Letter To The Editor: Controversy Over Phone Call Is Farcical

To the Editor:

A recording of a telephone call from two months ago between Carmel Town Supervisor Ken Schmitt and me was released to the public recently. It has now become a political issue. Kevin McConville has chosen to exploit this recording for his own benefit and uses it as the basis for asking rhetorical questions (many for which he should know the answer) and making overwrought and farcical political comparisons.

I would like to clear the air.

The reason for the call in question is that a mutual acquaintance advised me that Supervisor Schmitt had requested that I call him. I was not informed of the reason for the request and I had no idea what the purpose of the call was. I have known Mr. Schmitt for many years in a professional capacity and I assumed that the requested phone call was for a professional purpose.

I placed the call from my Sheriff’s Department-issued cell phone. As a normal course of business, all calls are recorded. The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department recorded the call on their device. It is standard operating procedure for all telephone calls that are placed to or from the Sheriff’s Department and the County Jail to be recorded, except for those that are privileged for legal or other legitimate reasons.

Both Mr. McConville, as a retired chief of the MTA Police Department, and Supervisor Schmitt, a retired Carmel police officer, should be aware of that fact, as it is standard operating procedure for ALL police departments to record calls made on department phones.

While I will not go tit-for-tat as to the statement attributed to Supervisor Schmitt, I will say that, although some politics were discussed, the nature of the call (which he had requested) was not “political in nature” in my mind.

I did not release the recording of the phone call. The recording of the phone call was the subject of a FOIL request. It was released pursuant to the County’s FOIL policy guidelines. To answer another of Mr. McConville’s questions, ANYONE who has a reasonable and lawful basis for making a FOIL request may be granted access to the recordings maintained by the Sheriff’s Department, including but not limited to those of my Department-issued cell phone. I do not decide when, if or how any Department recordings are released or made public.

Nor was the recording posted by my “political operatives.” I do not have “political operatives.” I have a family, a job and a small group of grassroots volunteers, friends and supporters. Only those who are constantly campaigning for some else’s job have political operatives.

As for Mr. McConville’s hyperbolic and false characterization of the phone call, please. There was no violation of public trust and no unethical conduct. Neither President Nixon nor J. Edgar Hoover were capable of blushing. Apparently, neither is Kevin McConville.

Robert L. Langley, Jr., Putnam County Sheriff

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