Setting the record straight: Yorktown Democratic Committee never demanded a speaker

Dear Editor,

It would be a vast understatement to say that the Yorktown Democratic Committee and its candidates, especially Supervisor candidate Jann Mirchandani, are disgusted by a recent letter to the editor in Yorktown News claiming we “demanded” Jann speak at the recent vigil against political violence ("Yorktown Democrats put politics over victims of violence," Sept. 25, Page 25).

We don’t know who this person is and certainly never spoke with them, nor were they a party to any of the discussions between the Yorktown Democratic Committee (YDC) and the Yorktown Republican Town Club. How, then, could they have any commentary on what took place during those discussions?

Let us be 100% clear – this is a blatant lie. The YDC never demanded Jann speak. Plain and simple. The worst part is that this person was obviously trying to score political points and damage an opposing candidate using an event that was supposed to bring people together, completely undermining the intent and spirit of the event itself. This was the exact reason the YDC felt that no politician or candidate should speak at the event. Worse yet, by publicly spreading lies about an opponent using a highly charged, emotional event, this individual displayed the very root cause of political violence in this country.

The discussions between the YDC and YRTC were completely amicable and no one “demanded” anything. We simply could not come to a final agreement and the YRTC ultimately decided to hold the event themselves. It happens. But it certainly does not change the YDC’s, or the YRTC’s, viewpoints on the greater purpose of the event. On this, we still stand together against violence in any form.

Despite our discussions not coming together, representatives of YDC did attend the event. It was not the outcome we wanted, but we still supported it and still believe in its intentions. It was a testament to this town and its people that so many came out to denounce political violence. We would like to see more events like this to bring people together, rather than drive them apart. We believe everyone could use more education around the causes of political violence and be given tools to combat and defuse situations before they reach dangerous levels. The vigil was a good start, but there is much more work to be done.

Finally, while we understand that people sending letters to the editor are not journalists, and aren’t bound by journalistic standards, we would have hoped that Yorktown News would have reached out to the YDC before publishing such a derogatory letter. We had many discussions with Yorktown News in the time leading up to the vigil, and to not reach out to ask about this accusation is disheartening.

-Steven Shaw and Peter Cleary, Co-Chairs of the Yorktown Democratic Committee