East Greenbush tax collector sees dirty trick in letter
Town's GOP chief pays cash for ad listing seemingly fictitious writer
By BRENDAN J. LYONS Senior writer
Updated 10:34 p.m., Saturday, November 5, 2011
EAST GREENBUSH -- The town's Republican committee chairman, Chris DeFruscio, paid cash to publish a political-attack advertisement in a local publication that was made to appear like it was a letter-to-the-editor from a town resident.
The letter, which contained false accusations directed at a town official, was attributed to "Martha Andiago, East Greenbush," which is apparently a fictitious name.
The advertisement appeared in Thursday's edition of The Advertiser, a non-subscription weekly publication mailed to town residents. The letter targeted Toni Murphy, a Democrat seeking re-election Tuesday as East Greenbush's tax collector. The letter accused Murphy of rudely ordering an elderly man at a recent town meeting to "Sit Down!"
"While a senior citizen was trying to explain his disapproval of the way he was treated at the tax receiver's office and the tax assessor's office, Ms. Murphy was very vocal and rude in telling the elderly man to 'SIT DOWN!'" the letter reads. "HOW DARE SHE, or any public figure, including Rick McCabe (who did the same thing to another speaker), try to silence people who are only looking for this administration to do the job they were elected and hired to do."
Robert Wells, 75, who is the man referred to in the letter, said it did not happen and Murphy has always treated him with courtesy. He said he went to the town meeting to appeal for a more fair process in resolving a tax issue and asked if he could sit while speaking.
"At some point, a female voice said something to the effect 'Yes, sit down,' or an offer was made to get me a chair and someone said 'by all means, sit down,'" he said, adding that he feels he is being "used" in a political fight.
Reached Saturday, DeFruscio sought to distance himself from the ad and repeatedly talked over a reporter. He refused to answer questions about his role in purchasing the ad or to identify the alleged author, and would not provide her contact information.
"You don't understand, it's not me. It's not the committee," DeFruscio said.
However, DeFruscio admitted paying $148 in cash to publish the letter when he went in-person to the office of The Advertiser on Oct. 28.
Susan St. Pierre, a sales rep for The Advertiser, said DeFruscio visited her office that day for about an hour and purchased several political ads. She said he paid by check for all of the ads except the attack letter, which he paid for with cash.
On Saturday, DeFruscio, 49, told the Times Union: "I had an envelope. She (Andiago) was with us. She was outside. I went inside and dropped stuff off to Sue."
But St. Pierre said she did not notice anyone else outside her office when DeFruscio was there. Under a standard verification process she called a number listed for the letter's author and a woman confirmed her name was "Martha Andiago." A search of public databases, including voter and property records, shows no one by that name in New York state.
On Friday, as questions surfaced about the authenticity of the letter, St. Pierre said she called back the number, which is a local residential listing, and the woman again confirmed her name is "Martha Andiago." St. Pierre said she told the woman they were investigating the matter and asked her to come to the Advertiser's office with identification.
"Then I said 'May I ask your address' and there was silence on the phone for a minute, and then the dial tone," St. Pierre said.
Looking back, St. Pierre said there were several "red flags" about DeFruscio's ad purchase.
"He had told me that several people were pitching in to pay for that ad," St. Pierre said. "My original email I received for that ad wasn't signed by "Martha Andiago," it was a different name but Chris changed it."
She said DeFruscio asked her to make out a receipt for that particular ad to "Martha Andiago" while other ads were invoiced to the town GOP committee.
DeFruscio on Saturday insisted the person who wrote the letter was real and that she would contact the Times Union to verify her identity. But no one called on her behalf. DeFruscio also said her name was spelled wrong in the letter, but he declined to provide correct spelling or her telephone number. He also would not say how he knows the woman or why he had paid for her advertisement.
"She is a real person," DeFruscio said. "The girl's getting upset because she thinks her freedom of speech is being altered and she wants to know why it's going on."
Murphy said the ad is part of a pattern of dirty political tactics by town Republican leaders.
"They'll do anything at this point, you know elections," Murphy said. "Usually my position isn't contested like this. I just collect the taxes and don't make decisions on who to hire."
Murphy is being challenged for the job, which pays about $44,000 annually, by Corine Sheldon, a Republican. Sheldon could not be reached for comment.
"I'm angry because I was totally taken advantage of," St. Pierre said. "I've always liked Chris and I've known him for a long, long time. I don't take it well when people lie."
Staff writer Cathy Woodruff contributed reporting for this story.
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UPDATE: A follow-up article appears in today's Times Union:
Attack letter spurs feud
Dems: Daughter of GOP operative used for attack; GOP: letter real
By BRENDAN J. LYONS Senior writer
Published 10:35 p.m., Sunday, November 6, 2011
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EG Talks would like to point out that Mr. DeFruscio apparently did not produce the name "Marta Santiago" when interviewed for Sunday's article.
Toni Murphy says it best at the conclusion of the follow-up article:
"The letter is fake. Martha Andiago is fake," she said. "Everybody who was at that meeting, and anyone who knows me, knows that the facts of the letter Chris paid for are totally fabricated. And now we know that Chris DeFruscio and his friend Bill Mahan doctored the name of Bill's daughter, Marta Mahan-Santiago, so they could use her in case they got caught. And they did get caught."
