In last week’s Sunday’s Daily News, Errol Louis wrote about my problems with one of my opponents in this race (Leithland “Rickie” Tulloch). I didn’t blog about it before, mainly because I didn’t want to sensationalize the issue of intimidation in politics. But since Errol used his column to put it out there, I will now elaborate: albeit in a nutshell. Believe me that there is a lot more to this and I will blog on it eventually.
Way back when this race was shaping up and there were many potential candidates, I had a few short conversations with Mr. Tulloch. And after a while all he seemed to want was for me to get out of the race. I found him to be disrespectful. I used to have him on my e-mail list, and would even send him my blog column long before it was openly published. I took him off my list because I don’t think he is a nice person. I arrived at this conclusion after he berated a few people when they told him that they were supporting (or considering) me over him for the 40th council seat. There is much more to this.
Then some of his supporters (or he himself) would persistently try to savage me in the comments section of my blog, whenever I wrote columns on the upcoming race. They said some very nasty things which I won’t repeat here. Then he started running around the community bad-mouthing me on many many levels. Unbeknownst to him I have support in hidden pockets of the district. He claimed I wrote stuff about him; and yet I have never done a column wherein he was the subject.
Anyway, let’s fast forward to this campaign. As I said before there is a lot more to this. Mr. Tulloch and his minions sent me many political threats; I ignored them. He tried to knock me off the ballot; he was unsuccessful. Then he started following me to the subways looking to intimidate me with superior troop strength and blatant lies to the public (in front my face). He kept picking on me. He kept picking for a fight in public.
He knows that I live on Caton Avenue and yet he tells everyone I don’t live in the district. And he would do this in front my face. He wasn’t even subtle. He wasn’t polite. To be honest I almost pulled a page out of Senator Kevin Parker’s political play book; the page that says ‘punch him in the mouth’. I was that angry. But since I wanted to demonstrate that I do posses the decorum and temperament fitting of an elected rep, I chose to walk away from the fight. I must admit that we did have a few shouting matches.
In last Sunday’s column, Errol Louis said that Tulloch claimed all he wanted to do was “shake my hand”. WOW!! By following me from subway to subway? He is nothing short of a political stalker looking for a showdown.
I would be at a subway stop campaigning and within half an hour he and his entourage would show up behaving obnoxiously. It happened about half a dozen times. My supporters were so concerned that we would get to a real confrontation -after a few minor ones- that I suspended subway operations for two weeks. It is ostensible that Tulloch wanted to draw me into a confrontation to help his minimal chances of victory. After all, the newspapers have been doing stories about Mathieu Eugene (incumbent) and myself, and continues to ignore him and his fledgling candidacy. He wants in to the big leagues. He wants in so badly that he would try to intimidate to get in.
I am sure that my endorsements from the two top newspapers in this district have hurt him. When he loses this race, one of his friends has to put him on suicide-watch: he is a desperate man. He kept telling folks that I have no connection to the district, and yet, when I walked into one of the candidate forums, one editor greeted me with this comment: “if anyone in this room knows this district and its politics, then it must be this man arriving now”. That person just so happened to have worked with me on a political campaign encompassing this district over 23 years ago.
From today, I will be back out to the subways for more campaigning. While I went underground I mailed out over 50 thousand pieces to voters. We did it all by ourselves in the campaign office. We did it from scratch; we didn’t pay expensive mailing houses. Tulloch is dead man walking; but he doesn’t know it yet.
Wait until the CFB investigates his (mis)use of undocumented Mexican workers on his campaign; then you will really see the desperate man he is. Tulloch needs to know that you don’t exploit Hispanic workers for political gain: it’s wrong. I hope for his sake that he has the cancelled checks to prove this claim isn’t true. Many people all over the district have been talking about his band of under age workers, who have been roaming the district since early August; putting up his posters, and putting his flyers under their wind-shield wipers. They have also put things under doors and left political hangers on doorknobs. Is Leithland Rickie Tulloch violating the City Council’s “living wage” laws? You tell me. I sure would like to know.
Stay tuned-in folks. I am going to win this race: it won’t even be close.