Tocci Campaign Volunteer and Key Backer Engages in Hate Speech: Tocci Challenged To Distance Himself From Comments

PRESS RELEASE

( September 24, 2002 ) The campaign for State Assembly in the 91st District took an ugly turn last week when local radio host and Tocci volunteer Robert Schaefer distributed an email message filled with hate speech.

In a message sent to City Council members and other civic leaders in New Rochelle, Schaefer said Tocci should “not buy into that so called nonpartisan [expletive] about running a clean campaign put out by the League of Women Voters who stabbed him [Tocci] in the back in order to support one of their own namely ‘a rich white bread Jewish liberal from the North End!’” The latter was a reference to Tocci’s opponent, Noam Bramson. Schaefer also branded Bramson an “arrogant, wannabe social engineer,” “an elitist,” and “a coward and not a man.”

In addition to volunteering for Tocci, Schaefer, a long-time weekly radio host on WVOX in New Rochelle, has frequently used his program to boost Tocci’s candidacy. On July 3rd of this year, Tocci was Schaefer’s in-studio guest. During the broadcast, Schaefer said of Library Trustee Thomas Leghorn: “I suggested that we get a rope for him, and not a new one either, he didn’t deserve a new rope,” and said of New Rochelle City Council members: “if they make cuts I hope it’s their wrists or their throats. Either way, it doesn’t matter to me.” The Assemblyman did not react to these statements.

Schaefer has volunteered extensively for the Tocci campaign and was visible in television broadcasts from the Assemblyman’s campaign headquarters on primary night, September 10th.

Bramson’s campaign issued the following statement: “Robert Schaefer is a public figure, the host of a weekly radio program, and one of Assemblyman Tocci’s most vocal, active supporters. It is deeply disturbing that an individual so heavily involved in the Tocci campaign would issue such an offensive statement. We call upon the Ron Tocci to distance himself publicly and immediately from both the statement and its author.”

The entire text of the email sent by Schaefer follows.

NOAM BRANSON WON THE PRIMARY BY THE VOTES OF A HANDFUL OF PRESSURE GROUP MEMBERS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY WHOM HE PANDERED TO BY ENDORSING THEIR MOST EXTREME POSITIONS OUT SIDE THIS CITY!

WHEN ONE LOOKS AT THE ONLY COMMUNITY IN WHICH THE VOTERS ACTUALLY KNOW HIM, NEW ROCHELLE, THE MAJORITY OF THOSE DEMOCRATS WHO TURNED OUT TO VOTE IN THE PRIMARY VOTED AGAINST HIM AND THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES ABOUT HIS TOXIC LIBERAL POINT OF VIEW AND YOUR OWN BY SUPPORTING HIM AND NOT RON TOCCI!

DESPITE YOU EXTREMISTS THAT VOTED FOR HIM, HE HAS TURNED HIS BACK ON THE MAJORITY OF THE WORKING DEMOCRATIC FAMILIES IN HIS DISTRICT AND ALL OF THE HOME OWNERS OF THIS CITY IN ORDER TO GET THE TAX CAP LIFTED SO HE AND YOU CAN SAVE FACE WHEN AND IF YOU RUN AGAIN!

HE IS AN ELITIST WITH DEEP POCKETS LOOKING TO BUY HIS WAY IN TO A HIGHER OFFICE BUT HE WILL NOT DO IT ON THE BACK OF THIS VOTER WHO HAS YET TO VOTE IN THE ONLY
ELECTION THAT REALLY COUNTS AND THAT IS THE MAIN EVENT COME NOVEMBER.

THIS ARROGANT, WANNABE SOCIAL ENGINEER HAS NO RESPECT FOR OUR NEIGHBORHOODS, THE WORKING POOR OR OUR LOCAL BUSINESS COMMUNITY, IN FACT ALL OF HIS POLICIES LIKE MANY OF YOUR OWN HAVE FAILED AND HE IS LOOKING FOR A FALL GUY TO BLAME THAT ON WHICH IS THE HALL MARK OF A COWARD AND NOT A MAN IN MY OPINION SO WHAT IS YOUR EXCUSE OR DON’T YOU CARE?

I HOPE THAT RON TOCCI DOES NOT BUY INTO THAT SO CALLED NONPARTISAN BULL SHIT ABOUT RUNNING A CLEAN CAMPAIGN PUT OUT BY THE LEAGUE OF WOMAN VOTERS WHO STABBED HIM IN THE BACK IN ORDER TO SUPPORT ONE OF THEIR OWN NAMELY “A RICH WHITE BREAD JEWISH LIBERAL FROM THE NORTH END!”

BOB SCHAEFER

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