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If the Herald-Mail newspaper is going to continue smearing the reputation of Hagerstown City Councilperson Kelly S. Cromer, I guess I will continue to blog about it. Being that the Washington County Ethics Commission cleared Cromer of acting unethical the day she was pulled over by a Hagerstown police officer for speeding, I thought the Herald-Mail would move on.
Evidently I was wrong.
Today’s edition included a front page story reporting that the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) voted unanimously on July 16 to rescind Councilwoman Kelly S. Cromer’s associate membership. This was before the Washington County Ethics Commission even ruled on the matter. Their decision wasn’t made public until July 31.
Today’s article included something that appears to be factually wrong. It reads:
She also was quoted as saying the police department had a vendetta against her because she questioned the validity of a program under which some city employees are permitted to drive city-owned vehicles to and from work.
She was never quoted as saying the police department had a vendetta against her. Someone who claimed to have been with Cromer when she took a phone call from the reporter from the Herald-Mail asking about the incident claimed on a message board that at no time in the phone conversation did Cromer say the word “vendetta”.
Shortly after reading that, I emailed Dan Dearth, the reporter who wrote the article, and asked him if Cromer actually said the world “vendetta”. He promptly replied:
Rick,
I never quoted her directly as saying that. I asked her whether she felt some city officials and some members of the police department had a vendetta against her. She said, “Yes.”
Thanks.
Dan
Dan Dearth was the one that chose the word vendetta, not Cromer. She only answered in the affirmative when asked if she felt “some” city officials and “some” members of the police department had a vendetta against her. She did not answer in the affirmative that she felt that the entire police department had a vendetta against her. The key word is “some”. The way it reads in today’s paper is that Cromer was quoted as saying the entire Hagerstown police department had a vendetta against her.
She never said that.
Can anyone even blame her if she does feel that some in the Hagerstown police department have a vendetta against her? How else did the newspaper learn about the traffic stop three weeks after it happened? Someone leaked the story to the newspaper and it wasn’t because they were a supporter of Councilperson Kelly Cromer. They did it to make her look bad and the Herald-Mail seems to be going out of their way to do everything they can to help.
The rest of Hagerstown
/ April 4, 2009The rest of Hagerstown has given Cromer The Final Boot! Good Riddens! No more acting like a 10 year old (Do You Know Who I Am?)including Parsons-McBean) No more eye rolling and THANK GOD We dont have to see her play with that Nappy Mop she calles her hair
The rest of Hagerstown
/ April 4, 2009Rick, Sad to say evry lawyer I’ve ever asked about Cromer all said the same thing. Back Stabber,Unethical. That’s coing from her own peers in the legal Community. The lady (if that’s what you want to call her) thinks the rules don’t apply to her. Who cares if Her husband Steve Cromer is a retired Hagertown cop. Every lawyer said the same thing. Really sad. Thank God She’s gone from the city council.