There were a variety of reactions from town and county GOP officials in receipt of Fred Knapp’s letters calling for disciplinary action against city Councilman Gary Bashor and county Legislator Rob Rolison this week for apparent campaign violations, but all agreed that Knapp’s actions had political motivations.
Knapp, a Democrat who sits on the County Legislature and the City of Poughkeepsie Democratic committee, sent out a series of letters last week regarding the recent decision by the state Board of Elections (BOE) that a 2003 flier bearing the names of Republicans Bashor and Rolison apparently violated a provision of election law that prohibits police officers from soliciting campaign donations.
Rolison and Bashor’s flier personally invited its recipients to a cocktail party fundraiser, as opposed to their respective committees – an apparent error that ran afoul of the law. The flier also directs any contributions to Bashor’s reelection committee.
Rolison is a detective with the Town of Poughkeepsie police, and Bashor is a lieutenant in the Dutchess County Sheriff’s office.
Reactions from those officials receiving letters this week were varied.
Bashor’s supervisor, Sheriff Adrian “Butch” Anderson, was away at a conference this week, and could not be reached before press time.
Town police Chief Peter Wilkinson referred The Beat to Supervisor Joseph Davis, who said, “I’m still trying to sort it out in my mind.”
Davis said that he understood, as Bashor and Rolison have maintained, that Bashor’s campaign committee created the flier in question and Rolison had nothing to do with its contents. He wasn’t sure whether it was appropriate to reprimand Rolison under the circumstances. “I’m not going to tell him not to do it again if he didn’t do it in the first place,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s as big an issue as it’s being made out by Mr. Knapp, but at the same time, I don’t want to just push it on the side,” Davis added, saying Knapp’s actions were more a symptom of the election year “silly season” than an attempt at justice.
Legislature Chairman Brad Kendall (R-Dover) agreed. “It’s pure politics,” he said, adding he had no intention of getting the legislature or the Board of Ethics involved, as Knapp requested. “As far as I’m concerned, the Board of Elections did its investigation, concluded it and the matter’s over,” he said.
Bashor and Rolison were visibly upset over the situation this week, feeling their names and reputations were being sullied without good cause.
“When this all started (in 2003), I acknowledged it right up front,” Bashor said. “It was a mistake of grammar, just an oversight.”
He characterized the BOE’s response, a letter from Democratic enforcement lawyer Stanley Zalen, as “basically a form letter” that the board couldn’t be bothered to issue until a year and a half after the original complaint. “This is not some big Watergate thing,” he said. “It’s part of politics. You need to have fundraisers.”
Bashor said he was now getting an unfortunate glimpse at the dark side of politics. “It’s very, very discouraging,” he said. “It’s a nice thing to help people, but this is the bad part, when people go and do this kind of stuff to you.”
Rolison said he took issue with the actions of the state BOE. “They have rendered what people are calling a decision that I have had no chance to have any input in, in this alleged investigation. If I did that in my profession, I’d be in trouble.”
“I’m not guilty of the allegations made against me,” Rolison said. “But I’m not going to engage in endless name-calling and reputation-bashing. That’s not how I conduct myself.”