Viral email rumor campaign is just plain wrong, candidates vow

Political emails have been circulating in Peachtree City, alleging that two candidates in the Nov. 3 election plan to dump City Manager Bernie McMullen and replace him with former Mayor Steve Brown.

Such talk can be chalked up to the rumor mill. Brown told The Citizen this week he would not accept such a position. And the two candidates who appear to have been the target of the email have both said there is no such plan.

One of the emails was started by a Peachtree City resident, whose name we are withholding because she is not otherwise a public figure. In her email, the resident said that two candidates, whom she did not name, wanted to remove McMullen and replace him with Brown.

She also noted in the email that she supports Cyndi Plunkett for mayor and Les Dyer in the Post 4 council race. In a phone interview Monday, she denied that any candidate had anything to do with the email.

“I did not consult Cyndi Plunkett or Les Dyer about this at all,” she said. “I wrote the letter to [editor] Cal [Beverly] on my own and then emailed it to my friends on my own. No political candidate was involved in this at all.”

Her email had a political slant in attempting to associate Brown, who lost a mayoral re-election bid four years ago against political unknown Harold Logsdon, with the unnamed candidates.

Because she supports Dyer, it was clear she was speaking of Vanessa Fleisch, the only other candidate in the Post 4 race.

And though there are three candidates in the field for mayor including Plunkett and Scott Rowland, Don Haddix thinks he was the target of her criticism.

Fleisch said Tuesday that she has not even contemplated removing McMullen and replacing him with Brown.

“It is baseless,” Fleisch said of the email accusation.

Haddix said Monday that Brown is not qualified to be hired as city manager.

“Steve Brown has a political history here,” Haddix said. “He is a controversial figure and he does not meet the qualifications required for the city manager’s position.

Plunkett told The Citizen Monday that she hadn’t even heard of the woman’s email, much less authorized it. She also said her political consultant and her husband, the two others working on her campaign, wouldn’t have authorized it either.

“It was not directed by me,” Plunkett said.

The resident declined comment when asked where she heard the allegations that two candidates wished to install Brown as city manager.

She said she initially sent the letter to Citizen editor Cal Beverly for publication in today’s issue, but he responded that it wouldn’t run because of the newspaper’s “October surprise” policy that bans the bringing up of “new” campaign attacks in letters immediately preceding the election.

Such a policy prevents candidates from being blind-sided with a new allegation without an opportunity to respond to it in print.

The resident at that point said she decided to send the letter as an email to her friends instead. It went viral.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the text of the email mentioned in the story above:

I am a bit concerned about a possible scenario that is being discussed all over town.

There are a couple of candidates who seem to have a hidden agenda. I wouldn’t even bring it up, but it seems to keep coming up, and from very credible sources.

Allegedly, these two candidates are proposing that, should they get elected, they will work to get rid of City Manager Bernie McMullen, and put Steve Brown in the position.

While I do not discount Steve Brown’s experience as Mayor, I do question his qualifications to be the city manager of Peachtree City. Bernie McMullen is an engineer. From what I understand, Steve Brown’s education is in the field of Journalism.

I also have a degree in Journalism, and am very sure I am not qualified to be the city manager.

Please cast your votes very carefully on November 3rd. Otherwise you could end up with someone with my educational background at the city manager’s desk and that would be a disaster for all of us.

While I will not mention the names of the candidates in question, I will say that I am supporting Cyndi Plunkett for Mayor and Les Dyer for Council Post 4.