The Mysterious Pink Letter ???    I Wonder!

by Ron West

        Every once in a while, strange happenings in NRH are attributed to the wrong sources.  Just prior to the City Council election, a "mysterious" UNSIGNED pink sheet of misinformation about the Mayor and apparently others that was reported to be blatantly false was delivered to the Mayor's supporters.  The "pink sheet" was attributed by the Mayor's supporters to someone in the opposition camp that supported Nancy Bielik.  Unfortunately, no one in the opposition camp sent, nor has ever seen this pink sheet.

    Distribution of the sheet was apparently by hand delivery to well known and vocal Trevino supporters.  One of them even saw fit to provide a copy to the Fort Worth Star Telegram - which, without further investigation, gave credibility to the sheet being from the opposition by publishing several letters from Trevino/Sapp supporters with derogatory comments about the opposition relating to the pink sheet.  

        Without having seen or being privy to this carefully crafted document, one could safely assume that #1:)  It was designed to elicit a response from the readers that was predictable and #2:)  That it was not characteristic of the opposition in NRH since everything they had published or said was signed by the respective authors.  

        Had the Star Telegram or Trevino supporters examined the document, perhaps the writer could have been found.  Lies and misinformation that elicited predictable responses in support of Trevino and Sapp - directly galvanized their supporters and encouraged turn out of them in a manner that yielded victory for them.  This election would have probably had the same result without the pink sheet but it did create a storm of support for Trevino and Sapp.

        Now that the election is over, it is worth your time to look at the pink sheet for the brilliant campaign strategy that it represented IF created by Sapp & Trevino.  It did elicit a very predictable response and it did get out their voters in their defense.   Note that there is not even anything illegal about their actions in this particular instance.  It was not like their deliberate violation of their own sign ordinance for election signs which again occurred on election day.

        Are congratulations in order for them - for this victory without ethics?  Maybe, maybe not - but maybe we should congratulate them for this new low in campaign strategy that did help them win the election.  The opposition camp is still waiting to see one of the "pink sheets" so if you have one, please share it with us so we can help dispel any untruths published in it.