In an email sent to constituents over the weekend, Mayor Pete Muldoon said he is getting death threats and having people show up at his home to threaten him.
Muldoon, who has been publicly defending himself against assault allegations after the release of documents about the 2018 investigation. Muldoon says the allegations are untrue.
He said he would pursue legal action against those responsible.
In the email, Muldoon said the release of the documents was retaliation for conducting his oversight duty of the town’s police department. “I think that shows a law enforcement culture that operates as though they are above the law, and which will do anything to maintain power,” Muldoon wrote.
The documents were Sheriff’s office reports of a sexual assault accusation made against the Mayor in 2018. The release of the reports was obtained through a public records request.
Muldoon blamed local law enforcement and ‘right-wingers’ for defending what he called Sheriff Matt Carr’s blatant disregard for the law.
The full text of the email is below:
From: Pete Muldoon
Sent: Friday, October 02, 2020 7:03 PM
Subject: The Real Story
I’m reaching out about a recent story in the News & Guide.
That story is about the violation of state statute and the violation of my privacy by the Teton County Sheriff’s Office in what I believe is a retaliation for me conducting my oversight duty of the town’s police department. I think that shows a law enforcement culture that operates as though they are above the law, and which will do anything to maintain power.
But first I want to talk about the allegations they’ve released, and which are being anonymously emailed around our community. Those allegations are untrue.
I believe strongly that when women make these allegations, the allegations should be taken seriously. It was taken seriously, it was thoroughly investigated, and it was found to be false.
I was asked whether I wanted her to be charged with making a false report, and I declined as I was told that the case would be closed and the records sealed, as required by law.
It is crystal clear that the Teton County Sheriff’s Department committed a crime by releasing this false allegation, and it seems obvious that they did it with recklessness at best and likely with the intent to destroy my reputation.
Here is a quote (in the linked article) from the Teton County Attorney, Erin Weisman:
“The DCI agent concluded that the evidence did not support probable cause, and it was the opinion of the DCI agent that no crime had occurred. “
There is no question as to the falsehood of that accusation. And given that law enforcement has always opposed me politically, if there was even a chance that a crime had occurred, they would have filed charges.
My anti-mask and rabidly pro-law enforcement political opponents should be ashamed of these cowardly tactics; I can think of few things more despicable than spreading these kinds of false allegations around in order to assassinate the character of a town council candidate. These are classic right wing smear tactics; I recognize them perfectly well from the countless emails I got from Fox News readers after removing Trump’s portrait from Town Hall. That portrait, of course, was provided by law enforcement, and I doubt they’ve forgotten it.
I have always, and I mean always, put the public’s interest first in my four years in office. Sometimes that means making hard decisions, and sometimes it means angering powerful people and organizations. I knew that when I ran, and it was confirmed for me during my first campaign.
I’ve had death threats, people waiting outside my house to threaten me, and countless unhinged emails from people who are terrified by progress and the notion of accountability. The pressure has been immense, and at times I wish I could have handled it better. It would have always been easier to just go along with the flow, and not speak out. But that isn’t leadership, and I’m just not built that way.
Our law enforcement culture is broken. It acts callously, illegally and with complete disregard for the welfare of any person it deems to be a threat. Maintaining power is its sole purpose; if it needs to do good acts in order to accomplish that, it will. And if it needs to commit crimes and harm innocent people in order to do that, it won’t hesitate to do that either. Whether I’m re-elected or not, I’ll won’t back don’t from my commitment to fight that culture, and I hope anyone reading this will ask themselves whether this is a culture they find acceptable.
Mostly, I’m tired of this. I’m tired, I’m disappointed and I’m sad that people are so bent on keeping their power and privilege that they’re willing to destroy others in order to do so.
You’re going to see a lot of people weaponizing this false allegation in order to serve their own purposes, developers who are angry I wouldn’t just sign off on their huge up-zones. Candidates for office who are so desperate for power they can’t wait for a chance to play dumb and smear me. And you’re going to see an awful lot of Trump voters and Tea Party types who are still angry that their mayor has called attention to white privilege and homophobia and social justice and more.
At the end of the day, all of the right-wingers who are suddenly pretending to care about violence against women are just defending the Sheriff’s blatant disregard for the law designed to protect the privacy of accusers and accused alike. The message they’re sending is that they couldn’t care less about your privacy, and that’s a terrible message to send to anyone who supports justice for victims and for those who are falsely accused.
I can’t say how much I appreciate the support from friends and people who’ve actually gotten to know me, and understand what is going on. And I thank all of those who’ve taken the time to understand and not just jump to conclusions.
I will likely not address this issue beyond this letter, except through the legal action I intend to pursue against those who are responsible. If you know someone you think would be interested in reading this letter, please feel free to forward it them.
Lastly, please stay safe. We are seeing a rapid increase in Covid-19 cases in our community, and they are once again threatening to overwhelm our hospital. I know we are exhausted from the pandemic and the state of our politics and the general sense of dread that is hanging over our country, but things will get better and we need to take care of ourselves while we work towards that moment.
Sincerely,
Pete Muldoon
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