To the Editor:

Football great Bill Parcells once said, “You are what your record says you are.” Sun Rise readers have been exposed to countless letters to the editor authored by the leader of the Johnston Republican Party and their endorsed mayoral candidate, as well as others who have attacked all segments of our community, to include first responders, teachers, members of organized labor and diverse, marginalized populations, including the elderly. The Republican mayoral candidate would profess to be the “moral conscience” of our society, prepared to lead our town.
The Johnston Republican Town Committee Chairman claims “it’s the Democrats” who are responsible for airing their mayoral candidate’s indiscretions. He is wrong.
In the two years that I have served as chair of the Johnston Democratic Town Committee, we have focused on the re-election of Mayor Polisena and the successful return and recruitment of an endorsed team of Democrats who will serve the public with honor and distinction.
In a recent Sun Rise article, the Republican Town Chair and their mayoral candidate hold all others responsible for their candidate’s recklessness. Their candidate appears trapped in the minutia of the incident in question. Was it a one dollar bill or a 20 dollar bill? Did you fall down the stairs or were you pushed? Were you sitting while intoxicated or standing? Was it a strip club or a gentleman’s club? Do you have an arrest record or were each police departments’ reports inaccurate? The substantial facts of the case are correct.
Do you really think the residents of our community should be swayed by your accounts of the incidents in question?
Mostly, although I prefer not to dignify responding to absurd, misleading and untrue statements, which regularly appear in letters to editors, this time a response, in my opinion, is warranted and necessary.
The record of Mayor Polisena and our team of Democratic public officials are impressive and transparent. The record of the Republican mayoral candidate is not the record we expected, nor should it be acceptable to the voters of our community.
The Johnston Republican Town Committee should stop blaming the Democrats and take responsibility for their poor choices, as should their mayoral candidate take responsibility for his actions.

Richard J. DelFino Jr.
Chair
Johnston Democratic Town Committee