Hunter Taylor: I stand guilty as accused of 'muckraking'

To The Daily Sun,

Marc Abear recently attacked me in a letter to the editor for the 2 page ad endorsing Richard Robinson for Sheriff that I ran in the Oct. 3 edition of The Daily Sun. He accused me of “muckraking in the truest political sense.” That assertion was about the only fact I could find in the Abear letter that was correct. “Muckrake” is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “to expose publicly real or apparent misconduct of a prominent individual or business.” Of that, I stand guilty.

Before electing a Sheriff in the upcoming election, I believe the people of our county have the right to know what led Richard Robinson to enter the race against Bill Wright. Nowhere does Mr. Abear point to any factual misstatement in my account of the facts that led up to the Robinson vs. Wright race. He does not identify a single instance in which any statement of mine is untrue, nor does he offer even one counterstatement of fact. In short, as he had no basis for attacking the message contained in the ad, he was forced to attack the messenger.

As to Mr. Abear’s accusation that I am out to get Republicans, it should be noted that Richard Robinson is a long-time registered Republican. He received the Democratic nomination via write-in votes in the Democratic primary. Bill Wright also made a concerted effort to get write-in votes in the Democratic primary, but his effort fell short. As a result, we now have a contested race for Sheriff. The voters of Belknap County can decide for themselves whether the conduct of Sheriff Moyer and Sgt. Wright was acceptable or whether we need new leadership in our Sheriff’s Department. I have made my choice; the voters of our county now have that same opportunity.

Hunter Taylor

Alton