Mystery of the Missing Letter. I’m So Totally Nancy Drew.
Last Sunday a comment left on this post by “N.F.” indicated that Mayor Dick Davis sent a letter to me. He even provided a link to a copy of the document he claims Mayor Davis transmitted via fax and e-mail. This is a big deal for reasons N.F. points out.
N.F. @ November 6, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Finally, and most importantly, this is a copy of the fax and emails Dick Davis sent to PCP and Merritt Patterson on Wednesday, October 27, 2010, in advance of last week’s paper being printed and/or distributed, and in advance of Merritt Patterson’s piece falsely accusing Dick Davis, obviously attempting to make him look dishonest and/or foolish. She and the paper were informed of the truth; and they apparently ignored it.
It is already known that PCP knowingly printed on its front page as news a story beyond totally false, malicious, and incorrect against the Anti side of the campaign. That’s already been discussed and proved. But, this fax also demonstrates other information generated or written in the paper or on the Web by the PCP and/or Merritt Patterson was known to be false and misleading and demonstrably untrue.
Aside from the fact that it seemed odd for N.F. to have access to Dick’s files, there is nothing found in the link above that indicates it was sent. No fax number, time it was sent or a confirmation report that it actually went through. And there isn’t a copy of an e-mail with the address it was sent to or the time and date it was sent. So I double checked. Nope. Didn’t receive a thing.
Maybe he didn’t even send a letter. I mean, we don’t even know who N.F. really is, he could be some nut. So I decided to go straight to Mayor Davis via e-mail.
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 9:11 AM
To: Davis, Richard
Subject: Park Cities People
Mayor Davis,
A reader sent us a link to a copy of what he/she claims to be a letter, sent by you, via fax and e-mail on October 27, 2010. Can you please confirm whether or not you sent the letter? I did not receive a fax or e-mail from you and am very interested in the authenticity of the letter. [LINK]
Thank you so much,
Merritt Patterson
I hadn’t heard anything by the following day so at 9:37 a.m. on Tuesday, November 9, 2010, I left a voice mail for Mayor Davis asking the same thing I had written in the e-mail on Monday.
Then today I received the following e-mail.
From: Davis, Richard
To: Merritt Patterson
Sent: Wed, November 10, 2010 8:49:23 AM
Subject: RE: Park Cities People
Yes, the e-mail was prepared for me and sent. My notes show that you were copied on it.
So I responded.
From: Merritt Patterson
To: Davis, Richard
Sent: Wed, November 10, 2010 9:07:54 AM
Subject: Re: Park Cities People
Thank you. Can you forward a copy of the e-mail to me? And also a copy of the fax confirmation?
I appreciate it so much,
Merritt
Nothing yet. But I’m so totally on this case.
45 comments to "Mystery of the Missing Letter. I'm So Totally Nancy Drew. "
It’s been a while since I’ve asked for anything. Can this please be the proverbial straw that breaks NF’s back?
Can this put an end to us having to put up with the Harriet Meiers-esque love and devotion shown to Dick?
Glad to know that he/she is on the case to protect us from all the evils of the modern world.
FWIW, I strongly disagreed with N.F. on the Prop 1 and 2 issues, but I find it fascinating that a week after the election two posts, with the promise of more, (and perhaps a column?) devoted to picking on N.F. and another poster on the anti side followed a post on bullying.
I’m not sure why someone is a “nut” for talking about controversies between African Americans and DCC. It’s been pretty well documented by pretty much every media outlet in town for the last decade at some time or another. If they now have an African American member, that addition must be very recent. Now, about the lack of Jewish members, anyone have a roster they want to share with the group?
@Zoe – Merritt certainly has the right and responsibility to defend herself when accused of wrong doing. What is the point though of this week’s column attacking Lifelong Parkie and equating him/her to the Church Lady?
I don’t often agree with Merritt and have never engaged in the blog before, but I gotta stand and applaud ber for taking on the community bubbas….I mean bullies…I mean “leaders” — who don’t really lead but follow.
DCC and many other country club/clubs are a PRIVATE CLUBS and they can decide who they want.
Maybe Steve M is working on it for him.
What a weird formulation. I would have said, “Yes Merritt, I sent the email to you on ____, 2010 at approximately ____ a.m./p.m., and to ensure that you received it, sent a copy by fax to 214-_______. My fax machine confirmed it was delivered.” Or something like that. Isn’t he a lawyer? He should know how to tie up those kinds of loose ends in his communications. It’s just common sense.
But “my notes show that you were copied on it”? Really? Who says that? Does he mean he sent the email to someone else and cc’d Merritt? Does this guy have any clue about anything?
Also, did anyone notice that it took him two days to respond to Merritt’s email on Monday, and then only after Merritt followed up with a voice mail on Tuesday morning? I’m sure he has a lot on his plate as we all do, but sheesh. A little responsiveness would be nice. And why is it so hard to cough up an email with a time and date stamp?
Even if everything happened as the mayor and N.F claim and the ball was completely dropped on PCP’s end, the mayor’s odd, sketchy answers aren’t helping to clear up the situation.
Huh? Don’t lump me in with Rico’s comment to @Eloise about african americans if you don’t mind. It had nothing to do with my post. My comment pertained to “cast[ing] aspersions” on people who post here. To expound further, if you’re the caster don’t be surprised if the castee defends themselves by calling your bluff and doing a little investigating. You can’t call defending your integrity “bullying” or “picking” on someone.
Actually, I was kind of surprised that Merritt singled out Lifetime Parkie like that, too. I would have preferred it if she had simply said that a recent comment got her thinking about the qualifications of being a real Parkie and something like, “What exactly are the requirements for calling oneself a Parkie? Discuss.” I was so focused on Rico defending NF that I wasn’t thinking about the other commenter. Unlike Lifetime Parkie, NF is inviting a rebuttal from Merritt by claiming to have evidence of impropriety. My bad!
I wouldn’t call fact-checking and watchdogging of politicians’ integrity bullying. It is one of the foundations on which this country is formed.
I always thought it was strange and a bit creepy that a public official took such a visible and forceful role in an election that was not about his office. The mayor should try to reflect the will of the people, not change it to match his own. Yet that is what our mayor was doing, and it now seems that he is getting caught up in a web of false statements. Why is nobody concerned about that? What else will he make up on the next issue that affects you even more?
I guess I shouldn’t have asked N.F. to join the rest of us in this century when I myself had not kept up to date with how DCC had recently deemed it okay to let minorities join. I had generalized my comment based on past news accounts and I will (hopefully) readily admit where I have made factual errors.
Wed, November 10, 2010 2:56:37 PM
Fwd: Park Cities People
From: Merritt Patterson
To: Dick Davis
________________________________________
Mayor Davis,
I wanted to make sure you got the email below and also ask who would have had access to the screen shot for distribution in the comments section of our website.
And one last thing, you said the email was prepared for you. Who prepared it?
Again, thanks so much,
Merritt Patterson
There will be no response from him
*Perhaps the assistant is named “Nancy Futterman”, “Nigel Flax” or “Nadine Fergus”. I digress, but you get the idea.
did you vote in the last city election? i sure as heck didn’t and i’m sure i won’t in the next one either.
I find it hard to believe they would have gone to such personal expense – both in $$$ and prestige – to push the anti-campaign so aggressively and what I consider to be slightly dishonorably with all the truth-stretching and “hell will come to our town if this passes” hyperbole.
I mean, they were even able to twist the arm of the leader of SMU, who had previously stated he wasn’t going to get involved.
It all just seems a bit…. odd.
Enough. He is a good man, a good father, a good law partner and in other words is just like you all. Please don’t expect him to twitter or jump on your email especially in the face of a community tragedy experienced this week.
Leave a Reply