The final straw came when the former executive director of Neighbors of Watertown suggested during a phone call to the Live at 5 Show on WATN that she acted improperly when he worked with her four years ago on a building renovation project proposal in Antwerp, a project that she did not submit to the state for funding.
“I cannot even begin to explain how offended I am that one man’s ‘feeling’ has undercut all the work I have done to help our communities over the past 10 years. I have tried to hold my head high and know that the people of the River District know me and how hard I fight for them, but I cannot sit by any longer without responding to ridiculous accusations by Gary Beasley and my opponent,” Assemblywoman Jenne said.
She said that Mr. Beasley backed up his “feeling” by suggesting she had lobbied hard to have Neighbors of Watertown move the Antwerp project forward.
Assemblywoman Jenne said her apparent wrongdoing was fighting for a project to help improve downtown Antwerp.
“That not a bad thing. Yes, I lobbied hard for a project. I always lobby hard – for funding for our schools, for new initiatives that bring local goods to our families’ tables, for revitalizing neighborhoods, for anything that can help make our community even stronger. I will not ever apologize for that and the results are nearly $8 million in state funds that I have helped bring into the River District in the past two years,” she said.
“We live in a small community. I know the rumors and innuendo that are going around. I know what people are claiming. I don’t know how to stop the gossip and the false accusations,” the assemblywoman said.
“I can only tell you how disturbing it is to have a partisan hack attack you and lie about your personal life, all as sport in a partisan political battle. I love this community and have fought tirelessly for the people of the River District since first taking office,” she said.
Assemblywoman Jenne said the repeated false accusations don’t change the facts surrounding the Antwerp project.
“I have supplied proof that I did not know the owners of the Antwerp property before 2014. I met them a few weeks before I sought Mr. Beasley’s advice. The Watertown Daily Times has seen the texts giving me contact information for one of the owners and the newspaper previously reported the timetable for the events I have described is ‘credible,’" she noted.
My political opponents apparently want voters to believe that one man’s partisan attack against me based on a 'feeling’ trumps proof. The residents of the River District know better than that,” she said.
