FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 7, 2020
Contact: Jesse Prieto
716-856-8700
ECGOP CHAIRMAN KARL SIMMETH IN RESPONSE TO DEMOCRAT CHAIRMAN JEREMY ZELLNER
Buffalo, NY – Statement from Erie County Republican Chairman Karl Simmeth in response to Erie County Democratic Chair Jeremy Zellner’s statement.
“As an American, veteran, and lifelong Republican, I am disgusted by Jeremy Zellner’s politically opportunistic attacks. The events at the Capitol building were horrible and condemnable, but trying to score political points during this difficult time in our nation’s history is abhorrent and hypocritical coming from him.
Zellner cheered while ANTIFA and BLM burned and looted America’s cities, including our nation’s capital. When rioters tore through Buffalo, Rochester, and New York City, Jeremy Zellner and local Democrats encouraged their anger – excusing it, saying the peaceful protesters had been ignored for too long and that this was their only way to be heard. The breaching of the U.S. Capitol building was wrong now, just as rioting down Elmwood and running over police was wrong last summer. The difference is I’m willing to say it now as I was then, but the same cannot be said for the hypocrites running the local Democrat Party and their enablers in the media.
Trust has been lost, and the parroting of talking points from Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer do nothing to bridge the divide Zellner and his Party have helped create.
I have always stood to salute the flag and pledged allegiance to the United States in America with the belief that we are one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Violence should never be accepted or permitted.
Rioters – whoever they claim to be – are not welcome members of our Republican Party. When we should be talking about how to move forward, the political opportunism coming from Jeremy Zellner and the Democrat Party isn’t just disheartening, it’s disgusting.”
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