Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11) - Democratic mayoral candidate Greg Fischer says e-mails released by his campaign absolve him and his campaign of any wrongdoing, but Republican opponent Hal Heiner says the documents prove his allegation that Fischer traded a position of influence in city government for an endorsement by former independent candidate Jackie Green.
With Heiner launching a television commercial with that accusation on Tuesday, Fischer called Heiner a liar.
"Clearly Hal is desperate and dishonest both," Fischer said in an interview Tuesday night at his campaign headquarters, "I know this is a political campaign but I would expect there to be some semblance of the truth."
In a news conference on Monday, Heiner had called for the release of any documents regarding Green's endorsement, including e-mails that detail the negotiations of what assurances Green received in exchange for the endorsement of Fischer.
The documents released by the Fischer campaign are a series of e-mail exchanges between Green and Fischer campaign spokesman Chris Poynter. The e-mails trade drafts of endorsement news releases.
In the e-mails, Green pushes for environmental commitments by Fischer, including a "higher priority" for public transit rather than the Ohio River Bridges Project and a ban on "greenfield" development in favor of "brown fields." Fischer said both issues were non-starters and immediately dismissed.
Prior to the Advertising Federation of Louisville debate on the 25th floor of the Galt House on Friday, Green and Fisher met on the second floor of the hotel and discussed his endorsement. Green was not invited to participate in the debate, but did attend in the audience, ironically as a guest of the Hal Heiner campaign.
On Friday night, just two hours after Green released an e-mail to his staff and the media that disclosed his demands for his endorsement, Green announced that he was backing Fischer. It came after a WHAS11 News story featured an interview with Green disclosing that endorsement negotiations were underway, that "documents" had been exchanged, and that Fischer's inclusion of public transit during a mayoral debate that day was a signal that Fischer had adjusted his priorities as a result of his interchange with Green.
Green's statements on WHAS11 infuriated Fischer's team who issued a moratorium to Green that either he endorse that night or lose any standing with Fischer.
Green said Poynter told him, "We’re ready to pull the plug on this."
In an e-mail from Green to Fischer campaign spokesman Chris Poynter at 6:07pm Friday. Green requests that the words "significant input" be added to a sentence in the news release regarding Green's role in determining who will lead Fischer's Office of Sustainability. At 6:38pm, the endorsement is announced with Green to provide "significant input" to help structure that office.
Heiner suggests that exchange is a quid pro quo and could violate state law because it offers "special influence, special authority in the structuring of that agency in return for an endorsement, in return for votes."
"We'll show that he's lying," Fischer said, "and the truth shows that we're above board just like we always have been. The real story here is someone asked me to do some things, I said no. If you want to endorse my campaign, I'm happy to have your endorsement. You can have some input into sustainability issues just like any citizen can, but we're not going to treat you any different, just like any citizen in Louisville."
Fischer compared Green's role to the advice he is receiving from about 300 people who have helped him craft policy for his administration.
Green himself, in a telephone interview Tuesday night, said the "significant input" language was so broad "you could drive a truck through."
"The significance is what Greg makes of it," Green said, "and what the community holds him to."
"My advice to Hal is to call his team off." Green said," "There’s not a gun, much less a smoking gun."
Asked about why he decided to endorse Fischer after running a long campaign that was based on principle rather than position, Green said he had "made it to the finish line but did not cross the finish line," and that he had accomplished everything he could.
"Greg and I share more social values than Hal," Green said, "Greg and I think downtown is more important than Hal."
Yet, Green said Fischer falls short on environmental issues.
"We’re not convinced that (Fischer's) team has a good handle on sustainability – they don’t have a clue about sustainability. They need us."
In an internal Green campaign e-mail obtained by LEO Weekly reporter Philip Bailey and corroborated by WHAS11, Green suggests that it was Fischer's campaign team that offered influence inside city government during endorsement negotiations.
The e-mail updates Green's campaign staff of a meeting Green and three members of his team had on Wednesday, October 13 at the home of Gil Holland, a key Fisher supporter.
From: Jackie Green
Date: Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 6:52 PM
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL - Fischer meetings
To: <e-mail addresses redacted>
Quick update.
Greg & I met Monday.
Andy, John, Ben & I met this afternoon with Greg's team (Gt): Gil Holland, Chris Poynter, Brandon Coen.
The Gt will draft a document to see how close they can get to our position on land use & transportation (the 2 areas that separate us).
This is a process.
Andy is our point contact.
My thanks to Andy, Ben & John - their contribution to today's meeting drove home points I could not make.
The Gt also raised the issue of our team playing a role inside gov. - should Greg get lucky ;) .
Grateful
jlg
--
Jackie Green
Louisville's Independent Mayoral Candidate
Louisville's only sustainable mayoral platform
http://www.jackiegreenformayor.com
Poynter confirms that he, Holland and Brandon Coan of the Fischer campaign attended that meeting with Green's team, yet Poynter says that during that meeting and other negotiations, Green persistently requested assurances that the Fischer campaign was unwilling to deliver.
Green agreed with Poynter's characterization of the negotiations.
"There’s just nothing there," Green said, "I wish there were something there. I wish we had accomplished what we had set out to do, better prioritization (of our issues)."
“Getting that voice in some form and some manner, a seat at the table," Green continued.
Asked whether Green's revelation was true that it was Fischer's team who originated the proposal that Green would have a role inside Metro government (The Gt also raised the issue of our team playing a role inside gov. - should Greg get lucky ;), Fischer replied, "absolutely not."
Green confirmed that he sent the e-mail, but said the accuracy of his account of the meeting was questionable because he has a poor memory.
"I haven’t the slightest idea," Green said, "I might even have been off base. That might have been our team raising that issue. Ask anybody who knows me what I remember about dates times and specifics. I am a generalist. But the details I lose all the time. I don’t remember my wife’s birthday. I don’t remember my daughter’s birthday."
WHAS11 News asked Heiner if there could be a more innocent explanation of the negotiations, that Green was sold on Fischer's commitment to issues important to Green.
"Actually," Heiner replied, "We have an e-mail where Jackie dictates the terms of the endorsement and in fact was adopted by the Fischer campaign in order to get the endorsement."
"One of Jackie's concerns was the energy and the environment," Fischer said, "The Office for Sustainability will be dealing with those issues. So if Jackie would like to have input in that, just like any citizen, we're happy to receive his input."
But, did Fischer's team originate the idea or float the idea of a Metro government agency role for Green or his team?
"Absolutely not," Green said.
"By any measure, " Heiner contends, "when you offer to change a metro development agency giving someone 'significant input' in the structure of that agency in return for an endorsement, that's just bad government."
