Right-leaning party members have been quiet long enough, prompting Bergen resident Gary Fink to speak out, he says.
“The silent majority has been silent for two long,” he said to The Batavian Monday. “The Left is getting more and more insane; they’re destroying the economy and destroying the family.”
Fink opted to put his words to paper and send out the no-holds-barred letter to every resident in Bergen at the end of October. It begins with citing the country as being “in crisis” and encourages votes to oust Democrats from office. He said that although the Bergen Republican Committee members thought it was “a little harsh,” they helped the effort by addressing envelopes, Fink said.
“I spent $1,000,” he said. “It’s to let them know we’re coming for them in 2022.”
Fink has received mostly positive feedback, he said, for the letter specifically endorsing Town Council candidates Jim Starowitz and Theresa Whalin. Democrat Town Council candidate Anne Sapienza has known Fink for more than 30 years.
“I obviously was shocked,” she said. “I knew we had our difference of opinions … I’m sad and disappointed. This country is so divided. We will never ever get back to decency with letters like that.”
Genesee County Republican Committee Chairman Dick Siebert did not know anything of the letter and explained that by Fink’s official affiliation. Three years ago he registered with the Conservative Party. The letter was written on behalf of Conservatives, Republicans, and anyone else with right-leaning proclivities, Fink said.
At any rate, the letter wouldn’t have been endorsed by his committee, Siebert said.
“The Republican Party has nothing to do with him; he does not speak for the Republican Party or anyone I am aware of,” Siebert said. “I don’t believe in hate mail.”
Michael Plitt, chairman of Genesee County’s Democrat Committee, echoed Sapienza’s disappointment, especially because Fink is also Bergen Planning Board’s chairman and is therefore a town official, he said.
“The Bergen Republican Committee has denied responsibility, so whoever paid for it has not made any filings with the State of Board of Elections as required by law that I have seen,” Plitt said. “Anne has run a clean race making the case to voters on her experiences and track record as a Bergen Town Councilperson. All of the 2021 Genesee County Democratic candidates have run clean campaigns that we can be proud of.”
Fink said that his official status was not part of the letter and that he wrote, sent, and paid for it as a private citizen. Plitt has been asked why more people don’t run for elected office, and he now has the answer in black and white, he said
“The letter is an exhibit A as to why people do not run for office,” he said.
Phone calls to Starowitz and Bergen Republican Committee Chairman Bob Bausch were not immediately returned. The Batavian could not reach Whalin due to a disconnected number.
Updated 11/1/21 at 5:21 p.m.
Bergen Republican Committee Chairman Bob Bausch said that the letter has nothing to do with the party, and that Fink wrote on his own behalf. Bausch picked up a list of registered Bergen voters when in Batavia, and gave them to Fink per his request, and committee members that assisted with the mailing process did so individually, Bausch said.
"He's got his opinions," Bausch said. "The Party did nothing to support or deny it."
Updated 11/1/21 at 10:30 p.m.
Conservative Committee Chairwoman Julie Ann Bolas Carasone said that the Conservative Party did not endorse or support Fink's letter, and, in fact, endorsed Democrat Anne Sapienza for the Bergen Town Council race.
“Mr. Fink and every voter can and should vote for the person that they feel will do the job, regardless of whomever their party endorses,” Carasone said. “But sending out a letter and making it look like it was something that the Conservative Party supported was not right. We do not work that way, and we at the Genesee Conservative Party want to make sure that we are able to work together for the betterment and the future of the communities that we live in, and if that means working across party lines, we will do that.”
Below is a copy of the letter:
