Submitted by Denis Giannelli, Aug 11, 2008 13:32

I worked for the election of Helen Westover in the last election against Joel Miller. Westover was 100% Conservative yet Dutchess County Conservative chair Pat Killian backed Miller the liberal! Below is a letter to the editor, printed at that time:

Conservative leader betrayed her party

One week before Election Day, Patricia Killian, chairman of the Conservative Party of Dutchess County, sent a letter to all party members trashing the Conservative Party candidate for the 102nd Assembly District. She endorsed the incumbent, Joel Miller, and added "R, C." after his name. This is false. Miller is not a conservative. He declined to run in a primary against Helen Westover and this is how her name appeared on the ballot. How dare you, Killian. You have completely betrayed the Conservative Party. Your treacherous attack on Westover is an attack on the Conservative Party, its platform and its principles. Shame on you. Killian admits Miller's "voting record is not always in lock step with our party platform" and "many of you have strong reservations about the incumbent Joel Miller's candidacy." In spite of this, she wants conservatives to vote for him even though Westover is 100 percent conservative. This is sheer duplicity. Killian has every right to speak her mind on these issues as a private citizen. However, when she uses Conservative Party letterhead (which is paid for by Miller and gives a wrong address and phone number that belongs to some innocent woman who is being inundated with irate calls intended for Killian), she has crossed the line. Killian should resign her position and join Miller or even Joel Tyner in their parties, where no one would blink an eye at her pro-abortion, pro-same-sex marriage and tax-and-spend sympathies.

Denis Giannelli, LaGrangeville

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