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Downtown Hospital Astroturf
The "Yes Downtown" Game Plan: 1) Plan in secret, 2) Establish early falase naratives, 3) Lobby behind scenes building colitions, 3) Minimize any opposition as naysayers (#NoHospitalDowntown) 4) Float more fasle premisies Eds & Meds", 5) set about astroturfing, 6) Plow corrupt process forward ...
Astroturfing: "Is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participant(s). It is a practice intended to give the statements or organizations more credibility by withholding information about the source's financial connection."
Newest astroturfing effort by @MVHealthSystem for their @CityofUtica downtown hospital concept called #mvhsdowntown is now #mvhshealthcast... we’ll be listening from the existing Oneida County Medical District https://t.co/yGlkwDFodi pic.twitter.com/7gDNO68897
— #NoHospitalDowntown (@NoHospitalDwtn) July 1, 2018
No, not "divided" Ms @OD_Roth - the community does NOT want a downtown hospital!! The "yes" voices are ONLY politicians and their fake community supporters, the astroturfing; @foundationhoc @UticaChamber #MVEDGE & very foolish @MoValleyGenesis
— #NoHospitalDowntown (@NoHospitalDwtn) June 9, 2018
ask the full @UticaChamber membership, because their board never did! Chamber board colluding w/ #MVHS hospital & politicians.
— #NoHospitalDowntown (@NoHospitalDwtn) April 19, 2017
It seems the County Executive is keeping an eye on the PR needs recommended by the Assemblyman...
From Hospital #Emailgate, Page 228...
From: apicente@ocgov.net
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2016 9:36 AM
To: nancy@paigegroup.com
Subject: RE: Status re: MVHS
Attachments: image001.png
Agree. I did have a conversation with Scott last week. Give me a call when you have a minute.
Thank You,
Tony Anthony J. Picente, Jr.
Oneida County Executive
800 Park Ave, Utica, NY 13501
315-798-5800
That was in reply to the PR firm's email, same page of #Emailgate...
From: nancy@paigegroup.com [mailto:nancy@paigegroup.com]
Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2016 11:12 PM
To: Picente, Anthony
Subject: Re: Status re: MVHS
Saw the O.D. article. So discouraging.
On Jul 26, 2016, at 2:32 PM, Nancy Pattarini wrote:
From page 310 of #emailgate, read... From: Anthony Brindisi Sent: Monday,
We all need to be on same page. A meeting is in order with hospital at some point in near future. They need a PR firm.
From #Emailgate... The attempt to begin an astroturfing effort was revealed in emails from September 23, 2015. Here we see on Page 549 of the Oneida County Hospital Email Dump, that Steve DiMeo of Mohawk Valley EDGE states...
On Sep 23, 2015, at 7:13 AM, Steven DiMeo wrote: "I was telling Anthony that I think we need to assemble a group (Committee for a New Downtow) to help be advocates. It should have some of the heavy hitters in the community – Carbone, Clark, Romano, Matt, Mazloom as well as other recognized community and business leaders.
That was in response to this from Anthony Picente...
On Wednesday, September 23, 2015, Picente, Anthony wrote: "Agree. We also need downtown people. Not sure about Palmieri's response, he might be getting spooked from Lou or some of the downtown property owners. On a sad note Yogi Berra has passed." Anthony J. Picente Jr. Oneida County Executive Sent from my iPad
That from Anthony Picente came after Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi wrote...
From: Anthony Brindisi Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2015 7:44 AM To: Picente, Anthony Cc: Steven DiMeo Subject: Re: Hospital
"As I told Steve, Rob got spooked over Stewart's coming to East. Utica how do you think he'll handle this? I had my staff assemble a list of downtown business owners yesterday. I reached out to a number of them and all were very enthusiastic. I'll circulate the list today and we should game plan if you want to call meeting or make calls to people and ask them if they want to be on the committee..."
From: Anthony Brindisi [mailto:abrindisi@bmbplawyers.com] Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2015 6:38 AM To: Steven DiMeo Cc: Picente, Anthony Subject: Re: Hospital "I'm getting mostly positive comments. I spoke to several business owners downtown who were very excited. There are some comments on my FB page about traffic, why a new hospital, loss of tax base, etc. These comments can easily be combated in a thoughtful response. That's why I think the op-Ed is a good start. If we don't have a communication strategy, the idiots will fill the vacuum left by our silence."
That email exchange followed the Assemblyman’s email 30 days earlier…
From: Anthony Brindisi [mailto:abrindisi@bmbplawyers.com] Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2015 3:22 PM To: Steven DiMeo; Picente, Anthony Subject: Downtown Hospital "There is a Facebook group called No Downtown Hospital (link below) that is up to 300 members. I seem to remember the legislation stating there has to be community input on location. To date, I don't believe the hospital has done any of that. Members of the group include people like Ryan Miller from the Thinkubator, Michele Truett from the Downtown Development Association, John Brown from Coldwell Banker and a certain State Senator to remain nameless. I am not sure adding your name to the group means your're opposed. I can foresee this becoming an issue. Eventually, this will hit mainstream media so we should discuss how to combat this.
August 22, 2015 - The grassroots Facebook Group, #NoHospitalDowntown, is born!
You can help, please join us on Facebook #NoHospitalDowntown. Also consider adding your voice to Hundreds of People Saying, "No Hospital Downtown". Get to know BUD, that's the future of the Columbia Lafayette Neighborhood!
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