{"id":19230,"date":"2017-10-16T14:10:16","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T18:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=19230"},"modified":"2017-10-17T08:39:40","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T12:39:40","slug":"gop-dems-spar-over-campaign-materials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=19230","title":{"rendered":"GOP, Dems spar over campaign materials"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated 9 a.m. 10-17:<\/em> Confirms Reif’s title is Controller<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Margaret Reif (left) and Norman MacQueen<\/p><\/div>\n

The county\u2019s Democrats are taking Controller Norman MacQueen to task for citing achievements on Republican Party campaign literature that Democrats say are \u201coutrageous\u201d and \u201cimagined\u201d while GOP officials say challenger Margaret Reif is being dishonest about her background and qualifications \u2014 a charge ultimately proven as untrue.<\/span><\/p>\n

Democratic County Chair Brian J. McGinnis started the war of words Saturday, issuing a statement saying McQueen had taken credit for reducing county spending and cutting taxes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Republican Party of Chester County must be worried about the re-election prospects of Controller Norm MacQueen, as they have taken a strategy from the Trump playbook by resorting to naked hyperbole,\u201d McGinnis said in a statement.\u201dChester County voters didn\u2019t fall for Trump\u2019s nonsense in 2016, and they won\u2019t fall for MacQueen\u2019s in 2017.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

McGinnis argued that McQueen\u2019s claims were disingenuous \u2014 suggesting that MacQueen has no role as Controller in setting county taxes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s start with the obvious point that the County Controller does not prepare or approve the budget or set tax rates,\u201d McGinnis said. \u201cThe Commissioners do that. Even if such a thing were possible, we defy MacQueen to identify one line-item in the budget that was reduced through his influence. We would be impressed if he could identify a single tax that was reduced by his office. I doubt strongly the voters in Chester County would agree their tax bill went down.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Republicans, though, argued that McGinnis was wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNorm MacQueen has helped keep taxes low in Chester County,\u201d said Shannon Royer, the county GOP Executive Director. \u201cIn fact, he recently led the effort to save the county\u2019s retirement board hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for taxpayers. What has Margaret Reif ever done for taxpayers?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

McGinnis hit the GOP incumbent over claims of saving money via audits.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe second bullet point (on the literature) offers that MacQueen \u2018Instituted Performance Audits\u2026\u2019.\u201dMcGinnis said. \u201cCounty Controllers have been auditing the county government for hundreds of years.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s their most basic and primary function.\u00a0 <\/span>The Controller\u2019s website shows audits going back to 1978.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is a new type of audit being performed by the Controller\u2019s office, why are they not available online with the regular audits?\u00a0 <\/span>As an elected official, the County Controller owes a duty to the public to be transparent.\u00a0 <\/span>Instead of empty boasts, let\u2019s see the product.\u00a0 <\/span>What is MacQueen hiding?\u201d McGinnis asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

Royer, parried, citing various initiatives in the Controllers office to save county funds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to conducting financial audits as controller, Norm MacQueen has spearheaded initiatives that have improved government efficiencies and performance, such as a comprehensive<\/span> review of accounts payable in the county to ensure that there are no \u2018phantom\u2019 vendors in the system; a review of the county’s credit card usage<\/span> to enhance efficiencies and avoid misuse; and departmental restructuring to improve effectiveness, performance and efficiency,\u201d Royer said.\u00a0\u201cWhat is Margaret Reif\u2019s record on reform?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The two parties then sparred over Reif describing herself as a Controller for he Youth Mentoring Partnership \u2014 with both sides accusing the other of being dishonest, with the facts ultimately backing up the Democratic version of events.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThree weeks before the election, the Democrats are lying about their qualifications and grumbling about our campaign materials,\u201d Royer said. \u201cWhat a sorry bunch. Meanwhile, Republicans like Norm MacQueen continue working to save money for taxpayers. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m certain that voters will see through this political nonsense from the Democrats.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark Mintzer, CEO\u00a0 & Founder of YMP, clarified the issue, confirming that Reif’s title is Controller \u2014 and that the organization’s Website needs an update.<\/span><\/p>\n

McGinnis reiterated that his candidate is deeply qualified.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Democratic Candidate for Controller, Margaret Reif, is an experienced and qualified financial professional who has served as a Controller in the private sector, but critically, she possesses a strong record of personal and professional integrity,\u201d he said. \u201cIntegrity such that would save Chester County voters from being exposed to similarly dishonest claims four years hence.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI trust the voters will choose integrity over hyperbole in 2017.”<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated 9 a.m. 10-17: Confirms Reif’s title is Controller By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times The county\u2019s Democrats are taking Controller Norman MacQueen to task for citing achievements on Republican Party campaign literature that Democrats say are \u201coutrageous\u201d and \u201cimagined\u201d while GOP officials say challenger Margaret Reif is being dishonest about her background and qualifications […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7167,6184,3912,7168,3037],"class_list":["post-19230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-controller","tag-election-2017","tag-featured","tag-margaret-reif","tag-norman-macqueen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19234,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19230\/revisions\/19234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}