Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Blogger? Pt. II

frankknotts    So, it was back on March 9th 2015, at the regular monthly meeting, of the Sussex County GOP Executive Committee, that the first installment of “Signaturegate” took place.   Some of my regular readers will remember that it was at this meeting, that I again declined to sign my name on the sign-in sheet. I had been declining for quite some time, most likely ever since I was voted out as a member of the committee.

Yes, I was simply being contrary, but since my not signing had no effect on the quorum count, and since the committee had all of my contact information, I saw no need to sign the sheet. So month after month I politely declined to sign the sheet. I would simply smile and laugh off the attempts to get me to sign.

This all came to a head last month when the newly appointed Sargent at Arms, Bruce Fitzgerald, was working the sign in table.  Here is a link to the post I wrote last month, following the incident.  http://www.delawareright.com/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-blogger-2/#more-2037

In that post I wrote, “So what’s going on here? Well it seems as though the Sussex GOP Executive Committee in general, and possibly Mr. Fitzgerald in particular have it in for Frank Knotts. You see, it was just last month at this meeting, that Mr. Fitzgerald made a motion to take the committee into executive session, and was quite clear that he was doing so because I was in the room. I have to feel that this is a coordinated effort of the new administration to silence me, and anyone who dares to point out their hypocrisy and ineffectiveness.”

Now I am sure that some may have felt I was just being paranoid, but some interesting things have come to light, which will show that I was justified in my belief that the whole “Signaturegate” was a set up, a conspiracy, a lie, a fraudulent police report, possibly a criminal act, and harassment of a registered Republican by the Republican Committee .

You see, the people who are now in charge of the Sussex GOP Executive Committee, think they are smarter than everyone else, they think they can simply move pieces around on their imaginary chess board and no one will be the wiser. This group would include a large number of the committee. But like any so-called leader, the real blame must rest with the officers of the committee, which include Chairman Vince Calabro, Vice Chair Fred Silva, Sargent At Arms Bruce Fitzgerald, Spokesperson Duke Brooks and whoever else was a party to this conspiracy to commit these acts.

Oh! They think they are so smart and slick, yet they continue to demonstrate just how lame they truly are. Did they not realize that it is possible to obtain the 911 phone call that was made to call the police, to remove me from the meeting?

Following the Monday night dust-up, I was interviewed on the Dan Gaffney Show on Delaware 105.9,  callers were allowed to call in. Remember, I was told I had to sign the sheet because it was a CHEER Center requirement for insurance purposes. This lie was again told on the Gaffney Show, by then official spokesperson for the Sussex Committee, Duke Brooks, who stated, it was part of the signed agreement between the GOP and the CHEER Center. Dan Gaffney asked for a copy of that agreement, which Duke Brooks said he would obtain.

The following is a link to a pod cast of that interview, including calls from people, and Duke Brooks. It is about an hour-long, I would suggest listening to the entire pod cast, but here are a list of highlights.

12:20, Duke Brooks comes on.

12:50, Duke explains why I must sign the sheet.

13:10, Duke says the CHEER Center has requirements due to insurance purposes.

16:35, Duke again states that it is a written agreement between the CHEER Center and the GOP that requires I sign in.

20:10, Duke agrees to get a copy of the agreement.

31:40, Deputy Director of CHEER Center, Ken, calls in to clearly state that there is no such requirement by the CHEER Center for sign in sheets.

37:00, Dan calls Duke to explain some more.

37:50, Duke admits that there is nothing in the written agreement that requires a sign in sheet.

40:10, The official spokesperson for the Sussex GOP, Duke Brooks says, “NO COMMENT”, when asked one last time whether or not it was the proper response to call the police since there is no CHEER Center requirement for a sign in sheet.

http://delaware1059.com/podcast_download.php?id=102789

Now this was not merely an attempt on the part of Duke Brooks to cover up the fact that I had been lied to as to why I must sign the sheet. This was a continuation of the pre-planned harassment of me by this committee’s Chair, Vince Calabro and his henchmen.

You see we have gone to the trouble of obtaining the recording of the 911 call, and in it, it is crystal clear there had been discussion of how they were going to go about setting me up in order to call the police, in the hopes, I believe, that I would lose my cool and be arrested.

Here is the written report of the call, just click on the pages to enlarge,

FOIA 1

FOIA 2

So what we see here is, the call type is “disorderly person”. This is false.

We see that it was stated that I have been a “problem in the past”. The only problem I have been for this committee, is that I tell the truth about their hypocrisy.

The really important part here is where it is stated that “rp advised he spoke with sgt. Mitchell t4 and he advised him to call for state police?”

So it would seem as though they had done some checking around to find out what to do if “SOMEONE” refused to sign in. This was a set up from the word go. I would also like to point out that the officer was only on site for about nine minutes, wow! I must have truly been off the hook.

Here is the actual recording of the call,

 

 

The name of the caller was redacted on the written copy, though the phone number of the caller was printed and also spoken in the call, it was 302-858-8760 so just to prove it was Bruce Fitzgerald who called the police, here is a public resume posted by Mr. Fitzgerald.

http://www.resumebucket.com/bkfitz

So now that we have established that it was Bruce Fitzgerald who made the call, let us draw our attention to the fact that Bruce Fitzgerald repeats the lie twice, of the so-called requirement for insurance purposes, that people sign in. This would seem to be filing a false report to the police. It is also telling, I feel, that he felt the need to mention Sgt. Mitchell by name three times, as if someone was expecting a call, that he, Bruce Fitzgerald, had been advised ahead of time on what to do. Does this prove premeditation? Conspiracy? Planned harassment? All the above?

This my friends and fellow Republicans is how you can expect to be treated by Chairman Vince Calabro and his henchmen, if you dare to disagree with them, if you dare to expose their hypocrisy.

Is this what the Republicans of Sussex County expect from the leadership of the GOP? Can we afford in the upcoming election cycle, a cycle that many feel could be positive for Republicans, to have people such as Vince Calabro, Fred Silva, Bruce Fitzgerald, Duke Brooks, Miguel Pirez-Fabar, and the rest of their fellow travelers, being the face and voice of the Sussex GOP?

Vince Calabro has been Chairman for little under four months, and in that time he has been involved in one scandal after another, including possible campaign finance fraud. He has been a no show in a debate with the Sussex Democrat Party Chair, he has done nothing to clarify any of the issues that have arisen under his short but tainted administration.

head in sand

Some will say that Vince Clabro had nothing to do with the calling of the police, of lying to the dispatcher, of lying to me, of lying on the radio, they will say he was unaware. I personally believe he is the driving force behind the current coterie of corruption, and if he was unaware, then he is as incompetent as I think he is.

Vince Calabro must go, he should resign ASAP. He has overseen a level of corruption and harassment of the Sussex GOP and its members, never seen before, and I hope never to be seen again. Along with him, the others, who have been a part of this attempt to intimidate a registered Republican should also either resign, or be removed from the Committee.

We as Republicans cannot afford to have people like this representing the party.

In closing I will simply add, I was publicly lied about by Duke Brooks, I was lied about by Bruce Fitzgerald, and I was harassed. I have people telling me I may have recourse, I am considering my options, but I can tell you this much, I will not rest until the current leadership of the Sussex GOP is removed, and leadership with real integrity is elected in its place.

 

18 Comments on "Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Blogger? Pt. II"

  1. Bob Hartman says:

    To me, an outsider, this sounds like a pissing contest. It makes everybody involved look bad.

  2. Frank Knotts says:

    Well Bob, there is an old saying, “don’t piss down my back and say it’s raining “.
    If theses people will use these strong arm tactics on me, what will they do to others who are less public?

  3. Say it Ain't So says:

    When “someone” plans to set you up, by calling the cops, it makes you look bad? Yes, it does and that’s why its WRONG.

  4. Pat Fish says:

    Hmmmm.

    First of all, calling the cops because someone didn’t sign in is so damn lame. Frank Knotts, he’s a thorn in those peoples’ sides but what does he do, what DID he do? He supposedly revealed some private information and he got booted out of his ED position.

    Arguments might be made about that but Frank did leave his position, to show up the next times as a member of the public, as is allowed. NO WAIT! He wrote some Blog posts that so offended so many at the Sussex GOP….horrors.

    As for signing in….lookit let’s stop the lies. Signing in is done only to track who the hell showed up and who did not. For a first time attendee it’s a way of gathering email addys, phone numbers and such. Frank evidently refuses to sign in but come on….this is no big deal. I myself have walked right by the sign in sheet and nobody stopped me. They wanted a way to “get even” with Frank for writing nasty stuff about them.

    Frank did put down an “X” and the logical thing to do was for somebody to add a note next to that X that this was Frank Knotts so future browsers of sign in sheets can know who was the X.

    Beyond that….get over it guys.

    This whole thing, including the confusion over that Western Sussex club, can be cleared up by one person and that one person is silent as a bench post.

    Vince Calabro. Guy needs to man up, speak out, and be a leader he was elected to be.

    Calling the cops on Frank was the dumbest thing ever.

  5. Bill Christy says:

    This is just more of the holier than thou tactics of those who are far worse than the people they target. When I was part of a certain political action committee part of my role was to dig up dirt on those seen by the PAC’s owner as being enemies. Duke Brooks, Steve Grossman and several others were targeted to take them “out at their knees”. These people like Vince and the PAC owner use others to do their dirty work so they appear to remain clean in the public’s eyes.
    The more you shine the light on their actions the more the heat will be turned up. Several months ago there was an attempt to silence me by threatening to post my CORI report for all to view.

    The biggest hypocrisy is the fact these same people claim to be believers in Gods law and the Constitution.

  6. Ted says:

    I heard some of what you said on 1059 this morning and to be honest I can’t think of any meetings where the chairs all don’t face the speakers, so that part about feeling left out seems to be a weak argument.

    I can also understand why it’s important to have a sign-in more legible than an “X”, for insurance purposes – if some one gets hurt or the building catches fire it’s important to know who attended and that they agreed to any rules during the formal meeting.

    Do others sign their names per the sign-in requirement?
    As long as there is no loud attempts to disrupt the meeting and you sign in, it’s probably normal. Most formal meetings have similar requirements.

  7. Frank Knotts says:

    Ted, first let me thank you for your comment. As to the seating at the meetings, the entire committee are the speakers. They should be there to address and hear the public. I can tell just from a logistical point of view, having them facing away from the public makes it difficult to hear them. I feel that turning the committee member’s seats around would solve that, but also would force them to look into the faces of the public they are supposed to be representing.
    As for the sign in sheet? Well it has been proven that there is no such requirement at the CHEER Center, that was a lie. And if the building burns down, they can simy run the registration of the cars left in the parking lot.
    And no, not everyone signs in, many who come late do not sign, guess we would never know they were there if the building burns down.
    Ted I have actually worked sign in tables at events, the sheet is a tool to gat her information . And they have mine.

  8. Bill Christy says:

    Ted, it was already confirmed by a member of the CHEER center executive committee there is no such requirement of signing in due to insurance regulations. That was a lame excuse concocted on the part of Sherwood Brooks.

    Others including Pat Fish and I have not signed the sheet in the past and no issue has ever been made. There is no sign in sheet even out for late comers to the meeting to sign once the meeting has begun.
    The only people who should be required to sign in are the members of the Executive Committee to insure that a quorum is present for issues requiring a vote.

    I’ve been attending Sussex County Council, City of Milford Council, and school board meetings for 9 years. The only time I have ever been required to sign a sheet is when I have wanted to speak before the groups.

  9. Geezer says:

    All you need now is a teapot to store this in.

  10. Frank Knotts says:

    Tempest ! I get it.

  11. game of thrones says:

    As you can tell by Geezer”s comment you will never get the left to cover this story, the News Journal and the Cape Gazette aren’t running it, and WGMD won’t cover it because one of the main characters in the story is their newsman now.

    The left is banking on the silence, they want the SCGOP to fester with these bullies running it because they know that the SCGOP is destroying the GOPs chances in the rest of the state. Meanwhile the GOP organizations in the rest of the state are just praying that the SCGOP can shut up and maintain some degree of sanity for the next two years so their candidates have a chance.

    In the end, when there are 250,000 more registered Ds than Rs in Delaware and you can fit the elected GOP legislators into a bathroom at Legislative Hall, the Vince Calabros, Nellie Jordans, Jeff Christophers and their ilk will declare victory because they managed to purge everyone out of the party who doesn’t agree with them.

  12. kavips says:

    Well, according to Doe 1 vrs Cahill, (2005) you were defamed. By it you have the right to free speech particularly involving ANYTHING political. This was obviously political. Since there is no anonymity involved (all know who did it), all you have to do is meet these basic criteria outlined in that case…. .

    Under Delaware law, a public figure defamation plaintiff in a libel case must plead and ultimately prove that:

    1) the defendant made a defamatory statement;
    2) concerning the plaintiff;
    3) the statement was published; and
    4) a third party would understand the character of the communication as defamatory. In addition, the public figure defamation plaintiff must plead and prove that
    5) the statement is false and
    6) that the defendant made the statement with actual malice.

    You have him on all six… Go ahead and sue. I’m not sure but i would think being falsely arrested would be worth $4 million in damage to one’s reputation…. Minimum… But initially ask for $40 million….. to ensure it will never happen in this state again.

  13. Frank Knotts says:

    Kabila, thanks for the legal advice. I was never arrested.

  14. Joe Haney says:

    I was never a big Frank Knotts fan, but ever since he came to his senses and start calling calling out hypocricy with Bodenwiser, Christopher, and now Duke Brooks, he has got my vote. Change only comes with debate. The fact that Duke Brook comes from that “all hate radio station, all the time” with all hate carpet bagger Bill Colley (now gone, thank God), this even enforces my belief in Frank. I am registered non-affiliated, lean more to the left, but I am always willing to listen/debate even with people that I don’t agree with. This is Franks MO, which is not representative of the Sussex GOP. Keep up the good work, Frank. Give me a reason to pull the GOP lever.

  15. mouse says:

    If people weren’t so obsessed political party related to sexual issues, abortion, gays, resentment…do you really think reasonable people would vote for the republican party..

  16. Hah, where did you get the picture? i am talking about the man pretending he is ostrich.

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