Almost two months ago, I wrote and published a post titled “The Alleged Contents of a Letter.” The post involved rumors surrounding a mysterious letter sent to every single member of the General Assembly containing criminal accusations against a certain elected Sussex County official. I received a tip from a source that is known to me that alluded to the contents of the letter and who was behind it. I decided to go ahead and publish the tip as a rumor, and I went out of my way to specifically state, repeatedly, that I had no idea whether any of the story is true, to wit:
1. Is any of it true?
The simple answer is I have no idea. I consider this all salicious rumor until we know otherwise. I am told that allies and/or supporters of Sheriff Christopher, Eric Bodenweiser, Don Ayotte and Doug Beatty, if not the men themselves, are behind the letter. Whether or not either of them actually wrote and sent the letter is unknown, and a matter of investigation now by the Delaware State Police. Given the cast of characters aforementioned, it is quite possible that none of this is true and that they are just trying to end the career of an opponent of Christopher’s power grab.
Most of the tip from the source was confirmed in later news stories from WGMD, WDEL and the News Journal, specifically about what the allegations were and who the elected official was. What was not confirmed, and what remains unknown to us, is who was behind the letter.
This brings me to Mr. Doug Beatty, who this year arrived on the scene that is Sussex County politics. He contemplated races against the Governor and then for the General Assembly before demurring. He contacted me yesterday issuing a strong denial, saying that he was not involved in any way in writing or sending the letter. It is only fair and responsible that I report that. Mr. Beatty felt that I had irresponsibly and unethically reported as true fact that he was indeed behind the infamous letter. I disagreed, saying I thought I had been very careful in the post to repeatedly state that I did not know for a fact whether any of the allegations were true, as you can see above. Alas, since Mr. Beatty was left with that impression, I apologize to him.
But I also want to thank Mr. Beatty for reminding me of this who sordid alleged affair. This story has dropped off the face of the earth. Has anything come of the Delaware State Police’s investigation? I recall Vance Phillips lawyering up significantly, but there has been nothing from him for a while either.