Linda Hartsock tells a whopper, gets caught, gets mad, gets rude, and hangs up!

Frank Hogg 11/6/1

It all started innocently enough for Linda Hartsock back on February 12, 2001. (She wears two hats, one as Administrator for the Cortland County Agricultural Development Corporation, LDC and also Executive Director of the Cortland County Business Development Corporation/Industrial Development Agency (BDC/IDA).) On that date in February she released two similar signed letters supporting the rezone of the Knapp farmland and I posted them here as part of the Knapp application. See that here. Paul Slowey also sent similar letters. You might remember Slowey; he is Hartsock's boss and was the guy who fabricated the false story about our group that was broadcast on Channel 3 news before the March 22, 2001 public hearing. Jim Kenyon, the reporter, is still ticked off about being suckered in. I'll have to tell the full story about that one of these days.

Note that in one signed letter Hartsock starts off with… "I am writing to express the support of the Cortland County Business Development Corporation for the zoning change being proposed..."

In her other signed letter Hartsock starts off with. . . "The Cortland County Agricultural Development Corporation, LDC endorses the Knapp's application to rezone a portion of their farm..."

It is very clear that she and her agencies are endorsing the Knapp rezone so it was quite a surprise for the lawyer when he received a letter from Linda Hartsock accusing him of misrepresenting her. In her letter of October 26, 2001 she says..."I am writing in response to your letter dated October 24, 2001. You misrepresent me. I have never made definitive recommendations regarding rezoning..."

To summarize: In February Hartsock sends letters supporting and endorsing rezoning. The lawyer proves that rezoning is unnecessary and the Secretary of State agrees. The lawyer sends a letter to Hartsock asking her if she has now changed her position. Hartsock denies she ever had that position, you know...the one that she had in the February 12^th letters. This is a falsehood of MAGNIFICENT proportion!

I decided to give Linda Hartsock a call to see if she could clear up this misunderstanding. On the afternoon of 11/6/1 I called Ms. Hartsock and asked her about this. She said that the last sentence of her letter spoke for her. "I have nothing further to add on this subject." BUT I said I wasn't asking about that, I was asking about her February 12^th letter and I read the first sentence to her. She got a bit flustered and kept saying that rezoning was a local issue etc. That's nice I said but what about her statements in February and her statements now that contradict each other. Could she explain that? She got really flustered and said she had nothing further to say and rudely HUNG UP on ME! Hey I was being nice, I wasn't being rude or anything.

This is a bad example for the kids. You should never lie. Not only is it a bad idea but also it is darn hard to keep track of what lies you have said to which people. If you are not very careful you will get caught. It is far better to be honest and never lie. That way you will never find yourself in Linda Dickerson Hartsock's position. Not only did she tell a huge whopper, she put the proof in writing and signed it!

WHOOPS!

They created a saying for this condition. "Hoisted by her own petard." Imagine that being said by W. C. Fields. If you're too young for old W.C. then imaging Johnny Carson saying it, and if you're too young for Johnny than. . . ah forget it. But if you wanted to know just what in heck a 'petard' is there is a very good explanation here. Basically it is a bad bomb that often blew their owners up (hoisted) thus creating the phrase. However it is aptly used here as Ms Hartsock's own words are her petard and she sure did blow herself up with them.

But now everybody wants to know why? Any clues out there?

Frank Hogg

PS: A note to the public officials who might find their words enshrined here. Be careful what you say, tell the truth, never lie, and perhaps most important. . . never lie to me.

 

Links:

The Knapp application with the two Hartsock letters (near the bottom)
Weird word. . . Petard