MONTICELLO- Matt McPhillips, the Democratic candidate for the Sullivan County Legislature in District 1, is accusing incumbent Republican Robert Doherty of editing a portion of the debate that was co-hosted by Catskills News radio and Mid-Hudson News and turning it into a campaign ad that misrepresents his position on the creation of affordable housing. Doherty put the clip on his social media page, which he says is a true reflection of his opponent’s position on the issue.
“Rob Doherty can’t be trusted,” wrote McPhillips in a Thursday news release. “The invitation to our Bold Gold Media/Mid-Hudson News debate stated that it would be released unedited. In typical fashion, he edited a fair and open discussion to distort my clear position. Supporting reasonably priced housing so our kids can stay and work here has been one of my major campaign highlights since the beginning.”
In response to McPhillip’s statement, Doherty referenced a specific portion of the debate that he says outlines McPhillip’s position on housing development.
“At the 22:53 mark in our debate, my opponent stated, “We need to incentivize the building of new, affordable housing, similar to that that was put up behind Shoprite in Monticello. The housing behind that Shoprite is high density, low income housing. Later in the debate, I provided an opportunity for him to clarify and/or walk that statement back and he didn’t,” Doherty said.
The incumbent went on to say, “Now, after realizing how unpopular that would be, Matt McPhillips is acting like a true politician and trying to deny it – doing his best to hide his true positions in order to fool voters into electing him. But in this instance the truth slipped out and he doesn’t get a ‘do over.’ I unequivocally oppose high density housing in District 1 and he does not. Case closed.”
McPhillips encouraged voters to watch the unedited debate. “Decide for yourselves who is the honest candidate…
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