Members of the Flower Hill Party stole Liberty Party yard signs off of residents’ yards, and a former Flower Hill Party official attempted to intimidate Trustee Hirsch into dropping out of the race by using an anonymous email under the name “Lucifer.”
Once Trustee Hirsch entered a complaint to the Nassau County Board of Elections regarding the validity of the Flower Hill Party’s signatures to appear on the ballot, you showed the full extent to which you were willing to stoop to win a village election. You weaponized the village administration against her, having the village administrator withhold damning evidence until hours after Trustee Hirsch’s complaint was denied. After Trustee Hirsch had the gall to lodge a complaint about this, you opened a politically motivated retaliatory investigation against her for harassment. Now $30,000 of taxpayer money later, no evidence of harassment from Trustee Hirsch was found and yet you still continue to attack her character.
My mom is the strongest person that I know, but it’s clear that your constant attacks and smears have taken a toll on her. Your viciousness in attacking someone who simply questions your status quo exposes your fragility as a leader. That is why I call upon you to publicly apologize to my mom and the residents of Flower Hill. This is not a big ask considering that you have relentlessly harassed Trustee Hirsch using the office of Mayor of Flower Hill. Be a man and own up to your misconduct.
Even if you choose to ignore this letter and independent of the results of the Sept. 15 election, Trustee Hirsch has undoubtedly won the moral victory. At the end of the day, my mom can look her son in the eyes and say that she was honest and fought for the residents of Flower Hill rather than outside special interests. Can you?
Karl Hirsch
Flower Hill
