Dirty Campaign Tactics Alleged in Buckingham

Less than 24 hours after Republican Jon Forest was re-elected to a six-year term as Buckingham supervisor, a pair of his detractors took the floor at the board meeting Wednesday night, calling his election tactics “underhanded.”

Furlong resident Kevin Corrigan and Forest’s Democratic opponent, Kathy Sugarman, approached Forest during the public comment section of the meeting and lambasted him for “dirty” election material sent out over the weekend that included derisive statements about the Democrats pursuing seats in Buckingham.

The flyer was labeled “Occupy Buckingham” and suggested Sugarman and board supervisor and Democrat Henry Rowan were in collusion. It’s a play on the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.

Sugarman and Corrigan accused Forest of being behind the mailers, but Forest said he had no knowledge of them and suggested the Democrats were the ones who put them out.

“I had nothing whatsoever to do with this,” insisted Sugarman.

Sugarman said the flyers were mailed to Republicans in the township and she has since started getting hate mail because of it. After the meeting, Sugarman said she plans to file a complaint with the county’s board of elections.

“To implicate Henry, Kathy and the Democrats in order to win an election is about as dirty as it gets,” said Corrigan. “You may have a seat on the board … you won the election, but it wasn’t done honorably.”

Earlier in the campaign, Sugarman posted election material that questioned Forest’s character, bringing up a 10-year-old incident in which Forest admitted to shooting and injuring a Jack Russell terrier that had chased livestock on his property. Forest was not charged in the incident.

At the start of the meeting, Forest read from a statement, thanking his supporters and promising to “work hard on real issues in the next six years.”

He also said he has “extended an olive branch” to Rowan, of whom Forest is often critical, to work together on issues. Forest added that if Rowan “can not or will not contribute to the board of supervisors and do what is best of the township,” he asked that Rowan resign his position.

Following the 10 minutes of heated exchange, during which audience members heckled Sugarman and Corrigan with, “Sit down” and “Sore loser,” Rowan told Forest that he found his opening comment “offensive.”

Said Rowan: “If you wish me to be lockstep with you and Maggie, that just ain’t going to happen.”

Following the brief bimonthly board meeting, fellow Republican and Supervisor Maggie Rash said she didn’t want the public to get the wrong idea of how the board functions as a whole. Regardless of personalities and personal agendas, she said, the board tends to work well together.

They may have differences in how problems are approached or solved, she said, but “all in all, we pretty much have Buckingham’s best interests at heart.”

Said Rash: “I would really be sad that the people in Buckingham think we’re dysfunctional, because we’re not.” All three supervisors work toward making the township a better place to live, she said.

The board’s regularly scheduled meeting of Nov. 23 has been canceled. It will meet Nov. 16 when the proposed budget for 2012 will be unveiled.