Ad campaign backfires

After reading the paid advertisement by David Contis in the Nov. 17 Acorn defending his wife, Jane, for stealing campaign signs, I am amazed. The parents of A.E. Wright and the community have a right to know the character of the elected people whom they elect. Mr. Contis doesn’t deem this newsworthy?

Although I understand that Jane was humiliated, his manner of defending his wife is a slap in the face to the whole community—not just Sharon Robison and The Acorn—by attacking others who were dong the right thing. Mr. Contis wants us to ignore his wife’s violation because she’s a community volunteer and instead, to run an article on her volunteer activities.

As a past Parent Faculty Association president, past board member of the A.E. Wright Parent Faculty Club, current board member of the Agoura High Parent Faculty Club, Troop Committee chair for the Agoura-based Boy Scout Troop, and a volunteer for ministries at Christian Church of the Hills, I can tell you that recognition of one’s volunteer activities is not a crucial ingredient for the motivation of real volunteers.

Besides, The Acorn did report that one of Jane’s current volunteering activities was president of the A.E. Wright’s Parent Faculty Club, didn’t they? Didn’t the facing page to the advertisement by Mr. Contis contain an article saluting George Annino and his gang for the annual Santa Comes to Agoura event? The Acorn routinely covers community volunteer events and regularly acknowledges active volunteers. The chiding by Mr. Contis who wrote, “Would Attorney Sharon Robinson and The Acorn ever want to applaud someone’s positive efforts on behalf of others?” is clearly unfounded.

What’s more, Mr. Contis should be thankful for the First Amendment that gave him the right to run such a horrendous ad in The Acorn. This is the same First Amendment that gives people the right to put campaign signs in their yards and The Acorn to run an article on Jane’s indiscretions, a right which both Jane and David Contis chose to try to infringe and Sharon Robinson chose to defend. I applaud Sharon Robinson’s “positive effort on behalf of others,” namely doing what was the right thing to do when some else wasn’t. That takes bravery and strong moral fiber.

The community would have eventually forgotten about Jane’s mistake, but this arrogant advertisement is something many of us will long remember. Kathy Patton Agoura Hills